Steppin' out
Donning new shoes, Reynolds leads Cavs to first tourney win since 1995
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 17, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - All season long, J.R. Reynolds has worn a pair of black Nike basketball sneakers - until Friday afternoon when Virginia played Albany.

The UVa guard was sporting some new orange kicks.

“I just wanted a new look,” explained Reynolds, after the team’s 84-57 win. “I figured, why have them and not wear them?”

Reynolds probably won’t be going back to his black ones anytime soon.

Not after one of the greatest games of his college career. The senior from Roanoke, who had been just 9 of 44 in his previous three games, showed why some voters who left him off of the ACC first team may have made a mistake.

Reynolds sank his first seven shots en route to a 28-point, seven-rebound performance that had fans at the Nationwide Center oohing and ahhing.

Virginia, buoyed by its senior co-captain, moved into a second-round matchup with Tennessee on Sunday.

“I’m not surprised,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, when asked about Reynolds’ stellar shooting. “J.R. has done a lot of this in the two years that I’ve been with him.”

Reynolds, who finished 9 of 13 from the field, did not seem affected by a hip injury that had bothered him in recent games.

“I was feeling good all week, just getting back in a rhythm with the guys on my team,” Reynolds said. “They kind of uplifted me and I didn’t want this to be our last game.”

Reynolds played with a noticeable swagger - one that had been missing in recent losses to Wake Forest and N.C. State.

At times, he looked oblivious to any defense that was being played by Albany.

He didn’t seem to have a good look at the rim when he drilled a fall-away 3-pointer in the first half from a couple feet behind the line. The shot gave Virginia a 19-2 lead.

“Our kids were in shock,” said Albany coach Will Brown. “That’s the first time we’ve been in that position all year long.”

In the second half, Reynolds’ sweet stroke didn’t leave him.

When he drained another 3 to put Virginia up 58-30, he left his arm extended on his follow-through for a couple of seconds. Then he ran to midcourt and chest-bumped a smiling Sean Singletary.

“It’s fun,” said Reynolds, when asked about his on-court demeanor. “You gotta have fun because this could be your last game. Especially for me and [senior Jason] Cain. We didn’t want to go out like that. We brought as much energy and intensity as we could to try and uplift the team.

“The last couple games of the regular season didn’t end the way we wanted to, so now this was like a fresh start for us.”

Leitao said the team will closely monitor Reynolds’ hip.

“We’ve got a quick turnaround until we get to Sunday afternoon,” Leitao said.

“We’ve got to rest him, but keep him in the same frame of mind, and that comes from how he feels physically.”

And, quite possibly, his shoes.

 

Cavs go old-school to dispatch Danes
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
March 17, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the past dozen years, victory-starved Virginia fans may have wondered if Charlottesville was the land that college basketball forgot.

For most of those 12 years, March Madness was only a rumor, something to watch on TV, an annual festivity that had a hollow meaning around Hooville. Cavalier fans would go through the motion of filling out a bracket, but it was minus emotion or passion.

More often than not, Virginia’s struggling program was relegated to the NIT, a poor man’s postseason affair that, until recently, made up its bracket as it went along.

Along came Dave Leitao and all that changed. Friday’s return to the NCAAs put the Cavaliers back on the basketball map, and how. Blowout City, baby.

Virginia’s 84-57 domination of Albany’s Great Danes was purely retro, game plans ripped right out of the Cavalier library from 20 years ago on how to win in the NCAAs.

Just as Terry Holland and Jeff Jones used to do it, Leitao’s philosophy started and ended with defense and rebounding.

Those two trusty old pak yaks rarely fail.

This one was a no-brainer. Virginia was faster, bigger and stronger than Albany of the America East. Compared to their ACC counterparts, the Great Danes behaved more like Chihuahuas.

When Leitao and his coaching staff dissected game film of Albany, it was hard to ignore the difference in the brand of athlete. Immediately, there were two major points of emphasis in Virginia’s preparation: defense and taking advantage of Albany down in the paint.

From the very first moment of Friday’s opening round South Region matchup at Nationwide Arena, it was evident that Virginia’s superior athleticism and defensive focus would decide this one by halftime.

Leitao wanted defensive stops, and that’s what the Cavaliers gave him. A smothering defense didn’t allow the Danes an opportunity to get off a comfortable shot. And usually, they were limited to one shot because Virginia owned the backboards.

Albany found the rim only twice in its first 13 attempts, not including a shot clock violation on its second possession. Before you knew it, the Great Danes were behind 19-4.

Meanwhile, UVa’s J.R. Reynolds, mired in a three-game shooting slump due to a hip injury, shot his way to glory by scoring 23 of his game-high 28 points in the first half, en route to a 45-25 Wahoo lead.

If Albany could have stood the pain of glancing at the scoreboard, the Danes would have quickly noticed this factoid: Albany had 25 points; Reynolds had 23.

But this one was more about defense than offense. This was a classic case of Virginia’s defense taking Albany completely out of its offense. The Cavaliers wouldn’t allow the Danes to do what they normally do and if Albany had a Plan B, you could have fooled us.

“We didn’t really execute the game plan very well in the first half and a lot of that had to do with Virginia’s defensive schemes,” said Albany coach Will Brown. “They’re big, strong, physical and that hurt us. We ran into a buzz saw.”

Brown said his team went into shock once it got down 19-2, the first time all season the Danes had been blitzed. They had convinced themselves they could hang with Virginia the first half, pick up support from the 19,000 fans and spring the upset.

“All of a sudden, you’re down 14-2 and nobody’s really cheering for you,” said a stunned Brent Wilson.

However, it was Albany’s “other” Wilson that Virginia was chiefly concerned about shutting down. Senior point guard Jamar Wilson was a dangerous scorer that could have done damage had he been allowed to roam freely. Leitao wasn’t about to let that happen.

Jamar Wilson, the two-time America East Player of the Year, did finish with 25 points, but had to claw for everything he got - including 15 of ’em in the second half, long after this one had been decided.

Virginia’s game plan was to crowd him. Reynolds, who usually draws the toughest defensive assignment, started on Wilson, followed by taller Mamadi Diane (6-foot-5), whose length clearly disrupted the smaller (6-1) Albany guard. At times, the Cavs would throw a double-team Wilson’s way in order to force the Danes’ guard to pass the ball to a teammate.

“We wanted to make sure, if he put the ball on the floor, that he saw not one, but two, maybe three sets of eyes on him,” Leitao said of the strategy against Wilson. “We tried to chase him off screens so he couldn’t turn the corner and made him give up the ball more than he’s used to doing.”

The plan worked to perfection most of the afternoon as Albany was forced to play deep into the shot clock, then settle for a less-than-desirable shot.

The Danes shot 37.9 percent for the game and seldom got a second look, with Virginia controlling the rebounds by a staggering 41-25 count.

“They definitely defended me tough,” said Wilson, who converted 9 of 18 shots, had but one assist, and had only five free-throw attempts. “I would say they had a 6-6 guard on me most of the game and every time I came off a ball screen, they tried to double me as much as possible.

“The fact of the matter is they totally took us out of our game,” Jamar Wilson said. “I think more so than anything, they just played a lot tougher than us.”

Diane said his size definitely had an impact against the Albany guard.

“I think so because I was able to give him a little room and yet contest his jump shots,” Diane said. “We limited his penetration and tried to get the ball out of his hands so that he couldn’t get any easy baskets. Offensively, we tried to get the ball inside a little more because we were bigger and stronger inside.”

Meanwhile, Virginia attacked the lane, where the Cavs had a distinct advantage in size and strength.

“That was a big point of emphasis for us in practice all week, for the ‘bigs’ to come out and be aggressive,” said UVa’s Jason Cain, who added six points and six boards. “We needed to control the boards just like we needed to control Wilson.”

Tunji Soroye (6-11) must have seemed like Ralph Sampson to the smaller Danes. Soroye scored nine points, had five rebounds and swatted away two Albany shots.

“I mean, you’re facing up against 6-10, 6-11, and you just don’t see that in the America East,” said 6-8 Dane forward Brent Wilson. “I don’t think we adjusted well. That was a significant edge and that showed on the boards, a big part of the game.”

If there was any telling factor about the difference in athlete between the ACC and the America East, it came when Reynolds abused Albany’s Brian Lillis. Reynolds lit up the America East Defensive Player of the Year for 28 points, hitting 9 of 13 shots and going 5 for 7 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“[Lillis] plays in a whole different league,” UVa guard Sean Singletary said about the player assigned to stop Reynolds. “I know there are a lot better athletes in the ACC. Lillis is a good player but didn’t have the athletic skills to stick with our guards. He tried hard, but I feel as though we had way more athleticism.”

Virginia won’t have that luxury on Sunday afternoon when it faces an athletic Tennessee team in the second round.

But for now, Charlottesville has returned to the college basketball landscape. The challenge is to stay there.

 

Singletary solid as always
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 17, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Nearly lost in the shuffle of Virginia’s 84-57 thrashing of Albany in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday was the play of UVa guard Sean Singletary.
While backcourt mate J.R. Reynolds scored a game-high 28 points, Singletary finished with 23 points, nine assists and just one turnover in 33 minutes of action.
Singletary’s assist-to-turnover ratio was his best of the season.
“My team was energized,” said Singletary, who also had six rebounds. “I can’t make assists if my teammates aren’t making shots. We played with a lot of energy, which really fueled our fire on offense. Everybody was feeling good and everybody was feeling connected. When we play like that, it’s hard to stop.”
The Philadelphia native scored just seven points in the first half. But after the break, when Albany focused more of its attention on stopping Reynolds, Singletary went off.
The first-team All-ACC selection had the prettiest move of the day when he used a crossover dribble to blow by his defender, then spun around a help defender before finishing at the rim.
The bucket gave Virginia a commanding 60-30 lead with about 15 minutes to go in the game.
Albany coach Will Brown believes UVa can go far with Singletary and Reynolds.
“[If] they go off on the same night, teams are going to be in trouble,” Brown said. “If one of them goes off, they’re good enough to carry a team…
“People are hesitant to say Virginia has a shot to go deep in this tournament because they struggled a bit down the stretch. But if those two guards shoot the ball like they did tonight, they can go a long way.”

The record books
Reynolds’ 28 points tied the fifth-best scoring effort by a Virginia player in the NCAA Tournament. Richard Morgan had two 33-point outbursts in 1989 against Providence (first round) and Middle Tennessee State (second).

Raising Cain
Virginia senior Jason Cain played one of his more aggressive games in recent memory. The 6-foot-10 forward only finished with six points, but from the first possession of the game, he was in attack mode.
“I was thinking, ‘Let’s try and get the team’s energy up and let me try and establish myself as early as possible,’” said Cain, who also had six rebounds and two assists. “That way things would loosen up for Sean and J.R.
“Once I saw myself playing well, we all pretty much fed off of each other’s energy and went crazy after that.”

Inspired by Hollywood
Virginia coach Dave Leitao wasn’t a big fan of “300,” a movie about the Greece-Persia war in the 5th century that his team watched on Wednesday evening.
However, Cain said that the movie - which is based on a true story - fired up the team. Freshman Will Harris was spouting off quotes from the flick in the warm-ups before Friday’s win.
“We’re probably tighter now than we’ve been the whole season,” Cain said, “and it just showed in the way we played. We were just ready and came out with the energy needed to win the game. This is a great feeling.”

Tunji Time!
Virginia big man Tunji Soroye had a season-high nine points in the win. He also had five rebounds, two blocks and a steal. The 6-11 Nigerian had not scored in his previous two games.

Viewing party
The UVa Alumni Association will host an NCAA Tournament viewing party Sunday at Alumni Hall. Cavalier fans are invited to enjoy the action on the big screen in the ballroom.
Admission is free and wings, soda and snacks will be provided. Beer will be available for purchase.
Doors open at 11 a.m., and the game starts at 12:10 p.m.

 

Reynolds shines for Cavs
Senior sinks Albany with 28 points on sport's big stage
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 17, 2007
 
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- His 22nd birthday came and went last spring, and J.R. Reynolds still hadn't played in the NCAA basketball tournament. He remembers staring at tourney games on TV, wondering if he'd ever realize his dream. The shots of players on the bench in particular struck him.

"Just to see how excited they are and how they get pumped up over the littlest thing," said Reynolds, who turns 23 in May. "I was like, 'Man, I want to get there to see how that feels.'"

The University of Virginia senior guard can now say with conviction that it feels great. In his NCAA tournament debut, Reynolds scored 28 points yesterday to lead the Cavaliers, seeded No. 4 in the South Region, to an 84-57 rout of No. 13 seed Albany at Nationwide Arena.

"I thought Virginia played as well as they could play," Great Danes coach Will Brown said.

No Cavalier played better than Reynolds, who snapped out of an uncharacteristic slump. A second-team all-ACC pick, he's been bothered recently by a mysterious injury. He's called it an abdominal strain, while his coach, Dave Leitao, said it was a hip injury.

Whatever the case, Reynolds entered the Wahoos' NCAA tourney opener having gone 9 for 44 from the floor in his previous three games.

Against Albany, he hit his first seven shots -- four from behind the 3-point arc -- and finished the half with 23 points. That's a record for a U.Va. player in an NCAA tourney game.

"During warmups, you could just tell that he was ready," said forward Jason Cain, another U.Va. senior. "You can just tell, when you've been around a guy for four years, when he's going to have a good day."

The victory was the first for the Cavaliers in this tournament since March 24, 1995, when they upset top-seeded Kansas in the third round. This is the Cavs' first appearance in the NCAAs since 2001, when they lost in the first first round to No. 12 seed Gonzaga.

"We don't want the season to be over," said all-ACC point guard Sean Singletary, who contributed 23 points, nine assists, six rebounds and only one turnover.

U.Va. (24-9) meets No. 5 seed Tennessee (23-10) in the second round tomorrow at 12:10 p.m. The winner will advance to the Sweet 16. The Volunteers hammered No. 12 seed Long Beach State 121-86 in yesterday's second game.

Albany (23-10) could empathize with the 49ers. The Great Danes, champions of the America East, trailed 45-25 at the break yesterday. Only once in the second half for a total of 7 seconds -- did they get their deficit under 20 points.

Virginia shot a season-high 53.6 percent from the floor. More impressive, perhaps, was its defense. The Great Danes' first possession ended with a shot-clock violation, and U.Va. held them to four points in the first 8 minutes. Albany shot 37.9 percent for the game.

"We knew that if we're playing good basketball, we'll get our fair share of looks [on offense]," Leitao said. "Whether we make them a lot depends on how we feel. How we feel depends on what we do on the defensive end. We've got to come out and establish that right away."

Reynolds began the game on senior guard Jamar Wilson, the two-time player of the year in the America East. Sophomore swingman Mamadi Diane also shadowed Wilson, and other Cavaliers provided support throughout.

Wilson led Albany with 25 points. Few came easily.

"I think we made it tough for him," said Diane, who in addition to playing stellar defense had 10 points and five rebounds. "He wasn't getting a lot of the stuff he was used to getting."

U.Va. entered the NCAAs having lost three of its previous five games. In each of those defeats, the Cavaliers had led at halftime, so they took nothing for granted at the break yesterday.

According to Cain, Leitao's halftime message was this: "It's not going to happen the way it's been happening before. We're going to go out there, you're going to get a good sweat, you're going to get loose, and we're going to come out and throw the first punch."

The second half unfolded to Leitao's liking. The Cavaliers' dominance on the boards continued, and they avoided the lapses that had plagued them recently.

"Today was just one of those days when everyone was just super motivated to make sure we got things done," Cain said. "It was probably the highest concentration we've had all year."

 

Cavs roll in opener
J.R. Reynolds' big game gives the Cavs their first NCAA tournament win in a dozen years.
By Doug Doughty

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- J.R. Reynolds had a different look about him Friday and that was before he made his first seven shots at Nationwide Arena.

"I thought I'd switch things up a little bit," he said.

A slump-ridden Reynolds donned orange shoes for the first time Friday and may never take them off after leading Virginia past Albany, 84-57, in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

"They sure are shiny," Jason Cain said, sneaking a glance at Reynolds' fancy footwear, "but I don't think you can say it was the shoes. He's made a lot of shots in a lot of different shoes this season."

The problem was, Reynolds hadn't made many shots lately, which led Albany to conclude that fourth-seeded Virginia (21-10) was ripe for an upset.

The 13th-seeded Great Danes (23-10) didn't know what hit them.

"When I saw he had 25 points at the half, I was in shock," said Albany junior Brian Lillis, the America East defensive player of the year.

Actually, Reynolds only had 23 points at that point, but it was more than enough to send the Cavaliers into halftime with a 45-25 lead. Virginia led by as many as 30 points, 60-30, in winning its first NCAA tournament game since 1995.

"Curtis Staples was on that team, right?" Reynolds asked. "I'm going to have to call him. I haven't turned on my cellphone yet, but he's probably called me."

Staples, a fellow Roanoke product who serves as a Reynolds confidant, was a freshman on the UVa team that won three games in the 1995 tournament. UVa has been to the NCAAs only twice since then, when it lost first-round games in 1997 and 2001.

In his previous three games before Friday, Reynolds had gone 9-for-44 from the field, but he was 9-for-13 against the Great Danes. He was a model of efficiency Friday, rebounding one of his two first-half misses and drawing a foul that led to two made free throws.

"I told you what this was about," Reynolds whispered on the way to the locker room. "It was about getting back to practice and getting back in the groove. This could have been my last game. I had to do what I had to do."

Reynolds has been unable to practice 5-on-5 in recent weeks because of an abdominal injury.

"It bothers me a lot whenever I do anything -- run, jump, shoot, whatever," Reynolds said. "The pain doesn't go away.

"I had some medication, but it didn't feel any better today than I did last week. But I knew this could be my last game, so I talked to the doctors and told them I wanted to practice. Once I got back to practice, I wasn't worried about today."

Foul problems limited Reynolds' playing time in the second half but didn't prevent him from scoring a game-high 28 points. Junior guard Sean Singletary added 23 points, including 16 in the second half.

"I know with J.R., when he's got it going like that, there's no option but to keep going to him and ride the hot hand," said Singletary, who finished with nine assists and one turnover.

The Great Danes got 25 points from two-time America East player of the year Jamar Wilson, who finished 9-of-18 from the field. But Wilson did not score until 10:15 remained before halftime, when UVa led 21-6.

"We got down 19-2 [and] our kids were in shock," Albany coach Will Brown said. "That's the first time we've been in that position all year."

Reynolds started the game on Wilson; then, 6-foot-5 Mamadi Diane took over. Frequently, Wilson would run into double teams at the top of the key.

"When I came off a screen, there was a big guy waiting for me and it was hard to see over them," Wilson said.

The Cavs outrebounded the Great Danes 41-25, getting a game-high seven rebounds from Reynolds and six from Singletary.

Virginia shot a season-high 53.6 percent from the field. Albany rallied to shoot 37.9 percent from the field after going 10-for-30 in the first half.

"We thought, going into this game, that we were going to win the game," defensive ace Lillis said. "Maybe that was one of our problems. Sometimes that's a good thing but today it wasn't a real good thing."
 

Slow start stuns Albany
The Danes' bid to be the latest upstart underdog doesn't turn out so well due to early poor shooting.
By Mark Berman
981-3125

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- On Thursday, Albany men's basketball players wore T-shirts to practice that proclaimed, "Lucky 13."

On Friday, the 13th-seeded Great Danes quickly ran out of luck.

Albany missed 11 of its first 12 shots en route to an 84-57 loss to fourth-seeded Virginia in the NCAA tournament.

The Great Danes fell behind 19-2 with 12:25 left in the first half.

"We were a little shocked," forward Brent Wilson said.

"The last time we were probably in shock like that was the second half against VCU [in December]," coach Will Brown said. "When we got down big early, I think they panicked."

Albany (23-10) trailed by 20 points at halftime, a sharp contrast to its NCAA tournament experience last year. In that game, Albany's foe was the team in shock in the first half.

In the first round last year, Albany jumped to a 10-point lead early over top-seeded Connecticut and trailed just 31-30 at halftime. Albany led the Huskies 50-38 with 8:30 to go before falling 72-59.

"We scored a couple buckets right off the bat against UConn, so we felt like we belonged on the court," guard Brian Lillis said.

Not this time.

"We got off to a real good start last year and all of a sudden we had 20,000 people cheering for us," said Wilson, who had 13 points Friday. "This year, you're down [19-2] and nobody's really cheering for you. You didn't have the whole arena on our back."

"We played defense last year," said guard Jamar Wilson, who had 25 points. "UConn didn't know what was going on. ... from the start of the game, where UVa came with a lot of momentum."

In part because of that game last year, many observers had picked the Great Danes to win this game.

"Everybody started picking Albany as the upset in the South Region over Virginia," Brown said. "Our kids are smart kids. They're in the hotel room watching ESPN, watching all these shows. They started thinking. They might have put some pressure on themselves."

The Great Danes certainly weren't lacking in confidence.

"Everybody in this locker room thought we were going to win," guard Jon Iati said. "We didn't have a real good start. I think everybody was kind of shocked."

UVa made eight of its first 11 shots, including three 3-pointers.

"We missed a couple shots, we put our heads down, they come down and make 3s," guard Brian Lillis said. "Instead of us going up and playing physical with them, we just kind of took a step back."

Albany was outrebounded by 16, the largest margin of the season for the Great Danes. UConn and Virginia Commonwealth each outrebounded Albany by 13 early this season.

"You're facing up against 6-10, 6-11 [players on UVa]," Brent Wilson said. "You don't see that every day in the America East or every day in practice."

Albany shot just 37.9 percent from the field, including 30.8 percent from 3-point range.

"They didn't give up any easy looks and made us shoot late in the shot clock," said Jamar Wilson, who was 4-of-11 from the field in the first half.
 

Uneventful day perfect for UVa
Aaron McFarling

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Here are a few odds and ends that would be considered more dramatic than Virginia's 84-57 win over Albany in Friday's first round of the NCAA tournament:

Vincent Price reading "The Cat in the Hat."

An episode of "Mama's Family."

A race between a cheetah and a stick of butter.

Turnips.

And you know what? That's exactly the way it should be. A No. 13 seed against a No. 4 seed should be a mismatch. A team that finished in a tie for first place in the ACC should destroy an opponent that fraternizes with Binghamton, Brown and Bucknell.

But you never know until they play. Which is why we like this tournament so much, because we see things like what Albany did last year, when, as a No. 16 seed, it led top-seeded UConn by a dozen points and a groundswell of support swept over a neutral court in Philadelphia.

"Da-vid! Da-vid! Da-vid!"

That's a pretty cool sight. An even cooler sight for UVa was taking a 19-2 lead in the opening eight minutes of the game, kicking David into the gutter and watching all those neutral fans whistle as they tiptoed to the nearest concourse nacho stand.

"We ran into a buzz saw today," Albany coach Will Brown said.

Yes. A buzz saw with a bum hip.

Two important things happened for the Cavaliers here. First, they won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 1995, thereby moving a game away from the Sweet 16 and avoiding the stigma of being "that team that lost to Albany."

Second, they got J.R. Reynolds back to playing like J.R. Reynolds. And if they plan to win any more games in this tournament, that's the biggest achievement of all.

There was Reynolds, playing through that mysterious hip injury that had been blamed for three straight poor shooting games, fading away to hit his first jump shot from 15 feet.

There was Reynolds, pulling up on the fast break to nail a 3-pointer.

There was Reynolds, scooping up a loose ball at the top of the circle and not hesitating, firing in another 3.

There was Reynolds, launching a high-arcing 3 over Albany star Jamar Wilson.

There was Reynolds, tossing the runner of the glass.

And there was Reynolds, simply toying with the Great Danes, faking a defender with a crossover dribble (Ooh!), shoveling a quick pass to Tunji Soroye (Ahh!), and watching Soroye convert the layup while absorbing a foul.

Reynolds could be the streakiest player in this tournament.

And if what he and coach Dave Leitao are saying is true -- that they've finally hit on the right mix of rest and rhythm in practice -- then the Cavaliers should feel confident against anybody.

But that's the thing about this event.

Feeling confident is not enough. After all, Albany came into this game extremely confident.

"I felt that we were playing our best basketball, and we were more prepared than any team in the country," said Wilson, the two-time player of the year in the America East Conference. "From getting up at 7 o'clock in the morning, 7:45 in the morning, making sure that we knew all this stuff from eating, breathing, sleeping ... Virginia Cavaliers.

"The fact of the matter is, they totally took us out of our game."

Good teams can do that to you.

And after Friday, UVa is suddenly looking like a good team again.
 

Questions abound about 2008 ACC race
Doughty picks Cavs for fifth, Hokies for eighth
By Doug Doughty

One reason that Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg and Virginia’s Dave Leitao were contenders for ACC coach of the year was the ACC Operation Basketball poll in which the Hokies and Cavaliers were picked sixth and eighth, respectively.

That being the case, Greenberg and Leitao might be coach-of-the-year candidates next year.

Few in the media are thinking basketball when the ACC holds its basketball media day in October, so the preseason projections never can be taken too seriously.

It might make more sense to take the poll at the end of the preceding season, if only you knew who was turning pro.

Nobody in a prized ACC freshman class has expressed any intentions of turning pro, but, remember, this was the year that a new NBA rule took effect and players could not go directly to college.

If the current ACC freshmen had been allowed to turn pro, how many would have bypassed college? North Carolina’s Brandan Wright? Georgia Tech’s Thaddeus Young? Maybe the Yellow Jackets’ Javaris Crittendon.

At 6-foot-9 and with a condor’s wingspan, Wright seems most ready to make the move. Whether he comes or goes, I don’t think he’ll affect the preseason conference rankings that much. Regular-season co-champion and tournament winner North Carolina is still the preseason choice for No. 1.

Four teams finished within one game of the Tar Heels in the regular season – Virginia, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Maryland. I can’t see any of those teams being picked No. 2 in the preseason next year.

Some people are likely to pick Duke second because, of course, Duke is Duke. Here’s a team that went 8-8 in the ACC regular season, then lost in the first round of the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. Moreover, there is growing speculation that sophomore post player Josh McRoberts will turn pro.

McRoberts and Tyler Hansbrough were the prizes of the ACC recruiting class of 2005, but Hansbrough has indicated he will stay four years and most people believe him. He looks happy, except when he’s required to wear a facemask. McRoberts never looks happy and is said not to like school, but I wouldn’t swear that he’s gone.

Duke is bringing in the ACC’s top-rated recruit, Oregon big man Kyle Slingler, who is the No. 4 prospect on Rivals’ list of the nation’s top seniors. The Blue Devils have two other Top 40 recruits, Nolan Smith and Taylor King. But, Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt can tell you, great freshmen can’t guarantee a crown.

A team that played very well at the end of the season is North Carolina State and the Wolfpack’s only senior of consequence was Engin Atsur, but that’s a big loss. Just look at how poorly the Wolfpack played during the first half of the season, when Atsur was nursing a hamstring injury, compared to the way it played under Atsur’s leadership in the ACC Tournament.

Like State, Clemson has everybody returning but its point guard, Vern Hamilton. Hamilton was a nightmare at the free-throw line but he was the unqualified leader of a Tigers team that started 17-0.

At least that’s what I thought until I called up the Tigers’ statistics. Hamilton didn’t even lead his team in assists and his assist-turnover ratio (104-81) was much worse than Cliff Hammonds’. I always thought that Hammonds was a shooter – and not a great one – but his 132-50 assist-turnover ratio would suggest that he could be the Tigers’ point guard as a senior in 2007-2008.

Along the same lines, I could see N.C. State putting the ball in the hands of 6-7 Gavin Grant, another senior who has the experience of having run the offense in Atsur’s absence. Grant leads State in assists with 132 and Atsur isn’t second. Virginia Tech fans won’t have a hard time believing that 6-8 Wolfpack sophomore Ben McCauley had 112.

Is there any chance that State redshirt freshman Brandon Costner could turn pro? I don’t think so, but nobody in the ACC was coming along at a faster rate at the end of the season. Who else could turn pro? Virginia’s Sean Singletary? How many times does Singletary have to say he’s staying for people to believe him.

Two teams that appear headed for a fall. Maryland loses its top two scorers – D.J. Strawberry and Mike Jones – as well as the ACC’s top shot-blocker Ikene Ebekwe. Gone at Boston College are ACC player of the year Jared Dudley and Sean Marshall.

I’m not sure that the Eagles’ Al Skinner didn’t do the best coaching job in the ACC this year, although Leitao got the award. Maryland coach Gary Williams was second after getting his team to 10-6 after a 3-6 start. If either the Terps or Eagles get to the NCAA Tournament next year, its coach will merit coach-of-the-year consideration.

People close to the Virginia Tech team tell me that the Hokies will be more talented next year, but the loss of Zabian Dowdell, Jamon Gordon and Coleman Collins makes them a doubtful NCAA participant. Virginia has a chance with Singletary but the Cavaliers’ shaky post situation won’t improve.

A lot could change when Huntington, W.Va., big man Patrick Patterson makes his decision. Duke, Virginia and Wake Forest are still under consideration, but Florida might be his leader.

I’d feel a little more strongly if this were October and I knew what Patterson was doing and who had turned pro, but we’ll all be thinking football in October. If I had to do my preseason picks on what’s available right now, here’s how I would go:

1) North Carolina; 2) Georgia Tech; 3) N.C. State; 4) Duke; 5) Virginia; 6) Clemson; 7) Maryland; 8) Virginia Tech; 9) Florida State; 10) Wake Forest; 11) Miami, and 12) Boston College.

But, I can tell you right now. Boston College won’t finish 12th.
 

Virginia's Reynolds lights up Albany
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 17, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Slump? The word never entered J.R. Reynolds' mind. Great scorers don't think that way.
"Naw. I didn't consider it a slump, considering my circumstances," the senior said, less than an hour after fourth-seeded Virginia's 84-57 dismantling of No. 13 Albany in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday.

OK, slump doesn't work? Fine. Still battling through an injury to his right hip, Reynolds broke out of a two-week funk at the Nationwide Arena, making his first seven shots, four of which were 3-pointers, and scoring a game-high 28 points to lead the Cavaliers to their first NCAA tournament victory since 1995.

"This could have been my last collegiate game," said Reynolds, who scored 23 of his points in the first half. "I didn't want it to end like that."

Instead, Virginia (21-10) advances to play on Sunday at 12:10 p.m. against fifth-seeded Tennessee, which beat Long Beach State 121-86.

Many people wondered how Reynolds would play in his long-awaited, first NCAA tournament appearance. In his last two regular season games and the ACC tournament, he went 9-for-44 from the field, one of his worst stretches this season. All the pre-game talk focused on whether the senior's hip would prevent him from being the consistent scorer that helped UVa win 20 regular season games.

He dismissed that notion early. Reynolds made back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Cavaliers race to a 19-2 lead after 7? minutes. The Great Danes (23-10) never get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

"We got down 19-2 and our kid were in shock," Albany head coach Will Brown said. "That's the first time we've been in that position all year long."

"We knew we threw a big punch at the beginning of the game and they never recovered from that," said UVa guard Sean Singletary, who finished with 23 points and matched a career-high with nine assists. "Any time you throw a big punch like that and keeping punching, keep jabbing, there's not much the other team can do."

Reynolds certainly didn't back off. He kept taking shots and kept making them, finishing 7-for-9 from the field in the first half. Everything he threw at the rim went in, including a two-handed, overhead heave while on his back that didn't count after he was fouled and had been knocked to the floor.

"I know with J.R., when he's got it going like that, there's no option but to keep going to him and ride the hot hand as long as we can," Singletary said.

Reynolds, a second-team all-ACC selection who averaged 20 points per game in conference play, hadn't scored 28 points in a game since going for 40 and 29 in back-to-back games against Wake Forest and N.C. State in late January.

"It's just rhythm," Reynolds said. "When you get into a rhythm, anything can happen."

It seemed to rub off on the rest of the Cavaliers, who shot a season-high 53.6 percent from the field. Mamadi Diane scored 10 points, hitting two of his three 3-point attempts, and even center Tunji Soroye got in on the act, scoring a season-high nine.

Virginia also dominated Albany in the hustle categories, out-rebounding the Great Danes 41-25 and out-scoring them 15-0 on the fastbreak and 16-4 on second chance points.

That was the type of energy that was lacking when UVa wrapped up its regular season with three losses in its final five games. To get it back was great, but the Cavaliers know if they are to make any kind of run in the tournament, it was much more important to get their star shooting guard back.

Of course, they'll argue the semantics of that phrase, too.

Said Diane: "I never thought he left."


 

Virginia-Albany: A closer look
Lynchburg News & Advance
March 17, 2007

SEEN AND HEARD: After Tunji Soroye blocked a shot, nearly got a tip-in and made a layup in the first 2? minutes, Virginia assistant coach Rob Lanier turned to the bench, pointed to his head and said, 'See, that's because Tunji's listening." Soroye finished with a season-high nine points to go with five rebounds and two blocks.
TURNING POINT: The opening tip. Virginia appeared completely energized from the get-go, getting contributions from everyone. Jason Cain, Tunji Soroye and Mamadi Diane scored nine of the Cavaliers' first 13 points, proving UVa wasn't going to be a two-man show.

IT WAS OVER WHEN ? J.R. Reynolds got going. The senior hit back-to-back 3-pointers that gave Virginia a 19-2 lead less than eight minutes in. Albany never recovered.

QUOTABLE: "People are hesitant to say Virginia has a shot to go deep into this tournament because they struggled a bit down the stretch. But if those two guards shoot the ball like they did tonight, they can go a long way." - Albany head coach Will Brown

GO FIGURE: 53.6 - percent the Cavaliers shot from the field, their highest mark this season