Cavaliers’ Diane goes out in style
By Jeff White
Published: March 8, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE - When the final horn sounded yesterday to punctuate Virginia's 68-63 upset of Maryland, Mamadi Diane's teammates swarmed around him on the court at John Paul Jones Arena, their joy palpable.

In his final home game as a Cavalier, Diane stamped a Hollywood ending on a frustrating regular season. The 6-5 senior from Potomac, Md., scored a season-high 23 points, making 7 of 12 shots from the floor and 3 for 4 from beyond the arc.

"I don't think they'll be writing a movie about this or anything, but it was definitely a great feeling," said Diane, smiling broadly.

Diane's final trey was his most dramatic in a college career in which he's started 76 games. He came in averaging 4.5 points and shooting 12.8 percent from long range. But after Maryland pulled even with a 9-2 run, Diane took a pass from freshman swingman Sylven Landesberg and, without hesitation, launched a shot from right of the key. It dropped through to make it 64-61 with 38.5 seconds left.

"Poetic justice," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said he told himself after Diane's 3-pointer. "God works in mysterious ways."

Terrapins star Greivis Vasquez, hounded by Calvin Baker, missed at the other end. Virginia grabbed the rebound and then went 4 for 4 from the line in the final 10 seconds to quiet the large and loud contingent of Maryland students.

Virginia (4-12, 10-17), the No. 11 seed in next week's ACC tournament, won't learn the identity of its first-round opponent until today.

For the Terps (7-9, 18-12), it was a crushing defeat. They'll be seeded No. 7 or No. 8 in Atlanta and must win two games there to merit consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAAs.

Maryland has seen enough of Diane. The DeMatha High graduate scored a career-high 26 points against the Terrapins on Jan. 16, 2007, and he's often played well against them. Maryland coach Gary Williams was understandably wary heading into yesterday's game.

"I thought [a big game from Diane] was a possibility," Williams said, "but senior night can work both ways. I've seen guys get tight and not get out of it during that game, but he was great."

U.Va.'s Tunji Soroye, who's competing as a graduate student, went through the senior day ceremony last year. Yesterday, the 6-11 center stayed on the sideline, and Diane, accompanied by parents Mori and Angelique, was the only Cavalier recognized before the game.

If Diane had a regret, it was that he didn't score his 1,000th career point at home. He's at 998 heading into the ACC tournament.

Landesberg scored 14 points, and sophomore forward Mike Scott contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds for U.Va. Fourteen minutes into the game, the Wahoos trailed 21-8, but they rallied behind Diane.

"I've had games where I shot a better percentage and scored more points, but this is definitely the highlight," Diane said.

 

UVa trips Terps behind co-captain Diane
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The feel-good story of Virginia's basketball season was written by the player who had experienced the most pain and suffering.

UVa co-captain Mamadi Diane, given a ceremonial start in his final home game, had a senior day for the ages Saturday in a 68-63 victory over visiting Maryland.

Diane finished with a season-high 23 points, capped by a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining, as the Cavaliers ended a four-game losing streak.

"Poetic justice," Virginia coach Dave Leitao called it. "It's like I told the team after the game, 'God works in mysterious ways.' "

Diane had entered the season as UVa's lone returning double-figure scorer from 2007-08, but his average had dropped from 11.8 points per game to 4.1 and he went through a four-game stretch in mid-February when he did not play at all.

In UVa's previous game, a 75-57 loss at Clemson on Tuesday, Diane had played just over three minutes .

"I told him yesterday that for whatever has gone on -- good, bad or indifferent -- that I was going to start him in honor of his time here because he's had some tremendous moments," Leitao said, "and then we were going to take it from there.

"I didn't plan on playing him two minutes and taking him out, but I was going to do the rotations the same way I always do, on what five I thought gave us the best chance to win."

Diane played a season-high 34 minutes, which probably wasn't in the plans either, but it was a good sign when he hit his first shot.

"It was our first two points of the game and it was our only two points for a while," Leitao said, "but it was more his body language as he came off that screen. It was comfortable, it was confident and whether it went in or not, my eyes told me that there was something about him."

Virginia (10-17, 4-12 ACC) had lost 12 of its previous 14 games and it looked the Cavaliers' freefall would continue when they made only three of their first 17 shots from the field.

Maryland (18-12, 7-9) led 21-8 after a Dave Neal jumper with 6:11 left in the first half, but UVa responded with an 11-0 run and went into halftime only down 27-26.

The Cavaliers forced the game's first tie, 31-31, on a Diane 3-pointer with 17:52 left in the second half. He added a pair of free throws with 17:29 remaining to give UVa its first lead, 33-31.

"This was the way he had been practicing," teammate Sylven Landesberg said. "If practices had been a game, he would have been scoring 20 points a night."

UVa's younger players took their cue from Diane. A slumping Landesberg, held to two points in the first half, hit a big 3-pointer midway through the second half and had 12 points after intermission.

Virginia enjoyed its biggest lead at 54-45 following two Mike Scott free throws with 6:03 left, but Maryland scored 14 points on its next six possessions. The Terps had a three-point play and three 3-pointers, the last making it a 61-61 game with 1:46 left.

After a Diane miss in the lane, Neal missed a short jumper in Maryland's lane that could have given the Terps the lead with 58 seconds remaining.

That set the stage for Diane's game-winner. A product of DeMatha Catholic High School, a short drive from the University of Maryland campus, he has a history against the Terps. He had a career-high 26 points against Maryland in 2007.

"Senior Night can work both ways," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "I've seen guys get tight and not get out of it during a game, but he was great."

Diane, who did not have a previous game-winner, didn't disagree that he might be watching a tape of Saturday's game for years to come.

"Tonight, I didn't think there was any pressure at all," he said. "It was a much bigger moment than how I played. It was the culmination of my four years.

"I don't think they'll be writing a movie about this or anything but it was definitely a great feeling. Everything around it, everything about it, I'll be trying to remember and save."

 

U-Md. Pushed Out of Comfort Zone
By Steve Yanda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 8, 2009; Page D01

CHARLOTTESVILLE, March 7 -- Dave Neal heard the call from the sideline: "Black," a screen-and-roll designed for Greivis Vasquez, the player Neal said has carried the Terrapins all season. Neal scooted out to the perimeter and waited.

Black is a play designed to attack a zone defense, such as the one that tormented Maryland for most of Saturday's 68-63 loss at Virginia. But the Cavaliers deviated and instituted a man-to-man scheme. Vasquez refused the screen, his eyes wide as Virginia guard Calvin Baker stuck to his side no matter what movement he made.

Maryland Coach Gary Williams barked out an adjustment, a scheme better suited to break down such a defensive alignment, but by then it was too late. Vasquez darted toward the basket and missed a layup.

"We were down by three, and I think there was like 20 seconds left," Neal said. "You get kind of nervous and just want to throw up a shot, and that's what he did."

Neal said he had no problem with Vasquez taking that shot in that circumstance, and Williams also made clear that the most devastating loss of Maryland's season should not fall solely on Vasquez's shoulders.

Rather, the Terrapins (18-12, 7-9 ACC) were upset with a bevy of flaws -- from insufficient effort to deficient offensive aggressiveness -- that wreaked havoc on their NCAA tournament aspirations. The loss to Virginia (10-17, 4-12) instead created a situation Williams did not want to acknowledge, but one of which his players were painfully aware.

"We know, we know," said Vasquez, who tallied a team-high 21 points on 8-of-20 shooting. "We're mature about it. We knew it was our win to seal the deal, and now we got to win the ACC tournament. We might have to make something impossible possible. . . . At least two good wins would get us back in [NCAA tournament discussion], but we've got to show people we can play night in, night out. We've got to prove it again."

Such atonement is necessary after a contest in which Maryland firmly controlled the first 15 minutes before succumbing to a key Virginia adjustment. The Terrapins were forcing turnovers and scoring at will out of their flex offense.

Maryland extended its lead to 13 points with just more than six minutes left in the half, and around that time, the Cavaliers moved to a zone defense. The Terrapins, Williams said, became "stiff." They stopped driving to the basket with the sense of purpose used to construct their lead. Patience ran low. Shots were fired too early.

"It's a game where you look at the start of the game and it's almost like it's too easy, where you think that's going to continue," Williams said. "We got away a little bit when they went on their run in the first half of trying to run our offense properly when they were in their zone."

The Cavaliers went on an 11-0 run and trailed by a single point at halftime.

Led by senior swingman Mamadi Diane, who finished with a game-high 23 points, Virginia continued to befuddle the Terrapins with its zone. For once this season, Maryland was the team collecting a horde of second-chance scoring opportunities, but it did little good. Maryland shot 37.5 percent in the second half.

Williams said the onus was squarely on his team. It wasn't so much that the Cavaliers shut down the Terrapins, he said, but that the Terrapins shut down themselves.

"We didn't play hard, man," Vasquez said. "We didn't play hard and then we slowed down when they went zone."

Virginia's zone proved so effective that Maryland was nearly certain the Cavaliers would turn to it with the game on the line. The Terrapins had one timeout remaining when Diane sank a three-point shot to put Virginia up by three with 38.5 seconds left in the game. But Vasquez took the inbound pass and scurried down the court.

He heard Williams, and he saw Neal. But he felt Baker. After briefly searching for an open shot, Vasquez aborted that plan and took the quickest route to the basket.

The approach that worked so well early against Virginia's man-to-man defense did not bear fruit late. Instead, an awkward and heavily contested shot left the Terrapins to wonder what could have been.

"I take responsibility on that play," Vasquez said. "I should be able to run a good play, but I got confused. I didn't know what we were running. You know, I take it upon myself. That play was on me, but the whole game, we needed eight guys to be ready to play, and I don't think we had it tonight."
 

Diane's Senior Moment
By Zach Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 8, 2009; Page

CHARLOTTESVILLE, March 8 -- Mamadi Diane was carried onto the court by his teammates before Saturday's game against Maryland and carried off the court by those very teammates. In between, the Virginia senior played the most memorable game of his career in his final appearance at John Paul Jones Arena.

The former DeMatha standout concluded a turbulent regular season with a season-high 23 points, including a game-winning three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining in the Cavaliers' 68-63 upset of the Terrapins.

"It was a much bigger moment than just how I played," Diane said. "It was the culmination of four years."

After starting most of his career, Diane had lost his starting job and experienced a rapid decline in minutes. He played just three minutes in Virginia's last game. Coach Dave Leitao told Diane on Friday that the senior would start in honor of a good career. Leitao said they were going to "take it from there". Diane scored Virginia's first two points with an early jump shot, and Leitao witnessed body language that suggested Diane was comfortable and confident.


Diane ended up playing 34 minutes -- his most in a season when he had been averaging only 16.

'"Whatever time I get," Diane told himself before the game, "I'm going to play as hard as I can."

It was not Diane's first shot, but instead his final shot that will remain the lasting memory. With the score tied at 61 in the final minute, Sylven Landesberg passed to Diane at the top of the three-point arc.

"When that three-pointer went up, the first thing I said to myself was one, 'that's poetic justice' and the second, it's been said -- and isn't exactly -- that 'God works in mysterious ways,'" Leitao said. "No better way to finish off one's career, season -- however good or however frustrating -- with a performance like that."

Diane admitted being frustrated by his diminished role, but Leitao said Saturday that Diane had neither stopped practicing hard nor trying to work his way into the rotation.

"He's handled not playing, frustration, and all that, as well as a young person can," Leitao said. "He's been very, very mature about it. We've talked about it some, sometimes we don't -- as much as it can be addressed. He's been forthright and honest. It's never been an issue as far as that goes, whatsoever."

Diane said Saturday helped make up for the disappointing season. The only thing more he could have wanted was two more points, which would have given him 1,000 points in his career. In the huddle, Diane's teammates were counting down to 1,000.

But as Diane quickly considered the 998 points in his career -- which included 25 points in his first ever game at John Paul Jones Arena -- he said it will be Saturday's final game against his hometown team that he will remember most.

"I've had games where I shot a better percentage, made more points," Diane said, "but this is definitely the highlight."


 

« More from Leitao on this season's struggles

A special afternoon for Diane...but by his own admission, not as special as it could've been
As scorching as guard Mamadi Diane's shooting touch was Saturday in U.Va.'s 68-63 win against Maryland, he didn't quite fulfill all of his goals.

By scoring 23 points on seven of 12 shooting from the floor, including three of four from 3-point range, Diane put his career scoring total at 998 points. He'll have at least one more chance to get to 1,000 this coming week in the ACC tournament.

"It would’ve been better to get those two points for 1,000," Diane said. "Every time there was a timeout, my teammates would be telling me ‘Look, you’ve got 11 left. You’ve got nine left’ or whatever, so I could tell they wanted it so much more than me."

It was great to see Diane have the kind of game he enjoyed against the Terrapins. He really does seem to be one of the truly good guys on this team. After struggling the way he had for most of this season (only five 3-pointers made all season coming into Saturday, no totals of 44 percent shooting or better from the floor in games in which he had more than five shot attempts), he deserved a breakout effort.

"I thought it was a possibility that Diane would play well on Senior Night, but I’ve seen it go both ways," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "Some guys get tight and don’t get out of it during that game, but (Diane) was tough. He made some big shots, and that is a nice way to end your senior year."

If U.Va. is to carry over the momentum it gained from this win into the ACC tournament, it's going to have to take better care of the ball (18 turnovers against Maryland) and continue to excel at the zone defense it used to disrupt Terrapins guards Greivis Vasquez (21 points; eight of 20 shooting from the floor) and Eric Hayes (seven points; three of 10 shooting).

Guard Calvin Baker, a Woodside High graduate who had nine points and six assists against Maryland highlighted by a 3-pointer with 3:14 left that put U.Va. ahead 57-52, also must keep up this pest role he has seemed to latch on to in the last month.

After playing excellent defense against Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney (11 points on three of 13 shooting), Miami's Jack McClinton (11 points on three of 10 shooting) and Wake Forest's Jeff Teague (12 points on two of nine shooting), Baker did a nice job against Vasquez on one of Maryland's final possessions of the game.

With U.Va. leading 64-61, the Cavaliers deviated from the zone defense it used for much of the game and went man-to-man. Baker stayed glued to Vasquez (with some help from Jamil Tucker) as Vasquez drove the lane, forcing him to take a wild, off-balance lay-up with 14 seconds left that clanged harmlessly off the rim.

"(U.Va.) coach (Dave) Leitao just told me 'This is where men are made'" said Baker regarding Vasquez's drive. "He told me to guard Greivis. I just tried to pressure him and make him take an off-balance shot. I kind of reached, and my teammates picked me up, and they did the rest of it for me."


Posted by Norman Wood
 

Some senior moment
By Norm Wood | 247-4642
March 8, 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE - When Virginia's Mamadi Diane awoke Saturday morning, the only certainty he had about the senior-day game against Maryland was that he would be in the starting lineup.

Even that role wasn't a sure thing until Friday, when coach Dave Leitao ensured Diane he'd be on the floor at the opening tip. Beyond that, Diane didn't envision anything like the season-high 23-point effort he mustered in U.Va.'s 68-63 victory, a result that likely caused serious damage to Maryland's NCAA tournament aspirations.

"I didn't know what to expect," said Diane, a 6-foot-5 senior guard from Potomac, Md., whose last game in John Paul Jones Arena included the game-winning 3-pointer with 38.5 seconds left.

"I just thought to myself 'Whatever time I'm going to get, I'm just going to play as hard as I can.' "


U.Va. (10-17 overall, 4-12 Atlantic Coast Conference), which will be the 11th seed in the ACC tournament and will play in the opening round Thursday night at 9:30 against Boston College, Clemson or Florida State, needed Diane to play well.

He did it right from the start against Maryland (18-12, 7-9), which struggled against U.Va.'s zone defense and shot just 41 percent from the floor. Greivis Vasquez led the Terrapins with 21 points and six assists.

Diane, who sat out a four-game stretch in February due to ineffectiveness, played a season-high 34 minutes. It was his first start since Feb. 4. He helped U.Va. snap a four-game losing streak, but it still finished the regular season with its fewest ACC wins since going 4-12 in the 2004-05 season.

Last season, Diane averaged 11.8 points per game and shot 41 percent from 3-point range. This season, he's contributing just 5.3 points per game while shooting 36 percent from the floor, including 19 percent from 3-point range.

"It's difficult for anybody to have a tremendous amount of success, and then struggle for any number of reasons," Leitao said. "I can't remember a time though, even this year, when he stopped coming in the gym. He handled not playing and frustration as well as a young man can."

Diane, who made seven of 12 shots from the field, saved his biggest shot for the waning seconds. After U.Va. built a 54-45 lead with 6:03 remaining, Maryland stormed back behind eight points in the next three-and-a-half minutes from Dave Neal, who finished with 15 points. The Terrapins went on to tie the game at 61 when Eric Hayes nailed a 3-pointer with 1:45 remaining.

After a U.Va. timeout with 57.7 seconds left, Sylven Landesberg feigned driving the lane before he passed out to Diane waiting near the top of the key. Diane hit an open 3-pointer with 38.5 seconds left to give U.Va. the lead for good at 64-61. He was three of four from 3-point range.

"All night, every time I got an open look from (3-point range), I was just trying to let it go," said Diane, whose previous scoring high this season was 14 points in the season opener against Virginia Military Institute. "As soon as Sylven drove and got the ball out to me, I knew I was letting it go and it felt good coming out."

Diane's 23 points were his most in a game since Feb. 6, 2007, when he scored a career-high 26 in U.Va.'s 69-65 win at Maryland. This season, he has just five games in double digits.

Despite starting the game shooting 3-for-16 from the floor and falling behind by as many as 13 points, U.Va. finished the game shooting 46 percent, including 53 percent in the second half. After missing their first six 3-point shots, the Cavaliers made six of their last eight attempts from 3-point range.

"I think we all had the same feeling that Mamadi had tonight," said Landesberg, who had 14 points. "Just being his last game in JPJ, it was real emotional."



 

Terps denied by Virginia
UM's hopes for berth in NCAAs take big hit
By Jeff Barker | jeff.barker@baltsun.com
March 8, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - It's hard to imagine how badly Gary Williams must have wanted this win.

The Maryland coach was so close to making the NCAA tournament with an undersized team in a trying season.

Williams' Terrapins missed a chance to make a much-needed statement to the NCAA tournament selection committee when their late comeback fell short and they lost, 68-63, yesterday to a Virginia team that had dropped four games in a row.

"It hurts," said Williams, who wore the distant look afterward of a man stuck in a moment gone by. Maryland players said they could still make the NCAAs with a deep run in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament beginning in Atlanta on Thursday.

Virginia 68, Maryland 63 Photos "We've got to get ready for the ACC tournament and go down there and make some noise," said senior Dave Neal, who called the game "the toughest loss probably in my career."

Using three-point shots, the Terps (18-12, 7-9) erased a nine-point deficit to tie the score at 61 with 1:46 left. But forward Mamadi Diane, honored before the game on Senior Day, hit a three-pointer with 38seconds left to put Virginia ahead 64-61.

"There was no better way to finish off one's career and season," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said of Diane's shot.

Maryland's chance to tie ended in confusion. The Terps run different offenses against a zone defense than against a man-to-man. They seemed uncertain which offense to run as junior guard Greivis Vasquez took the ball. Surrounded by defenders, he tossed up a runner that missed.

"At first, Coach Williams called a zone play, and then he saw they were in man and then he called a man play," Neal said of the play. "By then the pressure they were giving Greivis kind of made him a little nervous, and so he drove the ball."

Said Vasquez: "I take responsibility on that play. I got confused. I didn't know what we were running."

Virginia (10-17, 4-12) hit four foul shots to seal the win.

Vasquez walked into the tunnel alone when it was over, as if he wanted to be off the court as quickly as possible.

Williams said Vasquez wasn't to blame.

"It isn't all about the last play. There's 39minutes before that," the coach said.

Had it won, Maryland would have clinched a No.7 seed in the ACC tournament and played No.10 seed North Carolina State on Thursday night.

The Terps could still get the seventh seed. A loss by Virginia Tech today against Florida State would leave the Terps and Hokies with 7-9 marks. Maryland would win the tiebreaker because it beat Virginia Tech this season.

In 2003-04, Maryland made the NCAA tournament with a 7-9 record in the ACC regular season. But the Terps won the ACC tournament that season.

"We might have to make something impossible possible," Vasquez said of the ACC tournament. "At least two good wins would get us back in [to the NCAAs]."

Maryland has missed the NCAA tournament three of four seasons.

Maryland built a 21-8 lead on defense and cold Virginia shooting. The Cavaliers missed 14 of their first 17 shots.

But then Virginia got hot. It hit seven of nine attempts and trailed only 27-26 at halftime.

Against Virginia's man-to-man defense, Maryland seemed to create open shots by kicking the ball inside and then back out to the three-point line. But the Terps - 10th in the ACC in three-point shooting - missed 16 of their first 18 shots from beyond the arc and were 5-for-22 overall on three-point tries.

Virginia's zone defense gave Maryland trouble.

"When they went zone, we couldn't score the last 10 minutes of the first half. We just slowed down," Vasquez said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Play it again
Keys to the game
Maryland, struggling against Virginia's zone defense, allowed the Cavaliers to go on an 11-0 run in the first half that pulled them to within 21-19. The Terps shot 5-for-22 on threes.

Did you notice
•Maryland got to the foul line only six times, making four. Virginia shot 20-for-24 on free throws.

•A sizable Maryland contingent at the arena chanted "Let's go Maryland" and "Gary, Gary."

•Cliff Tucker, Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes shot air balls from long range, but Dave Neal and Hayes hit big three-pointers to pull Maryland into a tie at 61.

Left to ponder
Would two wins in the Atlantic Coast

Conference tournament be enough to vault the Terrapins into the NCAAs?
 

Diane’s last hurrah
By Whitey Reid
Published: March 8, 2009

One win likely doesn’t make up for a season of misery in the minds of Virginia basketball fans.

But Saturday afternoon’s upset of Maryland had to feel pretty darn good.

On senior day, Virginia senior Mamadi Diane did his best to assuage the collective psyche of Wahoo Nation. How appropriate, considering Diane’s own struggles this season.

Diane hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 38 seconds left to lift the Cavaliers to a stunning 68-63 victory at John Paul Jones Arena.

“All night, every time I got an open look from 3, I was just trying to let it go,” Diane said. “As soon as Sylven [Landesberg] drove and got the ball back to me, I knew I was letting it go.

“It felt good coming out.”

Diane, who had been relegated to the bench for much of the season, finished with a game-high 23 points on 7 of 12 shooting, including 3 of 4 from downtown. The former DeMatha Catholic (Md.) standout nailed the triple with the game tied at 61 and the shot clock running down.

“The first thing that I said to myself was, ‘Poetic justice,’” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, whose team snapped a four-game losing streak. “There’s no better way to finish off one’s career, one’s season.”

Maryland got a 3-point play by Vasquez and back-to-back 3-pointers by Dave Neal and Eric Hayes to tie the game at 61 before Diane’s heroics.

Maryland’s last gasp was a Vasquez jumper with 14 seconds left that could have cut the lead to one.

Landesberg added 14 points for Virginia, but Diane was the story.

“He was great,” said Maryland coach Gary Williams. “He did a great job of making big shots. That’s a nice way to end your senior year.”

With the win, Virginia (10-17, 4-12 ACC) salvaged a regular season in which it managed just two home wins. In the ACC tournament that begins on Thursday in Atlanta, the 11th-seeded Cavaliers will face the No. 6 seed, which could be Clemson, Florida State or Boston College. The opponent will be decided after today’s final day of play.

With the loss, Maryland’s NCAA tournament chances took a big hit. The Terrapins (18-12, 7-9), who were led by Vasquez’s 21 points, will likely need to go on a run in the ACC tournament in order to qualify for the Big Dance.

Virginia shot 53 percent from the field in the second half while holding Maryland to 38-percent shooting. The Cavaliers outrebounded the Terrapins, 36-27, and overcame 18 turnovers.

Virginia started the game poorly, following the same script that it has for most of the season — porous defense, too many turnovers and bad shooting.

Maryland stormed to a 21-8 lead behind Vasquez and Landon Milbourne.

Just when it seemed as if Virginia was about to be blown out for the second game in a row, the Cavaliers got their act together. Behind 11 first-half points from Diane, UVa finished the stanza on an 18-4 run to trail by just one point at the break.

“We were all pretty confident,” Landesberg said. “We knew we hadn’t played our best basketball and had a lot of good basketball ahead of us in the second half.”

Early in the second half, Virginia took its first lead since 3-2 when Diane hit two free throws. A Jamil Tucker 3-pointer and Landesberg drive put UVa up 37-31.

Later, a Landesberg 3-pointer from the wing and Diane drive to the hoop gave the Wahoos their largest advantage of the game, 44-35.

Virginia later matched that margin after a Mike Scott free throw gave it a 54-45 lead with just over six minutes left.

“Virginia made a nice run in the last part of the first half,” Williams said, “then took it to us at the start of the second half.”

As the final buzzer sounded, Diane was mobbed by his teammates, who carried him off the court.

“Mamadi was like a big brother to us,” Landesberg said. “The feeling that he had tonight — I think we all had the same feeling. There were just a lot of emotions running through us, knowing this was his last game at JPJ.

“The way he went out was just remarkable. You just couldn’t go out a better way.”

 

A finale worthy of Hollywood
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: March 8, 2009

Seventy-five seconds into Saturday’s senior day game against rival Maryland, Dave Leitao spotted something that only coaches see and immediately felt good karma.

Mamadi Diane, affectionately referred to as simply “Mo” by Virginia teammates, had suffered through one bummer of a senior season. Picked as a team captain, a product of the vaunted DeMatha Catholic program, he was expected to pick up his game and fill some of the void left by All-ACC guard Sean Singletary.

Instead, the personable Diane struggled so badly that he was eventually benched for four games late in the season. Only an unexpected outburst of 11 points in a loss at N.C. State two weeks ago helped him regain some self-respect.

Still, in Virginia’s last outing prior to this weekend — a lopsided loss at Clemson on Tuesday night — Diane didn’t score in his surprising three minutes of playing time.

Grand ambition

At that point, a 1,000-point career (he was 25 points shy) appeared a thousand miles away.

That is, until Leitao saw the way the senior came off a screen and scored Virginia’s first basket against the Terps, leaving a little twinkle in the coach’s eyes.

He had decided to honor Diane with his first start since a loss at Boston College on Feb. 4, because it was senior day, and Diane was determined to make the most of the opportunity.

“I decided I was going to play as hard as I can,” Diane revealed later.

Leitao picked up on that will immediately as Diane nailed a jumper to open the game.

“It was his body language coming off that screen,” Leitao said. “It was comfortable. It was confident. And whether the shot went in or not, my eyes told me there was something about him.”

Indeed, there was something about Diane on this special day. Through all his trials and tribulations,

No. 24 left an indelible lasting impression on Wahoo Nation in his last home game, not to mention jabbing a dagger into Maryland’s postseason dreams.

Finishing strong

For the record, Diane scored a season-high 23 points in a season-high 34 minutes. He connected on 7 of 12 shots, including 3 of 4 from Bonusphere (after coming into the day with a woeful 12.8 percent shooting average from beyond the arc).

Of all those points, though, the biggest wasn’t the first one, which convinced Leitao and Diane that he was ready to play. It was the last one — a HUGE 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining that answered a barrage of Maryland bombs and broke a 61-all deadlock.

While UVa survived with an eventual 68-63 win, Diane’s trey gave the Cavaliers a 64-61 lead that they didn’t relinquish.

Diane hadn’t scored 20 points since Boston College on Feb. 17 — of last year.

But there’s something about Terrapin red that brings out the best in Diane. Maybe it’s because he grew up in the shadows of College Park. Some of his better games have come against the Terps, including a career-high 26 in 2007.

“Funny how it comes out like that,” Diane said.

Not if you’re Gary Williams it isn’t.

“I grew up right there, so Maryland was always a big game to me,” Diane said. “Maybe that’s in the back of my head every time.”

Leitao, who has been questioned and sometimes criticized for not giving the senior more time, praised the effort, calling it “poetic justice”. For an embattled coach suffering through one of the most frustrating Virginia seasons in decades, it left the John Paul Jones crowd of 11,000 with the feel-good story of the season.

A Hollywood script writer couldn’t have come up with a better scenario. An inspiring story of a guy, struggling, but never gave up.

“I don’t think they’re going to be writing a movie about this or anything,” Diane said. “But it sure felt good.”

Still, it was a storybook ending. When the starting lineup was introduced, his teammates carried him out on the court. When he buried the Terps, capping off a sparkling performance, his teammates buried Diane in a wild celebration.

Asked if he had an opportunity to chat with Williams after the game, Diane smiled.

“I couldn’t,” Diane said. “My teammates were on top of me.”

It was a day that he said he would cherish. He will remember every detail, save every scrap of a souvenir.

On a day where the pressure could have been enormous, Diane said he felt none because he knew all along that his teammates and family always had his back.

Oh, yeah, and the fans, too. They never gave up on him, something that Diane appreciated.

“I could tell that,” he said. “Games where I hadn’t played, I would stand up and take my warm-up off and fans would go crazy. I’ve had fans come up to me after games with signs and I’ve gotten random e-mails. I really appreciate their support.”

While there have been many great moments to relish along with the frustrating ones from his final season, Diane said Saturday’s performance was without a doubt the highlight of his career. This day made up for everything that went wrong in his mind and was a finish that, up until it became reality, was one he could only dream about.

About that magical 1,000-point plateau (he would be the 42nd Cavalier to reach that number), well, that isn’t a thousand miles away any longer. Rather, it’s only two points away heading into Thursday night’s opening round of the ACC tournament in Atlanta.

“It would have been better to get those two points for a thousand,” Diane said. “Every time there was a timeout, my teammates were telling me, ‘Look, you’ve got 11 left ... you’ve got nine left.’ I could tell they almost wanted it more than me.”

Maybe they did. The Cavaliers have heartwarming respect for their senior captain. They were just as happy that Diane went out a winner as they were in upsetting Maryland.

“I think this means a lot,” teammate Calvin Baker said. “It’s been a tough year for Mo compared to the previous three. And he’s stayed positive throughout the whole thing. For him to leave off like he did, I think that’s the way it’s supposed to happen.”

Both in Hollywood and Charlottesville.

 

Packer, Virginia hold off Wake
By Jay Jenkins
Published: March 8, 2009

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Virginia pitcher Matt Packer had been eager to see action in a meaningful game.

The junior was granted his wish Saturday night — and then some.

Thrust into a one-run game in the eighth inning, Packer did not disappoint as Virginia added an insurance run and held on to beat Wake Forest 8-6 to claim the season-opening series.

It marked the fifth appearance and the first save of the season for Packer, and the win improved Virginia to 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the ACC. The Cavaliers are currently tied with Georgia for the nation’s longest active win streak.

“It wasn’t really frustrating not getting to pitch a lot since we were winning, but it is nice to get out there when it is close when you are in this role,” said Packer, who logged the nation’s best ERA last year. “You always want to help your team.”

An evening after pounding Wake Forest 18-2 — and long before Packer was summoned from the bullpen — Virginia appeared headed for yet another easy victory.

In fact, the Cavaliers led 6-1 after hitting in the top of the fifth inning. But the Demon Deacons, who entered the weekend with the league’s second-best batting averaging, mounted a rally after Virginia starter Andrew Carraway had been pulled after five innings and 73 pitches.

Wake (6-3, 0-2) scored a lone run in the fifth, three more in the sixth and another in the seventh before Virginia coach Brian O’Connor went to his closer.

Luckily for O’Connor, Virginia added lone runs in the sixth and ninth innings to provide breathing room.

Packer, perhaps rusty, made things interesting by stranding a runner at third in the eighth with back-to-back strikeouts. And he escaped a would-be jam in the ninth when catcher John Hicks nailed the lead runner at third on a double steal to close out the game.

“It is a little different in the ninth inning when it is a two-run game, because we have been playing so well and we have not really had a close game,” Packer said. “I had to make it interesting I guess.”

For the game, Virginia registered 16 hits, including a solo homer from center fielder Jarrett Parker.

More importantly, the Cavaliers showcased an ability to perform under adverse conditions on the road.

“We learned a lot about our team tonight. There is no question about that,” O’Connor said. “We showed a lot of determination, we had a lot of clutch plays and clutch hits and I am certain that this game was very big for our maturation process.

“We needed this because we did not have this in the first 10 games and it was great to see how our players would react.”

I am excited because I thought they reacted the way that I wanted them too.”

The two teams will close out the series today at 1 p.m.

 

Rankings don’t concern Starsia
By Whitey Reid
Published: March 8, 2009

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team is on top of the heap. But don’t tell coach Dom Starsia that.

“There really couldn’t be a less important piece of information in the world right now than that we’re No. 1 in the first week of March,” Starsia said.

Being No. 1 after Memorial Day weekend is all Starsia cares about, and, if Virginia keeps up its recent success, it will have a very good chance of doing so.

This afternoon, UVa (6-0) hosts No. 4 Cornell at Klockner Stadium.

“This is a very good lacrosse team,” Starsia said. “I think fans who find their way to Klockner will be in for a real treat. This is going to be a great lacrosse game.”

The two schools, which haven’t played since 1971, are both undefeated. Cornell (2-0) is coming off a win over Army.

Virginia moved to No. 1 in the polls following last week’s thrilling 13-12 win over previously top-ranked Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. Shamel Bratton led the way for UVa with three goals and one assist and was named ACC player of the week.

“Going up to the dome and in that atmosphere and winning that game is the kind of thing you can develop some real confidence from,” said Starsia, whose team won its sixth straight at VMI on Tuesday, “and take that confidence and use it the next time that the opportunity comes up.”

The games between Virginia and Syracuse have a reputation of being offensive shootouts and this match-up is likely to follow in that vein. UVa is averaging more than 14 goals per game, while Cornell is close behind at 13.5.

Cornell had a whopping 50 shots on goal in its win over defensive-minded Army.

“They’re as good as we’ve seen,” said Starsia, when asked about the Big Red’s offensive attack.

Ground balls

This is the first regular-season meeting since 1971. The teams have met five times in the NCAA tournament, most recently in the quarterfinals in 2002 with Virginia winning 11-10. … Virginia’s Chad Gaudet is eighth in the country in ground balls and 16th in face-off winning percentage. … Goalie Adam Ghitelman is seventh nationally in goals allowed average and 25th in save percentage.