Unheralded, but not untalented
Great Danes guard Wilson is two-time player of year in America East Conference
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 13, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE-- Even if Dave Leitao were inclined to underestimate the University of Albany's basketball team -- and that's definitely not the case -- Rob Lanier and Steve Seymour wouldn't let him.

Leitao is the second-year coach at the University of Virginia, whose first-round opponent in the NCAA tournament is Albany. His assistants include Lanier and Seymour, who worked together for four seasons at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., before coming to U.Va. in 2005.

The Siena and Albany campuses are about four miles apart, and their men's basketball teams meet annually. Albany's roster has had significant turnover since 2004-05, Lanier's final season as Siena's coach. Still, he and Seymour, who was an assistant at Siena, are familiar with some of the Great Danes, most notably Jamar Wilson.

Wilson, a 6-1 senior guard from the Bronx, N.Y., is the two-time player of the year in the America East Conference, which the Great Danes have won each of the past two seasons.

"Jamar is the guy," Lanier said yesterday. "He's the real deal."

Wilson leads Albany in scoring (18.6 ppg), rebounding (6.3) and assists (4.9). Consider him the Great Danes' version of Sean Singletary, U.Va.'s all-ACC guard.

"If what I read and see about Jamar Wilson is true, they're very similar in what they bring to the table," Leitao said.

Lanier, who went 3-1 against Albany as Siena's coach, said Wilson "could come into the ACC and be one of the better guards in the league . . . much in the same way Jack McClinton made that transition."

McClinton, a transfer from Siena, is now a starting guard at Miami. He made the all-ACC third team this season.

Virginia (20-10), the No. 4 seed in the South Region, meets No. 13 seed Albany (23-9) at 12:15 p.m. Friday in Columbus, Ohio. Candidates to cover Wilson include senior J.R. Reynolds, sophomore Mamadi "Mo" Diane and freshman Solomon Tat. Reynolds is dealing with a hip injury, but that has hurt the 6-2 senior's shooting touch more than it's affected his defense, according to Leitao.

Wilson isn't the only Albany player who scares the U.Va. coaching staff. Also named to the all-America East first team was Albany's Jason Siggers, a senior swingman. The third team includes the Great Danes' Brent Wilson, a junior forward who's not related to Jamar Wilson.

The conference's defensive player of the year was Albany's Brian Lillis, a junior swingman who, like Brent Wilson, is from Iowa.

Four Great Danes have made at least 42 3-pointers this season: Jamar Wilson (42), Siggers (45), reserve guard Jon Iati (48) and Brent Wilson (68). U.Va. finished the regular season ranked second among ACC teams in field goal percentage defense. In its ACC tournament loss last Friday night, however, Virginia allowed N.C. State to shoot 73.9 percent from the floor in the second half.

If the Great Danes have similar success, U.Va.'s trip to the NCAAs may be a short one.

"We've got to guard them," Lanier said. "They've got the capabilities of scoring the basketball. If we're truly one of the better defensive teams in the league, we've got to stop them."

 

Danes dogged on 'D'COLLEGE BASKETBALL / HIGH SCHOOLS
Albany's playing style is similar to that used by coach Jeff Jones when he was at Virginia.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Few people know as much about Albany, Virginia's opponent Friday in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, as former UVa assistant Dennis Wolff.

Wolff has been the head coach for 12 years at Boston University, which played the Great Danes three times this season, the last meeting coming eight days ago in the America East semifinals.

"They're not an easy matchup," Wolff said. "They will not beat themselves."

Boston University had the lead during the second half in all three of its games with Albany, which may not be what the Cavaliers want to hear.

Virginia has enjoyed second-half leads in each of its last three losses, and twice has had double-digit, second-half leads.

"I don't think they'll [the Great Danes] be intimidated," Wolff said. "At the same time, Virginia might be able to bother them with their quickness."

Albany (23-9) is led by Jamar Wilson, a 6-foot-1 guard who is a two-time America East player of the year.

"Wilson's a fifth-year kid," Wolff said. "That's what goes on in this league. The years that we were winning, we had three or four fifth-year kids. In this league, you don't have to worry about guys leaving early."

Comparisons between Wilson and Virginia point guard Sean Singletary, a two-time All-ACC selection, will be inevitable. Wolff thinks Wilson is more like Boston College sophomore Tyrese Rice.

"He's bigger; he can score in the lane more, but that might be a good analogy," Wolff said. "He's herky-jerky. He's got good body control in the lane."

The Great Danes also boast the America East defensive player of the year in 6-5, 220-pound wing Brian Lillis.

"There's nothing tricky about them," Wolff said. "It's all conservative, physical, half-court, man-to-man. Those two that played [Saturday] and us are three good defensive teams."

The reference was to Albany and Vermont, a 60-59 loser to Albany on Vermont's home floor.

"I would equate the way they play and the way we try to play to the Virginia teams coached by Jeff Jones," Wolff said.

Jones' name has come up a few times this week because he was the coach of the last UVa team, in 1995, to win an NCAA tournament game. The Cavaliers had the same seeding in 1995 that they have this year, No. 4, but advanced to the Midwest Region final.

Proud fraternity

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun won't be taking his Huskies to the NCAA tournament after making 14 appearances in the past 17 years, but it's not as if Calhoun won't be represented.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao is one of four ex-UConn assistants who have teams in the Division I field of 65, joining Karl Hobbs from George Washington, Howie Dickenman from Central Connecticut State and first-year Pennsylvania coach Glen Miller.

Still not going

Virginia junior Sean Singletary, the fifth player in UVa history to make first-team All-ACC more than once, reiterated Monday that he is planning to return to college next season.

"I'm not too worried about the NBA," Singletary said. "Everybody is like, 'You might want to leave because you're doing real well,' but I feel as though [Leitao] has confidence in me and I have the confidence in myself that we can do this all over again.

"I'm not interested in going anywhere."

Gillen's stock rising

The dismissal of South Florida coach Robert McCullum during the ACC Tournament gave rise to speculation that former Virginia coach Pete Gillen, 59, might be a good fit. Gillen also has been mentioned in connection with an opening at Evansville.

"If I were in charge, the first guy I'd ask until he said no is Peter Gillen," ESPN analyst Dick Vitale told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. "Seton Hall went after him, [but] couldn't get him. He has a wealth of Big East experience, the job he did at Providence [and] ACC experience at Virginia.

"He has personality plus. The media would love him, the fans, alumni. He's exactly the resume they should be looking for. ... The guy's like me. I'm 67 and I'll match my energy with any 12-year-old."
 

ACC tourney slips don't bode well for Tech, U.Va.
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 12, 2007

TAMPA, Fla. - Even in a year when the ACC tournament erected its tent next to the Gulf of Mexico, Sunday's final featured a couple of teams from Tobacco Road.

It didn't have to be like that. North Carolina was favored to win from the start, but North Carolina State's improbable run could have been derailed, if not by Duke in the first round, by Virginia or Virginia Tech.

Coming into the tournament, the commonwealth's representatives were well positioned to make their presence felt. Florida was new territory for the ACC tournament, and the fresh site was an open invitation for U.Va. or Tech to assert their new-found confidence.

Instead, both teams squandered opportunities. It's tempting to say now that N.C. State was destined to reach the final, but everybody knows that isn't true. Both U.Va. and Tech had chances to put Sidney Lowe's red blazer back in mothballs.

When they didn't, when they gave in to Wolfpack resilience, the Cavaliers and Hokies became afterthoughts at a cocktail party held to toast a couple of Carolina teams. Same old, same old, in other words.

This was U.Va.'s chance to make believers of people who may have rated the Cavaliers the puniest No. 2 seed in years. Instead, Dave Leitao's team was one and done after blowing a 14-point halftime lead. It picked the biggest stage so far this season to look its worst.

In only its third ACC season, Virginia Tech has enough talent to defeat North Carolina twice. But the Hokies have suffered unexplainable lapses. That's fair to say, isn't it? They beat Wake Forest with relative ease in the quarterfinals before relapsing in the second half against N.C. State.

With that, Lowe and his players became the feel-good story. In their fourth game in four days, the Wolfpack had enough left to throw a scare into the Tar Heels.

The North Carolina victory gives Roy Williams his first ACC tournament title as the Tar Heels head coach.

"It's been a wonderful weekend," Williams said, "but let's not get carried away. This does not compare with winning the national championship."

Somebody with a Carolina pedigree and a national title ring can say that. But a championship weekend here, even a berth in the final, would have done wonders for the self-confidence of U.Va. or Tech.

Now, after the way they just underperformed, you're left wondering what chances the Cavaliers and Hokies have in the NCAA tournament.

 

Can seeds bear fruit?
March 12, 2007 12:35 am
Several Cavalier players erupt in cheer yesterday after learning their seeding in the NCAA men's tournament.

By TAFT COGHILL and STEVE DeSHAZO

Dave Leitao and his Virginia men's basketball team had to wait a while before hearing the Cavaliers' name called when the 65-team NCAA tournament field was announced yesterday.

But when Leitao found out his team was the No. 4 seed in the South Region, it was worth the wait.

The Cavaliers (20-10) are headed to Columbus, Ohio, to take on America East champion Albany (23-9) on Friday. They'll be joined in Columbus by Virginia Tech (21-11), who is a No. 5 seed in the West Region, and will play No. 12 Illinois (23-11).

It's the first time in 21 years that the Hokies and Cavaliers are in the NCAA field in the same season.

Virginia will be doing so as a higher seed than most anticipated after the Cavaliers dropped three of their last five games to the bottom three teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Leitao said the team's status as ACC co-regular season champions helped its seed.

"I just went back to all year long we had the best conference in America and we were co-champions of the conference," Leitao said shortly after the field was announced.

The Cavaliers want to quickly forget the way they finished the season. They had a chance to wrap up the ACC regular season title outright, but lost to 11th-place Wake Forest. This past Friday, they were bounced from the ACC tournament in Tampa, Fla., by 10th-seeded North Carolina State.

Senior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds, the team's second-leading scorer, is still nursing an abdominal strain that Leitao said will be evaluated in practice today.

Still, the Cavaliers are optimistic about their postseason chances.

"We don't have to dwell on the things we did well or the things we didn't do well this season," all-ACC junior point guard Sean Singletary said. "The season's over. We've got a whole clean slate. I'm excited about the position we're in."

Leitao coached in the America East from 1994-96 at Northeastern. He watched Albany beat Vermont 60-59 on Saturday for its second consecutive America East title behind 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists from Jamar Wilson and 14 points from Jason Siggers.

Virginia Tech's NCAA appearance is its first since 1996.

"I couldn't be happier for our seniors, who have created some form of renaissance for our program," coach Seth Greenberg said.

They'll face a new environment and a team with tournament experience on Friday. Illinois still has a few players remaining from the national runners-up in 2005.

"We've played on big stages, in big games and in big venues," Greenberg said. "Hopefully our experience in big games will make up for our lack of NCAA tournament experience."

Illinois (23-11) is strong inside, with 6-foot-9 senior Warren Carter (13.7 points, 6.2 rebounds per game) and 6-10 junior Shaun Pruitt (11.6, 7.6). The Hokies, who are led by senior guards Zabian Dowdell (18.3) and Jamon Gordon (11.6), were upset by N.C. State on Saturday in the ACC semifinals.

Maryland (24-8) also will try to bounce back from a disappointing ACC tournament loss. The Terrapins were upset by 12th-seeded Miami on Thursday.

But they earned their first NCAA bid in three seasons and were seeded fourth in the East Region. They'll face Davidson (29-4) on Thursday in Buffalo.

"I think we earned [the seed] by our play," coach Gary Williams said. "We won seven of our last eight, and our league was rated the best all year. I think our 10-6 record in league play is probably the biggest reason we got the fourth seed."

Davidson won the Southern Conference title behind star freshman Stephen Curry, the son of former Virginia Tech star Dell Curry. He averages 21.2 points per game and scored 79 in three Southern Conference tournament games.

The job of guarding him likely will fall to senior D.J. Strawberry. The Terps should have an edge inside with senior Ekene Ibekwe and junior James Gist.

Also in Buffalo, 11th-seeded VCU (27-6) will try to use its advantage in quickness against sixth-seeded Duke (22-10), which has struggled against faster teams.

The Rams are led by all-Colonial Athletic Association guard Eric Maynor, who took over in the final minutes of the league championship game against George Mason. He teams with seniors B.A. Walker and Jessie Pellot-Rosa to give VCU a strong perimeter game.

Duke, which has reached the Sweet 16 for a national-best nine-straight years, should have an advantage inside with Josh McRoberts. But the Blue Devils have lost their last three games.

They should benefit from the expected return of freshman Gerald Henderson Jr., whose father played for the Rams in the 1980s. Henderson was suspended Duke's first-round ACC tournament loss to N.C. State.

Georgetown (26-6) earned the second seed in the East Region and will face Atlantic Sun champion Belmont (23-9) on Thursday in Winston-Salem, N.C. It's the second-straight NCAA appearance for the Bruins.

The Hoyas should have a huge size advantage with 7-foot-2 junior center Roy Hibbert and 6-9 junior forward Jeff Green, the Big East player of the year. Green had 21 points and Hibbert 18 in Saturday's Big East championship rout of Pittsburgh. Belmont's tallest starter is 6-8 Matthew Dotson.

George Washington (23-8), which won the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament final on Saturday, was seeded 11th in the West Region. The Colonials will face Vanderbilt, which is led by all-Southeastern Conference guard Derrick Byars, a transfer from Virginia who averages 16.8 points per game.

Guard Maureece Rice (16.2 points per game) and forward Carl Elliott (13.8) lead the Colonials. Elliott scored 17 points in Saturday's A-10 final.

Old Dominion (23-8) gave the CAA an at-large team for the second-straight season. The Monarchs, who won 12-straight games before losing to George Mason in the CAA tournament semifinals, will face fifth-seeded Butler on Thursday in Buffalo.

Senior forward Valdas Vasylius (15.8) and guard Drew Williamson (11.3) lead the Monarchs. They'll face a challenge from Butler, which won the Horizon League regular-season title but was upset by Wright State in the tournament final.

Guards A.J. Graves (17.0) and Mike Green (14.1) lead the Bulldogs.

 

Men's Lacrosse:Back on winning streak
After losing the first game of the season, the Cavs have won four in a row and look to keep it up
Megan McDonald, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

The Virginia men's lacrosse team will look to extend its four-game winning streak tonight against Mount Saint Mary's.

"This game's another day in which we have the opportunity to get a little bit better," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "We need to use every day as a building block and so it is another important game for us."

The Cavaliers head into tonight's contest 4-1 overall. Bouncing back from their season-opening loss to Drexel, Virginia defeated Stony Brook and during Spring Break, knocked down Syracuse, VMI and Princeton.

The Cavaliers posted their 11-8 win over the Syracuse Orangemen in front of an NCAA record 20,180 fans at the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic in Baltimore, Md. The following Monday, they promptly defeated VMI 20-0. After Virginia scored seven goals in the opening six minutes, all 37 available players saw time on the field against the Keydets.

The Cavaliers concluded their spring break series this past Saturday against Princeton. Before face off, the Cavalier's 2006 National Championship Flag was raised at Klöckner Stadium in front of a crowd of 4,143 and several members of the 2006 senior class.

The Princeton Tigers took an early lead with two quick goals in the opening five minutes, but junior attackman Ben Rubeor ended the unanswered run shortly thereafter with an unassisted goal. Sophomore Garrett Billings then tied it up in the 11th minute, but Princeton managed to score once more to close out the first quarter with a 3-2 lead.

Princeton continued its assault on the Cavalier net with a quick goal in the opening minute of the second quarter. On a fast break, the efforts of junior Will Barrow, who only recently returned to the field from the injured list, kept the Cavaliers within one. By halftime, Billings had scored the tying goal and the teams entered the locker room five-all.

Momentum shifted early in the third quarter as junior Jack Riley's goal gave Virginia its first lead of the game and Cavalier pressure forced Princeton to turn over the ball unnecessarily. Nevertheless, the Tigers held Virginia to that one goal and the third quarter ended 6-5 in favor of the Cavaliers.

With eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Princeton evened the score six-all. The Tigers then launched a full assault on the Cavalier net, but senior goalkeeper Kip Turner denied shot after shot and thus denied Princeton the lead.

"The defense, and especially Kip, played fantastic," Rubeor said. "I think it could be the best I have seen Kip play. I have seen him have some more saves but about six of the ones he made today were just amazing -- really spectacular."

With the game still tied, the Cavaliers called timeout with 32 seconds on the clock. On the restart, a pick by sophomore Danny Gladding gave Rubeor a clear shot opportunity and the sure-fire attackman scored the game winner.

"I was shocked that he was that open," Starsia said. "Frankly, I felt a little like the 2005 semi-final, 'Oh my God he scored too early.' But we will take it. It was exactly what we drew up and worked a little better than anyone would have imagined."

Defeating two quality programs -- Syracuse and Princeton -- in the same week has certainly added to the Cavaliers' confidence. Nevertheless, after the game, players and coaches alike emphasized the need for continued improvement as the season progresses.

"I think we are improving each week and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't keep doing more of the same," Rubeor said. "I think we have played some different style teams so we have been able to take that and kind of change our play and adapt to what we face. We are really learning from each game."

Virginia is scheduled to face-off at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Klöckner.

 

Spring broken
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Going into Spring Break last week, the Cavalier baseball team was rolling in success. They had gone 12-0 in their first (and longest) homestand of the year. They had reached a ranking of No. 5 in Collegiate Baseball with an overall record of 15-1. Their only loss of the season came on the road against No. 29 Coastal Carolina, in a 3-2 pitcher's duel. The pitching staff had dominated opponents with a stellar ERA of 1.54. If momentum means anything, then knocking off unranked Wake Forest in the team's first conference series shouldn't have been too much to ask, right?

Apparently, it was. Wake Forest battered the Cavalier hurlers for 19 runs in the three games, as the Demon Deacons took two out of three in the series. All of a sudden, the Cavaliers don't look so tough as they head into the thick of their challenging ACC season.

But it's not merely the losses that should have Cavalier fans concerned. It's the manner in which they were defeated that is worrisome.

Take loss number one on Friday. Starter and preseason all-American Sean Doolittle had appeared four times prior to his start Friday, giving up a miniscule three earned runs in 23 innings. As the ace of the pitching staff and the third hitter in the lineup, he is without a doubt a leader in the clubhouse. Of all players, Doolittle should have been one to step up in Virginia's ACC opener.

This is why they say games are not won on paper. Doolittle gave up five runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings of work, giving the Demon Deacons a lead they would not relinquish. He allowed his first homerun of the season, a two-run shot in the fifth inning, and more than doubled his ERA from 1.17 to 2.47 in the 8-3 loss.

Sunday's defeat was equally jarring. Heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the score was knotted at six runs apiece. When senior Casey Lambert strolled to the mound, Cavalier fans felt at ease. Lambert had entered three save situations prior to the one Sunday night and had shut the door on opponents each time. His 35 career saves is just six away from the all-time ACC record. The likelihood of Lambert blowing a game in the ninth is about as likely as Dave Leitao cracking a smile in the fourth quarter at JPJ.

Like Doolittle, however, Lambert was unable to come through. After giving up a lead-off walk, Lambert gave up two singles, allowing the seventh run that spelled the end of the Cavaliers' night.

How could this have happened? Was the pitching staff used to getting away with throwing meatballs as they could against the likes of Coppin State and William & Mary? Possibly. Was the team so caught up in its early success that it lost sight of the fact that the difficult part of its schedule was still to come? Perhaps. Was the team overconfident after receiving only a rare challenge in its long homestand? Likely.

One thing is for sure for the Cavaliers: they need to kick it back into gear, and they need to do it fast. After they take on lowly Niagara tonight, the team heads to Chapel Hill for a series with the No. 3 Tar Heels, then has another road game against an always dangerous team from Richmond. Virginia then returns home the following weekend for a series against No. 15 Miami, yet another ranked ACC opponent.

The manner in which the Cavaliers need to get back on track is also clear -- they must be lights out on the mound. The Virginia offense was certainly not at fault in the series against Wake Forest -- the team combined for 19 runs in the three games. Doolittle, Lambert and company must now reprove that they have one of the best pitching staffs in the nation.

All year, the team has been talking about being ready for the tough ACC schedule. Well, it's here. It's time for the Cavs to prove that they are ready.

 

Women's Lacrosse: Undefeated Virginia faces challenge in No. 2 Maryland
Virginia and Maryland will meet in battle of top five, undefeated ACC teams today
Sam Dreiman, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

After starting off the season with two huge wins, the No. 4 Virginia women's lacrosse team has not stopped rolling.

With three wins over No. 10 Syracuse, No. 31 Temple and No. 11 Penn State, the undefeated Cavaliers (5-0, 1-0 ACC) look to continue their winning streak tonight against another top competitor, No. 2 Maryland.

"I think we all acknowledge that we are just five games in, and while we have come through in doing some great things really well, Maryland is certainly going to be our best opponent to beat," Virginia coach Julie Myers said. "We are doing a lot of things right but we are going to be completely tested come Tuesday night with Maryland."

Offensively, Virginia is led by senior attacker Kate Breslin and sophomore attacker Blair Weymouth. Breslin has recorded 15 goals and three assists, including three hat tricks, while Weymouth has 10 goals and five assists to her name.

But to beat Maryland, it looks like the Cavaliers will need to be playing their top game on both sides of the ball.

"I think we need to keep doing what we have been doing with controlling the tempo of the game, making good decisions and being poised under pressure," Myers said. "And making sure our defense is really communicating and limiting opportunities for the shooters on the other side of the ball. We just need to dominate loose balls, dominate possession time and really try to really dictate the pace of the game."

In all five of the games the Cavaliers have played, the squad has scored in double digits and held the opposing team to single digits.

Maryland, another undefeated team with a record of 5-0 (2-0 ACC), also has the same statistic, with the exception of its matchup against Duke which Maryland won 19-18.

"We've been really trying to come out extra aggressive, being all over ground balls and pressuring our attack," senior defender and co-captain Jessy Morgan said. "We realize that they are really aggressive and they are always very competitive, so we are really looking forward to it."

Virginia must realize, however, that despite this being a matchup of two national champion contenders, as well as an in-conference game, 10 games remain in the season after Maryland. A win would clearly be beneficial for the Cavaliers, but a loss would not be the end of the world.

This game "is important for a lot of reasons," Myers said. "Obviously it is an ACC game, obviously it is Maryland, which is a great rival of ours. But it is game number six of ours so I do not think the season ends tomorrow if we win or if we do not win. It is a nice test to see us show up against a great opponent. Maryland is good, they are for real. Clearly they are coming to town ready to give us a match. We are just excited that it is [at home]. It should be a great atmosphere and environment for us to play well."