Tubby reassures U he intends to stay
The Gophers basketball coach tried to squelch the rumor he was heading for Virginia with a few phone calls.
By SID HARTMAN, Star Tribune
Last update: March 23, 2009 - 12:51 AM

Tubby Smith phoned University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks on Saturday to inform him there wasn't any truth to the reports he was going to leave the Gophers men's basketball program and take the job as coach at the University of Virginia.

Then on Sunday morning, he phoned the Sports Huddle on WCCO radio to say all the rumors are just that and that he "was very comfortable here and we're having a good time. In fact, I just got back from California, watching Justin Cobbs play yesterday; he lost in the state high school championship game out in California. [Cobbs, a point guard at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, Calif., recently scored 47 points in a game.] So we've been very comfortable."

Get used to these rumors. The Gophers have one of the great basketball coaches in the country, so rumors having him heading any place there is a good head coaching job opening are going to crop up.

Bruininks, who was at the NCAA tournament second-round games Sunday at the Metrodome, was happy to hear the good news.

"We've got the best basketball coach in the country, he is happy here, and we are going to build that basketball pavilion and keep him happy," Bruininks said.

Smith added: "Yes, Dr. Bruininks and [Gophers athletic director] Joel Maturi [and I], we all feel that things are going in the right direction at this point in time. I hope people are pleased with the direction the basketball program is going at this time. We know we've got a lot of work to do, but I think with [almost] everybody returning we should be fine. I plan on being here for a very long time."

Get bigger, stronger
Smith said the Gophers have a chance to be a top-20 team and compete for the Big Ten championship.

"In order to do that, you've got to beat the likes of Michigan State. You've got to compete with the Purdues," Smith said. "Teams that we have not beaten the two years we've been here. So we need to find a way to compete with those teams."
One thing the Gophers need to do is get stronger and more physical, and then Smith thinks they could compete with anybody.

"I think that's something we have to build on for next year," he said. "That we can play with anyone. Our guys understand after the Texas loss we need to get in the weight room and get stronger [to defend against] a guy like Texas' Dexter Pittman, 300 pounds and very physical all the way around. We need to get stronger, and those are areas we need to continue to get better and improve in."

Smith said he will start getting ready for the 2009-2010 season right away.

"We'll meet with each individual player this week," he said. "We've got to get back to academics. It was spring break last week. So they were down in Greensboro playing basketball, they understand they have to do some catching up. We can do individual workouts up until the end of April. We can't have any more than four in the gym at one time, so we work on some skill work and go from there."

Smith dispelled the rumor that he was going to take the Virginia job because his wife, Donna, didn't like living in Minnesota's colder weather.

"It was just people writing; they didn't talk to her," he said. "We're very comfortable here. We enjoyed the winter. I think everybody understands it's part of the season, part of life. That's what she feels as well. We live very close to the university. We can walk to work. Close to downtown. She's very happy.

"The only thing I missed this winter is I didn't go ice fishing. It got too warm before I could get out there."

KU game in future?
Asked if there is any chance of Kansas scheduling the Gophers in the future, Jayhawks basketball coach Bill Self said, "We've done some talking."

Kansas is back in the Sweet 16 after beating Dayton 60-43 at the Metrodome, even after the defending national champions had underclassmen such as Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers turn pro after last season.

"He [Chalmers] ... may be the best rookie guard in the game right now," Self said about his former guard, who was drafted by the Timberwolves with the 34th overall pick and then traded to Miami for two second-round picks. "He is averaging 10 points a game, [is on pace to] set the rookie record for steals and is playing at a pretty high level. Probably one of the best 10 rookies in the game."

Self was asked why he left a comfortable job at the University of Illinois to take the Kansas post in 2003. "I coached and went to school there when I was young and I knew it and I knew the tradition and the history," Self said. "Although it is not in my backyard, it is closer to home. And I grew up being a Big Eight [Conference] guy.

"I loved Illinois and I know I upset people when I left, but I think they have done remarkably well with different leadership. And they benefitted from the change also. But the biggest thing is I didn't want to wake up three or four years down the road and think I could have been the head coach at Kansas."

Jottings
Gophers guard/forward Jamal Abu-Shamala said he will travel back to Jordan to play basketball again as soon as he graduates from the university.

Leonard Weaver, the Seattle fullback the Vikings wanted to sign, has signed with the Eagles. ... Former Gophers defensive coordinator and head football coach John Gutekunst has retired from coaching and is running a dry cleaning operation in North Carolina. ... Look for former Vikings quarterback Gus Fre-rotte to sign with the Rams when he and his family return from a vacation.

Gophers sophomore Michael Kvasnicka, the son of former Gophers player and Twins farmhand Jay Kvasnicka, has a 24-game hitting streak dating back to last season. Kvasnicka leads the Gophers (13-6) with a .462 batting average and 24 RBI. Eric Decker, who has one year of football eligibility remaining with the Gophers, is hitting .333 for the baseball team.

NFL owners will consider several rules changes proposed by the Competition Committee. The committee will recommend that when the ball comes loose while throwing, replay can be used to determine whether it's a fumble or an incomplete pass. Under current rules, the play is not reviewable. The committee also wants to eliminate some wedge formations on kick returns.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast once a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com

 

Landesberg: Cupboard now loaded
UVa star Sylven Landesberg says the Cavs should be one of the top four or five teams in the ACC next season.
Doug Doughty doug.doughty@roanoke.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Potential candidates might look at the Virginia men's basketball coaching vacancy and think that the Cavaliers are in a rebuilding mode.

If that's what athletic director Craig Littlepage had in mind, star player Sylven Landesberg was quick to disagree.

"He asked me a serious question," said Landesberg of a Wednesday conversation. "He said, 'Where do you see us next year? He said, 'Middle of the pack?'

"I said, 'No. I see us in the top four or five teams.' I say that very confidently. We were a young team this year, we took our hits but through all this experience we learned a lot. Next year, I think we'll be able to bring a lot to the table."

Landesberg, the ACC freshman of the year, heads a group of 11 scholarship underclassmen with remaining eligibility. That includes the Cavaliers' top six scorers.

Dave Leitao might have been looking forward to coaching that group but he won't have that option after resigning Monday after four seasons.

"I think I speak for everybody when I say we're upset," said Landesberg, who scored a team-high 16.6 points per game. "We were recruited by him. He influenced most of our decisions to come here. What's done is done and we have to move on."

Sophomore guard Jeff Jones said that the players were advised by text message Monday morning that there would be a team meeting at 1 p.m. Most players thought that Leitao would address off-season plans, which is why senior co-captain Mamadi Diane felt there was no need to attend.

There had been speculation in recent weeks that Leitao might make changes in his staff, "[but] we hadn't heard any of that," Landesberg said. "It was all a surprise to us."

Leitao was in the room for 15-20 minutes and then he was gone. The players haven't spoken to him since.

"It's too soon," Jones said. "I think everybody's emotional right now so I don't think right now would be a good time to call him."

They do have an open invitation.

"He told us he wasn't going to be coaching here but that he was always just a phone call away; if we needed anything, just give him a call and he'd try to help us out," Landesberg said.

Unlike Leitao's 2006-07 team, which shared the ACC regular-season championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, roles were murky on this team. There were times during the middle of the season when Jones didn't get off the bench, but there were other games when he played 30 minutes.

Jones views the impending coaching change as a fresh start.

"Not only for me, but for the whole team," he said. " A new coach. A new way of looking at things. Everybody's got a new slate. It's like being recruited again."

On the other hand, none of the players has taken any potshots at Leitao, at least not publicly.

"In some games, we were 'right there,' " Jones said. "In some games, guys didn't play to their full potential. You definitely can't blame the whole season on the coach."

Nor was there an unusual amount of bickering among the players.

"It's a tight-knit group right now," Jones said. "This team has always been close and there was never a disconnection between the players on the team. On weekends, we'd go out to eat. At movies, we're all together. Everybody's mindset is at a good place."

The Cavaliers signed two players during the fall, forward Tristan Spurlock from Springfield and point guard Jontel Evans from Hampton. It has been speculated that Spurlock might seek a release from his letter-of-intent.

"I spoke a little to Tristan," Landesberg said. "I didn't go that far with him, [but] I didn't get a sense that he was wavering."

Nor has there been any indication that any of the current players are close to leaving. According to one of the parents, the chances of that would have been greater if Leitao had stayed.

Prospects are always advised to choose a school and not a coach, but that frequently is not the case.

"Of course, I knew that I had to look at the school first," said Landesberg, who picked UVa over Georgia Tech and St. John's. "My last three choices ... were my choices a lot because of the coaches. Even though I knew they weren't going to be there forever, that never went through my mind."

Jones said the players' spirits improve every day and that they're starting to get excited about the identity of a new coach.

"If he was coming in last year, I'd just say he needed to be understanding, know that we're going to make our mistakes, give us a chance," Landesberg said. "Coming in now, we need a coach who's ready to go. The soldiers are here and we're ready to go to war with him."
 

Capel could restore U.Va.'s luster, but would he want to?
Posted to: Bob Molinaro Sports
Bob Molinaro
Virginian-Pilot columnist
Read Articles

If he's willing to take the plunge, Jeff Capel can be the next Virginia basketball coach.

That's the educated guess offered by most pundits. It's based on Capel's success at Oklahoma - the No. 2-seeded Sooners have reached the Sweet 16 of this year's tournament - as well as the ties he created in the state during his four years as Virginia Commonwealth's head coach.

Capel played at Duke, so a soft spot for the ACC and an affinity for this part of the country - his family is from North Carolina, his wife is a Virginian - could play a role in what happens next.

Another factor to consider is that no matter how much he wins at Oklahoma, Capel's teams will always play in the long shadow of the football program. That wouldn't happen in the ACC.

Still, homecomings aside, wouldn't a restless young coach of unlimited potential hope to aim higher than U.Va.?

Going back years and years - not counting the odd outstanding season or the Ralph Sampson era - U.Va. has been a middling program, at best.

Sure, fans would settle for average in the wake of Dave Leitao's 4-12 ACC record. They'd celebrate any coach who flirted with a plus-.500 record because, truth be known, U.Va. boosters are easily pleased.

But looking at U.Va. from the outside, is a successful coach from a big conference likely to see a sleeping giant?

Or, with history as his guide, will he realize that the Cavaliers are destined to be mere sleepers - good enough some years to make a little noise, but rarely a threat to North Carolina, Duke and the other big dogs?

Considering U.Va.'s recent history, something seems odd when the Internet scuttlebutt concerning the vacancy mentions several prominent coaches, among them Villanova's Jay Wright. Last time anybody checked, he was thriving in the Big East.

Then again, no one should underestimate the persuasive powers of money, something U.Va. is said to have in great supply. So if Capel balks, maybe Wright could be seduced for the right price. Or Michigan's John Beilein, Xavier's Sean Miller or Minnesota's Tubby Smith.

U.Va. would be wise to fill the opening with a sizable name and proven commodity. The program has fallen too far and fast to ask fans to wait patiently while the jury is out on some unknown hot-shot assistant.

What the next coach must be equipped to do is turn U.Va. into a basketball school again.

Once, basketball was U.Va.'s athletic identity. Even if it couldn't capture the conference or climb into the Top 10, there were always a few moments throughout the years - beginning with Terry Holland and occasionally under his successors - when the Cavaliers threw around enough weight that they could not be ignored.

That feels like a long time ago. It feels as if U.Va. basketball has not been this devoid of passion since the early '70s. Even Leitao's departure lacked drama. He proved to be such a minor presence that his exit created not a ripple of controversy.

Meanwhile, as the short-lived Leitao era slowly ebbed, the Cavaliers ceded ground to Virginia Tech. This should annoy the U.Va. faithful as much as anything. Tradition always held that U.Va., not Tech, was the state's basketball school. With the right coach, that can happen again fairly quickly.

Capel is a good candidate. He's ascended in a large, cutthroat conference.

But because he's only 34, Capel's options are plentiful. There's every reason for him to remain at Oklahoma and wait for other opportunities, possibly even biding his time while hoping to succeed Mike Krzyzewski.

Nobody has to wonder whether Duke is a basketball school.
 

Hall gets top bill at QB in spring
By Doug Doughty | The Roanoke Times

When Al Groh said last month that Vic Hall would get a look at quarterback this spring, he wasn't talking about a token tryout.

"This spring, Vic will work at quarterback exclusively," said Groh as Virginia football team prepared for the start of workouts today.

In fact, Hall will begin spring practice as Virginia's No. 1 quarterback.

"We have to start some place with the rotation," Groh said, "and, as with all positions, that will change with competition over 15 days of practices.

"But, the player on our team who last started a game at quarterback was Vic."

That was also the first start at quarterback for Hall, a fourth-year junior who previously had made 24 consecutive starts on defense.

"He'll be the first person up," Groh said. "The next person who started at quarterback here was Marc [Verica]. He'll follow Vic. The person after that who has started a game at Virginia is Jameel [Sewell], so he'll come in after Marc does."

Sewell started 22 consecutive games at quarterback for the Cavaliers before he was placed on academic suspension and missed the 2008 season. Verica wasn't the original choice to replace him but was pressed into service when two-game starter Peter Lalich was dismissed from the team.

The Cavaliers won four games in a row with Verica as their starting quarterback, then lost three in a row before Hall made an unannounced move to quarterback prior to UVa's final game.

Hall, who set state records for passing yardage and total offense while at Gretna High School, rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns in a 17-14 loss to Virginia Tech.

Virginia returns both players who started at cornerback against the Hokies, junior Ras-I Dowling and sophomore Chase Minnifield. Chris Cook, who started games in parts of three seasons before joining Sewell on academic probation, only deepens the cornerback pool.

The Cavaliers have the luxury of taking Rodney McLeod, who was named their outstanding first-year player, and moving him from cornerback to safety.

"If that's where he ends up, it gives us a player with significantly higher cover skills than often go with that position," Groh said.

"We want to make sure we start him there [in the spring]. We don't want to jazz him up by flipping him around too much."

Besides, the Cavaliers can always use Hall at cornerback.

"He's got plenty of background there," said Groh, who used Hall at quarterback and cornerback against Tech.

Groh compared Hall's situation at corner to the spring of 2008, when offensive tackle Eugene Monroe barely practiced after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.

"Clearly, it didn't set him back," said Groh, who saw Monroe win the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the ACC's top offensive lineman. "He'd had enough time at position. We think the same thing would apply to Vic.

"We all know what kind of player Vic's been for us and how much he's contributed. There is no better competitor. Never has been on our team. We're going to have Vic in for the maximum amount of plays that he can stand over the course of next season, wherever that might be."

Hall also has served as UVa principal punt returner since his redshirt freshman season. If the Cavaliers keep him in that role, he will come under the supervision of new special teams coach Ron Prince, who recruited Hall for UVa before spending three seasons as the head coach at Kansas State.

"Really, the area where our team can make the greatest leap forward is with special teams," said Groh, whose previous special teams coach Bob Diaco resigned to become the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati.

Notes

Groh said that 6-foot-6 Andrew Devlin, who started two games at tight end as a redshirt freshman, now weighs close to 270 and is being moved to defensive end. ... Mark Ambrose, another tight end in UVa's 2007 signing class, moved to linebacker last fall but has been forced to give up football because of chronic shoulder problems. ... Mikell Simpson, who missed the final three games of the 2008 season after suffering a broken collarbone, has been cleared to start spring drills.
 

Miami hands U.Va. another loss
By Jeff White
Published: March 23, 2009
Hurricanes hang second loss on Cavs Virginia had been last unbeaten college team before dropping series

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Coming into the weekend, there might not have been a better story in college baseball than the University of Virginia's surprising start. The inexperienced Cavaliers, picked to finish fourth in the ACC's Coastal Division, were the nation's last unbeaten team.

They lost that status Saturday, falling 4-3 to ACC rival Miami at Davenport Field. Yesterday brought another wrenching defeat. This time U.Va. lost 7-5 in a game called after eight innings, according to ACC rules, to accommodate the Hurricanes' travel plans.

Virginia, which whipped Miami 9-4 in the series opener Friday night, scored three runs in the seventh inning yesterday to take a 5-4 lead. But the No. 11 'Canes (7-2, 18-4) rallied for three runs in the eighth off U.Va. reliever Tyler Wilson, a sophomore right-hander from Midlothian High whose ERA coming in was 0.00.

In the bottom of the eighth, when the scoreboard clock hit the 3:30 p.m. cutoff time, the 23rd-ranked Cavaliers (5-2, 19-2) still had a chance to win or, at least, tie. But with Virginia runners on second and third, Miami closer Kyle Bellamy fanned Dan Grovatt for the final out.

"Nobody likes losing," said first baseman Danny Hultzen, who singled in former Goochland High star John Hicks to put U.Va. up 5-4 in the seventh. "We'd rather have won all three of those games, but I think we've just got to keep our confidence up and get past what happened today and yesterday and get after it [tomorrow against Towson] and show what we're made of."

This is the Wahoos' sixth season under coach Brian O'Connor, and they appear headed for their sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament. Yesterday against Miami, O'Connor played five freshmen: Hultzen, Hicks, Steven Proscia, Jared King and starting pitcher Will Roberts, a graduate of Maggie Walker Governor's School. Six sophomores played for Virginia: Wilson, Grovatt, Jarrett Parker, Phil Gosselin, John Barr and Kevin Arico.

The only seniors who play regularly for U.Va. are pitchers Andrew Carraway and Robert Poutier. Still, Hicks said, "I've never heard any of us say anything about how young we are. It doesn't make any difference to us. We're all pretty good ballplayers, so age doesn't matter to us."

His youngsters, O'Connor said, are "fearless." He acknowledged some uncertainty, though, about how this team will respond to its first series loss.

"I'm not that concerned about it. It's just a question mark," O'Connor said. "I think we've proven something over the last couple weeks that when we get challenged within a game, we've got it in our gut to battle back, and that's really important. But what has yet to be determined by this team is how they react and respond when they lose a series that maybe they feel like they should have won, or they let a game slip away from them."
 

Miami edges Virginia in finale
By Jay Jenkins
Published: March 23, 2009

In an ill-timed moment, the music blared a telling song at Davenport Field.
Prior to reaching the chorus, the lyrics spilled out for the Scorpions’ classic “Rock You Like A Hurricane.”
Miami did just that with a three-run rally in the eighth inning that gave the ninth-ranked Hurricanes the series win in a
gut-wrenching finale over No.7 Virginia, 7-5, at Davenport Field.
In a series that provided numerous rarities in the sport of baseball, Miami (18-4, 7-2 ACC) escaped with the victory after just eight innings once a curfew clause was put into play based on the visiting team’s departure time from Dulles International Airport.
Virginia’s players, like those in attendance, learned the game would be shortened after it was posted on the Jumbotron and announced as 3:30 p.m. neared at the stadium, the last possible time for a frame to start.
“I didn’t know about the rule until it came up on the scoreboard,” Virginia first baseman Danny Hultzen said. “It sucks, but you can’t do anything about it.”
Virginia (19-2, 5-2 ACC) had a chance to impact the final outcome in what proved to be the final frame, but a pair of runners were stranded on base. On Saturday in the Cavaliers’ first loss of the season, three runners were stranded in the last inning.
Oddly enough, Virginia had two of its best hitters at the plate in the eighth, but second baseman Phil Gosselin and right fielder Dan Grovatt recorded the final two outs via strikeouts to Miami closer Kyle Bellamy.
“Those are the guys that you want at the plate,” O’Connor said. “Danny had a real tough weekend. He did not swing the bat like he is capable of and he knows that.”
Miami, which led 2-0 after the second inning and after five of the game’s eight frames, scored three runs in the top-half of the eighth inning as it chased Virginia reliever Tyler Wilson (3-1).
Dave DiNatele and Jonathan Weislow delivered run-scoring doubles in the frame for the Hurricanes, who enjoyed a game-winning four-run frame late in Saturday’s win.
“We have gotten beat this weekend, to Miami’s credit, on two innings,” O’Connor said. “The seventh inning [Saturday] and the eighth inning [Sunday].
“Sometimes with two good teams that is what it comes down to.”
Virginia, which took its first lead at 5-4 with three runs in the seventh, left 11 runners stranded on Sunday and allowed 12 hits and three walks on the mound.
“I told the team after the game that pitching-wise and offensively that we had opportunities to step up for their teammates and they didn’t do it,” O’Connor said.
“I have complete confidence in these guys, they have done it before, and they will do it down the road. We just didn’t do it today.
“To beat a quality opponent in this league, that is not going to cut it.”
Virginia returns to action on Tuesday at 5 p.m. against Towson at home. The Cavaliers also play Towson on Wednesday.
“It was a really good test to kind of see what we are made of [this weekend],” Hultzen said.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to come up in some clutch spots, but we have to keep our confidence up and get after it on Tuesday.”

 

University of Miami rallies to beat No. 7 Virginia
From Miami Herald wire services

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The fourth-ranked University of Miami baseball team won its fifth straight series to open the 2009 season with a 7-5 win over No. 7 Virginia in eight innings Sunday afternoon at Davenport Field.

With Virginia leading 5-4 after seven, Miami (18-4, 7-2 ACC) mounted its second late comeback in as many days, scoring three runs in the top of the eighth to take a two-run lead. After tying it up at five, Dave DiNatale scored the go-ahead run for the Hurricanes on a Jonathan Weislow double over John Barr's head in left, securing the game and series for UM.

The 3 hour, 36-minute contest was called after the eight innings due to Atlantic Coast Conference travel policy.

The three-run eighth for UM was started by a Yasmani Grandal walk. After Grandal reached second on a wild pitch, DiNatale doubled to tie it up at five. Weislow fell behind in the count but another wild pitch moved DiNatale to third and moments later, Weislow's smacked what would prove to be the game-winning hit. The `Canes then added an insurance run when a Scott Lawson single two batters later brought home Weislow.

The Hurricanes scored in all but three innings, plating runs in the first, second, fifth and sixth before the deciding three-run eighth. Virginia (19-2, 5-2), which came into the weekend as the only undefeated team in the country, scored two in the third and three in the seventh.

For the second straight game, Taylor Wulf (2-0) earned the win while Kyle Bellamy recorded the save. Wulf came on in the seventh and allowed three unearned runs before Bellamy came on in the eighth. The Cavaliers made it interesting again in the final frame however. After pinch hitter John Bivens grounded out to lead off the bottom of the eighth, back-to-back walks put runners on first and second with just one out. Bellamy then got Phil Gosselin to strike out swinging for the second out, but a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position for clean-up hitter Dan Grovatt. Bellamy worked Grovatt into a 1-2 count before throwing an inside fastball past him to secure the win for UM.

For the first time in his career, Grandal hit two homers in a game, smacking solo shots in the second and sixth innings. Grandal finished the day 2-for-3 with the two homers, a walk, two RBI and three runs scored, while Lawson, DiNatale and Ted Blackman all finished with two hits.

Four UM pitchers pitched in relief of starter Iden Nazario. Before exiting, Nazario allowed two runs on five hits while walking four and striking out six in 3 1/3 innings of work. Michael Rudman came on in place of Nazario and tossed two shutout innings before Sam Robinson got UM out of a two-out jam in the sixth with two Cavs on base.

Virginia starter Will Roberts went four innings, allowing two runs on five hits before giving way to Tyler Wilson. Wilson (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing five earned runs on six hits in three innings. Phil Gosselin (3-for-5, three RBI) and Danny Hultzen (2-for-2, one RBI) accounted for five of Virginia's nine hits on the afternoon.

Miami returns to South Florida this week to play a pair of mid-week games against Ohio State at home on Tuesday and at FAU on Wednesday. Tuesday's game at Alex Rodriguez Park is slated for 6 p.m. while Wednesday's game at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.


 

‘Canes win thrilling weekend
Cavaliers win Friday, lose next two games in dramatic fashion, fall to 19-2 on season
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
Published: Monday, March 23 2009

Right fielder Dan Grovatt struggled against the No. 4 Hurricanes, batting only 1-12 this weekend.
In 20 years of coaching and playing college baseball, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor had never seen a final out quite like the one that allowed Miami to inflict the first loss against Virginia this season.

A final out made on a play at the plate on a passed-ball third strike turned out to be the pivotal moment of a bizarre but thrilling series, as the Cavaliers lost their first series of the season to the Hurricanes. After opening the series with a 9-4 victory Friday night, Virginia fell in Saturday’s game 4-3 and lost 7-5 Sunday in an eight-inning contest shortened because of the constraints of Miami’s traveling schedule.

“I’ve never been in a game with a time limit like [the one Sunday], and the Saturday game ending with a passed-ball third strike,” freshman catcher John Hicks said. “They were some crazy endings.”

In the bottom of the ninth in Saturday’s contest, the Cavaliers were down one run with the bases loaded and two outs and two strikes on sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt, as he stepped in the box against Miami’s closer, junior Kyle Bellamy. With an anxious crowd of 2,649 people looking on, Bellamy’s 2-2 delivery had Grovatt fooled. Grovatt’s swing came nowhere near Bellamy’s pitch, which dove into the dirt toward junior catcher Jason Hagerty, seemingly ending the contest.

The action, however, was far from finished. The ball skipped past Hagerty and back to the cement wall behind the plate. Standing on third base was sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker, who immediately started running home as Hagerty chased the ball down. Hagerty slid to the ball and fired to Bellamy covering the plate, whose tag appeared to meet Parker’s ankle a split second after Parker’s right foot touched home — but home plate umpire Jacob Asher pumped his fist for the final out.

An infuriated Parker jumped up and yelled in disbelief, and O’Connor raced out of the dugout to confront Asher about what appeared to be a blown call. Instead of an argument though, what O’Connor got instead was an explanation; Bellamy’s tag was in fact unnecessary. With Virginia runners at every base, the play was a force. As Bellamy received the throw with his right foot on home plate, the out was made before Parker’s sliding foot reached home.

There was no controversy — only heartbreak and disbelief as Virginia suffered its first loss.

“It was a tough way to lose your first game of the season,” O’Connor said, “but we are proud that we had a good 19-game stretch there to open up the season.”

The bizarre finish to Saturday’s contest set up an enormous, deciding game the next day. Much to the disappointment of some players and fans, however, the game ended prematurely. Because Miami needed to catch an 8 p.m. flight out of Washington, D.C. last night, per ACC policy, an inning could not start after 3:30 p.m.

So, as the scoreboard clock ticked past 3:30 in the bottom of the eighth with Miami leading 7-5, Virginia again had one chance for a comeback against Bellamy. In a replay of the night before, sophomore Dan Grovatt stood in with two outs and two runners in scoring position. But Bellamy struck out Grovatt swinging — and this time, Hagerty squeezed the ball into his glove for the final out.

The strikeouts that ended games two and three were among seven this weekend for Grovatt. The slugger struggled, going 1-for-12 for the series from the plate and ending his 21-game hitting streak that dated back to last season.

“Danny had a really tough weekend — he did not swing the bat like he’s capable of, and he knows that,” O’Connor said. “I know he’ll be right back and ready to go on Tuesday.”

On the offensive side for Miami, it was a four-run seventh Saturday and a three-run eighth Sunday against waning Virginia pitchers that ultimately cost the Cavaliers the series. The score stood at 5-4 in Virginia’s favor Sunday to begin the eighth after the Cavaliers took their first lead in the seventh on a clutch, two-run RBI single by freshman first baseman Danny Hultzen.

Because junior closer Matt Packer was unavailable because of his many innings logged throughout the week and because O’Connor’s second choice at closer, sophomore Kevin Arico, already had “one inning in him,” however, O’Connor sent sophomore Tyler Wilson to the mound in the Hurricanes’ half of the eighth inning. Wilson had already given up two runs in three innings of work, and proceeded to give up a leadoff walk and back-to-back RBI doubles.

As it became clearer that there would be no ninth inning, O’Connor made the switch to Arico. Wilson’s teammate, though, did not fare much better; after a sacrifice bunt moved a runner on second to third, Arico gave up a line drive single, scoring Miami’s third run of the inning.

“If I would’ve known for sure we would’ve only played eight innings, then I would’ve brought Kevin Arico in in the eighth inning,” O’Connor said. “You just don’t know how quick an inning’s [going to] happen.”

Saturday, senior starting pitcher Andrew Carraway had two outs and the bases empty in the sixth, having thrown close to 100 pitches through six-plus innings while not allowing a hit after the first, in what O’Connor said was “one of Andrew’s better outings that I think he’s had in our uniform.” Miami, however, knocked back-to-back singles, and Carraway then walked the next batter to load the bases, signaling the end of the afternoon for the senior.

“The walk to load the bases was a tough one,” O’Connor said. “I was hoping that he’d have them put the ball in play, and if they score the two runs, they score the two runs. But he didn’t make the pitch, and walked him, and created a pretty tough situation.”

Needing a big out, O’Connor replaced Carraway with Packer, Virginia’s best closer and most experienced pitcher in clutch situations. The final out of the inning proved elusive even for Packer, however, as two 2-RBI singles with a walk in between gave Miami the 4-3 lead.

Packer “will bounce back,” O’Connor said. “That’s what your closer needs to do. You’re [going to] be in tight ball games like that. You’re [going to] succeed a lot of the time, sometimes you’re not, especially against a good ball club like Miami.”

For Virginia, both losses were marked by a quality uncharacteristic of the team to this point of the season: leaving runners in scoring position. The Cavaliers left 10 runners on base Saturday and 11 Sunday; they loaded the bases twice with no outs but were unable to cash in either time.

“To beat a quality opponent in this league, that’s just not [going to] cut it,” O’Connor said.

Virginia opened the series with Hultzen on the mound, who came off a 13-strikeout performance with one earned run allowed in seven innings against Florida State in his previous Friday start. The freshman was not as dominant against the Hurricanes, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and fanning six in six innings, but the typically aggressive Virginia offense helped him earn the win. The Cavaliers left just six runners on base while scoring seven runs, five of them earned, on the 2008 ACC Freshman of the year, Miami sophomore pitcher Chris Hernandez.

Most significant of the runs was a two-run home run by the lefty Parker over the 377-foot mark in left field in the bottom of the third, knotting the game at three apiece. Parker, the team’s leadoff hitter, now leads the Cavaliers in home runs (4) and slugging percentage (.769).

Though there were plenty of highlights from Virginia during the series — including the home run from Parker Friday and a three-RBI performance from sophomore Phil Gosselin Sunday — the efforts were mostly erased by just two bad innings.

“We’ve gotten beat this weekend on two innings: the seventh inning [Saturday] and the eighth inning [Sunday],” O’Connor said. “Sometimes with two good teams, that’s what it comes down to.”


 

Cavs topple Blue Jays at Klöckner
Undefeated season continues as Virginia mounts comeback
Jack Bird, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Published: Monday, March 23 2009

Freshman attack Steele Stanwick helped Virginia to a win. With the clock winding down Saturday in the Virginia men’s lacrosse team’s game against Johns Hopkins at Homewood, the Blue Jays scrambled to find the goalposts just one more time.

Hopkins had been down by one goal for eight minutes but when the last two minutes started to tick away, play became even more frenzied and erratic. Despite the frenetic play, Virginia stood firm, holding on to its one-point margin to claim victory, 16-15.

“Very nerve-wracking,” was how freshman attackman Steele Stanwick described the final minutes of the game. “I had no idea what was going to happen. It could have gone either way — we got lucky.”

Stanwick added three goals to the team’s final tally, helping the Cavaliers to their second one-point victory of the season. Virginia went into the fourth quarter one goal behind but ultimately found a way to win.

“When it’s a team who likes to hold the ball a lot, you just have to deal with [that sense of urgency] and just wait until you get the ball back,” senior attackman Garret Billings said. “What we try to do is not rush the first possession when we get the ball back. We try to run a really good one and get a good shot.”

Adding to this sense of urgency was the Blue Jays’ methodical and often tedious play. Drawing numerous stalling calls throughout the game, Hopkins limited the number of Virginia’s possessions in the third quarter and mounted a 7-2 scoring burst to recover from a 12-8 halftime deficit. The Blue Jays even dropped into a zone defense to slow down the Cavalier offense and force low percentage shots.

“When we went ahead by four or five goals there in the second quarter and they went into a zone,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said, “they didn’t come out and play us, so we were just sort of making a point more than anything else ... We never made a conscious effort to slow the pace of the play down. That play in the second quarter where they went into a zone and we had a four- or five-goal lead was just us saying, ‘You can’t play a zone — we’ve got the lead.’ And we eventually made them come out of it.”

Virginia, though, had its own troubles on the defensive end of the field. As the game wore on, the Cavaliers found themselves unable to adapt to the Blue Jays’ different offensive strategies.

“I felt like we were kind of a step slow and a dollar short,” Starsia said. “Just little things Hopkins was able to take advantage of ... It was a struggle for us the entire evening defensively.”

Virginia left the Blue Jays open on the crease numerous times, and the Cavaliers also seemed unable to deal with the invert that Hopkins ran. A lacrosse offense usually operates with attackmen working close to the goal or behind it and midfielders attacking the cage from farther up the field. Hopkins inverted the shape of its offense so the midfielders worked from the side or back of the goal, while the attackmen took it from up top. This had the intended effect of confusing the Cavaliers enough for Hopkins to find scoring opportunities.

The Cavaliers’ defense finally stood its ground in the fourth quarter and shut out the Blue Jays, allowing the offense’s two goals to secure the win.

“As a lacrosse coach, you might not script it just quite this way in terms of your first wish for a lacrosse game,” Starsia said. “But even I can appreciate that this was a great game.”

 

Ebb and flow
Jack Bird
Published: Monday, March 23 2009

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team has done more than play a good season. In the games I’ve watched, the team has also managed to be entertaining, something entirely different. Granted, from the team’s perspective, I’m sure the players would rather crush all their opponents in an easy fashion with a huge scoring margin than be entertaining. But as a fan, I’ve loved watching the down-to-the-wire victories the Cavaliers have had against Syracuse, and now Hopkins, whom they beat 16-15 Saturday in Baltimore. The win came in possibly a more dramatic fashion than when the team edged out Syracuse by one point during Spring Break in a clash of lacrosse powers that seemed almost impossible to top.

Battling another collegiate lacrosse titan, Virginia again built a lead during the game that was later threatened as the Blue Jays mounted a comeback.

When Virginia went up 12-6 late in the first half, it seemed like if the game continued in this fashion, the Cavs would coast to a win. I was wary, though. The Jays were losing 12-8 as the first half ended, but they had only taken 14 shots. The Virginia defense still had to prove itself if Hopkins got more opportunities at goal. I remembered Virginia coach Dom Starsia’s warning that “there’s a lot of ebb and flow in the game.”

If Hopkins ebbed in the second quarter, they certainly flowed in the third: The Jays got those chances they didn’t in the first half and managed to bury seven of them. Almost as impressively, they held the Virginia offense, which up until then seemed unstoppable, to just two goals during the period.

As the final period of the game began, it was hard to believe that the six-goal lead Virginia once possessed was now a one-goal deficit. What was harder to believe was how high-scoring the game already was. Going into the match, my expectation was that the Blue Jays would slow the game down to try to neutralize the run and gun offense of the Cavaliers, and going into the match, it still seemed like Hopkins was attempting to do this, in spite of the big score. Both teams had already incurred numerous stalling calls — violations received for holding the ball on offense to run time off the clock — and Hopkins even settled into a passive zone defense that put no pressure on the Cavalier possession and allowed them to take their time. The bizarre imbalance between passive play and high scoring finally ended in the fourth quarter, in which only two total goals were scored.

The Cavs managed to regain the lead from Hopkins and fight off the Jays’ desperate attempts to tie the game, as the last two minutes of play degenerated into frenetic transitional possessions with no scoring. The buzzer sounded and Virginia finally emerged on top by one goal.

So now that it’s all done, and Virginia continues to excel and entertain in the face of a difficult schedule, I have a chance to reflect and to ask myself: What now? Virginia has defeated Syracuse, Cornell and Johns Hopkins — all top-10 teams. These three teams have combined for 22 national championships. What’s more, Hopkins and Syrause were defeated in their home stadiums. You can’t deny how impressive the Cavs’ achievements seem. But exactly how important are these midseason games? Starsia provides some unusual insight.
“Whether or not we win this weekend ... we just have to keep the bigger picture in mind,” Starsia said Saturday.

At first this might read as a cliché, but considering it more closely and in context, it seems like the opposite. Almost any coach you talk to will tell his team not to look at the “big picture” and only to focus on its next game. Starsia certainly shares some of this sentiment but he seems to take emphasis off the short-term record and instead have his team be cognizant of the long-term goal — winning the national championship. NCAA Lacrosse, Starsia explains, is a sport in which people really only care about how you perform in the May playoff games. Virginia will definitely make it to the NCAA tournament. So will Syracuse. And unless they fall apart down the stretch, expect to see Cornell and Hopkins there, too. If Virginia faces off against one of these teams again, no one will care who won during the regular season — especially considering the insignificant margins of victory. A regular season win doesn’t automatically translate to a postseason victory. Just last season, the Cavs defeated Syracuse during the regular season, but it’s the Orange wearing the 2008 championship rings.

What Virginia can get from its regular season games, other than just another notch or two in the win column, is experience, confidence and momentum. The Cavaliers had an opportunity to play against a tricky team with an experienced coach and experienced players. The Cavalier defense proved quite easy to beat Saturday — something to find out sooner rather than later. Young players like Steele Stanwick and Adam Ghitelman got a chance to test themselves against the cream of the crop and season their games before their first NCAA tournament.

So, in actuality, there is a lot the Cavaliers can take from Saturday’s nail-biter. They found a way to come back in the fourth quarter and win yet another close game — skills that could prove useful down the stretch. But far more important than just celebrating their victory will be to put what they have learned toward their ultimate goal of winning it all.

To put together a truly historic season — maybe even an undefeated season — the team must experience a great deal of success before May. But you definitely can’t win a national championship in March.

 

Tigers, Jackets fall to balanced Virginia
No. 1 Cavaliers continue to dominate doubles, singles play against ACC opponents with several high-ranked players
Andrew Seidman, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Published: Monday, March 23 2009

Virginia coach Brian Boland described junior Houston Barrick as a leader. After a topsy-turvy week in Texas during which the Virginia men’s tennis team dealt with a canceled match and a rain delay, the team returned home to resume ACC action this weekend. The Cavaliers won a pair of matches 6-1 at the Snyder Tennis Center against Clemson and Georgia Tech to continue their undefeated season.

No. 1 Virginia’s (20-0, 5-0 ACC) return to normalcy began Friday against Clemson (8-7, 0-4 ACC) with a 3-0 victory in doubles to grab the first point. The Cavaliers then grabbed the next three points in singles to take a 4-0 lead, clinching the match. Senior Dominic Inglot, who bounced back from a singles loss to Texas last week to win 6-1, 6-4, led the surge.

Though the Tigers extended the match with three-set scuffles in the three, four and five spots, the Cavaliers ultimately emerged victorious in two of the three matches.

Virginia continued its dominating play in doubles Sunday against No. 62 Georgia Tech (6-8, 1-4 ACC). After dropping the first game, Virginia’s No. 2 team of Inglot and sophomore Michael Shabaz, who is ranked No. 15 individually, struck back with three straight wins.

The streak began in the second game when Shabaz hit four consecutive aces, setting the tone for the rest of the match. He then added three more aces during his next serving game and claimed an 8-5 victory after hitting a trick shot. The highlight of the day came when Shabaz’s volley at the net landed on the far court and spun right back to the front court for a Cavalier point.

“I approached and hit a volley at the guy at the net,” Shabaz said, explaining the unorthodox point. “He reflexed it back, and I thought the ball was coming right back at my racket and the wind kind of took it — so I just swung at it and it hit the top of the frame and put some funky back spin on it — so I just barely touched it and it had some crazy spin on it.”

For Inglot, the spectacular shot reflected the team’s confidence.

“We feel like we’re not [going to] lose a doubles match,” Inglot said. “[Shabaz] can come out with some crazy shots — I’m just happy that he did it [because] I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a guy hitting a backhand at my face.”

With the win, the team improved to 17-1 in doubles. The squad’s success came as no surprise to Virginia coach Brian Boland.

“One of the things that’s really come a long ways is their return games,” Boland said. “They really rely on each other, which allows them to be a lot more aggressive ... Both our one and two teams can play either one or two.”

Against Clemson, the No. 4 team of Singh and Barrick played in the second slot. But against Georgia Tech, the pair played in the first slot, while Inglot and Shabaz took No. 2.

The change did not affect either team, as Singh and Barrick won 8-6 against Georgia Tech’s top team, No. 61 sophomore Guillermo Gomez and sophomore Ryan Smith. Like Inglot and Shabaz, the top team incurred an initial 0-1 deficit but quickly bounced back with a 5-4 lead and never looked back. Singh sealed the match with a winding ace into the back corner.

Boland continued to move the lineup in singles, as Shabaz, who played in the No. 3 spot against Clemson, switched places with Singh at No. 2 against Georgia Tech. No. 18 Shabaz jumped out to a 3-0 lead, never trailing in the first set. The result was a 6-2, 6-2 win.

“It helps me a lot when I’m making a lot of first serves,” Shabaz said. “When my serve’s popping, then it kind of gives me a lot of short balls to work with — I was able to use my serve and clean up with my volley or my forehand.”

After winning the first set 6-3, No. 15 Inglot gave No. 12 Gomez a bit of breathing room by dropping the first game of the second set. But the senior came back with three consecutive wins and ultimately prevailed 6-2.

Freshman Drew Courtney and No. 23 Singh clinched the match with 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-1 wins, respectively. The lineup change did not faze Singh, who noted before the match against Clemson that each player was confident he could win in any spot.

“I feel [Inglot], [Shabaz] and I — the coaches just switch us up — anyone can play 1, 2 or 3,” Shabaz said. “It doesn’t really matter; all of us have the same levels — and we have a solid 4-5-6, so there’s no point in changing that ... [Coach Boland] just switches us up whenever he feels like we have a good matchup.”

Virginia’s top three players — Inglot, Shabaz, and Singh — have now compiled a combined 43-7 singles record in dual matches. For Boland, however, the team’s strength in part comes from one of its unheralded leaders, Houston Barrick. The junior bounced back from a 4-6, 6-4, 9-11 loss against Clemson with the sixth point for the Cavaliers against Georgia Tech. After yielding the first set 3-6, Barrick climbed back to win the second set 7-5. He completed the Virginia victory with a 10-8 tiebreaker.

“[Barrick] — I mean, guts — he’s a no guts, no glory type guy,” Boland said. “[He] always leaves it on the court — that’s the story of Houston Barrick and the kind of leadership we have on our team — led by him and [Inglot]. He bounced back from a difficult loss on Friday, played much, much better today.”

Next weekend, Virginia will head back down south to take on Miami and Florida State.

Notes: Freshman Steven Eelkman Rooda lost the one singles match for the Cavaliers against Georgia Tech, 1-6, 2-6 ... In No. 3 doubles, Courtney and junior Lee Singer trailed the entire match until they tied the score, 7-7. They won 9-7.