BIT PLAYERS
Experienced team allows freshmen on Virginia roster a chance to learn
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 15, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE Where would the University of North Carolina basketball team be without the contributions of freshmen Brandan Wright, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington?

Where would Maryland be without Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes, Georgia Tech without Javaris Crittenton and Thaddeus Young, Duke without Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson?

The story is different at the University of Virginia. Second-year coach Dave Leitao's roster includes four scholarship freshmen, and only one of them, 6-6, 230-pound forward Will Harris, has started a game.

Rounding out the class are 6-8, 230-pound Jamil Tucker, 6-5, 220-pound Solomon Tat and 6-8, 230-pound Jerome Meyinsse. Tucker, an exceptional outside shooter, has earned a spot in Leitao's rotation, but Tat missed most of U.Va.'s nonconference schedule with an injury, and his role has been limited. Meyinsse, who was considered a redshirt candidate, has appeared in only four ACC games.

Given that U.Va. returned of its all starters from 2005-06, including star guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds, perhaps it's not surprising that the freshmen have played minor parts in the team's success.

Virginia (20-10), the No. 4 seed in the South Region, plays No. 13 Albany (23-9) tomorrow in the NCAA tournanent's first round at Columbus, Ohio.

The newcomers' averages are modest: 3.8 points and 3.4 rebounds for Harris, 3.6 points and 2.2 rebounds for Tucker, 2 points for Tat, 1.2 points for Meyinsse.

"For me, it's all about winning," said Harris, a New York native who played last season at Brewster (N.H.) Academy.

"As long as I win, then I'm happy if I score zero points or I score 48 points. It doesn't really matter to me, because everybody gets recognized when you win."

At the core of Leitao's coaching philosophy is his commitment to defense, an area in which many freshmen struggle.

"I think the first thing we have is a really good group of guys that understand what they're in the middle of," Leitao said of his first-year players, "and it didn't take them long to understand that they had to do certain things that had nothing to do with scoring and the things that they were accustomed to, to even get on the court to have a chance to score."

Tucker has made nearly 50 percent of his 3-point attempts, and his shooting helped U.Va. whip Gonzaga and Maryland at John Paul Jones Arena. He's averaging only 10.2 minutes, however, and that's not because of his shooting. It's because of his defensive lapses.

Harris and Tucker said Monday that they're content with their roles.

"It's always best to be able to have your way shown for you instead of trying to find your way your first year," said Tucker, who's from Gary, Ind. "Having people like Sean and J.R. show us what we need to do when it's our turn has helped me personally out a lot."

Harris, who's started three games, said: "I felt that I would have to come in and prove myself first before I become one of the go-to guys. That's good. I don't mind it being this way."

Meyinsse, an exceptional student from Baton Rouge, La., didn't turn 18 until December. The combination of his youth and U.Va.'s depth and experience in the frontcourt has kept Meyinsse on the bench.

"He just knows, being as smart as he is, that his time will come," Tucker said.

Of the Cavaliers' freshmen, Tat is the best defender, and he might have played the largest role had he been healthy. But the native of Jos Plateau, Nigeria, who's one of Virginia's most popular players, missed 10 games in November and December with a groin injury.

U.Va. fans have yet to see the real Solomon Tat, he said Monday.

"I look at it as part of a learning experience," Tat said. "Things will happen, and sometimes you question what happened. At the same time you're learning a lot of stuff, and I think I've had great fun this year, even without playing."

Singletary has said repeatedly that he plans to return for his senior season, but Reynolds' scoring (17.8 ppg) will have to replaced in 2007-08. Candidates will include Messrs. Harris, Tucker, Tat and Meyinsse.

"That's why they recruited us," Harris said, flashing his trademark smile.


 

Cavs shouldn't be too confident before opener
Virginia was one and done as a No. 5 seed in 2001 appearance
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The last time the University of Virginia advanced to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, in 2001, the Cavaliers lost in the first round to Gonzaga, a No. 12 seed.

This time around, U.Va. opens against a No. 13 seed. The University at Albany doesn't have the national reputation that Gonzaga enjoyed six years ago, but it's a team whose confidence is palpable. The Great Danes, seeded No. 16, scared No. 1 seed Connecticut in the first round of last year's NCAAs, and they expect that experience to pay dividends today.

U.Va. (20-10), seeded fourth in the South Region, meets America East champion Albany (23-9) at 12:15 p.m. The winner will meet No. 5 seed Tennessee or No. 12 seed Long Beach State in a second-round game Sunday afternoon.

Albany's players came out for their practice session at Nationwide Arena yesterday wearing long-sleeved T-shirts with "Lucky 13" on the back. This from a program that a decade ago competed in the NCAA's Division II.

"We will not be intimidated," Great Danes coach Will Brown said. "We will not be in awe of this atmosphere."

In part that's because Albany's assets include senior Jamar Wilson, the two-time player of the year in the America East Conference.

"I've said it over and over, Jamar is probably the best player in the country that nobody has heard about," Brown said.

Wilson averages 18.6 points and 6.3 rebounds - both team highs - and his matchup with U.Va. guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds figures to be a major storyline.

Like Wilson, Albany swingman Jason Siggers was selected to the all-America East first team. Singletary, a junior, made the all-ACC first team, and Reynolds, a senior, was picked for the second team.

U.Va. and Albany have only one common opponent this season: Utah. The Cavaliers lost by 24 to the Utes on the second day of the San Juan Shootout in December. The Great Danes won by one at Utah later that month.

The problems that plagued Virginia in Puerto Rico, where second-year coach Dave Leitao's team finished seventh, were remedied back on the mainland. The Cavaliers shared the ACC regular-season title with North Carolina and hit the 20-victory mark for the first time since 2001.

They've stumbled recently, though, losing three of their past five games. Those setbacks included an ACC tournament quarterfinal in which N.C. State shot 73.9 percent from the floor after halftime.

"We didn't end the season like we wanted to," Singletary said, "but right now, everybody's in good spirits and real confident, and we're ready to go out there and play ball."

Albany's starters include three all-America East selections: first-teamers Wilson and Siggers and third-teamer Brent Wilson. Another starter, junior swingman Brian Lillis, was named the conference's defensive player of the year.

Boston University coach Dennis Wolff's team went 0-3 against the Great Danes this season. Wolff is a former U.Va. assistant, and he'll follow today's game with interest.

"Jamar Wilson is a good player, but he's not Singletary," Wolff said. "Siggers is a decent player, but he's not J.R. Reynolds. . . . I think the whole thing is U.Va. approaching it like they can lose. I think if they approach it like that, they'll win."

Leitao's frontcourt is considered one of the ACC's weakest, but Wolff believes U.Va. should be able to exploit the Great Danes inside. Wilson, a 6-8, 240-pound junior, is Albany's tallest starter, and he noted that the Cavs are "bigger than anyone we played in the America East."

U.Va. starts 6-11 Tunji Soroye at center and 6-10 Jason Cain at power forward. Its frontcourt reserves include 6-9 Ryan Pettinella and 6-8 Laurynas Mikalauskas. Each has shined at times this season, if only for brief stretches.

"At different times different people have shown that they can play well," Cain said. "Hopefully that's a collective effort, and we can all just come in and play well."

 

COLUMBUS NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Mar 16, 2007

FACE TO FACE: The analyst on Westwood One's radio broadcast of today's Virginia-Albany opener at Nationwide Arena will be none other than Pete Gillen.

Gillen, who resigned under pressure as the Cavaliers' coach in March 2005, will appear on the Virginia Sports Network's pregame radio show around 11:40 a.m. today.

U.Va.'s second-year coach, Dave Leitao, said yesterday afternoon that he hadn't seen his predecessor in Columbus and had seen Gillen only a couple of times in Charlottesville.

"He's the finest of people, and he's a terrific basketball coach," Leitao said. "And again, he left this program with some very talented people."

Among the current Cavaliers whom Gillen recruited were guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds and big man Jason Cain.

At yesterday's press conference, Reynolds said that if he should see Gillen in Columbus, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to spark up a conversation."

Cain said: "When I see him, I guess it will be a happy moment. There's no hard feelings between anybody on the team and him."

Singletary said he'd "probably thank [Gillen] for helping recruit me to the school."

Gillen, who still lives in Charlottesville, has declined numerous interview requests from The Times-Dispatch since stepping down at U.Va. His son, Brendan, graduated from U.Va. last year.

PLEASANT SURPRISE: Only the most optimistic fans expected the Cavaliers, who have lost three of their past five games and don't have a great RPI, to get a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Leitao said he thought the selection committee might reward U.Va. for winning of share of the ACC regular-season title. "On the other hand," Leitao said, "I knew that we had slipped up down the stretch, and that might cost us. So I didn't know how to judge it."

U.Va. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage is nearing the end of a five-year term on the NCAA tournament selection committee. Leitao said he'd made a point of not talking to Littlepage before Selection Sunday about the Wahoos' prospects.

"I've not in two years asked one question, nor has he offered up anything," Leitao said. "And I think it would be unprofessional for either of us to do that."

Littlepage, by phone from New Orleans, said yesterday that the No. 1 seed awarded to North Carolina, with which U.Va. shared the ACC regular-season championship, helped the Cavaliers.

"The committee doesn't like to separate co-champions by six or seven seed lines," Littlepage said.

That U.Va went 5-3 against the other six ACC teams in the NCAAs helped its cause, too.

DANCE STEPS: The Cavaliers haven't won an NCAA tourney game since March 24, 1995, when they upset top-seeded Kansas in the third round.

Since then, U.Va. has dropped three straight in the NCAAs, the most recent loss coming March 16, 2001, to Gonzaga in a first-round game.

Overall, the Cavaliers' record in the tournament is 21-15. Leitao went 1-1 in the NCAAs as DePaul's coach.

CONNECTION: Albany is champion of the America East, whose all-rookie team this season included Hartford freshman Joe Zeglinski. His brother Sam, a 12th-grader at Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, is a U.Va. recruit.

In 2003-04, Sam Zeglinski started alongside Sean Singletary at Penn Charter. Singletary, of course, is the Cavaliers' two-time all-ACC point guard.

ONE WHO GOT AWAY: When Duke Crews was at Bethel High in Hampton, U.Va. tried unsuccessfully to land the 6-7, 233-pound forward. Crews signed with Tennessee, which plays Long Beach State in today's second game at Nationwide Arena.

Crews has started 18 games for the Volunteers and averages 8.5 points and 5 rebounds.

CURRY WATCHING: The 30-point effort of Davidson freshman guard Stephen Curry against Maryland in an NCAA first-round game carried meaning - and a question - from those interested in Virginia Tech basketball.

Curry is the son of Dell Curry, who scored 2,389 points for the Hokies during 1982-86, was a first-round draft choice of the Utah Jazz and played 16 NBA seasons. The Curry family resides in Charlotte, N.C., and Tech coach Seth Greenberg said he and his assistants "tracked" Stephen Curry for years. "We saw him play several times and knew he was a good player," Greenberg said.

The Hokies this season have a pair of senior guards, Zabian Dowdell and Jamon Gordon. Greenberg knew each was going to average more than 30 minutes and proposed to Stephen Curry that he come to Tech and redshirt as a freshman. "I didn't want to misrepresent the situation," Greenberg said. "There just wasn't going to be much time for [Curry] to play."

Curry, who is 6-1, preferred not to take that route.

CHANGING FACE: Whether they win or lose this evening against Illinois in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Hokies have greatly enhanced the national image of Tech basketball, Greenberg believes. They also made a name for themselves in Blacksburg, something in which Dowdell and four other seniors take pride.

"When we first got [to Tech], the fan support wasn't like it is now. Basically, we were the shame of the school, man. Walk around campus and you'd go unnoticed," Dowdell said.

Illinois tonight makes its eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament. Tech hasn't played in the NCAAs since 1996. But with five seniors who helped upgrade the Hokies' program, "I think that our experience overall, hopefully, should be able to negate our lack of experience in the NCAA tournament."

STAT TO REMEMBER: Virginia Tech makes only 66 percent of its free throws. In its last game, Tech missed 11 of 19 from the foul line in a 72-64 loss to N.C. State in the ACC tournament semifinals.

"Just take a shot when you get up there," said Gordon. "You think too much, that's when you miss." - John O'Connor and Jeff White
 

Bringing the energy
Cavs look to regain intensity for 1st tourney game since '01
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - We didn’t bring enough energy.

They’re five words that Virginia basketball fans are sick of. Sportswriters looking for good quotes aren’t too fond of them, either.

In the last few years, the sentence has evolved into a cliche.

Virginia has certainly taken a liking to it.

After defeats this season, at least one player always uses it as an explanation for the team’s poor performance. Following the loss to N.C. State in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament last Friday, UVa coach Dave Leitao busted it out.

Forget about poor shooting, wretched defense or getting manhandled on the boards.

It was a lack of energy.

Other than the obvious literal meaning, what does that phrase - or similar ones involving the “E” word - really imply?

Should Virginia players unite for a PowerBar binge just before tip-off?

“The word as it relates to basketball is funny because it has an infinite amount of meanings,” Leitao said. “It’s mental. It’s focus. It’s preparation. It’s a lot of different things.”

Whatever it is, Virginia (20-10) better have it today when it takes on Albany in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 13th-seeded Great Danes may not be the most talented team in the field of 64, but you can bet they’ll be bringing plenty of bark.

In the tournament last season, Albany (23-9) fought a far more talented UConn team tooth-and-nail before getting worn down in the second half.

During Media Day on Thursday at the Nationwide Arena, the Great Danes seemed very relaxed.

“I think that experience last year will allow us to play very confidently,” said Albany coach Will Brown. “We will not be intimidated. We will not be in awe of this atmosphere.”

Virginia, the No. 4 seed in the South Region, will be making its first appearance in the Big Dance since 2001. According to UVa guard Sean Singletary, that alone will be enough to ensure that the team brings enough battery power.

“It’s a chance of a lifetime to get our name in front of the whole world,” Singletary said. “It’s a great opportunity, a great situation.”

That sounds good, but wasn’t the ACC Tournament a pretty big stage, too? How come no energy in Tampa, Fla.? How does N.C. State, which finished 10th in the conference, miss just six shots from the field the entire second half?

“It’s hard to fathom that guys wouldn’t show up emotionally for any game,” said Virginia junior Ryan Pettinella, “especially a game like that with that much significance.”

Of course, it’s hardly a coincidence that every contest in which Virginia “lacked energy” took place away from the friendly confines of John Paul Jones Arena, where it went 16-1 this season. That fact is not lost on Leitao.

“That’s why teams play better at home than they do on the road, because they become more energized for a lot of different reasons,” Leitao said, “whether it’s the crowd or sleeping in your own bed or what have you.”

Brown said that he and his staff have carefully watched the video of Virginia’s losses in an effort to see what they can take best advantage of when that energy deficiency rears its head.

Brown, however, would not reveal any specific things he has picked up on.

“That wouldn’t be fair if I told you,” he said, with a laugh. “[But] they have created, in my mind, an unbelievable home-court advantage, a great fanbase. Those kids play with a ton of confidence and almost an extra swagger when they play on their home floor.”

Unfortunately, Virginia is just 3-6 on the road this season and 1-3 in neutral-site games.

“I think that, collectively, we’re confident going into a neutral site in Columbus,” Pettinella said. “I think it’s going to come down to sticking together like a family and relying on each other’s energy when we’re on the court.”

That’s what the team did during its seven-game winning streak earlier in the season, according to Pettinella.

“I just remember everyone was really energetic in the games and we just had a heightened sense of family and camaraderie,” he said. “I think if we bring that [today], that will bode well for us.”

Freshman Will Harris isn’t too worried about the team’s energy level.

“I’m pretty sure it will be there,” Harris said. “I think energy comes from how you practice, and we’ve had great practices this week.”

Added Singletary: “Everybody’s playing for their life. If you don’t win, you go home. I’m sure [we’re] going to bring it.”

 

Frontcourt will be Cavs' advantage
By Jerry ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
March 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Postseason basketball is pretty much considered a game of the guards. It’s their time to shine. It’s their time to lead their respective teams to the Promised Land.

No doubt, this afternoon’s NCAA opening round matchup between fourth-seeded Virginia and 13th-seeded Albany will come down to guard play.

After all, who doesn’t know about Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds, arguably the best backcourt in America? Then, there’s Albany’s Jamar Wilson, whose coach Will Brown believes was the best player on the floor when the Great Danes battled No. 2 UConn jaw-to-jaw in last year’s tourney.

My friend, Pete Gillen, who knows a little something about this Cavalier team and has seen Albany play, told me Thursday that he believes the difference in the game will be Virginia’s guards. He ought to know. He recruited both of ’em.

In the back of my mind

But there’s something deep in the recesses of my basketball mind, the NCAA portion of it, that’s telling me something different. It’s telling me to think frontcourt.

Now that may seem a bit strange considering that Virginia’s frontcourt players have been largely forgettable most of this basketball season.

However, there must be a few brain cells left over from all those NCAA Tournaments that I used to cover, rattling around back there. They keep telling me something.

They’re saying, “Hey, dummy, remember in all those NCAA games you used to go to, and how Virginia’s opponents, particularly the small- to mid-majors would always surprise you by saying how impressed they were with the Cavaliers’ size and physical play?’

Oh yeah, I remember now. Thanks for reminding me brain cells. I’ll buy you a short one for your efforts. Oops, sorry, I forgot that usually wipes you guys out.

Size matters

It always struck me and many media that covered Virginia’s teams for most of their postseason adventures in the 1980s and ’90s, that the Cavaliers’ size would always be a much bigger deal with NCAA opponents than we expected. No matter how unimpressive UVa’s frontcourt personnel may have been over that stretch of time, it was always a factor in postseason.

Maybe that’s because even though Virginia’s frontcourt players maybe weren’t anything special in ACC play, then step outside the league and all of a sudden they were special.

Could it be, with all the focus on the backcourts in today’s matchup, that the real determining factor will be Virginia’s less-than-heralded frontcourt could be the difference?

“Just size-wise, they’re bigger than anyone we played in the America East,” said Albany’s 6-foot-8, 240-pound power forward Brent Wilson.

“Six-10, 6-11 ... you don’t find that too much in the America East. Size-wise they’re bigger than most we played against during the regular season, so I think they rank up there with the best we’ve seen all year.”

Albany is determined to play man-to-man defense against Virginia, which could favor the faster, stronger Cavaliers. While UVa might not have an All-ACC caliber player in the middle, there’s plenty of wide bodies that coach Dave Leitao can throw at the Danes.

“The way we look at it is we’ve got to be able to do what we have been doing when we’re successful,” Leitao said in reference to Virginia’s inside game.

That means another “Center by committee” effort by an assortment of Cavaliers such as Jason Cain, Tunji Soroye, Ryan Pettinella, Lars Mikalauskas and Jamil Tucker.

“We have different options that we can use to try to be effective and we’re looking at it as hopefully allowing us to, from 15-feet in, control ourselves where rebounding becomes a key as it has been all year for us,” Leitao explained. “Defensively, clogging up the middle as we’ve been able to do most of the year, and things we can do well against their frontcourt.”

It’s somewhat unique that neither UVa’s or Albany’s frontcourts provide much scoring, which instead means that both teams will place a high premium on which frontcourt can do a few little things the best: rebounding, defending, blocking or altering shots, boxing out and cutting off driving lanes.

Consider that Albany’s Wilson is 6-8, 240 and center/forward Jimmie Covington is 6-7, 240. The only other two players on the roster of any size is backup center Brett Gifford, a 6-11 freshman, who weighs in at 265, and sophomore forward Brian Connelly, 6-8, 220.

Together, they represent about a combined 20 points and 12 rebounds per game.

On the other hand, Soroye is 6-11, 245 and has a wider wingspan than half the planes I’ve flown in this season. Cain is a 6-10, 225 senior who is playing with a sense of urgency because he knows his next game could be his last.

True, neither are stars. However, Tunji has had his moments. Ask Maryland what the Tunjinator can do when he’s totally committed. Cain has been a solid rebounder for two years, but needs to step up his game for the postseason.

Then there’s Mikalauskas, a big bear at 6-8, 255, and the hustling Pettinella, 6-9, 238, along with Tucker, 6-8, 230, and even Will Harris at 6-6, 230.

That’s a lot of bodies, all with lots of playing experience, that could turn the lane into a dangerous, jungle-like setting if these guys show up ready to play. Combined, they are responsible for about 20 points and 20 boards per game.

We’re going out on a limb and going with the brain cells on this one. Virginia beats Albany and the difference will be the inside game - not the outside - maybe the only time this season we’ll make that prediction.

 

What's the deal with J.R.?
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - “Hip-gate” continued on Thursday afternoon at Nationwide Arena. The injury to Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds’ hip remains just as mysterious as when it was first reported last Saturday.

UVa coach Dave Leitao reiterated that his senior co-captain is suffering from a hip ailment - not a groin or abdomen injury that some other media outlets had reported earlier in the week.

However, Leitao didn’t reveal much else about it.

Reynolds was mum on the subject.

“Right now, I’d prefer not to talk about the injury,” Reynolds said, “but I’ll be ready to play, that’s the biggest thing. I’ve been getting better day-by-day.”

Virginia needs Reynolds to return to form in the worst way. The senior is just 9 of 44 from the field in his last three games.

“When you are the focal point and you’re the shooter and scorer that he is - a decision-maker - sometimes the slightest thing can throw that off,” Leitao said.

Missed practice time over the last couple of weeks has contributed to Reynolds’ brick fest, according to Leitao.

“It took away some of his rhythm,” Leitao said, “and when you do that, there’s the factor of stamina and all those other things. So it’s something that has concerned us, but not greatly.

“He’s a tremendous, tremendous young man, so whatever is necessary that he needs to do to get back on track. … We’ve tried to manage [the injury] a little bit better over the last week so that he can be ready as much mentally as he needs to be physically.”

Reynolds is just glad to be taking part in the first NCAA Tournament game of his career.

“This is a great opportunity for our team and our program,” he said. “To be selected, it’s something very special. It’s been a rough four years, but right now this is a great opportunity for our team. I know all the guys are excited.

“You’ve just got to have fun because this could be your last game.”

Leitao no pool shark

One of the lighter moments of Thursday’s Media Day festivities came just after Virginia guard Sean Singletary had finished extolling the virtues of Leitao.

That’s when Reynolds jumped in with a comment about the coach.

“Can I say that he is the worst pool player that you have probably ever seen, too?” Reynolds joked.

A few minutes later, Leitao was informed of Reynolds’ remark.

“That’s what happens when you let people win,” said a smiling Leitao.

Poster-ized

Another humorous moment came when Albany’s Brent Wilson was asked about his newfound celebrity status on YouTube. The Web site has posted a highlight of Vermont’s Marqus Blakely throwing down a vicious dunk on Wilson in the America East championship game.

The play was rated No. 5 on ESPN’s top 10 plays of the day.

“I think the worst part is that we’re both from Iowa,” said the 6-foot-8 Wilson, “and I had called a lot of friends back home to watch the game because it’s rarely on TV back there, so everybody I went to high school with saw it as well.”

Breaking the ice

Today’s game will be the first time the two schools meet in men’s basketball. Virginia and Albany have met three times in other sports with UVa winning in men’s lacrosse (2005) and women’s basketball (2004). The Great Danes won in volleyball (2005).

Return to the Big Dance

This is the second Leitao-coached team to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Leitao led DePaul to the second round in 2004 before losing to his mentor, UConn’s Jim Calhoun.

Virginia’s last NCAA tourney win was in 1995 when it upset top-seeded Kansas.

 

Gillen broadcasting UVa-Albany game
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
March 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Minutes after Virginia’s basketball team took the floor for practice on Thursday afternoon at Nationwide Arena, it was easy to spot a familiar face up in the stands.

Former Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen, who now works as a television and radio college basketball analyst, was on his way to an appointment outside the building. Gillen, who still resides in Charlottesville, will be doing all four of today’s Columbus-site games for Westwood One national radio.

“What are the odds?” Gillen said after bumping into a couple of members of the Virginia media corps. “Eight sites. I think that’s 12-and-a-half percent. I got assigned this site two or three weeks ago when we had no idea of who was playing here. I wish I’d had that kind of luck when I was rolling dice.”

Gillen may no longer be coaching after 30 years in the business, but he hasn’t lost his quick wit.

So, who does he like in the Albany-Virginia matchup? He’s seen both teams in person this season, Virginia when he called the Cavs’ game at Maryland for Westwood, and Albany at Cornell on Dec. 23 when he drove up to visit his friend, Cornell coach Steve Donahue.

“I think it’s a good matchup for Virginia,” Gillen said of today’s first-round NCAA game against Albany. “I think our guards can drive on them. I definitely think Virginia is a better team, more athletic, quicker. I don’t think Albany can guard our guards ... our guards just have to make good decisions when they go by those guys.”

Gillen said that Albany remains a dangerous team because the Great Danes went to the NCAA Tournament last season, but Gillen doesn’t think that’s a huge factor.

Meanwhile, the Virginia coach for seven seasons will be dealing with an entirely new set of emotions when he does today’s Virginia game.

“I recruited all five starters and some of the other key guys,” Gillen said. “It’s going to be hard because I recruited those kids. It’s going to be strange.

“I want them to win, but it’s going to be a little painful, too,” Gillen said. “I’d be less than honest if I said otherwise. I’m happy when those kids win. But it’s going to be weird. They are good kids and they’re finishing up on a nice note.”

Gillen is in his second year as an analyst for CSTV, which is affiliated with CBS, as is Westwood One. His remaining TV game this season is next Tuesday in Kansas City when he’ll call the NAIA national championship.

“Both jobs are challenging and both are fun, but I’ve got a lot to learn,” Gillen said. “I’ll probably be in Starbucks in a week, or parking cars. I’m fortunate to be close to college basketball and make a couple of dollars.”

Today’s challenge is unique for the former coach: four games in one day.

“It’ll be tough on my voice because I speak strongly,” he said. “I’ve been very enthusiastic and kind of loud and [the TV people] really like that. I’ll have to pace myself and drink a lot of hot tea with lemon and honey. If I don’t, I’ll be like Marcel Marceau, like a mime.”

While Gillen is loving his new job, he hasn’t completely dismissed the possibility of returning to his old one - coaching.

“I always listen,” Gillen said. “I’m not actively seeking a job. But, you never say never. I won’t go back unless it’s what I feel is a real good situation. If the right thing came up and I sensed there was support and that I could make a difference, I’d consider it. If I don’t go back, it’s OK. I did it for 30 years. I didn’t like the way it ended at Virginia. You know me, whatever it is, coaching or radio, I give it 200 percent. I put my heart in it.”

 

Hudson fills vital role on O'Connor's squad
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 16, 2007

Inching closer to a prized degree from the University of Virginia, Ryan Hudson was faced with a dilemma.

The senior and backup catcher on Virginia’s baseball team needed only 13 credits to fulfill his requirements.

Twelve of those were obvious. The 13th would serve as an elective.

He scoured the options before settling on a choice that brought some chuckles and served as a reminder of what might have been: Hudson signed up for a one-credit tennis-skills class.

Before trading in his own racquet for a catcher’s mitt when he was 13, Hudson enjoyed success as one of the top junior tennis players in Florida. In fact, he was ranked as high as 12th in the state in his age group.

Thanks to his background, Hudson has been an obvious star in the class.

“It is all starting to come back,” Hudson laughed.

It helps that he has a familiar face in the class to whip up on.

Casey Lambert, also a senior and the closer for the seventh-ranked Cavaliers (17-3, 1-2 ACC), signed up with Hudson.

“He has never taken classes or anything but Casey is pretty good,” Hudson said. “Casey can hang in there. We have pretty good matches but I have been getting him.”

Hudson remains uncertain where tennis would have taken him but the decision was simple.

“I guess it came down to the fact that I liked playing team sports,” Hudson said. “The one-on-one thing for me was too much pressure and I had to get out of there.

“There was also a lot of travel. When I was playing real well I was traveling to Miami and northern Florida for lots of tournaments. It was a lot of time.”

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor, who opens a three-game road series today with top-ranked North Carolina (17-1, 3-0 ACC), was shocked to hear of Hudson’s childhood passion for tennis. He quickly pointed out that he is thankful of the decision.

Since O’Connor’s arrival in 2004, Hudson has been among the coach’s most reliable players, on the field and in the classroom.

“He has been a very good student and a team player since he has been here,” O’Connor said. “Huddy is a coach’s dream and he represents our program the right way.

“He is such a class act.”

Unfortunately for Hudson, he has been stuck behind a pair of defensive stars - former catcher Scott Headd and current starter Beau Seabury - during his career.

Hudson, known more for his offensive abilities (six homers and 10 doubles in 137 career at-bats), has not complained.

“Everybody wants to play and that’s what we are all here to do but I have just tried to make the most of my time,” Hudson said. “For me it is about the whole experience and the guys and everything. It doesn’t bother me backing-up, coming in. I just try to do my thing and I have a lot of good memories.”

Some of those unforgettable experiences, as one might expect, stem from time in the bullpen with some of his closest friends. While the conversations and stories are priceless, Hudson takes his job serious.

“Luckily, one of the perks of being a senior now is that I haven’t had to catch too many bullpen sessions, but on the road I am back down there,” Hudson said. “It is good to get the interaction with the pitchers in case I am out there in a game.”

He also thinks of himself as a consultant for pitching coach Karl Kuhn.

“He told me to be honest with him,” Hudson recounted. “He said, ‘If Casey doesn’t have his slider, tell me he doesn’t have his slider.’

“It is easy being all these guys’ friends to say, ‘Yeah, he looked good.’ But you have to be honest and K’s appreciates it that way. That is what K’s has been good about.”

O’Connor said his team’s pitching staff has been ranked among the nation’s because of Hudson’s desire and attention to detail.

“He has done a tremendous job in the role that he has had with our team,” O’Connor said. “He has gotten some big hits for us in his career and when you have two guys such as Huddy and Beau leading your pitching staff you like your chances.”

Inside the series ....

North Carolina was one of the best college baseball teams in the country last year.

The Tar Heels advanced to Omaha and made it to the title game before falling to Oregon State.

As good as UNC was, O’Connor thinks the program might be even better.

"They look like they're carrying themselves with even more of a swagger than in the past, like they're really confident that they're good,” O’Connor said. “That’s what you want as a coach in your team and I think that they’re carrying themselves that way.

“We’ll have battles on our hand that’s for sure.”

UNC has won six of the last nine meetings with three of those victories coming in extra innings.

Expect more of the same, O’Connor said.

"They should all three be great baseball games and it's just a matter or whether or not we execute and get the job done at the end of the game,” he said. “One game [at Wake Forest] we didn't get the job done at the end of the game and in this league you lose when you don't do that. “That why we're 1-2 rather than 2-1.”

Virginia’s rotation has a new look.

Sean Doolittle, who had been in the No. 1 spot in the rotation, will have his start bumped back to Sunday. Sophomore Jacob Thompson (5-0) will pitch today and be followed by freshman Matt Packer (2-0) on Saturday.

O’Connor said the decision was made to allow Doolittle extra rest and to ensure the junior could play first base in the two opening games of the series.

UNC will counter in the following order: Robert Woodard (4-0, 2.19 ERA), Alex White (3-0, 0.68 ERA) and Luke Putkonen (3-0, 3.48 ERA).
 

Tennis victory gives UVa win in Challenge
By Jerry Miller / jmiller@dailyprogress.com | 978-7258
March 16, 2007

The Virginia women’s tennis team snapped a three-game losing streak and clinched the Commonwealth Challenge for the school with a 6-1 shellacking of visiting Virginia Tech on the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club on Thursday.

UVa now leads the Commonwealth Challenge, 11.5-5.5, and has mathematically locked its second straight trophy.

Despite the victory, which came in impressive fashion after the Cavaliers secured the doubles point, coach Mark Guilbeau said he’s far from pleased with his team and its effort this season.

The Wahoos (7-5, 1-2 ACC) started the year 6-2 overall but had lost their last three matches - their home opener to Purdue and back-to-back conference losses to No. 10 North Carolina and No. 23 Duke - entering Thursday’s match against the Hokies, which was moved indoors due to inclement weather.

“It’s nice to clinch the [Commonwealth Challenge], but a lot of other teams have done much more than us to get those points,” said Guilbeau, who earned ACC Coach of the Year honors last season after finishing 14-10 overall. “We need to keep winning. Everyone must understand that.”

The Cavs host back-to-back matches starting next Friday when N.C. State arrives in Charlottesville. Wake Forest is scheduled to visit next Sunday.

“This win definitely gives us confidence going into our next few matches,” said Caroline Hammond, UVa’s emotional leader and the only senior on the roster. “I don’t think everyone has been playing up to their potential lately, but tonight we showed what we can do.”

Virginia won the doubles point after Amanda Rales teamed with Jennifer Stevens to drop Jessica Long and Abbey Walker, 8-3.

Hammond and Lara Alexander - a native of London - were the first tandem finished after pounding Jessica Brouwer and Ashley James, 8-3.

“We came out and won the doubles point,” Hammond said. “That was big because it hasn’t happened in awhile.”

The Cavaliers won five of six singles matches with Stevens, Brintney Larson, Lindsey Pereira, Hammond and Rales each netting victories, respectively.

“Virginia gave us no room to breathe in singles,” said Virginia Tech coach Terry Ann Zawacki-Woods, moments after her team fell to 8-6 overall and 0-3 in ACC play.

“You have to give credit to Virginia. They played a great match,” Zawacki-Woods added. “They won the doubles point and then kept the momentum away from us. They played well.”

 

ACC lovefest: What happened to good, old-fashioned hate?
JOHN MARKON
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Mar 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio University of Virginia fan Dan Petriskie was tricking out his family chariot for the drive from his home in Lynchburg to the NCAA tournament when he had a head-on collision with the New World Hoops Order.

"I always travel to games with my U.Va. magnets on my car," Petriskie said. "For this trip, I actually put a Virginia Tech magnet on, too. It's a small one, really just a token, but it's on there.

"The people I work with couldn't believe it. I'm still not sure I believe it myself."

If nothing else, the presence of U.Va. and Tech in this weekend's Columbus subregional proves that the NCAA Selection Committee emerged from deliberations with its sense of humor intact.

Players and coaches from both teams are even housed at the same hotel, although Virginia's road trips are so structured that some Cavaliers may not yet know it.

"We get almost no unplanned time," said guard Sean Singletary. "We were in the hotel with them for a full day before I ever saw one of them. It's OK, though. The rivalry really is more for the fans than the players. We all get along great."

This is the first NCAA invitation for both schools since Tech's admission to the Atlantic Coast Conference three years ago and, thus, perhaps the first time fans of either institution would be even slightly tempted to root for the other.

"Good things happen for us and for the ACC if Virginia wins some games," insisted Gail Patterson, a Hokies fan from Christiansburg who attended yesterday's public workouts at Nationwide Arena. "I won't know for sure until I do it, but I think I'll be rooting for them."

Mike Butcher, a Virginia grad who lives in Ohio, cited the same logic and claimed with confidence that he was prepared to root for Tech. I asked him if he wouldn't mind saying the words "Let's go Hokies!" loudly enough for me to hear them.

"Wow," said a suddenly speechless Butcher. "That will be a test. Maybe I'll root silently."

The biggest test would come if the Cavs and Hokies win today's openers and advance to Sunday's second round. Virginia and Tech are in different sessions requiring separate admissions today, but fans from both teams would be in the building for Sunday's games.

"The way our fans feel about Virginia, I don't think they could ever cheer for U.Va.," said Tech senior Jamon Gordon. "But there's no tension at the hotel at all. Maybe we're not friendly with their players on the court when it's time to play, but there's respect and even a little love between us off the court."

Gordon's feeling was that Tech's change in conference membership changed everything. While comparing each team within the ACC to a family, Gordon also referenced a broader "fraternity" of ACC players he felt transcended what fans might think of as rivalries.

"If we're both playing on Sunday, I think our fans will be on Virginia's side," said Bill Roth, Tech's longtime radio voice. "What's their alternative? To root for Tennessee or Long Beach State? Why would they do that?"

Because, in the not so recent past, the only thing that approached a Tech win on the Hokies Happiness Index was a Cavaliers loss. What's next, players from both teams linking arms and singing campfire songs? One of the great traditions of Virginia sports could be in jeopardy.

Lars Mikalauskas, U.Va.'s sophomore center, was recruited by both schools. He could only be pushed so far.

"If we're sitting as a team in the arena for their game with Illinois [tonight]," Mikalauskas said, "I think you'll see us supporting the school from our conference. That's what we should do.

"Now, if we're back at the hotel and watching where nobody can see us, I might be thinking 'Come on, Illinois!"

So retro . . . but so reassuring.

 

Singletary, UVA speeding toward glory
With quick feet and perceptive eyes, point guard Sean Singletary has pointed Virginia in the right direction.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
March 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- The drill is called "hold the line." Two Virginia men's basketball players line up at halfcourt, one in front of the other. A coach throws a ball to the player in front. The other player has to chase the ball handler to the basket and cut in front of him before he scores.

When Sean Singletary is the ball handler, no one can get in front of him.

"Because he's always at the rim before you can even blink," teammate Will Harris said.

As the Cavaliers' best player, Singletary, a junior point guard, uses his speed to slice through the lane and fool defenders off the dribble. A two-time, first-team all-ACC selection, he leads Virginia with 18.9 points and 4.6 assists per game.

"He looks so elegant and fluid on that court, sometimes he looks like he's dancing to me," said his mother, Jacqui Singletary.

For as fast as her son's feet move, his curious eyes and quick mind might be just as important to the Cavaliers' NCAA tournament success. They play Albany at 12:15 p.m. today in the first round here. "He doesn't think like everybody else thinks," said Harris, who lived with Singletary last summer.

These days, Singletary notices a slight misstep in a teammate's technique during practice, or if bench players look prepared to play during games. As a kid, he wondered about the beggars he passed on the streets of Philadelphia. "Sean tends to see what makes something operate, not the operation of a thing or a person," Jacqui said.

Those shifty, brown eyes spot things that other people wouldn't, even in moments of chaos.

Before Virginia's Feb. 1 game against Duke, an ESPN cameraman urged Singletary to do something flashy after he hit a couple shots. Singletary ignored him. Almost three hours later, Singletary hit a falling-away shot with one second left in overtime, helping Virginia win 68-66.

He ran toward midcourt, and teammates J.R. Reynolds and Mamadi Diane embraced him. Singletary turned to his right and saw the cameraman. Singletary gritted his teeth and pointed right into America's living room.

Don't mistake him, though. He's rarely loud in public and almost whispers during interviews.

"My mom and dad always try to give me a pat on the back about everything good I do, but I tell them not to," he said. "I like to do well, but I don't care to hear about it. It's not my ultimate goal. My ultimate goal is to play professional basketball and be real good playing that. If I get there, then I can take some compliments." He said he won't go pro next year. He spoke with too many guys, including fellow Philadelphian Kyle Lowry, who left early for the NBA out of Villanova and regretted it. "I don't want to have those same regrets," Singletary said.

His NBA potential benefits from his speed, which makes him a fearsome opponent.

Virginia Tech guard Zabian Dowdell: "He's one of the fastest guys I've ever played against."

North Carolina State coach Sidney Lowe: "You can see how fast he is, but it really doesn't do anything for you until you're in front of him. That's sort of a scary thought."

Singletary, 6 feet and 185 pounds, doesn't fear plowing into lane. "I always feel I'm the toughest one, the fastest one, the strongest one out there all the time," he said.

Former Virginia assistant coach Walt Fuller witnessed that when he recruited Singletary from William Penn Charter School. Fuller was visiting family in Philadelphia one day when he turned on a local TV station and saw Singletary playing receiver for his school's football team. Time after time, Singletary caught balls over the middle and got clobbered.

At Virginia, he played through a football-related shoulder injury as a freshman and through a hip injury last year. He coped as a freshman with his mom's breast cancer and his brother Harold serving in the Army in Iraq. Jacqui is feeling better now, and Harold is back home.

"You couldn't get him off the court," said former Virginia coach Pete Gillen, who coached Singletary for one year. "At times he was in excruciating pain. He just played with reckless abandon. That's why he got hurt sometimes."

Said Fuller: "You just kind of had to cross your fingers and clench your teeth when he got hit."

Long before he faced 6-foot-8 defenders in ACC arenas, Singletary was a 5-year-old kid, standing by his mom's side when she brought him to play in a youth league with 8-to-10-year-olds. "I don't think I want to play with them," Jacqui remembered him saying. "They're too big."

She used the moment to teach him a lesson about life's giants. "You're going to have a lot of giants in your life that you're going to have to learn to overcome," she told him. She took him home that night. The next day, he was ready to play in the big kids' league.

He showed her things, too. In the way he saw the world, the way he saw people. When he was 8, he walked with her past a homeless man.

"Sean wouldn't look at the person as just as beggar, but as someone who had to have misfortune in their life somewhere," Jacqui said "He would say, 'Mom, that could be us if things don't go well in our lives.' He would be very adamant about it. Sometimes, I'd look at him and you would see a sad look on his face."

He still wonders, never looking at people but always inside them.

"Sometimes, Sean will talk about how he looks at the guys on the bench, and he can see if they're ready to play by looking in their eyes," said Harris, a freshman forward.

In a practice earlier this season, a defender stripped Harris when the freshman dribbled to his right off a screen. Singletary pulled Harris aside. Watch the defender's left foot, he told him, and if he steps forward on it, he will be off-balance, so you can cut back the opposite way. The next play, Harris dribbled to his right, saw the left foot forward and cut back to his left. "And I got a bucket," he said.

"Another word for perceptive with Sean is smart," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "How that relates to him as a teammate, him as a leader is very important, because he's got to not only see (things) for himself, but he's got to impart that upon his teammates." So even if they can't keep up with his feet, they can try seeing the world through his eyes.

New expectations for Cavaliers now
Just reaching the NCAA tourney wasn't UVa's goal.
Doug Doughty

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Virginia created the monster. Now, the Cavaliers have to feed it.

At the start of the men's basketball season, UVa's only stated goal was to make the NCAA men's basketball tournament for the first time since 2001.

When the Cavaliers won 20 games and captured a share of the ACC regular-season title, expectations changed.

If seedings were to hold, fourth-seeded Virginia (20-10) would win its first two games in the South Region, starting with a 12:15 date this afternoon with 13th-seeded Albany (23-9).

UAlbany, as it refers to itself, was a Division III program as late as 1995. The Great Danes didn't move up to Division I until 1999-2000, after a brief stopover in Division II.

"I don't want to be part of somebody else's Cinderella story," said UVa guard J.R. Reynolds, who has had a magical moment of his own, reaching the NCAA tournament in his final opportunity.

Albany would be less of a Cinderella than it was last year, when the Great Danes received a No. 16 seed in the East Region, then enjoyed a 12-point, second-half lead before falling to top-seeded Connecticut 72-59.

"Being that last year was our first trip, we were happy more so with just getting our feet wet," 6-foot-1 guard Jamar Wilson said Thursday. "Not to say we didn't try to win last year, but I feel we match up better than we did with UConn."

Wilson, a two-time player of the year in the America East Conference, leads the Great Danes in scoring (18.6) and rebounding (6.3) and was the best player on the floor last year against Connecticut, according to his coach.

"I've said it over and over, Jamar is probably the best player in the country that nobody has heard about," sixth-year Albany coach Will Brown said.

Albany would not have made the NCAA field if not for a 60-59 victory last Saturday on the home floor of regular-season America East champion Vermont. Virginia, on the other hand, enters the game on a two-game losing streak.

"I like to look at the bulk of their work," Brown said. "You look at some of the programs in that league, the Dukes and the North Carolinas and their great history, and Virginia was co-champion of that league.

"Now, as a head coach, you're looking at their strengths and weaknesses and, looking at their record, they're 16-1 at home and 4-9 on the road and at neutral sites. This game is a neutral-court game, so we really took a long look at those road games and neutral-site games."

Albany was 11-7 on the road this season, including a 59-58 victory over Utah, a team that had trampled Virginia only eight days earlier, 74-50.

"We watched that game; I don't know how much we can take from that Utah game," Brown said. "You've got to remember, they were playing three games in three days in Puerto Rico."

Leitao's take on the Puerto Rico trip was that the Cavaliers had devoted so much attention to offense during the offseason that their defense had wavered. He had some of the same thoughts after a 79-71 ACC quarterfinal loss to North Carolina State, which shot 73.9 percent from the field in the second half.

One of Virginia's problems in that game was the foul issues that caused Leitao to alter his substitution pattern, even though fouls weren't a factor in the second half until center Jason Cain picked up his disqualifying fifth with 2:04 left.

"I look at is as a matter of aggressiveness," Leitao said. "When we're playing aggressive defense, we foul a whole lot less. We're a much better team when we're not in foul trouble."

Virginia fans will be watching to see if Reynolds can shake off a hip injury and regain the shooting touch that has left him in the last three games, when he has been 9-for-44 from the field. More important to Leitao and Co. is the defensive job that Reynolds does on Wilson.

Wasn't it Reynolds who said before the season that he would trade any individual honors for a trip to the NCAA tournament? That's all forgotten now.

"You don't want to be known as a team that made it to the tournament and lost," Reynolds said. "It's all about how you finish."
 

Virginia over Albany not a mortal lock
Cavalier teams prone to upsets
By Doug Doughty

After completing the last of my four NCAA men’s basketball tournament brackets, here’s what I really felt about Friday’s South Region first-round game between fourth- seeded Virginia and 13th-seeded Albany:

On bracket No. 1, I had Virginia winning in the first round and losing to Tennessee in the second round.

On bracket No. 2, the Cavaliers won two games.

On bracket No. 3, Albany beat Virginia.

On bracket No. 4, Virginia won two games again.

Basically, if Virginia gets past Albany, I think the chances are pretty good that UVa will get to the region semifinals next week in San Antonio, Texas.

It’s too bad the Fearless Forecasters’ football picks don’t work that way. When I make some of the ridiculous upset picks that always seem to annoy Virginia fans, I’d like this kind of opportunity to hedge my bets.

There’s no question that Albany could beat Virginia on Friday. That’s not a Dave Leitao thing. That’s not a Virginia men’s basketball thing. It’s a Virginia thing.

This year, the Cavaliers already have lost to Western Michigan in football, to South Dakota State in women’s basketball and to Drexel in men’s lacrosse.

If the men’s basketball team lost to Albany today, it wouldn’t even be the biggest upset involving UVa athletic teams in the past month. That would be the loss to unranked Drexel – at home – when the Virginia men’s lacrosse team was ranked No. 1 in the country, defending a national championship and riding a 17-game winning streak.

The question is, if Albany were to beat Virginia today, how would the 2006-2007 season be viewed? Here is a team that has made the NCAA field for the first time in six years, won 20 games, shared the regular-season ACC championship and boasted the ACC coach of the year.

If the Cavaliers finished the season with three straight losses, including a first-round setback to Albany in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, I’m sure they would be viewed in many circles as a fraud or a flop.

That would be unfair to Albany and it might not be fair to Virginia. Consider the game later Friday in Columbus, Ohio, between fifth-seeded Virginia Tech and 12th-seeded Illinois.

Let’s say the Illini upsets the Hokies:

An Illinois victory over Tech would not send shock waves through the college basketball community. The Illini is seeded only one spot higher than Albany, but Illinois is Illinois, an established program. Albany didn’t move up to Division I until the 1999-2000 season.

From my perspective, it’s more pressure for Virginia to be playing Albany than it would to be playing Illinois. Call it the fear of the unknown. How many Virginia players even knew there was an Albany until a week ago?

On the other hand, I’m not a player. Who’s to say the players are giving the subject this much though? Are they really thinking about their legacy?

I’m sure that the UVa staff has given the players a full scouting report on the Great Danes and maybe that’s all they need to know. After all, the Cavaliers had great familiarity with their final last two opponents, Wake Forest and North Carolina, and couldn’t beat those teams.

Maybe ignorance is bliss.

Virginia on three brackets, Albany on one. So, that gives the Cavaliers a 75-percent chance of winning Friday. That sounds about right.
 

Reynolds no longer playing in anybody's shadow
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - J.R. Reynolds sauntered from the podium in the media interview room toward the Virginia locker room at the Nationwide Arena before being diverted for a brief session with a TV station. When he was done, more reporters awaited in the hallway, cameras focused, tape recorders on, pens frantically scribbling.
Reynolds is finally in the spotlight, it can be argued, for the first time in his career.

It's an unusual thing to say about a player who could finish his career in the top-10 on Virginia's all-time scoring list, who has made more 3-pointers than all but two people in school history and whose contributions to the revival of the Cavaliers' basketball program have been incalculable.

But it's true. For some reason, the senior guard never seems to get his due, for reasons he can't quite put a finger on.

"My game's not fresh enough, I don't go to the hole and dunk on people," he said, grasping for a reason. "I don't know what it is."

Maybe it's his contemporaries. At Roanoke Catholic High School, he always played in the rather sizable shadow of Cave Spring great J.J. Redick. In his senior season at Oak Hill Academy, he shared a backcourt with Marcus Williams, now of the New Jersey Nets, and Florida State's Isaiah Swann. And once he started to be a force at Virginia, Sean Singletary arrived on the scene with a game that more than backed up his prized-recruit status.

That he's been overshadowed by Singletary is not fair. The two have been nearly indistinguishable this season, except for Singletary's all-ACC reputation (he was a first-team choice last year as well) and his how'd-he-do-that baseline floater in the final seconds of overtime that beat Duke, a defining moment if there every was one, complete with a tough-guy stare and point to the camera that made every SportsCenter highlight.

"That's unfortunate," Virginia head coach Dave Leitao said of Reynolds' sidekick reputation, "because I think a lot of times he's stabilized us in so many situations."

Perhaps the slight in recognition is why Reynolds seems to play with a perpetual chip on his shoulder, displaying a bulldog-like tenacity when pushed too far.

There was the game against N.C. State earlier this year when he had no field goals through 32 minutes, stuck on the bench with three fouls as Leitao coarsely challenged him to make something happen. He did, returning to the game and canning a 3-pointer in front of the Virginia bench, the start of a 13-point binge that would lead UVa to a five-point win.

He paused for a second after that first shot went in, turning toward the UVa bench, his eyes cutting through Leitao with an icy stare. The challenge had been met.

"I think he feels deep down inside he's better than the guys in front of him and across from him every night," said Steve Smith, his head coach for one season at Oak Hill. "But he does it in the right way. He's not cocky or anything like that. He plays with a presence about him."

"He's the rock and soul of that team," Miami head coach Frank Haith said. "When he plays, they're at another level."

When he's off, Virginia has had its problems. In the last three games, Reynolds has gone just 9-for-44 from the floor while battling a hip injury that garnered so much attention, he's taken a page from the Al Groh book of injury disclosure and refused to go into specifics about it.

It's clearly affecting him, though. Reynolds has scored 13, 11 and 11 points in those games, well below his 17.8-point average. Not coincidentally, the Cavaliers are 1-2 in those games.

He says he's not 100 percent and won't be until the season is over, when he can get some much-needed extended rest, but he's not letting it bother him. Not now, with his long-delayed NCAA tournament dream about to become a reality.

"It's my last opportunity and this could be my last game," Reynolds said. "You've just got to put everything aside and go out there and do it."

With that, Virginia's media relations staff stepped in. It was time for the Cavaliers' practice. Reporters dispersed and Reynolds momentarily stepped out of the spotlight, no doubt ready to step back in as soon as possible.


 

Albany, not UVa, is tourney tested
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 16, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - When Virginia takes the court today in an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2001, with their highest seed since 1995 and their best record in six years, they will definitely be fully aware of this: their opponent is not just happy to be here.
The Cavaliers might be the No. 4 seed today against 13th-seeded Albany, but the Great Danes are the ones with an NCAA tournament game under their belt, something nobody on the Cavaliers' roster can say.

As a No. 16 seed last year, Albany (23-9) gave top-seeded Connecticut all it could handle, leading by 12 with 11 minutes left only to succumb to the Huskies' superior athleticism and depth down the stretch.

The Great Danes, who returned three starters from that team and repeated as America East tournament champions, have set their sights higher this season.

"Everybody from staff to players has packed through Monday," Albany head coach Will Brown said. "We're not here to keep this game close. ? I think that experience last year will allow us to play very confidently. We will not be intimidated. We will not be in awe of this atmosphere."

Virginia (20-10), whose generous No. 4 seed has come under fire, is a trendy upset pick in the first round and for good reason. The Cavaliers struggled in the season's final weeks, losing three of their last five, all to teams with the worst records in the ACC.

Guard J.R. Reynolds, whose 17.8 point per game average is second to Sean Singletary's 18.9, is battling a hip injury and has shot 20 percent in the last three games.

"You don't want to be nobody's Cinderella story," Reynolds said.

It's more than tournament experience that makes this game intriguing. Albany's matchup with UConn last season was simply a mismatch. ("Their point guards were bigger than our power forwards," Brown recalled.) Virginia, a perimeter-oriented team like the Great Danes that gets spotty contributions from its frontcourt, is not.

To match Singletary and Reynolds, Albany has Jamar Wilson, the two-time America East player of the year, and Jason Siggers, whose 13.9 point per game average is second best on the team.

While Virginia has a definite size advantage (the Great Danes' tallest starter is 6-foot-8), Albany forward Brent Wilson could be a matchup problem. The two-time America East third-team selection shoots 44 percent from 3-point range, and will force UVa's big men to defend outside the paint.

If Reynolds isn't at his best, Virginia will need other scorers to step up, particularly Mamadi Diane and Adrian Joseph. UVa's third- and fourth-leading scorers combined for their average of 17 points in the team's most recent loss to N.C. State, a solid effort but not nearly the kind of offensive production the team will need if Reynolds is still bothered by his injury.

Of course, scoring is a non-issue if the Cavaliers have another breakdown defensively, like they did when they allowed the Wolfpack to shoot 74 percent in the second half of their ACC quarterfinals loss.

"We don't have to play an amazing game," Singletary said. "We just have to be solid."

They also have to be energized, because they know their opponent will be.

"What (last year) really showed is that every team is 0-0 going into the tournament," Siggers said. "You can't look at the name on the jersey or the conference they are from. That won't help you win. Anyone can beat anyone on any night."

Virginia hopes just not today.