A season of transition
In the first year of the Leitao Era, the Cavs made some big strides
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
March 31, 2006

Most University of Virginia basketball supporters were delighted with the performance of their team this season.
All one has to do is visit a fan Web site or two for proof of that.

Virginia, with just eight scholarship players, had big wins over ranked opponents and nearly doubled its ACC victory total from the year before.

UVa (15-15, 7-9), picked by the media to finish last in the 12-team ACC, wound up in a three-way tie for seventh place.

The Cavaliers, who lose just one player next year (walk-on Billy Campbell), seemed to take on the personality of coach Dave Leitao. For the most part, players performed with an intensity and attention to detail that had been lacking in the final year under Pete Gillen.

The feel-good vibes surrounding the program - buoyed by the excitement of moving into the new John Paul Jones Arena next season - have permeated throughout Charlottesville, even after Virginia's first-round loss in the NIT.

In a recent teleconference with the media, Leitao confirmed the obvious: Year 1 of his regime was a success.

"I think from a foundation standpoint, we're much better off with the guys - having them understand what this program is going to be about and what is acceptable," Leitao said, "and what we need to do both on and off the court to be the best we possibly can be.

"Obviously we need to continue to get better, but I think each and every player here, and hopefully everyone around the program, understands a lot better than they did at this time last year what we're talking about when we talk about Virginia basketball, and what it's going to stand for. ? What it does is it gets you excited about all the other things that you have to do to continue to go in a positive direction to really make this the thing that everyone wants it to be."

Leitao went on to call his first season in Charlottesville "enjoyable."

"I think competing at this level is something that I always wanted to be able to do," he said. "There were many great nights that we had, some wins, or just even being in the gym teaching and instructing - that's always rewarding to me or any coach."

The flip side, Leitao said, was having to deal with the aggravations that came with taking over a team that - at times - barely had enough players to scrimmage in practice.

In many games, Virginia was handicapped by not having a full bench. Leitao admitted the team's lack of depth was one of the most frustrating aspects of his first year.

"You know you're short-handed and see other teams in the league who you're competing against," Leitao said, "and you feel as though if you had a full complement of guys, that you would have an opportunity to win more games."

With up to seven recruits in the fold, Leitao won't have that problem next season.

His toughest task could be figuring out who to dole out minutes to.

"With the addition of other people, it gives you - the one thing I complained about all year - is options," Leitao said. "There's no better way to have a quality practice than to have some options. If nothing else, whether we drastically improve our talent level or not, we'll have many more options than we had this year and that will help a ton."

Leitao admitted that toward the end of the season his players hit a wall, which led to the team dropping five of its last six games.

"I thought physically they took a beating, and mentally as well," he said, "because of the different level that they were being asked to perform at every day."

One way to break through that wall next year will be with increased physical strength - something Leitao harped on.

Leitao said it's vital that his players work hard in the offseason strength and conditioning program, which is being run by former NBA training guru Shaun Brown.

Players such as Jason Cain and Tunji Soroye are being counted on to bulk up, while others such as Sean Singletary and T.J. Bannister will try and better prepare their bodies for the rigors of a five-month marathon.

'We'll probably start back up right after the Final Four in getting back [in the weight room]," Leitao said.

"Shaun has a specific program that we'll implement to get guys doing different things - injury prevention, cardiovascularly - that will put them in a better position to go through a season like we went through."

By all accounts, it was a pretty good one.

 

Cavs hit the road in April
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
March 31, 2006

Long before the season started, Brian O'Connor broke up the season in his mind into two parts.
The first half, which included a 19-2 record at home, went better than the Virginia baseball coach could have ever imagined. The Cavaliers (24-5, 6-3 ACC) are off to the hottest start in program history and find themselves ranked as high as 14th nationally.

It will be the second half, however, that determines the team's postseason fate. Unfortunately for O'Connor and company, a majority of the games in April will be played away from the friendly confines of Davenport Field. UVa plays 13 of its next 19 games on the road, including a three-game series that starts tonight at North Carolina State (22-8, 5-4).

"I think it is really going to define our season," O'Connor said. "So much of the month of April is on the road and it is going to take a lot of mental toughness to come out of April in a good position.

Despite not having played a road game since taking the final game of a three-game series at Georgia Tech on March 12, O'Connor hopes the confidence that his team gained during a 10-game homestand will carry over.

As the Cavaliers went 9-1, the pitching staff struck out 99 batters and improved a league-best ERA from 2.67 to 2.23.

"The biggest key against Clemson and Wake Forest was that we pitched very well," O'Connor said. "To shut Wake Forest down like we did for that weekend was pretty incredible."

Virginia also executed at the plate, scoring in double figures in six of the 10 games. Entering tonight's game, only one ACC team boasts a better batting average than the Cavaliers' impressive .350 average - N.C. State is hitting .352.

"In the first half of the year, we have swung the bats very well and have executed very well," said O'Connor, who is 3-5 against N.C. State. "That's going to become even more important now that we are on the road in the ACC."

Eight of the nine batters in Virginia's lineup are hitting .326 or better, and the squad has six of the top 27 hitters in the conference.

Leading hitter Brandon Marsh, who is currently batting .488, snapped out of a mini-slump by going 4 for 5 in Wednesday's 13-2 win over Norfolk State.

"I felt a little more confident," said Marsh, who had gone hitless in eight prior plate appearances. "I just went up there and stayed aggressive. I hit some balls hard against Wake Forest that were caught and I was a little hesitant [against Coppin State on Tuesday]."

Scouting the Pack

N.C. State enters tonight's game having lost four straight league games. After losing the final game of the Georgia Tech series, the Wolfpack were swept in a three-game set at Clemson.

While N.C. State leads the ACC in almost every hitting category, the team has struggled at times on the mound.

Andrew Brackman, who also plays on the basketball team, hopes to change that tonight as he goes head-to-head against Virginia's ace Sean Doolittle (5-0, 1.42 ERA). Brackman is 0-2 since joining the baseball team and has an 8.68 ERA.

On Saturday, Virginia's Jacob Thompson (5-1, 2.00 ERA) squares off against lefty Eric Surkamp. Mike Ballard (4-1, 2.32) will pitch in the series finale for the Cavaliers, while N.C. State counters with RHP Eryk McConnell (4-3, 3.95 ERA).
 

Hazy Brooks situation coming into clearer 'focus'
Teams starting to get releases
Doug Doughty

For three days, I’ve been going ‘round and around with Virginia officials, trying to come up with an explanation for why Ahmad Brooks has been dismissed from the Cavaliers’ football roster.

“Read my lips,” head coach Al Groh said Tuesday at a news conference originally scheduled to preview spring practice, but Groh has a tendency to talk in circles.

Even UVa people will tell you that.

Brooks was one of three prominent players left off the spring roster, but the other two, safety Tony Franklin and defensive end Vince Redd, already had a disciplinary history.

Franklin and Redd were among a group of players suspended for a Nov. 12 game with Georgia Tech for a violation of team policy, and Franklin later was arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

It should be noted that Franklin was not convicted of that offense. After a Feb. 21 appearance in Albemarle County General District Court, it was stated on the Virginia Courts site that a sentence was “pending.”

It was one of those situations where Franklin was placed on probation for one year, at which time the offense will be removed from his record, assuming he meet the requirements of his probation.

So, there’s something to go on with Redd and Franklin. What about Brooks?

We know that Brooks missed spring practice last year, but that followed offseason knee injury. We know that Brooks did not meet NCAA academic requirements coming out of high school, but he has not been academically ineligible.

Brooks was arrested May 17, 2003, for marijuana possession. That was the summer after his first semester at UVa but it occurred off campus and while school was not in session.

Brooks pleaded “no contest” and was placed on six months’ probation, with an understanding that charges would be dropped if he met terms of the probation – a customary judgment for first-time offenders.

It should be noted that Brooks then played in all 13 games in 2003 as a true freshman and all 25 UVa games during his first two seasons.

AFTER MY CORRESPONDENCE with UVa officials, I would have been content to chalk up Brooks’ departure from the program to the all-encompassing “violation of team policy” and moved on.

When I posed the question to athletic-department spokesman Rich Murray, he replied, “I believe coach Groh did speak [Tuesday] to why Ahmad Brooks is no longer on the team. Please note the following comments:”

Groh said, “It’s a privilege, not a right, to wear a Cavalier jersey and to represent our university community. There are certain things that are vital to putting your team together every year, and those things become in sharper focus and multiplied when you’re in a rebuilding circumstance. Those things are focus, commitment, dependability.

“While each of these players’ circumstance is distinctly different, in order to put the team together with some consistency and dependability, I’ve decided that it’s best for us to move on. Each circumstance is different; they’re all in school and they’re all pursuing their academic circumstances.”

If the man doesn’t talk in circles, you do have to admit, he loves the word “circumstance.”

So, I asked Murray, could we say that Brooks, Redd and Franklin are no longer with the program because of “an absence of focus, commitment, dependability?”

“I think you have answered your own question,” Murray said.

Actually, a better word might be “insufficient.” I’m not sure there was a total lack – or absence – of focus, commitment, etc. They simply did not have enough focus, commitment or dependability to meet the expectations of the man running the program, Groh, or senior athletic-department officials.

SO, THAT’S WHERE WE’LL leave it, although I know there are people who won’t believe Brooks is really gone until they see him in a different jersey. Part of me feels the same way.

I got more of a sense of finality when I spoke Wednesday to new Liberty University coach Danny Rocco, previously the assistant head coach at UVa. Rocco said he had requested permission to speak to Brooks, Redd and Franklin and that he already had release forms on his desk.

I thought it was interesting that all three remained enrolled at UVa, but Rocco pointed out that Franklin probably is close to graduation and that an “incomplete” for the second semester could pose problems if any of the three wants to transfer to another school.

Brooks could make himself available for the NFL’s supplemental draft, which is held in July. The supplemental draft frequently involves players who have been declared academically ineligible after an earlier deadline, in January, for underclassmen who have decided to renounce their college eligibility.

At one time, Brooks may have been viewed as a certain first-round NFL Draft pick and certainly continues to hold that potential, although he may gotten too big to play linebacker. However, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea to transfer to a Division I-AA school, get in shape and show scouts that he is the productive player he was in 2004.

 

Police arrived at quiet house
Slur reported near players' residence
Samiha Khanna, Staff Writer

DURHAM -- When police visited a house near Duke University on March 14 to investigate a 911 call about racial slurs, they found the house -- where neighbors had witnessed a rowdy party earlier in the evening -- completely quiet.
The 911 call came about 30 minutes before a second 911 call led police to a woman who told them she had been sexually assaulted at that same residence, at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd., during a party held that night by members of the Duke men's lacrosse team. The house had been leased to three of the lacrosse players, and 46 team members have since been ordered to submit to DNA testing. Those test results are expected next week.

Police also have searched a dorm room and car on the Duke campus as part of their investigation, a university spokeswoman said Thursday. Warrants authorizing those searches have been sealed by a judge.

No charges have been filed in the case.

Police said they don't know who made the 911 call to report the racial slurs, and the complainant was gone when police arrived at the house. But Durham police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Thursday that they are convinced the call was not made by the same woman who later said she was raped and sodomized by three men at the party.

Police released new details Thursday on what they found when responding to that first call:

A woman called police at 12:53 the morning of March 14 to report that a white man at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. yelled a racial slur at her and a black friend as they passed the house.

Two officers, who were patrolling in the area, arrived at 12:55 a.m. and spent 11 minutes looking for the woman who called in the complaint, Michael said. The officers knocked on the door of the house, but there was no answer. They looked in the windows and walked through the yard and alley beside the house, Michael said.

They saw cups, beer cans and beer kegs. Officers spoke to a neighbor, who said there had been a party. A check of the neighborhood didn't lead to the woman who called 911, and Michael said the caller's information -- name, phone number or address -- did not appear on the dispatcher's computer when the call came in.

A lawyer representing one of the players raised suspicion about the two 911 calls, saying they were "mighty coincidental."

Durham lawyer James "Butch" Williams said he thinks the woman who initially called 911 to report the use of racial slurs also is involved in the rape investigation. He wouldn't go so far as to call the allegations "false reports," but he said it was suspicious that the caller knew the numbers to the house near where the slurs were shouted, though the house number is not easily seen from the street.

Williams, representing one of the team's captains who lived at the house, maintains there was not a rape at the party. He said there was no sexual activity whatsoever at the party. All three men who were living at the Buchanan Boulevard house have moved out, he added.

The incident was reported to have happened very late March 13, but two days lapsed before investigators searched the house and found broken fingernails, a purse and a cell phone belonging to the alleged victim.

Michael and other spokesmen for the Durham Police Department said investigators interviewed the accuser while she was at Duke Hospital, where she was examined. During the two days before the search, investigators followed up with the accuser, residents of the house and other possible witnesses as they developed probable cause for a search warrant.

Officers took out the search warrant the night of March 16 and served it the same night, according to court documents. Crime scene technicians were inside the house for more than seven hours, according to police records.