Hey hoops fans, it’s me, Dickie V, here today with an update on Big East conference tournament action. Can you believe it’s here again already? Another week of big action in the Big Apple! They’re rockin and rollin in the Garden! It’s awesome, baby!

And what a first day of action we’ve seen. Georgetown and Notre Dame both had tough tests, and Louisville flat out blew a 17 point lead before pulling it out in double overtime against West Virginia. It was a real Maalox Masher for Coach Pitino!

Of course you have to give credit to the Mountaineers for that big-time gut-check performance. It really reminded me of some of the great Duke comebacks we’ve seen through the years. Who could forget the Miracle Minute comeback against Maryland? Like my buddy Mike Patrick said, it was the most incredible thing we’ve ever seen!

And speaking of Duke, I really thought they were going to pull off the impossible again today down in my neck of the woods. In the end, they came up a little short in another overtime thriller against an extremely underrated and powerful Wolfpack team, but my hat is off to another brilliant coaching performance by Michael Krzyzewski. We all know the story there. Duke entered the game short-handed as a result of that questionable call that led to an unfortunate one game suspension of diaper dandy Gerald Henderson. But did the Dukies fold? Did they phone it in? No way, my friends. They took to the floor with the same passion and emotion that is their trademark. And so many players stepped it up big time to take up the slack.

I think you really have to salute the dynamic play of David McClure who moved into the starting lineup. We’re talking three turnovers and five fouls in twenty-four minutes. No, he didn’t score a point, but think about it – how many players manage to foul out in only 24 minutes of PT? That one statistic shows us all we need to know about this winner’s competitive spirit.

We also saw the other diaper dandies step it up for Duke, with big men Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas combining for 0 rebounds, 0 assists, and 0 points in 24 combined minutes of action. That’s what you call consistency, my friends! And even though Mr. Henderson watched the game from the stands, I really thought he brought a lot to the team in the way of emotional support. His mere presence in the building undoubtedly inspired his teammates to fight to the very end, to go down swinging, to duke it out with reckless abandon!

The bottom line here is this: Gerald Henderson is a winner, whether he’s on the floor or sitting in the stands, sucking on a water bottle, as his old man was yucks it up and throws down peanuts and beers in Row Q. What a classy family they are!

And what an incredible program Duke University is. They have just flat overachieved this season. To go into the season picked to finish no. 2 in the ACC. Sure, they actually finished seventh and lost in the play-in round of the tourney to a 15-14 team, but that’s not important. The big thing here is going into such a competitive season with people actually thinking they were that good. It just says so much about the reputation of Duke basketball. And on the national stage we saw the same thing, with Duke ranked 10th in the preseason polls. Everyone was screaming foul, saying no way the Dukies were that good! And, yes, they’re now looking at a 21-10 record and they might not be ranked at all come Monday, but, there again, they fooled a lot of people for a long time. And regardless of where they are, or should be, ranked, with their strong run to finish the season, winning 4 of their last 11 games, I have no doubt that the Dukies will easily land a 2 seed in the Big Dance.

So those are my thoughts on another exciting Big East tournament!
 

Cavs important again thanks to Leitao
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
March 9, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. -- When Dave Leitao spent his first few days in Charlottesville two springs ago, the subject came up about how Virginia basketball was perceived nationally.

The Cavaliers’ program had struggled for nearly a decade in terms of postseason play and its once bright star had faded significantly on the college scene.

Leitao said then that there really wasn’t any perception of Virginia basketball, good or bad.

In other words, no one noticed, no one cared outside of the Wahoo loyalists who had lived through the good times of Ralph Sampson and some lingering after effects.

No wonder UVa’s blip disappeared from the hoops radar screen. From a national perspective, Cavalier basketball just didn’t matter.

Such was the challenge to Leitao, to make it matter again.

Heading into tonight’s second round of the ACC Tournament, Leitao has moved the Cavaliers to a much loftier spot than anyone could have imagined in two seasons: the No. 2 seed in the tournament after tying for the league’s regular season championship.

Recent history at an institution where history really means something, has taught us not to overreact to this sudden success. Leitao’s predecessor, Pete Gillen, revived the UVa program in three years and was handsomely rewarded with a still-talked-about 10-year contract. We all know how that one ended.

As Bill Parcells often said, we’ll reserve the anointing oil for the time being because college athletics can take some strange turns.

Leitao’s blueprint offers more than mere hope. It’s constructed around discipline, defense and rebounding, those trusty old pak yaks that have been the common denominator in most great programs.

Now that Virginia has the college basketball world’s attention, the stage is set for the Cavaliers to build upon that success.

Advancement in this tournament or the NCAA Tournament will only help the cause.

“There are more people who recognize who we are,” Leitao said after Wednesday night’s practice at St. Pete Times Forum, site of this year’s ACC shootout. “The games that we have played on television have helped in terms of national recognition. When we make recruiting calls, I think there is a lot more familiarity because they see us and read the paper and what have you.

“Hopefully that helps us because what we’re trying to achieve is not going to happen because we’re ACC champs or we’re going to go to the NCAA Tournament,” Leitao said. “It will happen over time. More than anything, I want this program to be successful and people to recognize it as being successful for its longevity and not for a one-time thing.”

March Madness catches the attention of a nation. Even the casual observer becomes a fan and fills out an office bracket at tournament time. Water cooler talk evolves around what happened in various arenas the night before.

“From a program standpoint, you want to be in that discussion because more people are listening and paying attention, watching television,” Leitao said. “If you can make yourself noticed, that’s the biggest recruiting tool that you can have for your program. That’s how you’re judged. If we can use it at this early stage of our development to help speed up the process, then that’s good for us.”

When Leitao discovered there was pretty much no response when he brought up Virginia basketball two years ago, he and his coaching staff began beating on doors, hanging on the phone, attempting to raise the awareness of the program and what the school had to offer.

But nothing, absolutely nothing is a substitute for winning. Even though the Cavs gagged away an opportunity to take first place outright in the ACC regular season, at least they were in position to gag. That hasn’t always been the case.

The 20-win campaign, the No. 2 seed, the seasons that Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds are enjoying, the fact that Leitao was voted the ACC Coach of the Year, the new arena - they have all raised the awareness of Virginia basketball.

All those things have helped legitimize what Leitao has been preaching since he stepped foot in Charlottesville.

No, this isn’t the most talented group of Cavaliers to grace the Grounds. It is fragile in many respects. It’s basically two terrific guards surrounded by a bunch of role players.

When everything’s going well and the jumpers are falling, particularly within the friendly confines of JPJ, Virginia can play with the best of ’em. When their shooting touch betrays them, particularly on the road or an unfamiliar setting, such as the St. Pete Times Forum, it’s anybody’s ball game.

Things have changed significantly, but Leitao believes the best lies ahead. He’s breathed life back into a program that had nearly flat-lined.

Virginia basketball does matter and that’s a pretty good start.

 

Cavs looking for respect on national level
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
March 9, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. - Rich Murray, Virginia’s longtime media relations guru, doesn’t get stumped very often. But on Wednesday, he received a query that he needed to ponder for a few minutes.

Murray, who is in his 24th year at UVa, was asked how many national interviews Virginia coach Dave Leitao and his players have done this season.

You’d think that a team which won a share of the ACC - a league that many feel is the most competitive in the country - would have taken part in dozens, right?

Nope. It’s actually quite the contrary.

Leitao’s appearance on the Jim Rome radio show Monday was considered the biggest PR coup of the year for Virginia basketball.

Murray could only think of a handful of other national interviews - an ESPN.com article on Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds in January, plus a few ESPN and Fox Sports radio spots following games.

No SportsCenter. No Sports Illustrated. No New York Times.

The usual suspects - North Carolina and Duke - were the schools that received the majority of the pub.

The Tar Heels, who tied Virginia for first, certainly merited the attention.

But what about the Blue Devils? They finished seventh.

“They’re always going to do that,” said Reynolds, when asked about the media’s infatuation with Duke and Carolina. “They didn’t show us no respect last year when they picked us to finish last [in the ACC]. This year we proved them wrong again, so when are they going to give us respect?”

Perhaps on Sunday night when Virginia is dancing on the court at St. Pete Times Forum after winning the ACC Tournament.

UVa’s first step toward accomplishing that goal begins tonight when it plays 10th-seeded N.C. State in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. The Wolfpack (16-14, 5-11) shocked Duke in the first round on Thursday.

Virginia (20-9, 11-5), which had a first-round bye, won both meetings versus N.C. State this season.

Singletary, who was named first-team All-ACC for the second straight year on Monday, is looking forward to the matchup.

“I’m definitely confident,” said Singletary, who averaged 18.8 points in the regular season, fourth-best in the conference. “This is the time when good players step up. I know I need to play well for us to win, and I’m ready to do that.”

Singletary will butt heads with N.C. State point guard Engin Atsur.

“He’s similar to [Greg] Paulus [of Duke] in how he plays a steady game and shoots the ball well when he’s open,” Singletary said.

Meanwhile, Reynolds, who has been rumored to have been playing with some sort of mystery injury in shooting 6 of 29 in his last two games, must right the ship for Virginia to be successful.

“We just got to go out there and play our style of ball,” said Reynolds, who was named to the All-ACC Second Team. “If we do that, I think we have a very good chance of winning.”

Virginia didn’t do much right in its last game - a loss at Wake Forest that cost the team an outright regular-season title.

“We didn’t get that done and that’s probably why we didn’t get the respect that some people think we deserve,” Singletary said. “But on this team, in this locker room, we know how good we are and how good we can be, and what we have to do to win.”

This season, Virginia has appeared on ESPN networks five times. However, the station’s top broadcast team of Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale has yet to call one of its games.

While on the Jim Rome show, Leitao was asked a question about - what else? - Duke and North Carolina.

“He asked me about the incident [in which Tyler Hansbrough was elbowed in the nose],” Leitao said. “I took the high road, and he teased about being a little too diplomatic about it. But it really wasn’t my place or business. We didn’t have anything to do with it.”

Duke finished 21st in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. Virginia was ranked 24th by ESPN/USA Today, but was not in the final AP poll.

During the halftime show of the Duke-UNC game on Sunday, CBS commentator Seth Davis - a Blue Devils’ alum - actually said that Duke deserved to be a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“We don’t really buy into the press anyway,” Singletary said. “We just go out there and play. We’re not playing for all that. We’re competitors and want to just go out there and try our best.”

Still, the slights seem never-ending.

On Wednesday, during the ESPN television show “Around the Horn,” Jay Mariotti, one of the show’s guests, predicted that Duke would be beaten in the quarterfinals - by Virginia Tech.

Woops.

“Personally, it doesn’t bother me,” said Virginia freshman Will Harris. “Sometimes you do a lot of great things that don’t get recognized.

“But it’s good to be the underdog sometimes because then when you do something better than you did before, people have no choice but to recognize you. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Dunks

N.C. State leads the all-time series, 78-53. … UVa is just 2-11 against the Wolfpack in the ACC Tournament, including a 2-6 mark in the quarterfinals. N.C. State has won the last two matchups (in 2000 and ’02). … Virginia’s last tournament win over the Wolfpack was in the 1986 quarterfinals. … UVa has won its opening-round game in the tournament in each of the last three seasons. … Singletary on Leitao being named the league’s coach of the year: “People didn’t pick us to finish at the top of the ACC,” he said. “The reason we did was 100 percent because of him and the way he’s coached us and motivated us throughout the year.”


 

Ticket scalpers getting burned in Florida
By Whitelaw Reid and Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress staff writers
March 9, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. - Within the last year, the state of Florida has passed legislation that allows people to re-sell tickets to sporting events for as much as they want.
You’d think that would be cause for major celebration among ticket scalpers who are in town for the ACC Tournament this week.
However, that clearly wasn’t the case on Day 1 of the tournament on Thursday.
With the supply for tickets far exceeding demand, scalpers outside of the St. Pete Times Forum said they were taking a bath.
“We’ll be lucky to make any money at all this year,” said one scalper, who did not want his name to be used.
Scalpers claimed they were only getting face value for tickets in the lower levels of the arena, while they were getting only half of the face value for seats in the upper level.
One scalper said it was a far cry from the profit he made at the tournament in Greensboro, N.C., last year.
“This is a very nice venue, and the weather is nice down here,” he said, “but I think it’s more football country down here.”
It took Florida State fan Steve Wilson - who drove to Tampa from his home in Tallahassee - a good hour to sell his tickets to Saturday’s games. He wound up selling four - which he originally bought for $99 apiece through the university - for $60.
Wilson said he was leaving, despite the fact FSU was still alive.
“I’m going to watch my son play basketball,” he said.
After Maryland was upset by Miami, several Terrapin fans were trying to unload their tickets. However, Dave Johnson of Hagerstown, Md., said he was holding on to his.
“We’re saddened,” he said, “but we’re staying for the whole tournament. We just love ACC basketball.”

It wasn’t the shoes
Trailing by 13 points at the half, Maryland players felt like they needed to do something to turn their fortunes around.
So what did they do?
Every Terrapin player changed their sneakers, going from red to white.
The switch didn’t do much good as Miami went on to a 67-62
victory.

Sans headband
Florida State’s Al Thornton didn’t like the way he was playing in the early moments of the Seminoles’ win over Clemson, so he decided to remove his headband.
“Usually when I take my headband off it’s because of a lot of physical play,” said Thornton, who went on to score 25 points and grab 11 boards. “When I take it off, it’s because I’m aggravated.”

Taking care of the rock
FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said cutting down on turnovers was a major key to his team’s win. In the first half, the Seminoles committed nine. After the break, they only had five.
“Our game plan was to try and not have many,” Hamilton said. “In the first half, we gave them a lot of extra possessions, but in the second half we played a lot sounder defense and it became, ‘Who was going to make the big play at the end?’
“It was a typical ACC game. It seems every game you watch is this type of game. We were fortunate to come out on the winning end.”

Williams’ woes
In the “be careful what you wish for” department, Maryland coach Gary Williams has always led the charge about moving the ACC Tournament around to various locations because he felt that North Carolina’s “Big Four” had a distinct advantage by playing the event in either Greensboro or Charlotte.
Which brings us to Thursday’s opening round of the 54th ACC Tournament in Tampa, Fla.
Maryland, the fifth seed, lost to Miami, the 12th seed and is out of the tournament.
The last time the ACC Tournament was played somewhere other than on Tobacco Road, two years ago at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C., which is Williams’ backyard, his Terps lost in the first round to Clemson.

ACC Legends
As is the custom, the conference honored a legendary player from each of the 12 schools.
Buzzy Wilkinson, one of the most prolific scorers in ACC history, represented Virginia, while Vernell “Bimbo” Coles was Virginia Tech’s legend.
Others: BC’s Jay Murphy; Clemson’s Murray Jarman; Duke’s Christian Laettner; FSU’s Bob Sura; Georgia Tech’s James Forrest; Maryland’s Billy Jones; Miami’s Don Curnutt; UNC’s Tommy Kearns; N.C. State’s Tom Gugliotta and Wake’s Rodney Rogers.

Free throws
Florida State and Wake Forest are the only ACC teams that played previously this season in the St. Pete Times Forum. The squads played a doubleheader here on Dec. 29, with Wake losing to South Florida and FSU bombing Providence, which played without its starting point guard ... Former UVa coach Pete Gillen told WLNI Radio’s “Sportsline” host Rich Roth that he is not interested in the vacancy at Liberty University. Gillen’s name has also been linked to the Evansville job. ... The Duke vs. N.C. State matchup was the only first-round game involving original members of the ACC. ... The Blue Devils have won the last two ACC Tournament titles and seven of the last eight. ... Next year’s ACC Tournament is scheduled for Charlotte, N.C.


 

Cavs try to live down memories of tough Wake series
UVa was outscored, 33-22, in its last trip to Winston-Salem
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 9, 2007

Jacob Thompson would love to know what went wrong the last time Virginia played at Wake Forest.

Was it the pitching? Could it have been the dimensions of the home-run friendly ballpark? Was it a fluke?

The sophomore may never find out. He certainly knows better than to ask.

“We don’t talk about that weekend,” Thompson said.

It was perhaps the darkest three days in the Brian O’Connor era.

In 2005, after winning eight of his first 11 games, Virginia’s baseball coach rolled into Winston-Salem, N.C., only to watch his team implode.

Anything that could go wrong did - the Cavaliers were outscored, 33-22, as they were swept in a three-game series for the first time since O’Connor had arrived the previous year.

Virginia’s starting pitchers - Mike Ballard, Matt Avery and Jeff Kamrath - did their part. The former Cavs, who went on to combine for 23 wins that season, were rocked, giving up 22 earned runs in 8.2 innings of work.

The defense, which led the ACC in fielding that year, committed seven errors in the series, and the bats were silenced with runners on base (UVa stranded 27).

“I will never forget that weekend,” O’Connor said, “but that happens sometimes in baseball.”

Sean Doolittle, who will start today against the Demon Deacons (9-4), said it was a forgettable experience.

“That was the worst series that I have been a part of. That was pretty bad,” said Doolittle, who is 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA this year. “That weekend you kind of had to tip your hats to [Wake Forest]. Every thing they wanted to do offensively they kind of did.

“They hit the ball the other way real well and I remember they took advantage of their short porch almost at will in certain times in the game.”

Virginia’s return trip to the house of horrors, better known as Gene Hooks Stadium, comes with the program currently boasting a school-best No. 4 ranking and an impressive 15-1 record.

That has O’Connor expecting different results.

“I think our guys are mature enough and have enough confidence in their own ability that they will go down there and be successful,” O’Connor said. “It’s still baseball and you have to be a little bit tougher, a little bit better on the road because they do get to bat last and guys that are pitching at the end of the game are vital.”

Extra bases

Virginia’s rotation will remain as it has for the opening month. Freshman Matt Packer (2-0,

2.57 ERA) will follow Doolittle and Thompson. … O’Connor said junior Pat McAnaney could make his season debut this weekend in relief. McAnaney was sidelined with a broken bone in his pitching hand. … Shortstop Greg Miclat was used as the designated hitter in Virginia’s last two games, but O’Connor said the move was done solely to rest the sophomore and gain valuable experience for freshman Tyler Cannon. … First baseman/DH Jeremy Farrell is not expected to play this weekend. Farrell has a strained forearm.

… Doolittle experienced a first this week. In scouting Wake Forest through film, the defending ACC Player of the Year was able to watch his younger brother, Ryan, face the Demon Deacons. Ryan Doolittle, who is a freshman at UNC Wilmington, pitched against Wake on Sunday. “We got the tape from Wilmington so I am going to get to watch him against them,” Doolittle chuckled. “That will be really weird.” Ryan Doolittle, who is also a catcher, gave up five runs (four earned), drawing the loss in five innings of work.

 

Lesser lights hold key for Cavaliers
Diane, Joseph and Cain must contribute on a consistent basis
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 9, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. -- If Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds struggle tonight in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, the University of Virginia men's basketball team could be back home in Charlottesville tomorrow.

His star guards, however, are the least of U.Va. coach Dave Leitao's concerns. The all-ACC selections were announced Monday, and Singletary made the first team for the second straight season. Reynolds, a third-teamer in 2005-06, moved up to the second team.

No. 2 seed Virginia (20-9) meets No. 7 seed Duke (23-9 if it won last night) or No. 10 seed N.C. State (16-14 if it won last night) tonight at 7 o'clock.

"When the bright lights come on, I'm pretty secure in knowing that both of them are going to put their best foot forward," Leitao said of Singletary (18.8 ppg) and Reynolds (18 ppg).

His confidence in sophomore swingman Mamadi 'Mo' Diane and junior forward Adrian Joseph isn't so unshakeable.

"Obviously, you want both or one of those guys to have 12 to 15 points, which they've shown they're capable of," Leitao said.

Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, Diane (9.9 ppg) and Joseph (7.3 ppg) also have shown they're capable of disappearing during games or missing virtually everything they put up. And when these 3-point specialists both struggle in the same game, as they did in losses at Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Miami, U.Va. suffers.

"In games that we both play well, we've opened up a lot of things," Diane said.

When his shot is falling, Diane is a dynamic complement to Singletary and Reynolds. The 6-5 197-pounder scored 26 points against Maryland, 25 against Arizona, 22 against Stanford, 17 against Purdue. But he's also had six games in which he's scored only two points, most recently in the regular-season finale at Wake Forest.

The 6-7 205-pound Joseph wasn't any more productive against Wake, one reason the Cavaliers blew an opportunity to win the ACC regular-season title outright.

"It hurts the team big time," Joseph said, "and we need somebody else to step up if Mo and I don't have good nights."

U.Va.'s fifth-leading scorer, 6-10 senior Jason Cain (6.8 ppg), has been as inconsistent on offense as Diane and Joseph. Not since Jan. 21, when he had 10 points in a win over Wake at John Paul Jones, has Cain scored in double figures.

"I get discouraged with my jump shot, and I get discouraged with my offense sometimes," said Cain, the Cavs' leading rebounder. "I guess I fall in the same category as everyone else: I rely on Sean and J.R. to make things happen."

Between them, Singletary and Reynolds have taken 45 percent of the Wahoos' shots this season. That can make it difficult for their teammates, Cain said, to get into a rhythm offensively.

"Maybe passing the ball would open things up," Cain said. "Maybe not. We'll have to figure that out as the playoffs go along."

It doesn't matter much to Leitao who heads the supporting cast -- Diane, Joseph, Cain or freshman forwards Jamil Tucker and Will Harris -- as as long as someone emerges.

"You just don't at this time of year continue to get by on status quo, and status quo for a long time has been those two guys," Leitao said.

 

Is it time for a Gillen comeback?
Altizer provides scouting report on Calvin Baker
By Doug Doughty

It never occurred to me that Pete Gillen was 59 until I saw his name mentioned Wednesday in connection with the men’s basketball opening at Evansville University.

“Gillen would fit the Aces’ criteria,” read the headline over top of executive sports editor Dave John’s column.

Maybe so.

I wouldn’t know that Gillen would be interested in the opening at Evansville or at Liberty, another job with which his name has been mentioned, or if he still wants to coach at all.

I’d say that I haven’t spoken to Gillen since the day was dismissed, but that would be wrong. I didn’t speak to him that day either.

It disappoints me no longer to have a relationship with Gillen, a coach I had known since his days as a VMI assistant in the late 1970s.

Gillen can’t say that I got him fired, but I can still remember a testy exchange we had in the University Hall catacombs late in his UVa tenure, when I pitched a story on his timeout philosophy.

If memory serves, that story pointed out what a good record Gillen had in one- and two-point games, games in which he customarily had exhausted his timeouts.

Gillen’s name came up in another forum in the past week, when, for the second time this season, Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser pointed out that UVa’s two best players – Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds – are Gillen recruits.

So is the rest of the starting five, which lately has included Jason Cain, Mamadi Diane and Tunji Soroye.

Throw in Adrian Joseph and Lauris Mikalauskas and six of Virginia’s top seven scorers were brought in by Gillen.

That should make Gillen attractive to Evansville or almost any other school in search of a new recruit.

Gillen could recruit.

Virginia should make the NCAA field this year and so will two players who transferred after beginning their college careers at Virginia, Vanderbilt’s Derrick Byars and Massachusetts’ Gary Forbes.

A third Gillen recruit, post man Donte Minter, averaged 11.4 points and 5.0 rebounds while playing fewer than 20 minutes per game for an Appalachian State team that stands 25-7 and has a victory over Virginia.

In all fairness, Byars no longer would be eligible at Virginia if he had not transferred, and disaffection with Gillen contributed to his departure.

Would this Virginia team have gone to the NCAA Tournament with Gillen? That’s hard to say. After all, Leitao was the ACC coach of the year, Virginia’s first since 1982. But, Gillen was able to put together the nucleus of an NCAA team. That’s fair to say.

If I were Evansville, a former rival of Gillen’s when he was at Xavier and the Musketeers were in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, this might make some sense.

SPEAKING OF TRANSFERS, one wonders how former UVa guard T.J. Bannister feels after transferring to Liberty on the eve of the 2006-2007 season. Not only did Bannister miss out on an NCAA Tournament trip, but the Flames’ coach, Randy Dunton, was fired before Bannister ever got to play for him.

IN AN INTERVIEW with walk-on Damin Altizer for an article that appeared in today’s Roanoke Times, it was interesting to hear Altizer’s thoughts on Calvin Baker, a transfer from William and Mary who has been ineligible this season at UVa.

“I think he’s really good,” Altizer said. “He’s definitely not as good as Sean [Singletary] but he holds his own. They have some battles where, if you just walked in the gym and didn’t know who was who, you’d think they were about equal.”

Former Bath County boys’ basketball coach Terry Bradley was amused when he was reminded that his 2005 team had two Division I players, one of whom, John Phillips, is on football scholarship at UVa.

“We weren’t thinking of that when [Radford's] Darris Nichols and those guys were stroking it that night,” said Bradley, whose Chargers were eliminated by Radford in the Group A playoffs.

“But, I’ll tell you one thing, if John Phillips (6-6, 257) had walked on, he’d have been a pretty formidable candidate, too.”

As a senior at Bath, Phillips finished one game with 32 points and 25 rebounds.
 

Cavs star Reynolds tries to build on gunslinger label
Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds is a defensive specialist as well as a 3-point threat. MATT GENTRY/THE ROANOKE TIMES
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© March 9, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. - There are worse things to be known as than the next great shooter from Roanoke.

The city produced the University of Virginia's Curtis Staples, who owned the NCAA's career record for 3-point shots... until fellow Roanoker J.J. Redick came along and broke the record.

In the contrails of both came Virginia senior J.R. Reynolds, who established his "Shootersville" credentials by once making 14 3-pointers in a high school game.

"I took him out at the end of the third quarter," said Steve Smith, Reynolds' former coach at Oak Hill Academy. "I don't know how many he would have had."

Another slinger from Southwest Virginia.

That's the reputation Reynolds brought to the Cavaliers four years ago. And the one he's been trying for four years to live up to but also to shake.

There's nothing wrong with being known as a lights-out shooter. But Reynolds wanted to prove he could do more than that. Heading into today's ACC quarterfinal game against N.C. State, he has narrowly missed being voted All-ACC, established career highs in assists and rebounds and ranked second in scoring (20 ppg) in conference games.

"I always thought he could do more," coach Dave Leitao said. "He's a guy who's scored more than 1,600 points here, while getting better all the time."

While getting trimmer, too. When Leitao arrived two years ago, Reynolds was a thick 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. Conditioning coach Shawn Brown's first priority was for Reynolds to drop some weight, without sacrificing much strength.

"It was apparent that he was going to play a lot of minutes, and that he needed to go by people," Brown said. "If you're going to give up three or four repetitions on the weights, that's not going to matter vs. getting by people."

At 188 pounds, Reynolds drives by people now. His penetration sets up teammates for open shots, and his improvement as a ball handler has allowed Sean Singletary to take a break from playing point guard.

Reynolds has transformed his game without sacrificing his shooting. He poured in a career-high 40 points, and made 6 of 8 3-pointers, against Wake Forest. He followed that game with 29 points and 5 of 8 treys at N.C. State.

"He's capable of exploding big numbers at any time," Singletary.

Staples, effective as he was, was never able to overcome the "shooter-only" label. Redick did, but not until his final two seasons, when he blossomed into an all-around scorer.

Reynolds has always been conscious of wanting to do more.

"That's all I would hear from everyone in Roanoke, 'Don't just be a shooter,' " Reynolds said. " 'Don't be like Curtis Staples, just a shooter.' "

That was tough advice to hear, considering Reynolds looked at Staples as a mentor.

Raised by his mother alone, Reynolds grew up in Southwest Roanoke, where he tagged along behind his older cousins on local basketball courts. Eventually he started going to the downtown YMCA, where Staples, nine years older, worked out, often with Troy Manns, a high school teammate who played at George Mason and Virginia Tech.

"He was just always around," Manns said. "We could always tell he would be pretty good."

Reynolds made the varsity as an eighth -grader at Roanoke Catholic and committed to Virginia as a junior. He transferred to Oak Hill for a senior year that was more like a year of prep school.

Reynolds played in a backcourt that included Isaiah Swann, who signed with Florida State, and Marcus Williams, who was headed for Connecticut. His time in Oak Hill taught him how to play with other talented guards, a lesson that would prove valuable when Singletary arrived at Virginia a year after Reynolds.

"He was our most solid, consistent guard," Smith said. "He was also a guy we put on the other team's best player, as long as he wasn't a post guy."

Reynolds still guards the other team's best perimeter player. He also makes his defender work, with ball fakes, drives and a developing middle-range game.

"He used to just shoot 3 s and go to the basket," Smith said. "He's developed that middle-range game."

Reynolds has improved to the point where he'll get a long look from the NBA, said Brown, who was an NBA strength coach before coming to Virginia.

"If he had three more inches, he'd really be looking down the barrel of a good paycheck," Brown said. "He's going to have to bring something else to the table. But he definitely cannot not be quick."

Reynolds' favorite player is Chauncey Billups, another under-sized "combo" guard. He's a player known for hitting timely shots, a reputation Reynolds hopes to earn for himself this weekend. He's on his way. In six career ACC tournament games, he's averaged 20.7 points.

"Big spotlight," he said. "I guess that's the reason."

 

FULL CIRCLE IN BRUNSWICK
Stith has returned to his home in Brunswick after 14 seasons in big leagues
BY STEPHEN M. LEWIS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 9, 2007

You would think a 10-year NBA veteran, former college star and high school all-everything would never be worried about anything related to basketball.

But when Bryant Stith was approached about the Brunswick High boys basketball coaching gig -- a school he basically put on everyone's bulletin board -- he had his reservations.

"I didn't know how the kids would receive me," Stith said. "That was the most frightening part of taking the job. That first day of practice was a bit awkward, but after that we just blossomed."

In his first year coaching at any level, Stith has led the Bulldogs to a 25-3 record and a Group AA semifinal appearance today at 3:30 p.m. against Hidden Valley of Roanoke at VCU's Siegel Center.

"Our motto around here right now is that we can't win the state championship unless we beat Hidden Valley," Stith said. "From the very beginning of the season, we have played with one goal in mind and that's to compete for a state championship. We have never lost sight of that goal."

Stith can look for nothing else, having experienced back-to-back state crowns in 1987 and '88 as a Bulldogs player and Group AA's two-time player of the year. It could have been three straight state titles, but Stith and Brunswick lost in the 1986 final to Martinsville, Stith's sophomore season.

Stith, the class valedictorian with a 4.0 grade-point average, earned all-Southside District and all-region honors in each of his four seasons as a prep player.

After the 1988 crown, Brunswick went on a 15-year state-title drought as Stith starred at the University of Virginia and was drafted 13th overall by the Denver Nuggets in 1992.

He is U.Va.'s all-time leading scorer (2,516 points), averaging 19.2 points per game.

Stith's NBA career ended in 2002 with a 10-point average and two surgically repaired knees. Brunswick won its third title the next year (2003).

Now Stith looks to help add a fourth from the sideline, coaching a talented but short group that includes no one taller than the head coach.

Stith stands 6-5. The Bulldogs' tallest player is 6-4 senior Derek Lundy. Only three other players reach six feet, not including all-state talent Ronald Thornhill, a 5-8 whirlwind of a guard who throws in 20 points per night.

"It's a great feeling. When I came back I wanted to be able to work with the kids in some capacity," said Stith, who started S.C.O.R.E. (Setting Children On the Road to Empowerment) in 2003, a recreation program designed to assist the local youth. "The opportunity presented itself where I could be the head coach. Of course I was very excited. It's been a very rewarding experience."

Even more rewarding if Stith can hoist another state crown.

 

Kerney meets Seattle media
By Scott Eklund
Seahawks.NET
Posted Mar 8, 2007

Seattle made its move this week inking former Atlanta Falcons DE Patrick Kerney to a lucrative deal shortly after the free agency period began last week. On Wednesday, the Seahawks introduced the newest member of their organization and he talked about the process that brought him to the Emerald City and what he expects of his new team and himself.

“In free agency, the one worry you go into it with is that the only teams that would be interested in you would be ones that are sort of down on the bottom of the NFL looking for a building block,” Kerney told the assembled media. “Luckily that wasn’t the case. It came down to (Seattle) and Denver and both were winning organizations.

“Seattle has been to the playoffs the past four years, the Super Bowl two years ago and has a lot of talented players still in the prime of their careers. That was the deciding factor along with the character of the guys I’ve met around here.”

There were some concerns about Kerney’s torn pectoral muscle, but the nine-year veteran quickly put that to rest noting that he had started lifting three weeks ago – a full two months ahead of schedule.

After Kerney met with head coach Mike Holmgren and general manager Tim Ruskell he and his agent hopped a plane and headed back to Atlanta, but they were heaving on Seahawks defensive coordinator.

“We really didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time together when we were (in Seattle),” Kerney said. “I was familiar with Bill Johnson in Denver and I wanted to be able to get enough time with coach Marshall to develop more of a relationship and see what he was all about.

“We went over the roster, what each guy brings, the scheme he likes to run and he sold me on it.”

Holmgren added that Kerney is expected to man the left end spot that he was so used to playing in Atlanta the past nine years.

“We rotate a lot of our defensive lineman and Bryce Fisher is already there,” Holmgren said. “We have a rotation system so we want to keep Patrick fresh just like the other guys. Clearly we didn’t do this to have him standing next to me on the sidelines.

“When we’ve played against (Atlanta), and I’ve told him this, that in our preparation, we always had to prepare for him. He’s a special player because he’s a great athlete, he’s a great football player, but he plays the game like we like the players to play the game. He gives us everything he’s got, leaves nothing on the field and that’s how he was as an opponent.

“I’m just very, very happy he’s on my side now.”

Ruskell also mentioned that the city of Seattle is a reason that the team has had success in drawing some of the top free agent talent over the past two or three years.

“We’ve got a beautiful city and a great coach,” Ruskell said. “I don’t know what it was like before I got here, but there are a lot of things to sell. I always say, ‘if we can get them here we’ve got a heck of a chance’.

“Seattle sells itself and the team sells itself. We’re very proud of that and also the fact that, in a lot of cases, they are calling us. That’s when you know you’ve got the thing going the way you want it to go.”

Now the Seahawks will turn their sights toward players that can help them