Cavs fall into recovery mode
Losing in the quarters not what Virginia anticipated
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

TAMPA, Fla. -- Virginia finds itself in a position today -- anticipating an NCAA men's basketball tournament bid -- that it only dreamed about before the season.

Now, the Cavaliers need to rediscover the midseason form that made their first NCAA trip in five years an inevitability.

After tying for the regular-season championship, Virginia's appearance in the ACC Tournament was a short one, as 10th-seeded North Carolina State rallied for a 79-71 victory at the St. Pete Times Forum.

The Cavaliers (20-10) already had beaten the Wolfpack twice, but State never has lost to Virginia three times in one season.

It was the only the second time the teams had met in the ACC Tournament after Virginia had won both regular-season meetings. The first time was in 1983, when the Wolfpack avenged two earlier losses by defeating the Cavaliers in the ACC championship game.

That was also the year that State ended Ralph Sampson's celebrated career by defeating UVa in the final of the NCAA West Regional. The Wolfpack went on to win the NCAA title.

This N.C. State team lacks those credentials, but the Wolfpack erased a 40-26 second-half deficit Friday, marking the third time in 17 days that Virginia had lost a game after leading at the half.

UVa coach Dave Leitao invariably blames defense when his team loses a game, and, while the second-half offensive effort was spotty, it was hard to argue with him Friday.

The Wolfpack shot 73.9 percent from the field in outscoring Virginia 53-31 for the half.

"All you have to do is look at games that are going on now and will be going on next week," Leitao said. "As we've been talking about all week, [these] are not games that are played on paper. They're not played with records.

"They're played with competitiveness. If you don't compete, I can guarantee you that the other team is going to figure that out. They're going to compete. We stopped competing, they kept competing and they never gave up down 14. As a result, they put it to us."

Virginia is likely to get a sixth, seventh or eighth seed that will technically make the Cavaliers a first-round favorite in the NCAA tournament.

However, UVa has been the favorite in its last three losses -- at Miami, at Wake Forest and against N.C. State.

Much has been made about Virginia's chronic road problems, but this year the Cavaliers may have been more ineffective at neutral sites. Their only victory at a neutral site this year was to Division II Puerto-Rico Mayaguez in the seventh-place game of the San Juan Shootout, where Virginia lost to both Appalachian State and Utah.

"The season's not over," said UVa junior Sean Singletary, who did not make a shot from the field Friday in the second half but led all scorers with 23 points. "We've had a couple of losses, but we've still got one more tournament to play."

He made basically the same statement after the regular season, except then it was "two tournaments." And, now, one loss will end the season.

The shooting woes of backcourt mate J.R. Reynolds have been well-documented, but Singletary is only 25-of-69 from the field (36.2 percent) over the past four games. Reynolds is 9-of-44 (20.4 percent) over the past three games.

He hasn't stopped trying, scoring nine of his 11 points Friday in the final 5:26.

Leitao said Friday night that Reynolds has a hip injury. Reynolds said in the locker room that he has an abdominal injury similar to the condition that kept Solomon Tat off of the floor for 10 straight games earlier in the season. However, when Tat was sidelined, it was reported that he had a groin injury.

Hip, abdomen, groin. Whatever the problem, Reynolds has practiced sparingly but seldom comes out of the games. At this stage of the season, he and the Cavaliers have no other choice.
 

Billings' late goal lifts UVa over Princeton
By Sean McLernon / smclernon@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
March 10, 2007

Once Ben Rubeor saw daylight, he knew he had to pull the trigger.

The opportunities had been so few and far between - the potent Virginia offense was held to only one goal during a 29-minute stretch, on its home field no less - that the Virginia junior didn’t even think about passing the ball.

It proved to be Rubeor’s best decision yet this season.

The speedy attackman turned the corner off a Danny Glading screen, spun in front of the net, and fired a shot on the run past Princeton goalkeeper Alex Hewit to give No. 4 Virginia the deciding goal in a 7-6 victory over No. 6 Princeton Saturday afternoon at Klockner Stadium in front of 4,133 spectators.

“I wanted to put the ball in the hands of my best kid,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, who called a timeout with 30 seconds remaining to set up the final play. “He had a little room off the pick and came in and made the play. We talked about moving without it and trying to find Garrett [Billings] on the back side, but you always want to go for the first option if you can.”

The win is Virginia’s fourth straight after losing the season opener to Drexel on Feb. 18. The Tigers (1-2) have now lost two games in a row by one goal, falling to Johns Hopkins in double overtime in Baltimore last weekend.

Princeton outshot Virginia, 37-33, but strong play by UVa goalkeeper Kip Turner kept the Cavaliers in the game. The senior netminder recorded a handful of point-blank stops and kept the Tigers from scoring during the most critical stretch of the game.

With about two minutes left in the contest, Princeton attackman Peter Trombino caught a pass from Scott Sewanick running across the middle and fired a bullet at the goal from only about eight yards out. Turner made the save, preserving the tie, and then caught Mark Kovlar’s follow-up attempt off the rebound to give Virginia possession with about 90 seconds remaining.

The Virginia keeper finished with 10 saves, including a pair of key stops late in the third quarter on a Princeton extra-man opportunity, and outplayed his Princeton counterpart, who was a first-team All-American last season.

“Once you make a big save, you feel like nothing can really get past you,” said Turner, who earned third-team All-America honors in 2006. “That’s a little how I felt in the second half.”

The offense, meanwhile, could not get much going. A Jack Riley tally broke a 5-all halftime tie early in the third quarter, but Virginia struggled to create offensive chances after Riley’s score. Princeton tied the game on a Trombino goal with eight minutes remaining. The defense kept the Tigers in check the next few minutes before Rubeor put Virginia ahead for good.

“It was supposed to be a dummy dodge to get the defense moving and then swing the ball,” Rubeor said of the game-winning play. “Danny set a great pick and I found an opening, got my hands free and decided to take the shot.”

Princeton coach Bill Tierney disputed the validity of the final goal, claiming Glading set an illegal screen to get Rubeor open.

“It was a moving pick like it had been all day,” Tierney said. “If you’re not going to get called for moving picks, you’re going to set moving picks. That’s the way it is. We’d been asking the refs all day to watch it. You gotta give [Virginia] credit, they did a good job with it, and Ben is not a guy you can afford to make a mistake on.”

Princeton won the ensuing faceoff but wasn’t able to get off a shot before time expired.

Starsia said he was pleased with his team’s play against a stingy Princeton squad.

“[Princeton has] maybe the best goalie in the country, they’re very good on defense and we’re still a work in progress on offense,” Starsia said. “If you had asked me to guess and offered me seven goals before the game, I might have taken it.”

Rubeor and Billings led the Cavaliers with two goals each. Will Barrow and George Huguely also had goals for the Cavaliers, with Billings, Glading, Rubeor and Drew Thompson each recording an assist.

Trombino led the Tigers with three goals.

The Cavaliers never led in the first half, falling into a 2-0 hole in the first six minutes. Goals from Rubeor and Billings tied the game late in the quarter, but Princeton’s Bob Schneider converted an underhand shot while running across the middle to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Converting its only man-advantage opportunity of the half, Princeton extended its lead to 5-3 midway through the second quarter when a wide-open Rob Engelke converted in front of the Virginia goal.

The Cavaliers held the Tigers scoreless from there, and a running sidearm from Barrow with six minutes left in the half followed by a Billings bullet from about eight yards out with a minute remaining evened the score at 5-all going into the break.

“We were happy to be tied,” said Virginia defender Ricky Smith. “We had been playing very well in the second half all season long and we settled down. Kip started making big saves at the times we needed it.”

Virginia takes its four-game win streak into Tuesday’s home contest against Mount St. Mary’s. The Cavaliers are 3-0 in the all-time series with the Moutaineers, including a 16-5 triumph at Klockner Stadium last season.

“After the Drexel loss, we questioned ourselves a little bit,” Turner said. “After reeling off these four wins, it feels good to be back.”

 

Big innings propel Cavs past Demon Deacons
Adams goes 5 for 6 as UVa picks up its first ACC win
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 10, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Brian O’Connor had almost forget what a crooked number looked like.

The wait was well worth it.

After his team registered just one multi-run frame it its previous 32 innings, Virginia’s coach witnessed a pair of lopsided innings that helped propel the fourth-ranked Cavaliers to a 13-5 win over Wake Forest.

The win marked the first for UVa (16-2, 1-1 ACC) at Gene Hooks Stadium since 2003 and gave the Cavaliers, who lost 8-3 on Friday to the Demon Deacons (10-5, 1-1 ACC), a chance to win the series in today’s finale.

“Any time you lose it is human nature to have some doubts in your ability or your team,” O’Connor said. “That is just human nature to feel that way. To come out and aggressively swing the bats, that is how you get yourself out of it in a hurry.”

After plating a lone run in the first, Virginia roughed up Wake starter Eric Niesen (2-1) for four runs in the second as Greg Miclat, Sean Doolittle and David Adams delivered RBI singles.

Virginia added to its lead and chased Niesen from the game in dramatic fashion in the fifth. The Cavaliers, who sent 11 batters to the plate in the frame, pounded out six hits, including back-to-back doubles from Patrick Wingfield and Tyler Cannon. Brandon Marsh and Adams, who finished 5 for 6 with four RBI, also drove in a pair in the inning as the Cavaliers pushed their lead to 12-0.

“Everybody chipped in and everybody did their part,” O’Connor said. “That’s what it takes to have a big offensive day. You have to have those crooked numbers, and we haven’t had that in the past few games.

“I think the first five innings were the best five innings we have had offensively this season. We came out against a very good pitcher and swung the bats aggressively.”

It was exactly the approach O’Connor wanted from his team.

“I think we came in with the right mentality today,” Adams said. “Coach told us to come out hard and aggressive early on and give it to them. We were easy [on Friday]; we didn’t come out strong and they did. We turned it right back around.”

The offensive explosion was more than enough run support for Virginia pitcher Jacob Thompson. The sophomore, who improved to 5-0, retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and was near-perfect until giving up a three-run homer in the fifth inning to catcher Austin Jones.

“I thought Jacob had good stuff and good command in the early part of the game and that was important,” O’Connor said. “He tired there a little bit at the end and ran out of gas, but our bullpen did a nice job holding them down in a tough park to pitch in.”

Thompson’s rough inning came after Virginia’s seven-run frame.

“It was a long inning but that is no excuse to fall behind in counts and give up that many hits like that,” Thompson said. “I felt good today, but I just hit a brick wall [in the fifth]. I have to push through that in the next few weekends. I have to have the right mindset.”

Alex Smith and Jake Rule combined to pitch 3.2 innings of scoreless relief.

Extra bases

Virginia freshman lefty Matt Packer (2-0, 2.57 ERA) will start today. Wake plans to counter with left Garrett Bullock (1-0, 5.74). … After his career-best performance at the plate, Adams is now batting .500 on the season.

 

Littlepage in eye of the storm
UVa AD on NCAA selection committee
Luciana Chavez, Staff Writer
 

If you've been listening to ACC men's basketball coaches all season long, you know they expect to be shown proper respect today when the 2007 NCAA Tournament field is announced on CBS at 6 p.m.
They seem to agree that it's only fair since nine ACC teams are ranked in the top 50 of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and the ACC as a conference has the highest rated RPI.

Obviously, ACC coaches are still riled up that just four ACC teams made it into the 2006 tournament and that Florida State, at 9-7 in the ACC, missed out.

Imagine being Virginia athletics director Craig Littlepage, who chaired the committee last year, when just as many Missouri Valley teams as ACC and Big 12 teams got in.

"I can't explain with any precision as to why one was let in and one wasn't," said Littlepage of the 65-team field during an interview last month with The N&O. "There's no precise answer or one answer. And we never discuss how many teams from a conference get in or don't get in."

Littlepage said they were able to pinpoint other teams outside of the power conferences because they were considering every factor that might make a team tournament-worthy, not just RPI.

The RPI takes that grade-school reasoning of "we're better than you because we beat the team that beat you last week" and puts it into statistical form.

The RPI reflects a team's winning percentage, its opponents' winning percentage and the winning percentage of its opponents' opponents. It's not fool-proof.

"I think it was Bob Bowlsby [former Iowa AD] who came up with the terminology that the RPI is a 'blunt instrument,' " Littlepage said. "... It can't be relied upon to say that the No. 15 RPI means you're the 15th best team in the country and as a result you belong in the tournament."

The 10 committee members use that one instrument along with a list of others to choose the 65 teams who will begin NCAA Tournament play on Thursday.

The committee looks at a team's record, quality of nonconference schedule, quality of conference schedule, road game record, record in the last 10 games of the season, RPI, performance in conference tournament, and a rating from several coaches' advisory groups, made up of 20-30 coaches from different parts of the U.S.

The fact that last season was the third that committee members had access to DirecTV satellite packages also helped the committee more successfully evaluate all teams as opposed to the handful with great TV packages.

Last season, the work and effort paid off in a different way. After a while it became clear -- the big six conferences like the ACC, Southeastern, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten and Pacific 10 weren't the only conferences with tournament-caliber teams.

"I'd be crazy to try to suggest that all the conferences are equal in terms of their relative success," Littlepage said. "But a conference's perceived strength is not going to carry a team in terms of consideration for the tournament. ... We consider what they do in conference balanced alongside of what the team does outside of it."

Littlepage said the Missouri Valley and Colonial teams that did get in did not "figure out how to manipulate the RPI" as much as they figured out how important it was to play a good schedule, on the road and at home, against quality opponents.

Despite the initial "huh?" reaction to the field in 2006, the committee looked like geniuses when Missouri Valley squads Bradley and Wichita State made it to the Sweet 16 and George Mason advanced to the Final Four.

Littlepage, who is serving his fifth and final year on the selection committee, said he is proud of the work that led to that.

"It's a job where there are no perfect answers," Littlepage said. "It's a job where you can't make everyone happy. Some people will be disappointed."

 

UVa has cause for concern
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 10, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. - Reluctantly, Virginia head coach Dave Leitao gave the specifics of star guard J.R. Reynolds’ injury, something he’s referred to on occasion but never specifically.

It’s his hip area. And something sure is wrong with it.

Reynolds, who said he’s been struggling with an abdominal strain for the last month, had his third straight dud of a game Friday night in Virginia’s 79-71 loss to N.C. State in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

The senior missed his first seven shots and finished 3-for-15 from the floor. That makes him 9-for-44 (20 percent) in his last three games, two of which were losses. He’s 3 of 15 from 3-point range over that stretch.

“He’s a shooter without his rhythm,” said Leitao, who exchanged words with Reynolds on several occasions during the game. “He needs his rhythm. … If we continue to rely on him as we have all year long and he’s not ready to play physically, then it hurts us.”

It hurts Reynolds, too. He has barely been able to practice lately, watching from the side during full team drills as his collegiate career winds down. And when he does participate, he feels pain. All the time.

“(Doing) everything,” he said. “Running. Shooting.”

It was clear the injury was bugging him early against N.C. State. He missed a few open jumpers and couldn’t get going from inside either, watching two driving layups roll off the rim before he got a shot so open, he couldn’t miss it - a 12-footer with 4:23 left in the first half that put Virginia ahead 29-20.

It wasn’t the start of a great night, however. Reynolds was clearly favoring one side in the second half. He missed four more shots before making a driving layup that halted a 16-2 N.C. State run with 5:26 left.

He got to the free throw line a couple times and hit his only 3-pointer of the game a few minutes later to pull Virginia within one, but he didn’t get another chance for a shot in the last 2½ minutes.

If Reynolds, who is averaging 18.0 points per game, is unable to get through the injury, it could mean trouble for the Cavaliers, who have had enough problems trying to find a consistent third scorer this season without having to worry about their second-team all-ACC senior guard.

Mamadi Diane, UVa’s third-leading scorer at 9.9 points per game, was average against N.C. State, scoring 10 points on 4 of 10 shooting. Adrian Joseph gave his usual boost off the bench, scoring seven points on 3 of 5 shooting. Both will have to step up their games in the next couple weeks if Reynolds is at less than 100 percent.

Rest isn’t an option. Virginia will play either Thursday or Friday in the NCAA tournament, a fate it will find out on Sunday, meaning Reynolds will have to continue to play through the pain.

“There’s no choice,” he said.