Coaching carousel keeps on spinning
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: March 28, 2009

After nearly two weeks of nonstop drama, I’m beginning to wonder if “March Madness” refers to the NCAA tournament or Virginia’s coaching search.

We can welcome Kentucky fans into the sea of madness after the Wildcats fired Billy Gillispie on Friday. That’s two coaching searches in a little more than two years for those poor souls.

Here’s a taste of what Kentucky fans can expect in the coming weeks. So far in the Virginia search, we’ve heard of a secret, late-night tour of John Paul Jones Arena by a coaching candidate.

Didn’t happen.

There have been sightings of various candidates for the UVa job all over town.

Didn’t happen.

Hey, doesn’t that guy look an awful lot like Elvis?

Smoke and mirrors

There have been contracts drawn up, official offers made, acceptances, announcements and press conferences, introductions scheduled.

Not true.

So, what’s real? What’s fantasy?

This is what I believe is going on as of 8 p.m. on Friday (and I’m missing the Oklahoma game as I write this ... damn, I hope Capel doesn’t make an official announcement at halftime).

I believe that Tubby Smith, who has been Virginia’s No. 1 wish list guy from the beginning, is contemplating the situation. I don’t think anyone from UVa has directly spoken with Smith at this point, but I think there has been lots of communication with his agent.

I don’t think money is an issue. I truly believe that UVa’s fat cats will pony up whatever it takes to turn Charlottesville into Tubby Town. I believe that no corners will be cut in this hire.

I don’t think there’s a timetable, but I suspect the longer this drags out, the less chance there is of it becoming a reality.

Frankly, I hope Tubby takes the job because I believe he would be a blast to cover. He’s a great guy with an amazing sense of humor, a great storyteller, a terrific coach and recruiter.

I believe, as I have stated before, that Tubby is the best solution to UVa’s situation.

I also believe that Tubby has to be convinced of one thing: Can he win here?

The bottom line

On Thursday, I spent two hours with a successful Division I coach, who said that when it comes to a coaching search, from a coach’s perspective, there’s only one thing that matters.

Then he took out a pen and jotted this down: “Winning.”

“Can I win?” the coach said.

I said, well, what about money? He answered that while money is obviously important, if you can’t win, then the money doesn’t matter so much.

We’ll touch on some of those things in Sunday’s column, but for now, Virginia has to convince its top candidate that he can win here and that it will do everything it can to help him win.

Until all this comes together, here’s hoping some of these rumors, sightings and the like will just go away for a while. They’re just driving everyone bananas for no reason.

Meantime, it will be interesting to see how things unfold at Kentucky.

The scenario on Friday afternoon went like this: Florida’s Billy Donovan bolts to Kentucky (a job he turned down two years ago); Meanwhile, Virginia Commonwealth’s Anthony Grant, who has a $2 million offer on the table from Alabama, opts for Florida, where he was an assistant to Donovan; and former UVa coach Jeff Jones, now at American University, travels down I-95 to Richmond.

It all seems so simple.

Except, Donovan said Friday that “I am committed to the University of Florida and look forward to continuing to build our program here.”

He did not say, “No way, no how, I would go to Kentucky.”

The Grant part of the equation seems to be over, as he said Friday he is headed to Alabama. Our sources in Gainesville said that when Donovan had temporarily accepted the NBA job two years ago, that Florida AD Jeremy Foley’s jet was sitting on the tarmac at Richmond’s airport, ready to come get Grant to become the Gators’ next coach.

Foley got a phone call from Donovan’s wife, informing the AD that “Uh, Billy’s had a change of heart, you might want to turn the jet around.”

That was that.

Sometimes it’s not so simple.
 

Looking back, Jones fit in well at UVa
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Of all the college athletic directors I have covered, no one consistently thought "outside the box" more than Terry Holland.

In fact, Holland spent little time in the box during his 25-year association with Virginia as head men's basketball coach and athletic director.

So, if there was anybody who could buy into the premise I was proposing Thursday, it was Holland.

Could Virginia, in its search for a new men's basketball coach, possibly rehire Jeff Jones more than 11 years after his 1998 dismissal.

"Couldn't do it," Holland said Thursday.

Holland no longer is the athletic director at Virginia. For almost five years, he has been the athletic director at East Carolina, a position he originally accepted with an eye toward staying one year.

Probably the most difficult decision Holland had to make in six seasons as Virginia AD was to fire Jones, who had played for Holland on the Cavaliers' Final Four team in 1981 and later had served on Holland's staff.

Jones only became the Virginia head coach in 1990 after then-Providence coach Rick Barnes had a change of heart, but Jones, who was 29 when he was hired, posted a 105-57 record over his first five seasons.

Jones' teams went to the NCAA tournament five times in eight seasons and also won an NIT championship. In 11 seasons since his departure, they have made it to the NCAA tournament twice.

Before Jones' dismissal, I had suggested that things would only get worse before they got better. So, I can't sit here now and say Holland made a mistake.

Off-the-court issues had become a huge distraction, and the program had become "a train wreck in slow motion," as Holland put it.

However, nobody from Virginia was unhappy to see Jones end up on his feet at American University, where he was named head coach in April 2000 after serving as an assistant at Rhode Island. He is the Cavaliers' prodigal son.

Jones' first AU team went 7-20, but the Eagles subsequently have posted seven winning seasons in eight years. In 2008, they made the first NCAA appearance in school history, then followed that up with a 24-8 record and another NCAA trip this year.

You know the Villanova team that beat Duke by 23 points in the East Region semifinals? AU had the Wildcats down by 14 in the second half of a first-round game in Philadelphia.

I can't say that Jones is the best man for the Virginia job, nor is he going to get it. Now that Virginia Commonwealth has lost coach Anthony Grant to Alabama, I can see the Rams making a run at Jones. Norwood Teague, the VCU athletic director, was on the promotions staff at UVa when Jones was the Cavaliers' coach.

It's an interesting concept, though.

There has been no shortage of professional coaches who have been fired and then re-hired by the same franchises -- Billy Martin by the New York Yankees, Art Shell by the Oakland Raiders and Cotton Fitzsimmons with the Phoenix Suns are just a few.

More recently, the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL rehired Paul Maurice as head coach this December after firing him in 2003. That's just up the road from where Holland now resides.

"I'd love to say it would work in college," Holland said, "but I'm a poor one to ask. I'm the guy who let [Jones] go, but they could do a lot worse." At that point, I alerted Holland to a poll on roanoke.com. Of the 720 people who had voted as of Friday afternoon, a high of 161 (or 22.4 percent) had voted for Minnesota coach Tubby Smith.

Smith was followed by Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel at 17.9 percent, VCU's Grant (now at Alabama) at 14.4 percent, ESPN analyst Bob Knight at 9.3 percent and Jones at 8.6 percent.

"Right up there with Bob Knight?" Holland said. "That's significant."

Since the UVa job came open, I've been saying that Capel was the best bet in terms of his possible availability. Many former players and coaches tell me that Smith would be the best man for the job but doubt the Cavaliers could get him.

Smith reportedly told the University of Minnesota president that he is not going anywhere and also called a radio station to offer his denial. But, I'm still not convinced he isn't coming to Charlottesville. About-faces like that happen every year at this time.

Jones, 48, can take it as a compliment that 60 voters believed that his return would be the best move Virginia could make at this time. It was a reach when then-UVa athletic director Jim Copeland picked him in 1990 but not a bad one.

History has shown that.
 

Hokies will recruit Seth Curry till the end
More than 30 schools make inquiries
By Doug Doughty

Virginia Tech is one of five ACC schools that have requested and been granted permission to speak to Liberty University basketball standout Seth Curry.

Curry averaged 20.2 points this season and was the leading freshman scorer in Division I. He has an older brother, Stephen, a junior at Davidson whose 28.7-point average leads all Division I scorers.

The Curry brothers’ parents are Sonya and Dell Curry, both Virginia Tech graduates. The boys grew up as Tech fans and the Hokies’ failure to sign them has been an ongoing subplot during their careers.

There has been debate as to whether the Hokies offered Stephen Curry, but, clearly, they did not pursue him with the kind of zeal that would have prevented him from choosing Davidson.

Younger brother Seth picked Liberty so early in the recruiting process – the summer before his senior year – that neither Tech nor anybody else had gotten a good look at him.

The Hokies aren’t making the same mistake this time. They were among the first schools to make the obligatory call to Liberty in order to get permission to speak to Seth Curry and they didn’t hesitate to make an immediate scholarship offer.

Dell Curry, who starred at Tech in the 1980s, said in a Friday phone conversation that more than 30 Division I programs already have called to inquire about his younger son, “all of them high-major,” he said.

“I thought the response would be good, but it’s been overwhelming.”

Excuse the Currys for wondering where everybody was two years ago.

Dell Curry has remained in contact with Liberty coach Ritchie McKay and said that the response “has eased his feelings about losing a 20-point-per-game scorer,” he said.

“It’s like Ritchie told me, ‘He didn’t come in here as a McDonald’s All-America, but the interest he’s getting now is what you might expect for a McDonald’s All-American.’ ”

The ACC schools that have inquired about the younger Curry are Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, Duke and North Carolina State.

Duke, if it offers, is seen as the team to beat. Clemson is another school that would be high on Seth Curry’s list.

When asked specificially about the Hokies, Dell Curry said, “I think we’re open to everyone. We’ve got to weigh all options.”

The Curry family has several decisions to make. Stephen said earlier this week that he has not decided whether he will return for his senior year at Davidson and that he will explore the possibility of turning pro.

Seth could have a little more time. The spring signing period for men’s basketball does not start until April 15, which will provide two weeks for teams to evaluate their 2009-2010 rosters and decide whether to take another signee or go for a transfer.

“We don’t have a timetable per se,” Dell Curry said. “The main thing is for Seth not to miss too much class time. He needs to be in good academic standing before he could transfer to another school.”

NCAA transfer rules would require Curry to sit out next season. He can practice with his new team next season, but he won't be able to play until the 2010-2011 season.

ONE SOURCE SAID that it wouldn’t be out of the question for Seth Curry to consider Virginia, his father’s second choice when he picked the Hokies more than 25 years ago.

Dell Curry played at Fort Defiance High School and announced his decision – my memory is a little hazy here – at a restaurant in Verona.

I was there, but it might have been Weyer’s Cave. I do know it was on the west side of I-81 and not the east side, where the Currys made their home in Grottoes.

(I know the Shenandoah Valley airport is east of I-81 and isn’t that supposed to be in Weyer’s Cave? But, I’m sorry. I digress).

Virginia doesn’t have a coach. Nor does it have any scholarships and I don’t think the Cavaliers want to lose either of their signees, Tristan Spurlock or Jontel Evans. Along the same lines, Virginia Tech doesn’t have any scholarships.

Readers of my columns will know that over-recruiting is a pet peeve of mine, but I don’t think the Hokies have any choice other than to pursue Seth Curry as doggedly as possible.

Whether the Hokies screwed up once or twice with the Currys is a matter of interpretation but Seth Greenberg needs to be able to say, “We made every effort the third time.”

Era ends at VCU as Grant departs
By Tim Pearrell
Published: March 28, 2009

After three spectacular seasons that put Virginia Commonwealth University in the national spotlight, Rams basketball coach Anthony Grant is moving on to Alabama.

Grant told The Times-Dispatch yesterday that he agreed in principle to become the Crimson Tide's coach. He said he could not comment on his contract or other aspects of his decision because of some legal issues that needed to be resolved, but that a news conference is expected tomorrow.

The Tuscaloosa News reported that sources said Grant's pay package is unlikely to be more than $2 million per year. At VCU he was making $700,000 per year plus incentives.

The 42-year-old Grant told his team of the decision during a meeting yesterday evening. Sophomore guard Joey Rodriguez said the news was hard to take, but that most team members had become resigned to the fact that Grant was leaving.

"I know he's got to do what's best for him and his family," Rodriguez said. "It's kind of hard for him to pass up. I understand where he's coming from. He wants to win national championships. He's going to do great there."

The focus at VCU now becomes Grant's replacement. The Rams are expected to move quickly.

Sources said Rams assistant Tony Pujol will be given strong consideration, but VCU also will consider two other assistant coaches -- Florida's Shaka Smart and Texas' Russell Springmann -- in addition to others.

Grant took over at VCU after Jeff Capel left for Oklahoma following the 2005-06 season. Grant made an immediate splash. The Rams went 28-7 and capped it with a dramatic 79-77 upset victory over Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament, a win that made national headlines.

The Rams again garnered national attention this year, with many people predicting they would upset 11-time national champion UCLA in the first round. VCU had a last-second shot that fell short in a 65-64 loss.

The Rams went 76-25 under Grant, with three regular-season Colonial Athletic Association titles, two NCAA appearances and an NIT appearance.

Alabama's job came open when Mark Gottfried resigned in January, in the middle of his 11th season. The Tides started to pursue Grant on Saturday and met with him in Richmond on Sunday.

Alabama officials rolled out the red carpet for Grant and his wife, Christina, during a daylong visit Wednesday. A source familiar with the situation said Crimson Tide officials had bent over backward to satisfy the requests that Grant deemed important. The source did not say what those requests were.

The Tuscaloosa paper reported that Alabama was prepared to upgrade the practice facility at its on-campus arena, Coleman Coliseum, or build a basketball-only practice facility. The men's team shares the current facility with women's basketball and volleyball teams.

Grant had signed one high school recruit, Ben Eblen, a point guard out of Melbourne, Fla. Eblen said he would talk to his family and high school coach and explore his options in the wake of Grant's departure.

"I know Coach Grant had to do what's best for him and his family," Eblen said. "I have to do what's best for me and my family also."

Said Rodriguez, who is from Oviedo, Fla.: "I'm waiting to see who the next coach is. The first option is staying at VCU."


 

Coaching search: A who’s who for the ‘Hoos
By Paul Woody
Published: March 27, 2009

Craig Littlepage, athletic director at the University of Virginia, hasn't called, texted or Twittered for advice on his search for a men's basketball coach.

Surely that's just an oversight. He must be caught in traffic on Route 29.

Hey, been there, done that.

His call no doubt will come at any moment, but here's the list of top candidates, just in case the line is busy.

Tubby Smith is the coach at the University of Minnesota, where he took the Golden Gophers to the NCAA tournament this year. He won the national championship in 1998 at Kentucky. Virginia's winning percentage since 1998 is .542 (181-153).

Smith has a state connection. His first college coaching job was as an assistant at VCU.

Smith would bring instant credibility to the Virginia program and its commitment to compete for championships.

Would he come to Virginia? Hard to say. Smith can do everything at Minnesota he can do at Virginia.

However, in Charlottesville, it's generally not necessary to plug a heater into the engine block of your car to ensure it will start the next morning.

Anthony Grant is the coach at VCU, where he has led the Rams to two NCAA tournaments in the past three years. Virginia has been to the NCAA Dance twice since 2001.

Grant, 42, is one of the best young coaches in the country. He gets everything out of a team. His players give maximum effort and always are well-prepared. Grant is demanding, but his players seem to love playing for him.

Would he take the job? Hard to say. Alabama is courting him. Grant, a former assistant at the University of Florida, has a comfort level with the SEC.

There is a theory that some Virginia fans are opposed to hiring the VCU coach. It's an "Ew, ick, VCU" kind of thing.

Grant gets the job done.

Jim Larranaga is the coach at George Mason and is a good fit for Virginia.

He was an assistant coach for the Cavaliers under Terry Holland when U.Va. made two Final Four appearances.

At George Mason, Larranaga did what was thought to be impossible -- take a mid-major team to the Final Four.

Rarely has a coach handled the hoopla of the Final Four, especially a Final Four Cinderella story, as well as Larranaga.

He has kept George Mason in the upper echelons of the CAA. No one will outcoach him.

Yeah, you're saying, but the guy is 59. Tubby Smith is 57.

Would Larranaga leave George Mason? Tough to say. He turned down offers after that Final Four run. He understands how good he has it at GMU. Virginia might be the one move he would consider.

Jeff Capel coaches at Oklahoma, where his team is in the Sweet 16. He's done an outstanding job.

Capel has several Virginia connections. He was the coach at VCU, and his father was the coach at Old Dominion.

Would he come? Hard to say. Oklahoma plays in the Big 12, which is a strong conference. The potential to win a national championship at Virginia is no greater than at Oklahoma.

However, chances are Capel will lose his best player, Blake Griffin, to the NBA after this season. Winning big will not be easy without him.

It's easier to compile a list than hire a coach. But compiling the list is the first step.

Hey, no charge. We sports writers just love to help.

Big East: The Adjective Fits. ACC: Almost Completely Carolina.
By John Feinstein
Saturday, March 28, 2009; E06

BOSTON It was a few minutes past midnight Friday morning when the buzzer mercifully sounded on Villanova's 77-54 dismantling of Duke in the NCAA tournament's round of 16. Blue Devils Coach Mike Krzyzewski was already walking toward Jay Wright as the final seconds ticked off, more than ready to get out of Dodge after his Blue Devils had been blown out of TD Banknorth Garden by the Wildcats in the second half.

As he shook hands with Wright, Krzyzewski put his arm around him and whispered: "You really kicked our butts tonight. You've got one hell of a team."

He spoke as the losing coach conceding victory to the winning coach. But he might very well have spoken as a representative for the ACC conceding defeat to the Big East.

Villanova was the third Big East team to reach the region finals Thursday, joining Pittsburgh and Connecticut. On Friday night, Louisville joined them. No conference had ever placed more than three teams in the final eight in one season.

The Big East is making it look easy. The conference is 15-3 in this year's tournament. The ACC, which also got seven teams into the tournament, is 6-6 with North Carolina the only team still playing. Even the mediocre Big Ten, also down to one team after Thursday, had a 7-6 record.

Which leads to the question: Is this a trend or is it cyclical? Has the ACC lost its basketball luster, and will it ever again catch up with the Big East?

Wright chose to be gracious when the subject came up.

"I think it goes in cycles," he said. Big East coaches "talked about this before the season began. Just about every significant senior in the league came back and some of the underclassmen, too. It was just one of those years where we have a lot of teams with a lot of experience. That has a lot to do with it."

Certainly it is a factor. Villanova starts three seniors and two juniors. Pittsburgh starts three seniors and a junior. Connecticut starts three seniors and two juniors. Louisville starts two seniors -- one of them, Terrence Williams, probably was the league's best player this season. Syracuse is younger but has a lot of non-seniors -- Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins -- who played extensively early in their careers. Even Notre Dame, which is in the NIT semifinals, returned conference player of the year Luke Harangody (a junior) and senior shooting guard Kyle McIlarney.

"Especially these days, if you've got seniors, you've definitely got an advantage," said Krzyzewski, who didn't start a senior Thursday and did remarkable work to coax 30 wins and a round of 16 appearance out of his team. "If you look at our league, North Carolina had all their seniors come back and they finished first. The team that improved the most was Florida State; their key guy was a fifth-year senior," Toney Douglas.

All of that makes sense, but while the Big East's current dominance is something not seen since it landed three teams in the 1985 Final Four, this is more than a one-season blip. It dates, ironically, to 2005, when the ACC raided the Big East for three football schools -- Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College -- forcing the Big East to recruit Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida to survive as a conference.

The ACC is as mediocre as it ever was in football, but it has regressed significantly in basketball. Duke's loss Thursday meant for a fifth straight season no ACC team other than North Carolina will reach the region finals. During that same period, six Big East schools have gone at least that far.

Going a step further, six Big East schools have combined to win 15 games in this year's tournament. Since 2005, the 10 ACC schools not named North Carolina or Duke (the only two dissenters in the expansion vote) have combined to win just 12 NCAA tournament games.

That's not part of cycle; it's part of a pattern. Or, to quote one ACC coach, "We screwed up with the football expansion."

None of which should take away from what the Big East is accomplishing. A lot of it may come down to coaching.

The ACC has two Hall of Fame coaches, Krzyzewski and Roy Williams, and a third worthy of serious consideration, Gary Williams. But only one other league coach has any postseason résumé to speak of, and that's Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt, who took his team to the 2004 championship game but has won just one tournament game since.

Contrast that with the Big East: Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim are already in the Hall of Fame and Rick Pitino is a lock to join them soon. Two other coaches -- Georgetown's John Thompson III and West Virginia's Bob Huggins -- have reached the Final Four, and either Wright or Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, both clearly rising stars, will make it six Saturday night.

Beyond that, there's an aura around the Big East right now. The ACC tournament has lost its luster; the games seem to drag on forever. The highlight of this year's event for many people was watching the six-overtime Big East game between Connecticut and Syracuse on television after the ACC games mercifully ended.

For a long time, Duke carried the ACC's banner in NCAA play. But the Blue Devils have been past the round of 16 just once since last winning the national title in 2001, and that was five years ago. Since then it has been left to Carolina, rebuilt under Williams, to keep the ACC from washing out completely.

The Tar Heels won the national championship in 2005 and made the Final Four again last year. In between, when they were beaten by George Mason in the second round in 2006 and Georgetown in the 2007 region finals, the ACC went back-to-back years without a Final Four team for the first time since 1979 and 1980.

In other words, the ACC has become Conference USA with a better reputation -- Carolina in the role of Memphis and the rest of the league playing UAB, Tulsa and UTEP.

Okay, that might be a bit hyperbolic. And North Carolina may still end up cutting down the nets in Detroit, and that will quiet some of the Big East talk.

But it won't change the numbers for the other 11 teams in a conference that has always prided itself on great basketball.

When Florida State first joined the ACC in the early 1990s, the Seminoles were so dominant on the gridiron that the best description of ACC football was that it consisted of Florida State, the seven dwarfs and Duke (which was striving to achieve dwarf status).

It was different, though, in basketball. From 1980 through 2004, four ACC schools won national titles, six went to Final Fours and all nine made at least one appearance in region finals.

For the past five years, ACC basketball has become the equivalent of ACC football in the '90s: North Carolina and a whole lot of dwarfs.

ACC supremacy at stake for Cavs, Terps
By Whitey Reid
Published: March 28, 2009

Last season, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team won its first nine games before losing to Maryland and dropping four of its last nine contests.

As the top-ranked Cavaliers prepare to face ninth-ranked Maryland in their ACC opener this afternoon at Klockner Stadium, they sit at 10-0.

Will history repeat itself?

Virginia senior Danny Glading certainly doesn’t think so.

“We’ve reiterated the possibility of that happening to all the younger guys over and over this week,” Glading said. “We keep telling ourselves that we’re not going to let it happen. When something like that happens, you notice a really big drop-off in practices and we’ve had good practices this week, so I think our focus is still there.”

With huge road wins at Syracuse and Johns Hopkins under its belt, Virginia certainly has reason to feel good.

In the win over Hopkins, UVa nearly squandered a 12-6 lead before winning in wild fashion, 16-15.

Glading — who, earlier in the contest, notched the 100th goal of his career — scored what proved to be the game-winner with just over 10 minutes left. Goalie Adam Ghitelman recorded three of his nine saves in the final nine minutes as Virginia held the Blue Jays scoreless in the final quarter.

Maryland will likely provide just as stiff a challenge. The Terrapins (6-2, 2-0 ACC) are coming off an 8-7 triumph over then-No. 11 North Carolina. They can clinch the ACC regular-season championship with a win today.

“They’ve got experience in the key positions and are very athletic in the midfield,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “Their first midfield is all fast and powerful.

“Their first six offensive guys in particular — you’re sort of struck by [how] imposing they are athletically.”

Glading says he sees a lot of similarities between this year’s Cavs team and the one that won the NCAA title in 2006. Both squads had bitter losses in the Final Four the season before.

“Those seniors were really on a mission,” Glading said. “I think the focus and intensity that we’ve brought to practice is the same that they brought to practice every day.”

Glading said nobody is looking too far ahead, though.

“It’s a whole new season as we enter the ACC,” he said, referring to Virginia’s first league tilt.

 

Maryland at Virginia: Three things to watch
Saturday’s game between these Atlantic Coast Conference rivals will be aired on ESPN2, and the last time that happened, the Terps stunned the Cavaliers in College Park. Here are a few things to consider if Maryland wants to repeat that result.

1) With faceoff specialist Bryn Holmes unlikely to play because of a groin/hip injury, the four remaining Terps players who have taken faceoffs have won just 39 of 92 attempts (.424). That doesn’t bode well against Virginia’s Chad Gaudet, who is tied for 12th in the country with a .581 (108 of 186) percentage. Maryland’s players have been practicing against undergraduate assistant Will Dalton, and coach Dave Cottle will likely alert the officials to what he thinks is Gaudet’s recipe for success. "Chad Gaudet is a fingers guy," Cottle said. "He grabs the stick. He does a good job of doing it and no one seems to have called it. It’s a different move. You’ll see the ball’s at his feet, and he’s very good at his feet. He waits for the guy to react and then he reacts. It’s a different style and we have to get used to it."

2) A lot of attention is paid to Virginia’s attack and rightly so. But don’t overlook a first midfield unit that is one of the most dangerous in the country. Junior Brian Carroll, sophomore Shamel Bratton and senior Steve Giannone have combined for 46 goals and 19 assists – a level of production that is matched only by UMBC’s trio of Kyle Wimer, Peet Poillon and Alex Hopmann (44 goals and 23 assists). Throw in the starting attack of Garrett Billings, Danny Glading and Steele Stanwick, and the question is, which player draws a short-stick defensive midfielder? Good question, said Cottle. "I think we’re going to have to have multiple plans on that," he said. "You used to be able to short [No.] 19 [Billings], but he is an outstanding player and passer. So that option is out. Then you look at Stanwick, and it looks like that option is out. You’re going to have to play good team defense when you play Virginia."

3) The Cavaliers are beating their opponents by an average of 7.3 goals a contest, and only four of those teams have reached double figures in goals. But both Syracuse and Johns Hopkins pressed Virginia into one-goal losses. Still, Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia isn’t concerned about giving up goals. "If you want to play quickly on offense and you want to be a team that attacks the goal, you’re going to give up more goals than might be popular," he said. "Whether it’s related to the quality of our opponents in the early part of the season or whatever else, I would say that we are playing better defensively. We’re getting better play in the goal, but I’ve also got experienced, athletic long sticks. And they’re stepping up and taking responsibility for what’s going on. We’re a team that might still give up 10 goals to Hopkins or Syracuse, but if we’re scoring 12 or 13, then we’re winning the game, and that’s most important."

Posted by Edward Lee on March 27, 2009 9:18 AM
 

Cavaliers Square off against Maryland in ACC Opener
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 03/27/2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—As the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers look to open the Atlantic Coast Conference portion of their schedule this Saturday at Klöckner Stadium against ninth-ranked Maryland, there are several similarities that are strikingly similar to last year’s regular-season clash between the two league powers. Last season the Cavaliers went to College Park sitting atop the polls with an undefeated record, while the Terrapins are coming off several impressive victories. This season Virginia is 10-0, while Maryland stands at 6-2.

For Cavalier head coach Dom Starsia that’s where the similarities end.

“It’s a very different team, I think,” he said. “I think we have a very different personality. I’ve got a stronger group of older kids this year that have taken more ownership of what’s going on, so I’m getting more help, just in terms of preparing to play and all.”

Among the older players who have really asserted themselves this season are attackmen Garrett Billings and Danny Glading, longstick midfielder Mike Timms, defensive middie Max Pomper and defensemen Matt Kelly, Ken Clausen and Ryan Nizolek.

Billings has been on a scoring rampage all season and ranks second in the country with 40 points (26g, 14a). He torched Johns Hopkins last weekend for four goals and four assists in UVa’s 16-15 win. Glading has been heating up lately with 12 goals in the last six games.

Meanwhile, Timms and Co. bent but did not break last week in the Hopkins game. After relinquishing seven goals in a wild third quarter, they stiffened and threw a shutout in the final 15 minutes as the Cavaliers rallied for the win.

“It was very gratifying that we were able to shut them out in the fourth quarter and win the game,” Starsia said. “Sometimes you win 7-6, sometimes you win 15-14. I think the most important thing is finding a way to win and being a team that is adaptable to whatever the conditions or the situation requires. I think that this team has shown that characteristic to date.”

One of the most striking characteristics of Maryland to which the Cavaliers will have to adapt is the Terps’ size.

“The first impression any fan is going to have of Maryland is that they’re just huge for a college lacrosse team,” Starsia said.

“It’s pretty unusual to have a couple of kids as talented as they are who are in excess of 6-5 and 250 pounds. It’s a very athletic team,” he continued.

Leading scorer Grant Catalino (6-5, 240) has scored 18 times and added 14 assists, while Will Yeatman (6-6, 260), a one-time football player at Notre Dame who transferred to Maryland this season, has nine goals to go along with 10 assists.

“They’ve got experience in the keys positions and they’re very athletic in the middle of the field. Their first midfield is all fast and a powerful group of kid,” Starsia added.

Dan Groot scored three goals and had an assist in the Terps’ 8-7 win over North Carolina last week and was named the ACC Player of the Week. Jeremy Sieverts has found the back of the net seven times so far this spring.

Several recent match-ups between the two teams have been close contests, including Virginia’s 8-7 overtime win in the NCAA quarterfinals last season. According to Starsia, one of the reasons these games are frequently close is the familiarity each team has with the other.

“I’ve talked about how when we play that early game with Syracuse how we don’t know each other; you don’t know your own team that well,” he said. “That’s clearly not the case with these ACC games. With the four of us seeing so much of each other over the years, clearly it’s a little bit of a case of familiarity breeds contempt to a certain extent. I think that we are able to anticipate a little bit in terms of how this is going to play out and because both teams have talented athletes you can generally keep your hands on the pace of the play if you like.”

With the nation’s most potent offense—Virginia averages 14.2 goals per game—the Cavaliers undoubtedly would like to have a fast paced game.

“We’re an athletic lacrosse team (and) we’re going to try to put pressure on them all over,” Starsia said. “I think you’re struck by the appearance of them; those big kids are athletic for big kids, too. We would hope to be able to play our game and be able to push the tempo up and down. If that happens then we’re playing into our strengths and that’s what we would like to see the game turn into.”


 

Cavassinni lifts Tar Heels past Cavaliers
By Jay Jenkins
Published: March 28, 2009

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—One of the smallest players in the stadium delivered one of the biggest swings of his career Friday night.
With a steady rain falling, North Carolina center fielder Mike Cavassinni delivered a two-run triple to the base of the wall in left field in the bottom of the eighth inning, lifting the Tar Heels past Virginia 4-3 at Boshamer Stadium.

UNC, ranked fifth in the country, improved to 19-5 overall and 6-3 in the ACC with the win. Virginia (21-3, 5-3 ACC) reliever Tyler Wilson took the loss for the Cavaliers.
Cavassini, who entered the game with two extra-base hits this season, connected on a 1-0 pitch off Wilson that burned left fielder John Barr.

“[UNC Coach Mike Fox] told me that was the farthest the kid has hit the ball in his career,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “We had our outfield really shallow and in, taking the chance that we didn’t want a hit to drop in the outfield and [Cavassinni] got it good.
“You commend a kid for stepping up in the clutch like that.”

Late-game heroics from both offenses spoiled the chance for two of the league’s premier starting pitchers to record a victory in contest.

UNC’s Alex White went 7.1 innings, allowing seven hits and three earned runs. The right-hander, who entered 4-0, fanned nine batters and walked a pair.

Virginia’s Danny Hultzen was equally impressive, allowing six hits and two runs (one earned) in seven full innings. The rookie struck out eight and walked five.

“It was a great college baseball game,” O’Connor said. “Those are two pretty special pitchers in this league.
“I thought Danny Hultzen threw the ball very, very well for a young freshman in this environment, against a very good club.”

With a handful of relievers limited by recent work, Hultzen pitched out of a jam in the seventh inning after he had thrown his 100th pitch in the previous frame.

“The key for him was that seventh inning,” O’Connor said. “Four of the next five were left-handed hitters and he needed to figure out a way to grind through the inning and he did his job.

“We found a way to get a run and, unfortunately, we couldn’t hold on in the eighth inning.”
The Cavaliers took an early lead as Jarrett Parker hit an opposite field homer on the game’s first pitch.
Virginia second baseman Phil Gosselin added a solo homer in the sixth and gave the Cavaliers a short-lived lead in the eighth with a one-run double that plated Parker from first.

The teams will play the second game of the series today at 1 p.m., earlier than originally scheduled, in hopes of beating rainfall that is expected early in the evening.

 

Eighth-Inning Triple Pushes UNC to 4-3 Win over UVa
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 03/27/2009

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Mike Cavasinni’s two-out, two-run triple in the eighth inning rallied No. 5 North Carolina to a 4-3 win over the No. 8 Virginia baseball team Friday night at Boshamer Stadium. Two errors and six walks came back to haunt the Cavaliers in a game which was played through a light rain for much of the evening.

The second game of the series has been moved up to 1 p.m. Saturday because of the threat of showers and thunderstorms Saturday afternoon and evening.

The first two hitters in UVa’s lineup, Jarrett Parker (So., Stafford, Va.) and Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.), combined to do most of the damage Friday with five of Virginia’s nine hits. Gosselin went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two RBI, while Parker was 2-for-3 with a solo homer and two runs scored. Steven Proscia (Fr., Suffern, N.Y.) added two hits for Virginia.

Starting pitchers Danny Hultzen (Fr., Bethesda, Md.) and Alex White locked up in a pitchers’ duel for most of the night. Hultzen went seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned), six hits and five walks while striking out eight. The no decision was the first of Hultzen’s college career after five straight wins to start the season. White was equally impressive, going 7.1 innings and giving up three earned runs, seven hits and two walks while fanning nine.

Tyler Wilson (So., Midlothian, Va.) took the loss for Virginia after pitching the eighth inning. Wilson (4-2) gave up two earned runs, two hits and a walk while striking out one. Brian Moran (2-1) pitched two-thirds of an inning to earn the win, while Colin Bates nabbed his fourth save.

UNC (19-5, 6-3 ACC) scored the deciding runs in the eighth inning. Trailing 3-2, Garrett Gore blooped a double into right field to lead off and Mark Fleury followed with a walk. Wilson then rebounded to record two outs before Cavasinni lifted a double to deep left field to score both baserunners.

Virginia (21-3, 5-3) wasted no time in scoring first, as Parker hit White’s first offering of the game into the netting beyond the left-field wall for his team-leading fifth home run. Three of his home runs this season have come to lead off games.

North Carolina took advantage of a Virginia error to knot the score in the second. With two out and runners on first and second, Greg Holt hit a grounder to Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) at shortstop, who threw the ball past second on the attempted force out, allowing Fleury to score from third and tie the score.

The Tar Heels pushed across another run in the third inning. Hultzen walked two of the first three batters. Kyle Seager then hit into a fielder’s choice to put runners on first and third, and Gore followed with a single to left to score Ben Bunting.

Virginia squandered a big opportunity to score in the fourth, putting runners at first and third with none out. White rebounded to strike out Cannon, pick off Proscia at first and get John Hicks (Fr., Sandy Hook, Va.) to ground out to squelch the threat.

Gosselin crushed a White pitch to right field to lead off the sixth inning for his third home run of the year, tying the score at two.

The Cavaliers forged ahead in the eighth, with Parker and Gosselin combining to do the damage. With one out, Parker coaxed a walk. Gosselin then launched a blast to center field which caromed off the top of the wall for a double to score Parker.

WINA 1070-AM will have the radio broadcast of the Saturday game in the Charlottesville area joined in-progress following the Virginia-Maryland men's lacrosse game. The broadcast also will be available online with V Pass and will also be joined in-progress. The game also will be webcast by ACC Select.


 

Men’s Tennis Downs Miami
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 03/27/2009

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The No. 1 Virginia men’s tennis team remained undefeated on the season with a 4-3 victory over No. 36 Miami Friday in Coral Gables. The Cavaliers improve to 21-0 overall and 6-0 in the ACC with the victory, while the Hurricanes fall to 8-7 (4-2 ACC).

Virginia opened the match by winning the doubles point, which proved to be crucial. Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) scored an 8-4 win over Daniel Vallverdu and David Rosenfeld at No. 1 and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) and Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) topped Keith Crowley and Carl Sundberg 8-3 at No. 2.

In singles, the Cavaliers extended their lead to 3-0 as Barrick cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over David Simon at No. 4 and Shabaz downed Christian Blocker 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3. The Hurricanes rallied to tie the match at 3-3 as they picked up wins at No. 1, No. 5, and No. 6. With the dual match on the line, Singh clinched the win with his 6-2, 6-4 win over Rosenfeld at No. 2 singles.

The win was also Virginia’s 37th consecutive win over an ACC opponent (regular season and tournament), extending a school record.

The Cavaliers return to action on Sunday as they visit No. 15 Florida State. Match time in Tallahassee is noon.

No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 36 Miami 3

Doubles
1. #13 Inglot/Shabaz (UVa) def. Vallverdu/Rosenfeld (UM) 8-4
2. #4 Barrick/Singh (UVa) def. Crowley/Sundberg (UM) 8-3
3. Simon/Blocker (UM) def. Singer/Courtney (UVa) 8-3

Singles
1. #29 Daniel Vallverdu (UM) def. #15 Dominic Inglot (UVa) 6-4, 6-3
2. #23 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. David Rosenfeld (UM) 6-2, 6-4
3. #18 Michael Shabaz (UVa) def. #117 Christian Blocker (UM) 6-2, 6-0
4. #69 Houston Barrick (UVa) def. David Simon (UM) 6-2, 6-1
5. #90 Carl Sundberg (UM) def. Drew Courtney (UVa) 6-3, 6-1
6. Keith Crowley (UM) def. #83 Lee Singer (UVa) 6-4, 6-2

Order of Finish
Doubles: 2,3,1
Singles: 4,3,1,6,5,2




 

Cook eager to earn starting job again at U.Va.
By Jeff White
Published: March 28, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Facing with a year’s suspension from the University of Virginia, Chris Cook considered early entry into the NFL draft. His mother and grandfather told Cook they’d support him in whatever he did, and he went so far as to sign the necessary papers.

Cook never submitted his paperwork, however, and for that U.Va. football fans can be grateful. The 6-2, 204-pound cornerback from Lynchburg was re-admitted to school in January, and he’s probably as talented as any player in the Cavaliers’ secondary. Cook has been working with the second team this spring, but he may not stay there long.

“I gotta earn it back,” Cook said the other night. “I was prepared to do that anyway. I wasn’t expecting to be on the second team. I was expecting to be a little further down than that.”

Cook has started 19 games for the Wahoos. Coach Al Groh said yesterday that returning Cook to the first team immediately would not have been fair “to the players who were here [in 2008], but he’s clearly strongly in the rotation. If he’s not, then who are we kidding? This was one of our better players two seasons ago, and so we have every expectation that he will be in a similar circumstance this year.”

Cook played as true freshman in 2005, but a broken leg marred his first season. He started 11 games as a sophomore, and by 2007 he ranked among the ACC’s top cornerbacks. But on Dec. 26 of that year, moments before he was to join his teammates on a bus bound for the Charlottesville airport, Cook learned he’d been declared academically ineligible to play in the Gator Bowl.

While the rest of the team flew to Jacksonville, Fla., Cook stayed behind. The next month, he was one of four players suspended from U.Va. for a year because of poor grades.

“I was just not doing what I was supposed to, not taking advantage of everything I had,” Cook said this week. “I wish it would have happened different, but you can’t change it, so I’ve got to live and learn.”

He went home to Lynchburg. For part of the year, he worked in a Sears warehouse, moving refrigerators and loading trucks. Football never was far from his mind.

“That’s all I thought about,” Cook said.

He visited his former teammates in Charlottesville a couple of times last fall, but didn’t attend many games at Scott Stadium. He’d watch on TV from his home. When U.Va. played at Virginia Tech in late November, Cook saw his cousin Vic Hall sparkle in his first start at quarterback for the Cavaliers.

“I stood up the whole game in my house,” Cook recalled.

He stayed in shape by playing basketball and by running, and his weight is the same as before his suspension. His closest friends on the team remain Hall and quarterback Jameel Sewell – another academic casualty in 2008 – and the three of them live together.

Not everything is the same for Cook. He’s taking direction from a new secondary coach: Anthony Poindexter, who previously worked with Virginia’s running backs. A legend in the Lynchburg area, Poindexter starred at Jefferson Forest High before becoming an All-America safety at Virginia.

“I always had a relationship with Dex, just because he’s from down in my area,” Cook said. “He brings a lot of intensity to the d-backs, just because he’s a former d-back, and he wants us to play us to play a certain way, because of how he used to play. He wants everybody in the secondary to play like that.”