Tubby speaks/David Teel - Daily Press

The word "Virginia" was not spoken, but Minnesota basketball coach Tubby Smith was asked a few minutes ago about having his name linked this week to another job.

That job, of course, is Virginia's. Smith appeared at a NCAA tournament news conference in Greensboro, N.C. as his Gophers prepared for their first-round game Thursday against Texas.

We'll interpret and parse Smith's remarks later, but wanted to post them ASAP for your digestion.

“I have a job,” he said. “I have a great job. We’re enjoying Minnesota. We have no reason to be looking at anything else, and I’m very happy where we are.

“So it certainly is flattering sometimes, but it can be a distraction. The thing is, we’ve gotten our recruiting done early, and that, hopefully, it’s good to be wanted.

“But it’s more important to be needed. I feel like I’m not only wanted in Minnesota, but needed there as well.”

Much more in the DP fishwrap version Thursday. That story also is posted on the Web.

One last remark from Smith, this on Minnesota freshman forward Ralph Sampson III, son of the former Virginia All-American. Sampson averages 6.3 points and starts.

"Ralph Sampson III is really one of the bright surprise I can't say surprises. Because the expectation was he would play. We knew we needed front line help immediately, and both he and Colton Iverson as freshmen have done as well as we could expect. And he's growing and improving every day. ...

"I had the good fortune to coach against Ralph Sampson when he was at Virginia, when I
was at Virginia Commonwealth University with J.D. Barnett back in the early '80s. I coached against him three times. I don't think I ever seen a greater athlete as far as in college basketball than Ralph Sampson. His agility, he was just graceful. At that size, 7' 4", to do the things he could do.

"And Ralph Sampson III, not as tall. About 6' 10", 6' 11", but he has good basketball skills. A great understanding, good understanding of the game. You know, it's going to take time as he matures and the body starts to develop in the weight room. He's going to be something
special."


One final note on Virginia: Oklahoma's Jeff Capel, another coach on UVa's wish list, was not asked about the Cavaliers' vacancy during his NCAA news conference today in Kansas City, Mo.


 

Tubby 'happy' where he is
By David Teel | 247-4636
March 19, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. - If University of Virginia officials want to hire Tubby Smith as the school's basketball coach, they'll have to pry him away from a job he describes as "great" and that pays him as much as $3.3 million a year.

Smith faced reporters Wednesday as his Minnesota Golden Gophers prepared for their first-round NCAA tournament game here today against Texas. While U.Va. was not mentioned specifically, he was asked about newspaper accounts this week linking him to another school.

That school is Virginia, which Monday parted ways with Dave Leitao. Prior to hiring Leitao in 2005, the Cavaliers courted Smith, then at Kentucky, without success.

"I have a job," Smith said Wednesday. "I have a great job. We're enjoying Minnesota. We have no reason to be looking at anything else, and I'm very happy where we are.

"So it certainly is flattering sometimes, but it can be a distraction. The thing is, we've gotten our recruiting done early, and that, hopefully, it's good to be wanted.

"But it's more important to be needed. I feel like I'm not only wanted in Minnesota, but needed there as well."

The Gophers hired Smith away from Kentucky two years ago to revive a program that was 9-22 in 2007. Minnesota is 42-24 since, 22-10 this season.

Smith also has recruited well. Among his freshmen this season is 6-foot-11 Ralph Sampson III, son of the former Virginia All-American. Minnesota has signed four acclaimed prospects for next season.

Smith and Oklahoma's Jeff Capel are among the possible candidates Virginia is considering.

This marks Smith's 18th season as a head coach: two at Minnesota, 10 at Kentucky, two at Georgia and four at Tulsa. He guided Kentucky to the 1998 national championship in his first year with the Wildcats.

Smith's teams are 429-169 overall, 29-13 in 14 NCAA tournament appearances. Only once has he lost in the tournament's first round.

Prior to landing his first head-coaching job, at Tulsa in 1991, Smith served as an assistant for 12 years, including seven at VCU in Richmond.

A 1973 graduate of High Point University near Greensboro, the 57-year-old Smith is among college basketball's highest-paid coaches.

In December 2007, he signed a seven-year contract worth at least $13 million, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Incentives, including NCAA tournament bids, can bump his annual pay to $3.3 million, the paper reported.

If Smith departs before 2010, he owes the school more than $1 million.

Virginia paid Leitao approximately $1 million a year and agreed to $2.1 million in severance.

 

Richmond’s Williford happy coaching at American
By Jeff White
Published: March 19, 2009

Jason Williford hopes his first job as a head coach is coming soon. For now, though, he could hardly be more content.

Williford works for the man who was his basketball coach at the University of Virginia - Jeff Jones - and Williford has helped his mentor lift American to the top of the Patriot League. Moreover, Williford and his wife, Kwamina, also a U.Va. graduate, have a 2-year-old son, Austin, with another child on the way.

"It's been great," said Williford, a Richmond native who starred at John Marshall High School.

American (24-7), the No.14 seed in the East Region, faces No.3 seed Villanova (26-7) tonight in Philadelphia in the NCAA tournament's first round. For Williford, 35, this is his second trip to the NCAAs with the Eagles and sixth overall. He went three times as a U.Va. player and once as an Boston University assistant.

In 2008, American made its first appearance in the NCAA tourney. A year later, AU repeated as Patriot League champion. Had the Eagles stumbled, no at-large invitation awaited them on Selection Sunday.

"It's a lot more special, having to win the [conference] tournament," Williford said. "When we were at U.Va., you could finish second or third or fourth [in the ACC], and you were pretty much a lock to get in."

The 6-6 Williford started 83 games at forward for Virginia. He was a team captain as a senior in 1994-95 when the Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA tourney's fourth round.

"He definitely doesn't look like a blue-collar guy, but he was probably the most blue-collar guy we had," former Virginia star Cory Alexander recalled.

Alexander, who grew up in Waynesboro, played AAU ball with Williford from middle school through high school, and they've remained close since leaving U.Va. That Williford has become a well-regarded coach is no shock.

"He's a guy that played with a very high basketball IQ," Alexander said.

At BU, Williford's boss was Dennis Wolff, who'd been a U.Va. assistant for three of Williford's years in Charlottesville. He hated to leave Wolff, but the opportunity to move closer to home - and work for Jones - was more than Williford could pass up. This is his fourth season as an AU assistant.

"He loves the game, he loves teaching and he's extremely competitive," Jones said.

In 2005, Williford turned down an offer to become Dave Leitao's director of basketball operations at U.Va. Williford was then assistant at BU and didn't want to take a position that wouldn't allow him to recruit or work with players at practice. A year later, Leitao considered Williford for an assistant's position before choosing Bill Courtney.

Williford's dream is to coach at his alma mater, and he may yet end up back in Charlottesville. But there's likely to be another stop or two along the way.

"I'm not ready for a U.Va. head job, but I think in the next year or two I'd be ready for a job at this level," Williford said, "and that's what I aspire to do."

 

The search is on
Jeff White
Mar 18, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE – In college basketball circles, there’s no shortage of interest in the coaching search that began at U.Va. this week after Dave Leitao resigned under pressure.

Based on dozens of conversations and e-mails with a variety of sources, I am convinced beyond a doubt that Tubby Smith is Virginia’s top choice to replace Leitao, who went 63-60 in four seasons.

Smith already has a job, of course, and U.Va. won’t be able to initiate formal contact with him until Minnesota is ousted from the NCAA tournament. And once that happens, there’s no guarantee that Virginia will be able to land Smith, in which case it would probably turn its focus to Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel.

Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage and his No. 2 man, Jon Oliver, are staying busy. U.Va. has hired Parker Executive Search to assist the school as it looks for Leitao’s successor, I’m told. Littlepage and Oliver are scheduled to meet with representatives of the firm tomorrow in Atlanta, where Parker is based. Whether Littlepage likes the idea of working with a search firm isn’t clear, but he may not have a choice.

From Atlanta, Littlepage and Oliver are expected to proceed to Greensboro, N.C., where Minnesota faces Texas tomorrow night in the NCAA tournament’s first round. If the Golden Gophers win, they’ll almost certainly meet Duke in the second round.

 

Could Tubby Smith be up next?
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: March 19, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Wednesday’s practice session for tonight’s opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum was like “old home” week for Minnesota coach Tubby Smith.
First was a visit with his former college basketball coach, Jerry Steele of High Point University, where Smith’s Minnesota team practiced earlier in the day. Later, it was a shorter visit with tonight’s opposing coach, Rick Barnes of Texas.
In fact, Barnes said later that the first time he ever saw Tubby Smith was when Barnes was at Lenoir-Rhyne College and Smith played at High Point.
“[Tubby] held the ball for 18 minutes as a player, and the score at halftime was 5-2,” Barnes recollected.
That was the beginning of a 30-something year relationship between men that describe one another as close friends. Barnes went on to coach at George Mason in Virginia, while Smith was at Virginia Commonwealth in Richmond and they’ve remained connected ever since.
One of them will go home after tonight’s contest, but their friendship will remain intact.
Smith went through an easy practice session Wednesday evening and ducked the questions that came his way that linked his name to the coaching vacancy at the University of Virginia.
He quickly deflected anything he considered a distraction from the task at hand, beating Texas.
“I have a job. I have a great job,” Smith said. “We’re enjoying Minnesota. We have no reason to be looking at anything else. I’m very happy where we are.
“So, [the rumors] are flattering sometimes, but it can be a distraction,” Smith added. “It’s good to be wanted, but it’s more important to be needed. I feel like I’m not only wanted in Minnesota, but needed there as well.”
Virginia fans, hopeful that Smith might end up doing for their Cavaliers what he has done for Minnesota’s Golden Gophers, could take the statement one of two ways.
One, either he’s content and will remain at Minnesota; or, two, what else could he say?
No coach is going to talk about another job on the eve of an NCAA Tournament game. It’s a distraction they don’t need. What would his players think of him if he said, ‘Yeah, I’m out the door as soon as this bad boy is over with.’
Clearly, Smith is a target in UVa’s coaching search, but don’t expect anything to happen soon, at least until the Minnesota season is completed.
What Smith has done in Minneapolis has only added to his legend.
When he took over Minnesota’s program, the Gophers were coming off a 9-22 campaign, the worst in school history. In fact, the Gophers hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament but once during former coach Dan Monson’s seven-plus seasons (he was fired early in his eighth year).
Minnesota basketball was a mess.
Enter Orlando Tubby Smith and the Gophers won 20 games and made it to the NIT, representing the biggest season turnaround in Minnesota history.
Tonight, he hopes his team can take another step as 10th-seeded Minnesota takes on No. 7 seed Texas.
Minnesota’s players immediately bought into what Smith brought with him, a coaching philosophy that won at Tulsa, Georgia and hoops powerhouse Kentucky, where he won a national championship. And, oh yes, in 17 seasons as a head coach, Smith has never had a losing campaign.
Asked how he rebuilt the Gophers’ program so quickly and Smith downplayed the whole thing.
He gave players the credit, but they were the same players that had previously gone 9-22 and now have won more than 40 games over the past two seasons under his direction.
“When you take over a program you’ve got to make sure that [players] appreciate it,” Smith said before practice Wednesday evening. “Because they chose to come there, and they’re giving their best effort. I think the returning players see that and appreciate that coach is going to give them a chance ... you know, as I told them all, I’m not coming with any preconceived notions about them. They’re all going to start from Ground One, and we’ll evaluate you from there.”
Whether Smith was just being modest or keeping his secrets in how to rebuild a program, was unclear, but he claimed it’s not that hard for him.
“That’s honestly what we’ve tried to do wherever we’ve been,” he said. “And to instill some trust and build some goals. They all want to be the best. They all came here because they love the U. So, it’s a matter of them helping me adjust. I usually tell them, I need your help.
“That’s the way I approach it. I’m here to help them, and they can help the program and themselves,” Smith continued. “Most of the time when you take over a program that’s struggling, they’re eager to be a part of it. They’ve seen the success that you’ve had, and they just want to be led the right way.
“It’s pretty easy to be honest with you,” Smith said of the rebuilding process. “It’s very fulfilling when you see them ... when you see the players and the program, and the people grow and appreciate the hard work that they’ve put in.”
Dick Jonckowski, who serves as Minnesota’s public address announcer, has witnessed the great turnaround in the way Gopher basketball is perceived and describes it simply.
“Everywhere I go, all people want to talk about is Minnesota basketball,” Jonckowski said. “Let’s face it: Tubby was a godsend.”
Earlier this year, Louisville’s Rick Pitino sensed that Smith was enjoying coaching more now than in the pressure cooker that Kentucky provided.
Smith said Pitino was right in his analysis.
“I am enjoying myself. I’m having fun,” Smith said.
He’s been there two years and is already a local legend. His picture is up in every sports bar in town and he makes a practice of going over and shaking hands with as many students in pre-game festivities as he can because he wants to spread the excitement of the basketball program.
A self-described low-maintenance coach, Tubby’s popularity has soared in Minneapolis where it declined in Lexington, Ky., after he won the national title his first season and never took the Wildcats back to the championship game again, a cardinal sin in Bluegrass Country.
“We were really struggling those last couple of years (at Kentucky),” Smith said tongue-in-cheek. “We only won 22 games and went to the NCAA tournament. It was bad.”
He finally decided to get out and Minnesota was looking for someone to revive the program.
“When I first found out I was in my room just getting out of class,” said Minnesota player Damian Johnson. “And I walked in and put it on Sportscenter, and first thing I saw was Tubby Smith to Minnesota. I was just in awe. I called everyone. I was going kind of crazy because at the time we were coming off the worst season ever here and Coach Smith came in and just wanted to implement a winning mindset.”
Teammate Jamal Abu-Shamala shared that excitement.
“When we first found out, we were all kind of shocked,” Abu-Shamala said. “We were like, ‘one of the legends in the coaching business ... he’s won a National Championship that everyone tries to reach. The first thing he changed was the mindset and attitude of the team. Really, he wanted us to have a championship attitude and just have faith and believe in each other that we can achieve big goals.”
As Jonckowski said, “People have been waiting for something like this for a long time. He’s got such a good reputation. They know he knows what he’s doing.”
Rick Barnes seconded that notion.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Tubby over the years and I’m not sure there’s a more respected and more humbled person in basketball than Tubby Smith,” Barnes said.
That’s a strong, but familiar endorsement.

 

Offensive struggles sink Leitao
By Whitey Reid
Published: March 19, 2009

One of the most obvious signs that the Virginia men’s basketball team might not have been in the right hands came just after the 2005-06 season when coach Dave Leitao felt the need to bring in an offensive consultant.
“I had been locked in for so many years into a structured offense,” Leitao told The Daily Progress before this season began. “We ran it [in 2005-06] and had a lot of problems because what I didn’t realize about the ACC is that everybody pressures the ball and denies the wings and forces you out of your offense.
“A good counter to that is motion because it’s unpredictable.”
To that end, Leitao solicited the advice of Dave Paulsen, who was the coach of Williams College at the time. Paulsen had created a “motion” system that incorporated principles from numerous styles of play.
Initially, the style was a good fit for Virginia’s personnel. But in the end, its free-flowing nature and over-dependence on guards and the 3-point shot made UVa too one-dimensional.
When you throw in the fact that Virginia was the worst defensive outfit in the ACC for two consecutive years, it’s easy to see why the school and Leitao parted ways on Monday.
This season, Virginia
finished last in the ACC in field-goal percentage (.417) and 3-point field-goal percentage (.316). UVa finished second-to-last in points per game (70.0) and assists (12.4), and had the third worst assist-to-turnover margin in the league.
On Jan. 24, the team’s offense hit rock bottom in an atrocious home loss to Florida State. 24. In that game, UVa went nearly the entire first half without a field goal before finishing with three.
Of course, the offensive system had nothing to do with Virginia’s frequent inability to pass the ball inbounds — something that drew the ire of fans more than just about anything.
In Leitao’s final game as coach last Thursday, Virginia committed 20 turnovers in the loss to BC in the first round of the ACC Tournament. Leitao promised that cutting down on the miscues would be an emphasis going into next season.
“It’s a number of reasons,” he said, when asked about the consistently high numbers. “It’s not just passing to a guy and it gets intercepted. It’s a travel. It’s a bobble. It’s a dropped ball, a strip — a lot of different things that we have to look at and attack.
“Some of it we’re pretty confident will be diminished, some of it we’ll have to work real hard to diminish.”
Leitao, obviously, will never get that chance — and you can bet whoever his replacement is will have his own offensive philosophies.
Paulsen’s system may have worked well for him, but for Leitao it often seemed as if he was trying to put square pegs into round holes.
The linchpin to Paulsen’s system was having good guards. The first year that Leitao used it, he had them in J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary.
But after Reynolds graduated in the 2007-08 season, teams were able to focus all of their attention on Singletary and the offense wasn’t nearly as fluid.
A major downside to the approach was its lack of involvement from post players. Leitao’s argument was that he never had any talented big men. That may have been true to a certain extent, at least initially, but that doesn’t explain why the ball rarely went inside. Doing so would have at least kept defenses honest — even if the end result was just a return pass to the perimeter.
The longstanding belief is that a successful offense should work from the inside-out. Virginia’s offense seemed to be the exact opposite.
Because of that, UVa became overly dependant on its perimeter players and the 3-point shot, which, one could argue, weren’t their strengths.
Skilled big man Mike Scott was a frequent bystander in the offense. Guard Calvin Baker was too often the featured attraction.
Before the season started, Leitao said many things had drawn him to Paulsen’s offense.
“What he has is a very simplistic way of playing that puts four guys on the perimeter and one guy on the interior and allows — with rules — players to make plays and make decisions that is contrary to what a scouting report can take away,” he said.
When executed well, Paulsen — who won the 2003 Division III national championship at Williams and is now the head coach at Bucknell — believes his offense is the best way to play. One of the keys to its success, Paulsen said back in November, is having players with high basketball IQ’s.
“If you don’t have that, then there are times when you run the motion offense and it looks like you’ve never practiced,” said Paulsen, who finished 7-23 in his first year at Bucknell. “There is some danger.”
The last two seasons of Virginia basketball have certainly been a testament to that.

 

Cavaliers knock off Canisius, Wagner in doubleheader
Virginia’s trend of hitting in key runs with two outs continues as Cavs remain only undefeated team in nation; team overcomes lackluster performance from starting pitchers
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
Published: Thursday, March 19 2009

Junior catcher Franco Valdes has maintained consistency behind the plate and has also hit well in recent games. With two outs, it seems that the Virginia offense can do no wrong.

Scoring nine of its combined 16 runs with two men gone, the No. 7 Cavaliers picked up two wins in a midweek doubleheader yesterday, defeating Canisius 11-3 and Wagner 5-2 to remain the only undefeated team in the nation.

With a series against No. 4 Miami looming this weekend, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor noted the temptation to overlook two lesser-known teams, particularly in a rare Wednesday doubleheader.

“I’ve got kids who [have] got exams tomorrow and have papers due and things like that, and you come out here and you’re on this baseball field from 2:00 in the afternoon until 11:00 at night,” O’Connor said. “They’re entitled to maybe not have a high level of energy some days, but what’s important is you’ve got to find a way to win.”

The various two-out rallies for Virginia (18-0, 4-0 ACC) included seven runs scored with two outs against Canisius and two against Wagner. The Cavs came up with particularly clutch two-out hits against Wagner — sophomore first baseman Phil Gosselin knotted the game at two apiece in the third with a line drive up the middle, and sophomore John Hicks lined a single to left-centerfield in the sixth to give Virginia a 3-2 advantage.

The day before against Marshall, the Cavaliers scored all five of their runs with two outs in a 5-4 victory, continuing a trend that has persisted throughout the season.

“Championships are won with two-out hits,” sophomore rightfielder Dan Grovatt said. “Pretty much every game we’ve had at least a couple big-two out hits.”

With junior closer Matt Packer still unavailable after throwing three innings of relief Tuesday, sophomore Kevin Arico picked up his second save in two days and the second of his career against Wagner, earning the two biggest outs of the game in an eighth-inning jam. Arico entered with runners on first and second and no one out in the eighth, with Virginia leading 4-2. After a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners into scoring position, Arico fanned senior catcher Chris Drechsel and sophomore rightfielder Seth Boyd to end the inning.

Just a little more than 24 hours earlier, Arico preserved a 5-4 lead with a little more than an inning of scoreless relief to earn his first career save.

“I’ve always felt good about the poise Kevin Arico’s had since he’s arrived on campus,” O’Connor said. “That was important to see, because throughout the year, it gives you a little bit of flexibility.”

In the bottom half of the eighth, freshman third baseman Steven Proscia made Virginia’s lead a little healthier, leading off with a solo shot to extend the lead to 5-2.

In addition to Arico, Virginia also saw outstanding performances from freshmen pitchers Shane Halley and Sean Lucas. The two combined for more than three innings of scoreless relief, with both pitchers finding a big out each with a runner in scoring position. With the score knotted at two, Halley entered in the third with one out and a runner on second, and struck out his first batter and popped up the second to end the inning. Lucas then relieved Halley to begin the seventh with the score 4-2; with one out and a runner on third, Proscia fielded a groundball and gunned down the runner at home for the second out, and Lucas earned a 4-3 groundout to end the threat.

Offensively, as if Virginia had not seen enough contributors to its 11.4 runs per game coming into the afternoon, its first two runs in the nightcap against Wagner were scored by two players with a combined 18 at-bats and two starts. Former Virginia football player sophomore John Bivens made his first start of the season at designated hitter and earned a walk in his first at-bat with one out in the second inning. He then stole second and advanced to third on Drechsel’s throwing error and scored on a sacrifice fly by junior catcher Franco Valdes, giving Virginia a 1-0 advantage.

After Wagner responded with two runs in the top of the third, freshman Keith Werman, in his third start of the season at shortstop, led off the bottom half of the inning with a lined shot to left-centerfield. Werman moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker, took third on a passed ball and scored on Gosselin’s liner up the middle.

“I think we’ve got depth this year on this team like we’ve never had in my six years here,” O’Connor said, adding, “The hardest job I have is deciding which nine guys you’re [going to] write into that lineup every day.”

Virginia’s starter against Wagner, junior lefthander Jeff Lorick, struggled with his command in his third start of the season. Lorick gave up two earned runs, both in the top of the third inning which featured two walks, two hits and a wild pitch. The junior was relieved with one out in the third after throwing 65 pitches.

Prior to the tight win against the Seahawks, Virginia survived several rallies by Canisius in a game that was closer than the eight-run margin would indicate. The Golden Griffins hung with the Cavaliers through the first half of the game, scoring three runs against senior starting pitcher Robert Poutier and trailed just 5-3 through four innings.

“That team won 41 games last year and had the majority of their team returning,” O’Connor said. “The way they swung the bats offensively, you just never felt comfortable.”

Backed by three-plus innings of scoreless relief by sophomore Tyler Wilson, however — including a strikeout and a fielder’s choice to end a bases-loaded threat in the sixth — the Virginia offense put away Canisius with three runs in its half of the fifth and a run each in the seventh and the eighth. Freshman Justin Thompson closed out the game in his third appearance of the season.

Grovatt extended his hitting streak to 18 games this season and 20 dating back to last year, going 4-for-8 in the two games. The slugger went 3-for-4, stole two stolen bases and scored a career-high four runs against Canisius.

The Cavaliers’ home series against Miami this weekend will be their first against two consecutive top-five opponents, as they then travel to Chapel Hill the following weekend for a series against North Carolina.

 

Swim and dive seeks title
Published: Thursday, March 19 2009

The most elite women in college swimming earned a spot at this week’s NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas. After teams across the country wrapped up individual conference championships, the NCAA selected the athletes with the fastest times in each event to send to the national championships.

Virginia (9-1, 5-0 ACC) — which won the ACC title last weekend — will be represented by 12 swimmers, four of whom will be making their NCAA Championships debut. Sophomores Ellie Freeman and Kristen Moores, along with freshman Lauren Smart and junior Katherine McDonnell, will experience college swimming’s most important event for the first time.

These four women will swim alongside seniors Megan Evo and Kristen Wallace; juniors Jenna Harris, Mei Christensen, Katherine McDonnell and Jen Narum; and sophomores Claire Crippen, Hannah Davis and Liz Shaw.

Virginia coach Mark Bernardino usually emphasizes having strong relay performances, and this focus could pay off on the national level for the qualifying Virginia athletes. Christensen, Wallace, McDonnell and Shaw earned automatic representation in the 200 medley relay because of their exceptional times in the event.

At last year’s championships, the Cavaliers finished 20th with 50 points, aided by Shaw’s fourth-place overall finish in the 200 fly.

The NCAA Championships begin today and run through Saturday at Texas A&M’s Student Rec Center Natatorium.

—compiled by Chloe Newschwander

 

Virginia prepares for Tigers, Jackets
Clemson boasts modest winning streak; Georgia Tech highlighted by all-conference player Gomez
Aaron Perryman, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer
Published: Thursday, March 19 2009

Sophomore Michael Shabaz’s consistency has earned him time as the Cavaliers’ No. 1 seed. Even though its top two players — Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey — graduated last year, the Virginia men’s tennis team is continuing to tear through its opponents at a torrid pace and is now riding an 18-match win streak.

This past Sunday No. 10 Texas, playing at home, finally gave the Cavaliers a run for their money, but Virginia (18-0, 3-0 ACC) ultimately prevailed in a come-from-behind 4-3 win. The Cavaliers must now transition back to their ACC schedule with home matches tomorrow against Clemson at 2 p.m. and Sunday against Georgia Tech at noon.

Clemson (7-6, 0-3 ACC) has several solid players with winning, albeit not spectacular, records. Senior Ike Belk is 12-4 overall, compiling a 7-1 record at the sixth position. The Tigers are riding a modest two-match win streak with victories against College of Charleston (7-0) and Stetson (6-1).

Georgia Tech (6-6, 1-2 ACC), meanwhile, does not boast many spectacular individual records. Sophomore Guillermo Gomez, though, who was an All-ACC performer last season, is 21-6 overall and has accumulated a 5-3 record as the first seed. The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 5-2 defeat of Tennessee Tech Tuesday and face Virginia Tech tomorrow.

“I’m really looking forward to this weekend,” Inglot said. “Georgia Tech is also a very good team — a little bit tougher than Clemson — good way to start outdoors with ACC.”

The difficulty of playing outdoors was especially evident this weekend. Virginia originally was scheduled to face two Texas teams — Baylor and Texas — but inclement weather forced the cancellation of Friday’s match against Baylor, creating more downtime than the team needed or wanted.

“I feel like it was the longest trip you can make for one dual match,” sophomore Sanam Singh said.

The team had prepared its psyche for the first match against Baylor, and when it was cancelled, the players felt unfulfilled.

“That kind of threw us off a bit,” senior Dominic Inglot said. “You kind of prepare yourself a bit — you go through the motions to play a match on Friday — and then when it doesn’t happen ... There’s a little void — [you] prepare for nothing — you have to start all over again, [we were] sitting in Austin, [Texas], kind of biding our time waiting for the match on Sunday.”

Once the Sunday match against Texas finally rolled around, it, too, was delayed because of weather. To hurry the match along, the teams played their singles matches first and then played doubles.

“Rain got us again [at Texas],” junior Houston Barrick said. “So we had to start singles first which was the first time in my career. It was a little different. Usually [we] come out fired up in that doubles point. We had to calm down and get the singles point, [which] is usually a little more calm than doubles.”

Perhaps the reverse order of the match threw off No. 18 Inglot and No. 16 sophomore Michael Shabaz, Virginia’s top two seeds, because both dropped their singles matches, giving Texas a 2-0 lead. Virginia then won three of the bottom four seeded matches, though, setting up a showdown where the doubles point would determine whether the Cavaliers would prevail or Texas would break Virginia’s 18-match win streak.

The No. 23 tandem of Inglot and Shabaz picked up the first doubles point 8-6 in the second-seeded doubles match.

“I said to the guys, ‘No way I’m going to lose two matches in a day,’” Inglot said. “I said to the guys, ‘If I have to break the guy’s arm before I lose, I’ll have to do that.’”

The Virginia pair of freshman Drew Courtney and junior Lee Singer then dropped the third-seeded doubles match 8-6, meaning that the first-seeded match between No. 2 Cavaliers Barrick and Singh and No. 35 sophomore Longhorns Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico would decide the final tally.

Barrick and Singh eventually topped the Longhorn duo 9-7, but not before serving for the match at 7-6 , only to lose the point and have to regroup.

“That was a tough match,” Singh said. “I was serving 7-6 for the match and we played a really long game ... The crowd was getting loud — I got broken — and we broke right back at love, which doesn’t happen very often once you get broken in a really long game which is really intense — that was awesome. Then Houston served a really good serve. We had five match points, and finally clinched in the sixth one.”
After the long road trip, the Cavaliers will now play their first outdoor games of their ACC schedule.

“You have to be more patient,” Inglot said of playing outdoors, noting the team is still adjusting to the different environment. “The balls don’t come through as fast. The surfaces — it’s been resurfaced differently — the courts are much slower outdoors.”

Previously, Virginia defeated ACC opponents Maryland 7-0 (Feb. 8), Boston College 7-0 (Feb. 21) and Virginia Tech 6-1 (Feb. 27) — though these victories all took place inside.

“You have wind, [so you] have to hit ball harder,” he said about playing outside. “Then as well as that you have the sun. When you’re serving, looking into the sun, you can lose vision a little bit. You got to move a lot better, be mentally tough.”

 

NCSU looms as ACC schedule gets late start
William Hrachovina, Cavalier Associate Editor
Published: Thursday, March 19 2009

The Virginia softball team will take on N.C. State this weekend in its first conference games of the season. Virginia was supposed to open its conference schedule last weekend against Boston College, but the games were rained out.

N.C. State (10-8) won against top-10 team Oklahoma to start the season but faltered during the Cathedral City Classic, losing all five games. The squad recently has recovered, though, coming alive to win eight of its last 10 games.

Even though the Wolfpack is playing strongly as of late, senior shortstop Carly Winger said she believes the Cavaliers will find success against the Wolfpack if Virginia (17-5) continues to play the way it has this season.

“On offense, we just need to keep putting up a lot of runs,” Winger said. “If we can do that, our defense and our pitching can definitely hold us in games.”

N.C. State, meanwhile, also has a strong pitching staff. As a team, the players have limited their opponents to less than two earned runs per game. The Wolfpack’s best pitcher, junior Lindsay Campana, has 62 strikeouts this season and an earned run average of 1.13. Virginia faced Campana twice last season, winning both games in which she started.

Virginia coach Eileen Schmidt noted that seeing Campana play last season should prove beneficial, as the Cavaliers know what they will have to do offensively against the pitcher.

“We need to bring her up in the [strike] zone,” Schmidt said, adding that Campana’s drop ball “keeps the Wolfpack in games and keeps the ball in the park. We need to keep her in the zone and hit our pitches.”

Recently, one of the Cavaliers’ strongest suits has been their reliable and consistent approach. Through steady play, senior second baseman Casey Steffan said the Cavaliers can continue to pick up victories.

“A big thing is just being consistent,” Steffan said. “We take the same approach at the plate as we always do and we don’t really change much from pitcher to pitcher. We just pick our pitches and attack.”

Because of the rain-out last weekend, Virginia has had plenty of time to rest and recover from a busy start to its season. Schmidt said the time off allowed players to better prepare for this weekend.

“Normally when we don’t play on a weekend, we would like to have games midweek but we didn’t have one scheduled,” Schmidt said. “I don’t think that it matters that the games were cancelled. It just means that we will be well-rested and healthy.”

Even though the team could benefit from the respite, some players still missed the opportunity to open conference play last week.

“We were disappointed that we didn’t get to play those games and we were looking forward to some ACC competition,” Steffan said. “We have to shift our focus from Boston College to N.C. State, but mentally, we are still the same.”

Virginia plays in Raleigh this weekend and will head to Radford next Thursday for a midweek game before returning home to play in-state rival Virginia Tech.