Despite His Many Rants, Cavs' Leitao Draws Raves
By Adam Kilgore
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 18, 2007; Page E01

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 17 -- Dave Leitao would watch Jim Calhoun, his college coach at Northeastern, lambaste another one of his teammates and just observe. Then Leitao would wait for the right moment, put his arm around the teammate and softly say, "Coach is only trying to get the best out of you."

"My players would never believe it, but I was very introverted," Leitao said. "It was in my character, and I grew up that way."

Despite what his volcanic sideline demeanor suggests, Leitao hasn't changed, only evolved. The abrasive, almost maniacal persona Leitao shows the world during games rarely surfaces at other times, according to those closest to him. He is measured and never panics, "as deep a thinker as I've ever been around," Calhoun said.

Leitao has combined those opposing qualities -- poise flecked with rage -- while stewarding fourth-seeded Virginia to its first NCAA tournament victory since 1995 and a second-round game Sunday against fifth-seeded Tennessee in the South Region. The Cavaliers also propelled him to the ACC coach of the year award and a share of the regular season conference title, also the school's first since 1995.

During games, Leitao regularly can be seen unleashing expletive-laced tirades at his players. During Virginia's loss to Wake Forest on March 3, he barked, "Why should I put you back in the game?" at center Tunji Soroye before inserting him. His missives can be brutal and stinging, but he had to grow into the role of drill sergeant, a stark change from the slender kid Calhoun first met at Holy Family-Holy Name School in New Bedford, Mass.

"I don't know if Dave could chastise a kid then," Calhoun said. "It was not a natural thing."

Calhoun criticized Leitao as a player more than anyone "because his shoulders were strong enough to handle it," he said. Leitao earned the nickname O.D. at Northeastern, short for over-diagnose; each time Calhoun explained a concept, Leitao would ask two more questions. The first time Calhoun met Leitao, he was 16 and carried a rare maturity for his age.

At 23, Leitao was exactly what Calhoun wanted for an assistant, and he offered him a job. Leitao received the call one morning right as he got out of the shower, preparing for a day of work as a manager of a record store in California.

After he graduated, Leitao decided, painfully, to leave basketball behind and pursue a corporate career. But Calhoun's offer pulled him back to the sport, and he accepted the position the next day.

"I saw things in Dave that maybe he didn't see in himself," Calhoun said. "I saw that he should be a coach."

Leitao spent 14 years with Calhoun in two stints, and he watched Calhoun with an analytical eye. He learned the teaching power of rant, and knew he would have to intensify part of his personality to be a head coach.

Virginia assistant coach Rob Lanier believes Leitao still yearns to play, and that competitive nature overtakes him during games. Leitao carefully considers how to challenge each of his players, but his emotions win out at times. In one game this season, he splintered a clipboard over his knee ("We've been through some clipboards," Lanier said). He stares down players. He curses them out, inches between his face and theirs.

"Sometimes it's emotion, but I try to be conscious about it," Leitao said. "You don't want to destroy them when you're trying to challenge them. There's a thought process that goes with it."

Mamadi Diane sometimes wonders why Leitao is yelling at him. Soroye never had met anyone so intense. But his players, by now, understand. He makes a point to take players aside after a game or practice and explain his tongue-lashing.

"After my first year, I was like, 'Wow, the guy really hates me,' " senior Jason Cain said. "Then I just began to realize that, damn, he really does care a lot about me. He wants me to see me do well more than I want myself to do well."

The day Leitao arrived in Charlottesville and met Sean Singletary, they chatted in Leitao's office as an introduction. Singletary was enduring difficult family trials, and he confided in Leitao immediately. The conversation lasted two hours.

This offseason, Florida, the reigning national champion, offered Lanier a position as an assistant coach. Lanier spoke with Florida Coach Billy Donovan several times a day for nearly a week, and he was leaning toward accepting the offer.

"You're going to get a call from Billy Donovan," Lanier told Leitao. "How do you want me to handle it?"

Leitao briefly considered Lanier's question.

"It's not about me," Leitao said. "It's not about the program. It's about what's best for your career and for your family."

"It was profound to me how loyal he was being," Lanier said. "You're the head coach, and you expect guys to be loyal to you. But that's really got to be a two-way street. And he was really being true to the whole loyalty thing."

Leitao thirsts for opinion and seeks and shares ideas with a fraternity of friends in coaching. He called Calhoun this season as Connecticut struggled through its worst season in years, just to ask if he was all right.

"In this profession, where there's enough animosity, jealousy, Dave seems to have more friends than most people I know," Calhoun said. "Karl Hobbs, for example. Karl's not really as interested in doing all the little extra things that Dave would do. Great guy. But I don't think Karl -- and nor would I do -- would do some of the small things that Dave does.

"I always say, there are guys who kick down doors, there are guys who walk away from doors. And then there are Dave Leitaos, who talk down doors. Dave was always smooth enough, smart enough, to talk down a door. Now, Dave has the ability to either talk the door down, or kick it down. Either way, it's going to come down."

 

Cavs embrace season's highs
Virginia ends a surprising season in dramatic fashion and prepares for coach Dave Leitao's third year.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
March 20, 2007

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- They went out the way they came in: with a flash of drama, a last-second 3-pointer tumbling toward the hoop.

But Virginia's men's basketball players went out nonetheless, sulking into the tunnel at Nationwide Arena after Sunday's 77-74 loss to Tennessee in the NCAA tournament's South Regional second round.

Their final scene contrasted the one from 31 games earlier, when they bounced around the John Paul Jones Arena court after beating Arizona 93-90, an inscription on the arena's wall behind them reading: "WE HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT."

The two moments - one after Virginia's Sean Singletary missed a 3, the other after Arizona's J.P. Prince missed a 3 - were fitting bookends to a season that proved as compelling and improbable as it was historic.

The Cavaliers (21-11) were picked by the media during the preseason to finish eighth in the 12-team ACC. They took advantage of a favorable conference schedule and shared the regular-season title with North Carolina - their first such championship since 1995.

The Cavaliers were labeled a pathetic road team, a fold-easy bunch that hadn't won three ACC road games in a season since 2000. They won three consecutive conference road games for the first time since 1995, a stretch that highlighted a seven-game league winning streak, their longest since 1982.

The Cavaliers were essentially the same team that went 15-15 last season and lost in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. They made their first NCAA tournament since 2001 and won there for the first time since 1995.

"Great moments just kept piling up," senior forward Jason Cain said. "Little by little, you just start recognizing how special it was going to be."

He and his teammates watched the season peak and dip more drastically than any they have ever endured, a collection of emotional postcards that frazzled nerves until the end.

There was the 19-point comeback win over Arizona, the rock-bottom performance at the San Juan Shootout, the bounce-back blowout of Gonzaga. There was the winning streak they'll never forget, highlighted by two comebacks: from 16 points at Clemson and, four days later, from 13 points against Duke. There was Singletary hurtling through the air to make the winning shot against the Blue Devils, then the free-fall, three losses in five games going into the NCAA tournament.

Singletary, a junior point guard, was magnificent through the season's last ticks. He lifted the Cavaliers back from a 10-point, second-half deficit against Tennessee, scoring nine points in the final 35 seconds, including Virginia's 257th 3-pointer of the season. That is 18 more than the previous school record, but the 3-pointer everybody will remember is the one that caught iron - and nothing more. After Singletary's last-second 3 missed, and after Virginia coach Dave Leitao peeled him off the floor, the Cavaliers' best player set his eyes on next season, when he will try to become the third player in school history to thrice make first-team all-ACC.

"I'm just going to get away from basketball for a little bit, do a lot of thinking and come back stronger next year," he said, a reminder of his intentions to play as a senior, something he has reiterated several times since last summer. Replacing senior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds, a four-year starter, is Leitao's most difficult task heading into his third season in Charlottesville. Virginia's second leading scorer - he averaged 18.4 points to Singletary's 19 - Reynolds set the tone for the seven-game streak, averaging 24 points over that stretch.

He came to Virginia four years ago as a highly coveted recruit who attended Catholic school growing up in Roanoke. One of the four players in Virginia's incoming recruiting class is 6-foot-4 shooting guard Jeff Jones, the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia's Catholic League.

The recruiting class leaves Virginia in a scholarship bind. The Cavaliers will have 10 scholarships after Cain and Reynolds depart. The NCAA maximum is 13, meaning one current player must surrender his scholarship before the four recruits get theirs.

As the numbers puzzle sorts itself out, Leitao remains focused on continuity. "What I've always said over two years," he said, "is I don't want to make Virginia basketball a one-hit wonder."

Forward thinking
Despite the success of this year's team, Dave Leitao and the Cavs have several issues to resolve for next season.
Doug Doughty

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Dave Leitao has goals for the Virginia men's basketball program that extend beyond one NCAA tournament appearance every six years.

"I don't want to make Virginia basketball a one-hit wonder," Leitao said Sunday following a season-ending 77-74 loss to Tennessee in the second round of the South Regional.

It was Virginia's first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2001 and the Cavaliers' first two-game stay since 1995.

They had been a preseason choice for eighth place in the ACC but captured a share of the regular-season championship, won more than 20 games and returned Virginia to the college basketball map.

"It was very hard to make that kind of progress," Leitao said, "but it's even harder to stay, so once I take my tie off and let my hair down a little bit, then recruiting has to take over and getting our program better has to take over."

Virginia probably won't be picked eighth again next year, but the Cavaliers have some rebuilding to do. J.R. Reynolds and Jason Cain were UVa's only seniors, but they leave a huge void.

Reynolds, hindered by a hip injury during the final weeks of the regular season, sparkled in the NCAA tournament. He had more than 20 points in the first half of both of Virginia's NCAA games and UVa fans were to left to wonder if their fate might have been different Sunday if Reynolds had not rolled an ankle before the half.

On a team that tried five different post players, Cain clearly was the most reliable. Although he did not score from the field Sunday, he made nine of 10 free throws and shot 73.1 percent from the line for the season.

How the Cavaliers are going to fill Cain's 720 minutes is anybody's guess. At 6-foot-11 and 245 pounds, rising senior Tunji Soroye has an NBA body but negligible offensive skills. There was a defining moment for Soroye in the first half Sunday, when he found himself alone under the basket and could have dunked, but missed a layup attempt.

UVa did not get a single field goal from a post player and was outrebounded 39-29 by a Tennessee team that previously had ranked 248th out of 315 Division I teams.

Volunteers' coach Bruce Pearl said the rebounding differential might have been the No. 1 factor in his team's win.

"I think anytime you're in Year 2, there are going to be holes that need to be filled," said Leitao, who was named ACC coach of the year, the first from Virginia since Terry Holland in 1982. "Last year was depth; this year was a couple of other things.

"I thought we did a good job of masking our flaws and playing to our strengths more often than not. I don't think the lack of a frontcourt scorer hurt us as much [against the Vols] as it sometimes has in the past, but we obviously would like to have more balance."

Junior point guard Sean Singletary, a first-team All-ACC selection for the second year in a row, scored 19.0 points per game, which was the highest scoring average by a UVa player since Norman Nolan in 1997-98. Reynolds scored 18.4 points per game, which would have been good enough to lead the team in scoring in seven of the past eight seasons.

For the second year in a row, Reynolds and Singletary were the only UVa players to average double-figures in scoring. In 2005-06, a late swoon caused Adrian Joseph to drop under 10 points per game. This year, Mamadi Diane, who had an 11.8 average after 16 games, finished at 9.6.

Diane played outstanding perimeter defense in UVa's two NCAA tournament games but was 0-for-4 from the field Sunday and went scoreless for the first time all season.

No ACC team relied more heavily on 3-point shooting and that was costly against Tennessee. Over a 21-minute 49-second span of the first and second halves Sunday, UVa missed 13 consecutive 3-point attempts.

It's a wonder UVa scored 74 points, because the Cavaliers matched a season low with 18 field goals. In converting 31 of 36 free throws, they finished at 74.2 percent for the season.

That was helped by the fact that Singletary and Reynolds attempted a combined 415 free throws and shot 87.2 and 83.2 percent, respectively.

Fall signees Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan should help make up for the 62 3-point field goals Reynolds provided this season, but UVa needs to find a way to score when the 3-pointers aren't falling.

Toward that end, 6-8 Patrick Patterson from Huntington, W.Va., remains a major recruiting target, but UVa traditionally does not prevail when the competition includes Florida, Duke and Kentucky.

In all likelihood, any improvement in the post play will have to come from within. Jamil Tucker, a 6-8, 230-pound freshman, already has the shooting touch to have made 21 of 43 3-pointers. If he could add some back-to-the-basket moves, his bulk could make him a force.

If no new recruits materialize and all the Cavaliers do is hang on to Singletary, that gives them a chance for another 20-win season.

Singletary indicated Sunday that he might investigate the possibility of attending NBA pre-draft camps but will not hire an agent and is "definitely" coming back for a fourth year.

"I think our program has totally turned around in these last two years," said Singletary, who was among 16 All-Americans chosen Monday by collegeinsider.com.

"We look forward to next year and the new recruits and trying to usher them in right as soon as they get on campus, just get their mindset in a winning form and keep going forward."
 

Reynolds' luck runs out at last
Aaron McFarling

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The lucky orange shoes hung open, the laces untied. Above them, a half roll of athletic tape coiled around J.R. Reynolds' right ankle, the ankle that gave out at the worst possible time.

"I can't believe it's over," Reynolds said in front of his locker, about a half hour after Virginia's 77-74 loss to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament. "My career is over with. We lost the game."

He looked down at his ankle. Perhaps it was to blame.

We'll never know. Maybe Tennessee still would have done what it did, hit all its free throws, made all those key stops and skipped into the Sweet 16. Maybe Reynolds would have cooled off anyway -- there's no way he could have gotten any hotter, right? -- and the Cavs would have bowed out gracefully, secure in the notion that their best just wasn't good enough.

But it sure doesn't feel that way. Not to anyone who saw Reynolds pull up and swish a deep 3-pointer on UVa's first possession Sunday, that familiar signal that the senior from Roanoke has got it today.

Not to anyone who saw Reynolds glare at the Tennessee bench after hitting another 3-pointer later in the half. That's a familiar Reynolds signal, too. It means not only does he have his shot today, but he also has plenty of motivation to use it.

And it doesn't feel that way to anyone who saw Reynolds score 22 points in the first half and only four in the second, when the only thing that changed was the status of that ankle.

"It was hurting so bad," Reynolds said. "It was painful. I thought it would loosen up a little bit, but the pain just kept coming and coming. I just tried to push through it for 15 minutes."

You know what Reynolds hated the most about that whole thing? It wasn't the pop he felt in the final minute of the first half when he stepped on an opposing player's foot, spooking him into thinking the ankle was broken. It wasn't the lack of spring on his jump shots or the decelerated first step that resulted from the sprain.

It was watching the Volunteers salivate, eager to drive to the basket, knowing they had a wounded man in front of them.

"I don't like that," he said.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't understand. It's exactly what Tennessee should have done. If the Cavs were going to keep that offensive threat out there, it was going to have to cost them somewhere.

Still, there's something heart-wrenching about the way this all went down. Reynolds deserved better. He got squeezed out of first-team All-ACC -- understandably, given the competition -- even though he had first-team numbers. He was the goat of the Wake Forest loss in the season finale, shooting terribly as the Cavs blew their chance at an outright ACC regular-season title. He was the fall guy in the ACC Tournament loss to N.C. State, after which he revealed his hip injury was bothering him more than anybody had let on.

But he and coach Dave Leitao seemed to have conquered that in the week of preparation heading into this tournament. The right amount of rest, combined with more integration into team practices, put Reynolds in rhythm again.

Reynolds erupted for 28 points in the first-round win over Albany. Only foul trouble kept him from scoring 35 or more. On Sunday he looked even better -- pulling up from 15 feet, driving and drawing fouls, launching rainbows from the corner -- until the pop.

That cursed pop.

College careers end for everybody somehow. For Reynolds, it ended with him standing in the corner by the UVa bench, watching Sean Singletary release a 3-pointer (yes!) and seeing it rim out (no!) as the buzzer sounded.

Reynolds stared at the ceiling for a moment.

Then he slowly headed for the locker room, a hobbling warrior in his not-so-lucky orange shoes.
 

On a learning curve
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 20, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Virginia coach Dave Leitao only had seven healthy scholarship players for the majority of the 2005-06 season.

Coming into this season, the feeling was that Leitao’s squad would benefit tremendously from the influx of new talent - namely four incoming freshmen, who could take some of the scoring pressure off of guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds.

In Virginia’s 77-74 loss to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, the four first-year Cavaliers played a total of 12 minutes. They scored five points.

For the season, the quartet of Will Harris, Jamil Tucker, Solomon Tat and Jerome Meyinsse averaged a combined 10 points (8.8 in ACC play).

That’s not exactly what Virginia fans were hoping for from Leitao’s first recruiting class.

However, Leitao was by no means disappointed.

“We were looking a tremendous amount more for character guys,” said Leitao, shortly after his team was eliminated on Sunday. “If I were to assess [the class] from that standpoint, I think it’s an A-plus. I think they represent themselves and their teammates, and their university in an extremely positive way.

“Their physical contributions you can debate. Sometimes they played like freshmen. Sometimes they were untrusting. Sometimes they were trustworthy. And that’s typical for guys coming in, particularly as we’re playing catch up.”

Before Leitao came aboard, Virginia hadn’t been to the Big Dance since 2001. Clearly, one of the factors that led to former UVa coach Pete Gillen’s demise was his propensity for recruiting the wrong kind of student-athletes.

Leitao seems intent on not making those kinds of mistakes.

“When [you] take over a situation, [you] have to go out and recruit the right way,” Leitao said, “and this first class is a byproduct of that.”

The freshmen may not have lit up the stat sheet, but they certainly brought some intangibles.

Harris was the M.L. Carr of the squad - always cracking jokes, keeping teammates loose.

The more laid-back Tucker was the ying to Harris’ yang.

Tat, who almost never made it to Charlottesville because of visa problems, was considered the team’s “spiritual leader.”

Meyinsse didn’t score a point in ACC play, but the National Achievement Scholar (coming out of high school) probably boosted the team’s GPA.

Leitao admitted that it would have been nice to have been able to snag some in-state talent - he used Tennessee freshman Duke Crews as an example - but said his program wasn’t established enough to do so.

“We had some repair work to do,” he said. “We weren’t going to get the top-notch athletic guys that we’ll be able to get in the future, but at the same point in time, we would and did not substitute talent for character.

“I think in that regard we hit a home run.”

None of this year’s freshmen were rated higher than 3-star recruits (out of five) by Rivals.com.

In the fold for next season are guards Sam Zeglinski, Mustapha Farrakhan and Jeff Jones, plus post-player Mike Scott.

Jones is rated as a 4-star recruit. Zeglinski, Farrakhan and Scott are rated as 3-star prospects.

“We’re looking forward to next year and the new recruits,” said Singletary, “and trying to usher them in right as soon as they get on campus - just get their mindset in a winning form and just keep going forward.”

Virginia is one player over the scholarship limit for next year, but is still widely believed to be in the hunt for 5-star recruit Patrick Patterson of Huntington, W.Va.

“We signed four guys in the early signing period and, unless something happens, we’re only recruiting one more guy,” said Leitao, during his radio call-in show with Mac McDonald on Monday evening. “If that happens, if it doesn’t happen - we’ll wait and see. But we feel comfortable not only with the talent they have, but with the fact we’ll be bringing in young people with very high character.”

Dunks

During his call-in show, Leitao said if Virginia had advanced to the Sweet 16 in San Antonio, Reynolds would have been unable to play because of the ankle sprain he sustained in the loss to Tennessee. According to Leitao, it swelled up tremendously following the game. … Leitao also discussed Singletary’s comments in Monday’s edition of The Daily Progress in which Singletary stated that he would attend NBA team workouts. “It kind of created some doubt,” said Leitao, referring to the article. “Sean and I met for about an hour [Monday]. … We’ll deal with that at the appropriate time because I don’t want to speak for [him] or his family. I can just go off the conversations that he and I continue to have. [Monday’s] conversation was more about him being misquoted.” … For those who may have missed it, the question posed to Singletary, following Sunday’s game: “Will you not hire an agent and go to some of the [NBA] camps anyway - just to go through the experience of it?” Singletary’s answer: “I’ll definitely do that to see what it feels like and see the type of competition out there, but I’m definitely coming back.”

 

UVa puts depth on display versus UNC
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 20, 2007

Pick almost any player and spot a hero.

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor certainly could have this weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Just a week after a lackluster 1-2 performance in a league-opening series at Wake Forest, the Cavaliers did the unthinkable: They took a road series from North Carolina, the preseason favorite to win the ACC’s Coastal Division.

Virginia (19-4, 3-3 ACC) won the first two games in the three-game set, scoring 16 runs and pounding out 28 hits while relying on clutch pitching and stellar defense.

“It was an entire team effort the entire weekend,” O’Connor said. “It is going to take that from everybody to win in this league.”

Picking a series MVP on a team that climbed to fifth in the national rankings would be impossible, O’Connor added.

Andrew Carraway and Jake Rule, both relievers, survived respective potential nightmares with the bases loaded. John Scaglione, sporting only three hits on the season entering the series, delivered an improbable run-scoring, pinch-hit single. Tim Henry, moments after entering the opener as a reserve, added a made-for-TV diving catch in a tie game.

The list goes on and on.

“We are very deep this year,” Henry said, “and you can put anyone in any situation and everyone on the team has all the confidence in the world in that player.”

More importantly, and partly because of Henry, the lower part of Virginia’s batting order produced against the Tar Heels.

“The top and the middle of our order is amazing - we have some guys that can flat out play - but if you want to win in this league you have to have output from everybody,” Henry said. “We had that this weekend and we have had that the whole year.”

Before opening ACC play at home on Friday against Miami, Virginia travels today to face Richmond at 3 p.m. O’Connor said left-hander Pat McAnaney (0-0) would make his first start of the season on the mound.

 

Leitao guards against letdown
Future bright as coach vows to keep U.Va. from being a 'one-hit wonder'
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 20, 2007

If another six years pass before Virginia makes its next appearance in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, no one will be more disappointed than Dave Leitao.

In seven seasons under Leitao's predecessor, Pete Gillen, the Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA tourney only once: in 2001. After guiding U.Va. to the NCAAs this season -- his second in Charlottesville -- the reigning ACC coach of the year is determined not to let his program fade back into the shadows.

"What I've always said over two years is I don't want to make Virginia basketball a one-hit wonder," Leitao said Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, where the Cavaliers' season ended with a 77-74 loss to Tennessee.

Leitao's first team at U.Va. went 15-15 and advanced to the NIT. His second earned a share of the ACC regular-season title. The Wahoos, seeded No. 4 in the South Region, finished 21-11 after going 1-1 in the NCAAs -- routing Albany in the first round and then, 48 hours later, suffering a heart-wrenching loss to the fifth-seeded Volunteers.

In the final seconds Sunday, U.Va. junior Sean Singletary freed himself for a 25-footer that hit the rim and bounced away. The Cavaliers' all-ACC point guard dropped to the floor, and Leitao hurried to comfort him.

As a Northeastern junior in 1982, Leitao had missed two shots in the final seconds of overtime against favored Villanova in the NCAA tournament's second round. Villanova went on to win in triple overtime.

"I've been there," Leitao said, "and it's an awful feeling, and I wanted [Singletary] to know, just like I've tried to be there for him every day, that I'm still going to be there for him."

Sunday's game was the last as Cavaliers for Leitao's two seniors: guard J.R. Reynolds and post player Jason Cain. Reynolds, a second-team all-ACC pick, teamed with Singletary to carry a team whose frontcourt scared no one in the conference.

Reynolds' scoring and leadership will be difficult to replace, but if Singletary follows through on his stated plan to return for his senior season, Virginia could well return to the NCAAs in 2008.

"I definitely want to get back to it and go farther," said Singletary, who led the team in scoring, assists and steals and was second in rebounding this season.

"Even though J.R. and Jason won't be here, and they're integral parts of this team and pretty much make us go, we need to replace them and usher the freshmen in and let them know what it's all about. They don't have much experience, but they're very talented, so we neeed to bring them in and take them under our wings and keep moving."

Leitao's four-player recruiting class for 2007-08 includes three guards, one of whom, 6-4 Jeff Jones, is the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia's famed Catholic League. Adding more depth to a backcourt that had virtually none in 2006-07 will be point guard Calvin Baker, a transfer from William and Mary who sat out this season.

"I think the program is going in a good direction," Reynolds said. "This is Coach Leitao's second year. We've got this far, and we've got some great recruits coming in."

For two seasons, though, Leitao has known that if Reynolds and Singletary didn't play well, U.Va. would struggle to beat most quality foes. Between them, they supplied 49 percent of Virginia's points this season.

With Reynolds gone, U.Va. desperately will need more consistency and production from players such as Will Harris, Mamadi Diane, Adrian Joseph, Tunji Soroye, Laurynas Mikalauskas, Ryan Pettinella, Solomon Tat and Jamil Tucker.

None of the post players whom Leitao used against Tennessee -- Cain, Soroye, Mikalauskas and Pettinella had a field goal. Even so, the Cavaliers nearly advanced to the Sweet 16.

"I think any time you're in year 2 of a program," Leitao said, "you're still going to have some holes that need to be filled . . . I thought we did a good job of masking our flaws and playing much more to our strengths, more often that not."

 

This season a tryout for Vick
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Adam Schein / Special to FOXSports.com

Soon after Bobby Petrino was hired by the Atlanta Falcons, he told me there was no way the club was going to let Matt Schaub, the back-up quarterback who is currently a restricted free agent, leave the Falcons.

And we are about two full weeks into free agency, and Schaub, who in my opinion could be a top 16 quarterback if given a starting job, hasn't been offered a contract elsewhere.
Schein's Spot

The reason?

Everyone in the league knows Petrino, Rich McKay, and Arthur Blank are serious about keeping Schaub.

But here's the deeper issue -- 2007 is a tryout for Mike Vick.

This season will determine whether or not he remains a Falcon for the rest of his career, and whether or not Schaub, who will be an unrestricted free agent next off-season, becomes the man in Atlanta.

Vick is being given the authority to change the plays at the line of scrimmage for the first time in his career. He will be supremely coached up by the offensive genius that is Petrino, whose offense, at both Jacksonville as the offensive coordinator and when he was guiding Louisville, was explosive. Hue Jackson is a great coach and a master motivator and should serve Vick well as offensive coordinator.

Brian Finneran will be healthy this year. Joe Horn was signed. Alge Crumpler is one of the best receiving tight ends in the business. Michael Jenkins and Roddy White are former first-rounders.

It's time for Vick to elevate his game before the club loses Schaub for nothing.

Can Vick do it? We know he has immense talent, but the passing attack has never been consistent.

And his leadership is questionable, ranging from flipping off the Falcon fans to calling out his teammates in public.

In talking to Jenkins on Monday, the receiver told us why it is so tough for a wide out to play with Vick.

Jenkins said, "It's really just the unknown. Sometimes you get out of a route and he's off scrambling and already five or 10 yards down the field and you have to turn and block. Other times, he scrambles and he throws a 60 yard bomb off his back foot. It's about being aware and truly being ready for every possible situation. You want to get it where it is like clockwork. You want to get it to where he can close his eyes and throw it to a spot and you'll be there and the ball will be there, too. And we are not there yet. I'm hoping that with Coach Petrino and Coach Jackson and Paul Petrino we can get there for this season with hard work."

And yes, Vick needs help.

Jenkins and White haven't lived up to their draft selections, with way too many inferior games. But Jenkins does make a fair point about what he and White have to deal with.

But what really rings true is Jenkins, going into his fourth year, discussing how he hasn't established any chemistry with the quarterback.

That's a major problem.

And later in our conversation, Jenkins said that he knows that when given a chance, Schaub can be a great quarterback.

We will find out in less than 365 days. Actually, it will be around Jan. 1, 2008. We'll learn, based on Vick's on field play, his grasp of the Petrino offense, and his leadership, if Schaub will reach that potential in Atlanta or on another club.

There are those who say parting ways with Vick would be a public relations nightmare in Atlanta.

Count me among those who would say it would be worse to let the perfect fit for the Petrino offense, in the person of Matt Schaub, get away.


 

U.Va. tops graduation bracket
University basketball players' graduation rate ranks in top 10 according to two analyses
Marisa Roman, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Although the Cavaliers' run in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament came to an end this weekend, the team saw its tournament run extended in a competition for the top graduation rates.

The University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport as well as Inside Higher Ed ranked the University among the top 10 NCAA Tournament teams in terms of basketball players' graduation rates at their respective colleges and universities.

Forty-one of the 65 teams competing in the men's tournament graduated more than half of the basketball players who entered their institutions between 1996 and 1999. The University graduated 85 percent of its players who entered its basketball program during this period.

Using the NCAA-derived "Graduation Success Rate," the institute's survey considered students who transferred to other colleges or left to play in the NBA as graduates, as long as they were in good academic standing when they left school, said Richard Lapchick, author of the report and director of the institute.

Four colleges graduated 100 percent of their basketball teams using the GSR -- College of the Holy Cross, Davidson College, the University of Florida and Weber State University.

The institute and Inside Higher Ed structured their analyses of the tournament teams differently, which contributed to the University's different placements in the respective rankings.

"We followed it through the bracket, tongue in cheek to some extent," Inside Higher Ed editor Doug Lederman said. "We advanced the team that had the best graduation rate, whereas the survey looked at the schools with the highest graduation rates that weren't necessarily playing each other."

Using this method, Inside Higher Ed ranked the University among the Final Four in the tournament. While the Cavaliers may not have out-ranked all teams that competed in the Big Dance, they did achieve success in graduating more players than the University at Albany, Long Beach State University, Xavier University and Stanford University.

Analysis found that the graduation rate of black student athletes, however, often differed significantly from that of their white counterparts. Nineteen schools graduated 70 percent or more of their black players using GSR.

Contrary to this reported discrepancy between graduating white and black student athletes, the University boasts one of the highest graduation rates for black student athletes, said Jon Oliver, senior associate athletics director for administration.

"The discrepancy between [white and black students] is 85 percent for white student [athletes] and 71 percent of black student [athletes]," Oliver said. "Our 71 percent is fairly high for all of the other schools in this report."

 

Virginia jumps to No. 5 in poll after big weekend in Chapel Hill
Cavaliers look to maintain momentum today in Richmond after big weekend against UNC
Eric Kolenich, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

With two more months remaining in the regular season, the Cavalier baseball team hopes 2007 won't be a rollercoaster, because they are on a high.

After taking two out of three from the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill last weekend, Virginia (19-4, 3-3 ACC) moved up to No. 5 in Baseball America's poll.

"Any time you can win two out of three on the road in this league, that's a very successful weekend," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "I thought we played very good baseball this weekend, especially offensively. We swung the bats very well against a pretty talented pitching staff."

The Cavaliers put up nine runs this weekend. UNC entered the series with a 2.10 ERA and left with a sky-rocketed 2.47 ERA three games later.

Due to rain Friday, the opener was cancelled in lieu of a doubleheader Sunday. Virginia claimed victory in the first two games of the series, but the Cavaliers failed to secure the sweep, losing the second game Sunday 9-4. Freshman Matt Packer picked up the loss on the game.

"It's very difficult in baseball to sweep a doubleheader," O'Connor said. "The majority of the time, it's a split. Carolina had its back against the wall and we got their best baseball."

UNC picked up three runs in the second inning of the final game. Virginia failed to turn a double play that O'Connor said kept Packer in a tight squeeze and caused much of his demise.

"[Packer] pitched better than the scoreboard showed," O'Connor said. "He's a guy that will not have a lot of strikeouts and will force the other team to put the ball in play, and you've got to make the plays behind him."

Though Packer did not perform his best last weekend, the Cavalier bullpen found little problem retiring Tar Heel batters.

The Virginia bullpen allowed four runs in 13 innings this weekend. Junior Jake Rule (2-1) and sophomore Andrew Carraway (3-0) both had impressive performances. Rule pitched three innings Saturday, giving up one run on three hits and picking up the win in the extra-inning game.

Carraway pitched three runs in the first game Sunday, allowing one run on four hits, also picking up the win.

"The back half of the game is, arguably, the most important," Carraway said. "If you can be successful there, you're going to be successful in the end."

Today, the Cavaliers travel to Richmond to take on the Spiders (9-9).

The Spiders have won four of their last five games, finding victories over Yale, Old Dominion, Valparaiso and Towson.

The Spiders have also played William & Mary and VMI this season, teams Virginia has already beaten. Richmond lost to VMI 2-1 and W&M 9-3.

"With these midweek games, it's easy to let down, since you've got the really intense weekend series," Carraway said. "But if you let up at all, a team like Richmond, at their place, can beat you."

Nonetheless, Carraway said the victory over UNC should give the team plenty of confidence going into Richmond.

Making the midweek start for the Cavaliers will be junior Pat McAnaney. The southpaw is coming off an injury he suffered before the season began and will fight to get a place in the Cavalier rotation. The start will be his first of the season and his second appearance of the year.

With so much success thus far for Virginia, O'Connor and Carraway agreed that Virginia has plenty of reasons to be happy, as long as they take Richmond seriously.

With plenty of games left to play, the Cavaliers hope this season will be more like an airplane and less like a parachute.