'Hoos See Better Days Ahead
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 03/13/2010
By Jeff White

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- UVa's basketball team pulled out of town around 4:45 p.m. Friday, headed north to Charlottesville in a steady rain. The Wahoos' run in the ACC tournament had ended about three hours earlier, and their season was over, but there were no tears on the bus.

The 'Hoos came away from their two games at the Greensboro Coliseum with renewed optimism.

After losing their final nine regular-season games, the ninth-seeded Cavaliers surprised No. 8 seed Boston College 68-62 in the ACC tournament's first round Thursday.

A second straight upset eluded UVa in Friday's first quarterfinal, but not for lack of effort. Virginia and the nation's fourth-ranked team were tied at halftime, and with six minutes left, the top-seeded Blue Devils' lead was only two, 46-44.

In the end, though, Duke's superior talent prevailed, as so often happens. The 'Hoos went cold, all-ACC guard Jon Scheyer took over, and the Devils pulled away for a 57-46 victory.

"You've got to minimize your breakdowns against teams like that, or they cut your heart out," Bennett said. "And that's what they did to us down the stretch."

Virginia played its final three games without leading scorer Sylven Landesberg, whom Bennett suspended last weekend for academic reasons. The Cavaliers, 10-18 in 2008-09, finished 15-16 in their first season under Bennett.

"It's always hard when you play the last game," he said, "but there's something to build on, and that's what it's about.

"I think we had Duke nervous for a little while, but they showed why they're a heck of a team, so well-coached and so poised when it got to that time. When they had to make the plays, they certainly made some."

The 57 points were a season low for the Blue Devils (27-5), who shot only 38.2 percent from the floor. If that wasn't the best defense UVa played all season, it was close, Bennett said.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Virginia had held BC to 41.7-percent accuracy.

The team's performance in Greensboro "went a long way in ensuring that this will be a good program," senior center Jerome Meyinsse said.

"It brought some respectability that maybe was lost in our losing streak. I think we have a good foundation, and it showed that in the future, when we keep playing defense like this, great things will happen."

Junior guard Jeff Jones scored 29 points in his two games in Greensboro, reviving a college career that had seemed stalled.

"We got a little taste of success out there," Jones said, "We got a little taste of it, but we want the whole thing. We want to be greedy out there."

An inability to score plagued UVa for much of the season. The Cavaliers averaged an ACC-low 65.5 points and shot only 42.6 percent from the floor. Against Duke, the 'Hoos shot 32.1 percent, and the 46 points were a season low.

"That will come with time," Meyinsse said.

Of more concern to Bennett is his team's defense, which, coincidentally or not, improved dramatically after the suspension of Landesberg, a sophomore swingman who is unlikely to return to UVa in 2010-11.

"It just shows what we have to do to be successful in this league," sophomore guard Sammy Zeglinski said. "We have to come out and defend every night and put forth our best effort. We can't have nights off, even when our offense isn't great.

"Like in the beginning of the [Duke] game, we had no offense, really, and our defense just really kept us in and put us in a position to win. We just fell a little short. We needed to make some big shots. Mu made some big shots, but we just didn't have enough down the stretch to really compete with them offensively."

With 16 minutes remaining, the teams were tied 33-33. But Kyle Singler had a four-inch height advantage on whichever defender Bennett tried on him, and the junior forward started showing off the skills that made him a first-team all-ACC selection.

With 9:45 left, the Devils led 46-35, and the blowout that most observers had predicted appeared imminent. But Virginia responded with nine straight points. To call this a "run" wouldn't be entirely accurate, because it took more than three minutes. Still, when junior guard Mustapha Farrakhan buried a trey with 6:21, it was suddenly a two-point game. The pro-UVa and anti-Duke factions in the Coliseum roared.

"It was right there," Jones said. "That gave us hope. That gave us a lot of hope when he hit that shot there."

Alas, hope faded. Virginia didn't make another shot from the floor.

"We looked like we ran out of a little gas, maybe, in the last five minutes," Bennett said.

The Cavs' shots didn't fall early, either. Virginia was scoreless until a Farrakhan jumper made it 5-2 at the 15:16 mark. But Bennett can live with poor shooting if his players are battling at the other end. That was the case against Duke.

"I think our guys got it right today," Bennett said. "As I told you before, they usually wait till their offense is rolling to energize their defense. Not today. They had their defense revved up, ready to go while their offense was laboring."

Zeglnski, who scored a season-high 21 points against BC, went 0 for 9 versus Duke and didn't get to the line. In a sequence that summed up his afternoon, he stripped the ball from Scheyer -- Zeglinski's fourth steal of the game -- and dribbled in for a layup.

The 6-5 Scheyer challenged the shot, and it missed. But the 6-0 Zeglinski grabbed the rebound -- his fifth of the game -- and went back up with his left hand. This attempt missed too.

"I don't know," Zeglinski said when asked about his offensive woes against Duke. "All I know is that I left everything on the court."

He wasn't the only one in blue to do so Friday. Junior forward Mike Scott posted a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds). The 6-4 Farrakhan tied his career high with 5 rebounds. Jones scored a team-high 15 points and had 2 steals. Meyinsse matched his career high with 3 blocked shots.

Against a frontcourt that includes 7-1 Brian Zoubek and the Plumlee brothers -- 6-10 Mason and 6-10 Miles -- the 6-9 Meyinsse had little success with the ball down low. He made only 3 of 9 field-goal attempts, and his streak of games with at least 10 points ended at five.

But Meyinsse was proud, and understandably so, about the way he closed his college career.

"It's been a great experience," Meyinsse said during the postgame press conference at which he and Bennett represented UVa. "I had some ups and downs during my career, but I'm glad I was able to finish strong. I'm very thankful for the time I've had here."

Later, in the locker room, Meyinsse looked ahead.

"I hope I've helped build the foundation," he said. "I think it's a great foundation that Coach Bennett brought with him [from Washington State]. I think the program's moving in the right direction.

"You saw how we played defense at the beginning of the year and here late in the year. I think if we continue to do that as a program we'll have a great future. We definitely had a tough stretch in there, but I think we've grown from that. I think everybody that's returning has learned from that situation and grown from it, and it'll only get better."

Scott, a non-factor against Maryland in the regular-season finale, totaled 25 points and 24 rebounds in the ACC tournament.

"He responded to the challenge," Bennett said.

So did his teammates. Which begs the question: What triggered UVa's improbable late-season surge?

In the Cavaliers' final game with Landesberg and reserve guard Calvin Baker, a team captain who left the team before the ACC tourney, they lost by 13 points at Boston College.

Three days later, with a depleted roster, the 'Hoos nearly upset No. 22 Maryland, and their strong play continued in Greensboro.

"I think it's a little bit of everything, to be honest," junior forward Will Sherrill said Friday. "We lost some guys, so other guys knew they had to step up. And I think everybody on the team just put aside their personal issues. Maybe they weren't happy with their playing time, their shots. Whatever they weren't happy with, they just said, 'It's all about the team.'

"If we have that, we can play with anybody, like you saw today."

Farrakhan said: "It feels like we're headed toward the right direction with the rebuilding of this team."

 

Postgame Notes
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 03/12/2010
VIRGINIA BASKETBALL
Postgame Notes
#4 Duke 57, Virginia 46

Team Notes
• The Cavaliers scored a season-low 46 points
• Virginia held Duke to a season-low 57 points

Individual Notes
• Mike Scott (14 pts, 11 rebs) had his eighth double-double of the season and the 18th of his career
• Scott had his 22nd double figure scoring game of the season and the 42nd of his career
• Scott had his eighth double figure rebounding game of the season and the 22nd of his career
• Jeff Jones (15 pts) scored in double figures for the 13th time the season and the 24th time in his career
• Mustapha Farrakhan had four assists, the fourth consecutive game in which he has had at least four assists
• Sammy Zeglinski tied a season high with four steals

Player Career Highs
• Mustapha Farrakhan tied a career high with five rebounds
• Jerome Meyinsse tied a career high with three blocks
 

Virginia battles, falls to Duke 57-46 in quarterfinals
By Michael Phillips
Published: March 13, 2010
Updated: March 13, 2010
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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- It was painful, and that fact alone was consoling to the Virginia players coming to grips with the end of a season yesterday.

They weren't supposed to beat Duke. They weren't supposed to contend. Instead, it was a two-point game with six minutes remaining before the ACC's best team finally shook loose and claimed a 57-46 victory.

This was nothing like two weeks ago, when the Blue Devils steamrolled the Cavaliers in Charlottesville.

"It's tougher to lose this kind of game, but I'd rather have a game where we're in it down to the wire," forward Jerome Meyinsse said. "We were right there to the end the last four or five minutes. We played our game plan and came up short. I'm just proud of everybody."

His thoughts echoed the mood in the locker room, as some players showered and exited quietly while others sat in their game uniforms, staring at the wall and trying to wrap their minds around what just happened.

"That was a tough one to swallow, just knowing that you had one of the top teams in the country there so close," guard Jeff Jones said. "It's just -- frustrating. We could have had it. We kept fighting, but they had a couple shots in that stretch, and we just ran out of time."

Across the hallway, coach Tony Bennett offered the opposite opinion, his focus squarely on the big picture.

Asked whether it was tougher to lose in a nailbiter than a blowout, because of what might have been, he gave a chuckle.

"I'll take this every day," he said. "Nobody likes blowouts. Yeah, I'll definitely take this -- that's an easy answer."

Of course, Bennett had a lot to like about yesterday's game, as Virginia (15-16) gave a near-flawless effort on his favorite side of the court -- the defensive side. Both teams showed determination in the second half, and the final score represented a season-low for both sides.

Everything this season has been about putting the new coach's plan for success in motion, and yesterday was no exception.

"It was a good experience for a lot of guys," Bennett said. "For the guys coming back, to say, OK, there's a way we can at least hang in there in a tough setting against an elite team."

The loss also marked the last ACC competition for Solomon Tat and Meyinsse.

Meyinsse won't be around to see the dividends these experience games pay off, but he said that he can see how things are headed the right direction.

"This is a good program," he said. "We brought respectability that maybe was lost, and we laid a good foundation. We showed that if we keep playing defense like this, good things will happen."

The problem, as it so often was in ACC play, was a lack of offense. Only four Virginia players made a shot -- the bench contributed no points, and guard Sammy Zeglinski was held to zero as the Duke defense targeted him, having seen the way he torched Boston College.

Jeff Jones stepped up in his place to lead the team with 15 points, and Mike Scott provided 14 inside. The only difference in the game was with six minutes remaining, Duke's Jon Scheyer got hot and led the Blue Devils on an 11-0 run just as the Cavs had cut their deficit to two points.

"You've got to minimize breakdowns against teams like that, or they just cut your heart out," Bennett said. "That's what they did to us down the stretch. He certainly took advantage of our mistakes and made some plays."

Like that, the difference between No. 1 and No. 9 was exposed. Facing a future that will look a lot like yesterday's lineup, though, the players ultimately left with a bittersweet feeling -- having progressed enough to compete but not enough to win.

"We put ourselves in a position where maybe we could make it interesting down the stretch, but we just fell a little short," Zeglinski said. "We played with a lot of heart."

The Daily Progress in Charlottesville is reporting today that Sylven Landesberg, who was suspended with academic problems last weekend, will not be returning to the team. The report quotes two unnamed team members and said Landesberg could not be reached for comment.

Bennett declined to comment on the report, according to The Daily Progress.

Cavs gave all, Tech gave out on ACC stage
By Paul Woody
Published: March 13, 2010
Updated: March 13, 2010
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GREENSBORO, N.C. One team left town feeling it had given everything.

The other left here wondering if the NCAA selection committee will give it good news tomorrow.

The Virginia Cavaliers played hard, played tough but did not have enough talent on the court or gas in their tank to beat Duke in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

The Cavaliers' season likely is over.

There's no shame in that. Even with the loss, Virginia's season ended on an upswing.

The Virginia Tech Hokies hope their dream of playing in the NCAA tournament is not over. If it is, they have only themselves to blame.

It's one thing for Virginia, the No. 9 seed, to lose to Duke, the No. 1 seed. The Cavaliers lacked neither effort nor desire. They did lack enough scorers, rebounders and defenders.

It's another thing for Virginia Tech's Hokies to tie for third in the ACC during the regular season, get the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament and then play as if they were guaranteed a spot in the semifinals.

They lost to Miami yesterday, the No. 12 seed, in as poor a performance as the Hokies have given in awhile.

Virginia Tech was outshot, outrebounded and outhustled.

And yes, it's easy to say, well, it's just the ACC tournament and it doesn't mean anything to teams certain to receive an NCAA bid.

Just the ACC tournament? Even if teams have sewn up spots in the NCAA tournament, playing well in the ACC tournament should mean something. At the very least, it should be important for building momentum and confidence.

"This one game doesn't diminish what this team has accomplished," said Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, "It's really a special group. And they've got great character and toughness, and we just couldn't come up with enough plays and enough shots."

Greenberg has to hope the NCAA selection committee agrees.

The Miami game will be an afterthought, a blip on a screen, if Virginia Tech has a spot in the NCAA bracket tomorrow night.

But that's taking the easy way out. It is not a problem to head into the NCAA tournament after losing in the ACC championship game or even the semifinals.

It's hardly an encouraging sign to lose to the No. 12 seed in the quarterfinals, even if Miami is a tough matchup for the Hokies. Virginia Tech led by 10 halfway through the first half and seemed certain of a semifinal matchup with Duke.

Instead, things went downhill.

Miami has the size and bulk to neutralize Virginia Tech's inside game. The Hurricanes turned the Hokies into a perimeter team, and the Hokies were not up to the challenge.

Virginia Tech's best player, Malcolm Delaney, came up all but empty. He made 3 of 15 shots, missed all eight of his 3-point attempts and when the game was on the line, was unable to stop Miami freshman guard Durand Scott.

Scott did what Delaney usually does -- took the team on his shoulders and carried it to victory.

Virginia played about as well as it could considering the competition. The Cavaliers were able to keep the game close. But they have almost no margin for error against quality teams.

Virginia needs more and better inside players. The Cavaliers need more from freshman point guard Jontel Evans than defense.

"He's a bulldog defensively and provides such a spark for us," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. "But he's got to tighten up his shot. Certain teams will play us differently when he's on the floor. You have to be somewhat of a threat."

The Cavaliers need a consistently solid performance from forward Mike Scott.

Bennett has six players signed for next year, and everyone in the program knows what to expect.

"There are no shortcuts," Bennett said. "The first year belongs to the players in the program. Then, you make your evaluations and move forward."

Neither team left here happy. The Hokies can only hope that unhappiness does not turn into bitter disappointment tomorrow night.

Late drought finishes Virginia's ACC tournament run
By Doug Doughty | The Roanoke Times

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Virginia didn't end the men's basketball season with 10 consecutive losses. That was the Cavaliers' primary objective going to the Greensboro Coliseum for the ACC Tournament.

However, they did miss their last 10 shots.

Ninth-seeded Virginia went 0-for-10 from the field during the final 5:39 Friday and saw its chances for a landmark upset unravel in a 57-46 loss to top-seeded Duke.

A No. 1 seed has lost its first game only twice in the 56-year history of the ACC Tournament, but the Blue Devils (27-5) clung to a 46-44 lead after a 3-pointer by UVa's Mustapha Farrakhan with 6:24 left.

"I think our kids battled as hard as I've seen 'em battle," first-year UVa coach Tony Bennett said. "It looked like we ran out of a little gas in the last five minutes, [but] I think we had Duke nervous for a little while.

"When it came time for them to make some plays, they certainly made some."

Virginia (15-16) went exactly six minutes without scoring before Jeff Jones converted a one-and-one opportunity with 24 seconds left. The 46 points represented a season-low scoring output for the Cavaliers, who failed to score 50 points on four occasions this year, including both meetings with Duke.

UVa became the first team to hold the Blue Devils under 60 points in 2009-10.

"We touched on, defensively, what we need to become to compete with a team like Duke," Bennett said.

The Cavaliers, who ranked last in the ACC in field-goal percentage defense, held the Blue Devils to 38.2 percent shooting from the field.

First-team All-ACC selection Jon Scheyer made only five of 17 shots from the field but scored seven points during a late 11-0 run that lifted the Blue Devils out of danger.

Another first-team All-ACC pick, junior Kyle Singler, led the Blue Devils with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cavaliers' only representative on the All-ACC teams, second-team choice Sylven Landesberg, was suspended for missing class and did not play in the last three games of the season.

Five Virginia players scored double figures Thursday in a 68-62 victory over Boston College. There were only four UVa scorers Friday.

Sammy Zeglinski, who scored a season-high 21 points against the Eagles, went 0-for-9 from the field and committed five turnovers Friday. It was the second-worst shooting day in ACC Tournament history, next to an 0-for-15 afternoon by Clemson's Devin Gray in the 1993 semifinals.

"I think Duke did a good job defensively of switching off and not giving me any shots in rhythm," Zeglinski said. "They put together a good scouting report."

Zeglinski contributed four steals, the last with 1:44 remaining, when he took a tipped the ball away from Scheyer and raced downcourt on a breakaway. He missed a contested layup but then got the rebound, only to miss the putback.

The Cavaliers came up empty on another steal that freshman Jontel Evans couldn't convert into a layup.

"When you're playing a team like Duke, you've definitely got to be able to capitalize in the open court," Zeglinski said.

"When you have numbers, you want to take advantage of it. We could have been a lot better in transition, but we hung in there."

The Cavaliers trailed by as many as eight points in the first half at 14-6 but took the lead twice in the late stages of the first half before the game was tied 27-27 at the break. Duke built its lead to 46-35 with 9:59 left in the game, only to see the Cavaliers respond with a 9-0 run.

"I don't think it was the best game we've ever played," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "but I think Virginia had a lot to do with that."

Jones led the Cavaliers with 15 points, including a rare four-point play in the first half, and fellow junior Mike Scott contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Jones scored in double figures in both of Virginia's tournament games and Scott had two double-doubles.

"I think [Scott] needed to become more consistent," Bennett said, "and I think he did that. He responded to the challenge. I think the guys knew, without Sylven, that they needed to band together. And, that's what I'm most pleased about."

Hokies, Cavaliers take brick road back to Virginia
GREENSBORO, N.C.

Virginia's representatives in the ACC tournament took 116 swipes at putting ball through yonder hoop Friday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum. They succeeded a mighty 41 times, not including a couple dozen free throws, give or take, on a scattershot day defined.

A collective 35 percent is just not good. Thirty-two percent got Virginia overrun by Duke 57-46. Twenty-nine percent in the second half left Virginia Tech powerless to quell 12th-seeded Miami's 70-65 upset.

And that, class, is the math that, for U.Va. amounted to diving immediately into Year Two of coach Tony Bennett's regime. "I think some things revealed themselves this season," Bennett said cryptically after his first season ended at 15-16. "The first year belongs to the existing players in the program, then you make your evaluations and you move forward."

Meanwhile, the 23-8 Hokies get to sleep in a day before perking up for Sunday's announcement of the NCAA tournament field. Is Tech in, you amateur bracketologists? Out? "I would hope the team that tied for third place in the ACC would be in pretty good shape," coach Seth Greenberg said.

Yes, but now that's up for discussion isn't it, unlike St. John's rumored interest in luring Greenberg back to New York. Greenberg wanted no part of that following Friday's defeat and shut it down - "I'm coaching Virginia Tech," he blurted - upon his first sniff of a St. John's query.

That did nothing to humor Greenberg after his star Malcolm Delaney couldn't have tossed it into the Blacksburg reservoir. Delaney's seven points and weary 0-for-8 touch on 3-pointers - he played the entire 40 minutes - were daggers for Tech.

Then again, nor did the Hokies' inability to stop Miami's point guard Durand Scott from shredding them for big buckets do much for Greenberg's mood or Tech's postseason resume.

Scott not once or twice but three straight times down the court burst 1-on-5 style through Tech's paint and produced seven critical points that kept Miami in or around the lead.

It was a lead that grew torturously over a final two minutes punctuated by repeated Hokie misfires and an illustrative sequence in which Delaney missed a fade-away, found the rebound, clanked the bottom of the backboard with his follow, collected the ball again only to be stripped as went back up through a tangle of arms and torsos.

"I'm not sure he took a bad shot," Greenberg said. "I'll take those shots any day, and I would suspect he would make a lot more of them next time."

When and where "next time" arrives for Tech is the edgy issue that will be debated a time or two in the media till those career-making and breaking brackets are revealed. Say this, Tech would have made it easy by beating Miami, which entered the tournament on a 3-11 slide.

For sure, "easy" isn't due in Charlottesville for a while. Indeed, what Bennett's Cavaliers seemed to do best Friday was lure Duke into a pedestrian lull. The surprise wasn't that Virginia went down, only that the Blue Devils were just this side of mediocre until Kyle Singler went off for 10 straight points early in the second half to pad Duke's pillow.

As it was, Duke's 57 points were its lowest output this season - of course, so were U.Va.'s 46 - and the game's 103 combined points produced the lowest-scoring tournament contest in 25 years.

Still, those 40 blah minutes were incidental to the larger message delivered by Bennett before his first ACC tournament - his suspension of star Sylven Landesberg for academic reasons. That says much more about where Bennett wants to take U.Va. than some brick-fest put on by hold-over players.

"I really feel like too much is being made of this," Bennett said of his Landesberg call. "We have some guidelines established, and when those aren't followed, then there are consequences that are pretty clear....

"You can talk about things, 'Hey, we're gonna do this or that,' but unless you're paying the price every day and making sure there's accountability, it kind of gets washed away."

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518
 

Same outcome, different feeling
By Aaron McFarling

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Sammy Zeglinski remembers what it was like walking off the court for the final time last year. A couple of hundred of spectators, tops, had stuck around until the end at the Georgia Dome.

The ones who'd left were the smart ones. There wasn't a whole lot left to see.

Virginia had quit. Maybe not consciously. Maybe not unanimously. But enough of the players had checked out, enough of Dave Leitao's security and clout as a coach had dissolved, that the games no longer mattered as they once did.

"We kind of were playing without a purpose," Zeglinski recalled.

To assess where you are, you have to remember where you once were. And this time a year ago, Virginia basketball was a mess.

So for the Cavaliers, Friday's 57-46 loss to Duke in the ACC quarterfinals wasn't so much about one game or one performance or even one last-ditch opportunity for an upset. It was about a vibe that surrounded the program when it left the floor for the final time -- something strikingly different from the darkness that ushered them into last year's eventful offseason.

This was about Mike Scott sprawling on the hardwood in pursuit of loose balls, Jontel Evans poking away passes, a defense holding the tournament's top seed to 38-percent shooting. It was about effort and "pillars" and pride.

It was about presenting a united front as this rebuilding process moves forward.

In that sense, the Cavaliers succeeded.

"I think today and yesterday, we had a purpose and we came out here and put everything on the line," said Zeglinski, a sophomore guard who had the energy but not the shooting success Friday that he'd had in Virginia's first-round win over Boston College. "We played with a lot of heart."

They did. And that's a start.

Less than two weeks ago, the Cavaliers seemed at a crossroads. As their losses mounted, their performances got more and more familiar -- more like the ones we saw at the end of last season.

First-year coach Tony Bennett needed to do something. What he did -- suspending top scorer Sylven Landesberg for the remainder of the year before the Maryland game because of failure to live up to academic demands -- sent a jolt through the team.

The message: Buy in, because nobody here is immune.

The sample size since that day isn't huge, but what we have is encouraging. The Cavaliers competed well against the top two teams in the ACC and they beat the Eagles, who blew them out in New England on March 3.

"When you're a new staff trying to establish your program in the direction you want ... you've got to make some hard decisions," Bennett said. "But you can't compromise on what you think the big picture should look like."

Bennett's not fooling himself. He knows the big picture still needs time to come into full focus.

"There's no shortcut to it," he said. "The formula ... is to establish the guys that you think you can build with, get a large recruiting class in the first year, follow it up with a good one, grow 'em up, then compete and take it beyond that. There's kind of stages or phases to building a program, and we're in the initial one, but I think some things revealed themselves during the season."

The last one revealed itself Friday, as the Cavs proved they were still on board with their coach. And as they walked off the court, the future looked a lot brighter than it did one year ago.

Bennett seeks to build on this
By David Teel | 247-4636
March 13, 2010

GREENSBORO, N.C.
The first losing season of his young head-coaching career was just beginning to marinate Friday afternoon when Tony Bennett was asked about lessons learned.

"Certainly there were some good things that happened and certainly some challenging things," Bennett said after his maiden season at Virginia ended with a 57-46 loss to Duke in an ACC tournament quarterfinal.

"I'm a little raw right now to think about it, but I think that at least when you're a new staff, trying to establish your program in the direction you want … you've got to make some hard decisions, (and) you can't compromise on what you think the big picture should look like."

The Cavaliers' 15-16 season included an eight-game winning streak and nine-game skid. At various times, Bennett publicly disciplined three veteran players: Jamil Tucker, Calvin Baker and Sylven Landesberg.

A second-team All-ACC selection, Landesberg led Virginia in scoring last season and this, but after his academic suspension prior to the regular-season finale, he is expected to turn pro. Without Landesberg, the Cavaliers played well in losses to Maryland and Duke, and defeated Boston College.

They were especially good on defense.

"It's how we try to prepare our guys in practice each day," Bennett said, "trying to establish a tough mind-set on the defensive end — at times we didn't this year."

Against Duke on Friday, "I thought our kids battled as hard as I've seen them battle. … It looked like we ran out of gas the last five minutes, but we touched on defensively what we need to become to compete against a team like Duke."

Bennett, who coached Washington State to three winning records in as many years before coming to Virginia, has signed an acclaimed five-man recruiting class for next season.

"We can become one of the elite teams in the ACC," freshman guard Jontel Evans said. "We can compete."

Bennett inspires Virginia the old-fashioned way
By Ron Green Jr.
rgreenjr@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Saturday, Mar. 13, 2010

GREENSBORO Tony Bennett remembers the Sunday afternoon in 1995 when he was a third-year guard with the Charlotte Hornets and his friend, Dave Chadwick, invited him to the ACC tournament finals in the Greensboro Coliseum.

Seeing Wake Forest defeat North Carolina was Bennett's first genuine taste of the ACC tournament, and it stayed with him.

Fifteen years later, Bennett found himself on the opposite end of the ACC tournament sideline Friday, coaching Virginia against Mike Krzyzewski and top-seeded Duke.

Krzyzewski has been a part of this for three decades. Bennett is still learning his way around the ACC, having cut his head-coaching teeth for three years at Washington State before landing in Charlottesville, charged with revitalizing a fallen program.

There was no reason to think Virginia, without leading scorer and all-conference guard Sylven Landesberg, could hang with the Blue Devils. But the Cavaliers (15-16) were right there with six minutes to play, trailing by two, and doing all the things their 41-year old coach has taught them.

If you remember Bennett from his Charlotte Hornet days, you remember his earnestness. It hasn't left him. He's still that guy, quietly confident about what he's doing and how he's doing it.

He matched Krzyzewski maneuver for maneuver but, ultimately, Bennett didn't have enough talent to pull the stunner. In his blue-gray coat and orange tie, Bennett directed his team, gently prodded the officials and still left with a smile on his face.

The quarterfinal loss to Duke wasn't the end. It was the beginning.

Bennett is still reshaping the Virginia program, working with the players he inherited, stockpiling an impressive recruiting class and teaching them his five pillars for success: humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness.

In a game often dominated by ego, flash and individuality, Bennett believes in old-style values he learned from his father, long-time college coach Dick Bennett.

Before the season, Bennett set academic guidelines for his team. When Landesberg, the Cavaliers' star, failed to meet them, Bennett suspended him prior to their regular-season finale. It was a message that crackled like a cannon shot.

"He wants the team to buy into everything," Cavalier Sammy Zeglinski said. "We knew what we needed to do in the classroom. If you don't meet the requirements, there would be consequences."

It was a tough call to make, but Bennett has a toughness about him that's disguised by his boyish looks and personality.

It showed Friday against Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils.

Close, but no cigar for Cavaliers
By Whitey Reid
Published: March 12, 2010
Updated: March 12, 2010
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GREENSBORO, N.C. — For the last two months, Virginia coach Tony Bennett hadn’t been nearly as upset by his team’s losing as he had been by the manner in which his team was competing.

Bennett could accept the losing if his team was playing the style he wanted.

On Friday afternoon at Greensboro Coliseum, Virginia finally competed and executed a game plan the way Bennett had been longing for.

UVa went toe-to-toe with top-seeded Duke before running out of gas in a 57-46 defeat.

“I thought our kids battled as hard as I’ve seen them battle…” Bennett said. “It’s always hard when you play the last game, but there’s something to build on — that’s what it’s about.

“I think we had Duke nervous for a little while, but they showed why they’re a heck of a team.”

Virginia (15-16), which finishes the season under .500 for the second straight year, was led by Jeff Jones’ 15 points. Mike Scott, reinserted into the starting lineup, had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The problem was the fact that Virginia got just a combined 17 points from two other players in finishing with a season-low 46 points. All four other players who saw meaningful minutes finished scoreless, including Sammy Zeglinski, who, a day after scoring a season-high 21 points, was 0 of 9 from the field.

However, the sophomore played terrific defense on Duke stud Jon Scheyer, holding the first-team All-ACC guard in check for most of the game.

Duke (27-5) advances to today’s semifinals against 12th-seeded Miami, which beat Virginia Tech 70-65.

Virginia pulled to 46-44 after a Mustapha Farrakhan 3-pointer with 6:18 left, but managed just two meaningless free throws in the final seconds the rest of the way.

The most impressive thing about Virginia’s performance was the mental fortitude players showed. Nobody seemed to play scared.

“We had all the odds against us,” said Jeff Jones, referring to the losses of second-team All-ACC pick Sylven Landesberg and captain Calvin Baker. “We just wanted to go out and prove people wrong.

“We didn’t want to feel sorry for ourselves, knowing that Duke is the top team in the country. Everybody on this team believed that we could win this game.”

From the outset, Virginia turned the game into a complete slop-fest — just the way Bennett wanted it. UVa forced Duke (27-5) to play an ugly, slow-down game.

The strategy had failed miserably in the first meeting of the season 12 days before, but worked much better this time around.

Duke’s 57 points were a season low.

“It was one of our best team defensive efforts this year,” Bennett said. “We knew our chance to beat Duke was to try and make it a half-court game…

“That was our chance and we took a shot at it.”

The Cavaliers didn’t score a point until well after the first television timeout. However, their defense kept them in it.

Scheyer looked completely out of sorts. Duke’s leading scorer was just 2 of 10 from the field. Several of his shots weren’t even close.

“We tried to force tempo today with pressing, but we didn’t score,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “If we had gotten a few more buckets, it would have added a little more energy.

“When we weren’t scoring and we weren’t defending that way, we thought we were going to wear our team out, so then we went back to playing defense the way we normally were going to play it.”

Meanwhile, offensively, Virginia did just enough to hang around.

A Jones 4-point play pulled UVa to 18-14 with 5:13 remaining. Later, his triple trimmed the deficit to one.

Virginia took its first lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Mike Scott with 2:13 left. The game was tied at 27 at the break.

Duke, behind Scheyer, finally made its move in the final six minutes. Scheyer scored on three drives to the basket, the last of which resulted in a 3-point play that gave the Blue Devils a commanding 57-44 lead with 2:32 to play.

Virginia junior Will Sherrill said the team gave it everything it had.

“Obviously, they were heavy favorites,” Sherrill said, “but I’m really happy. It stings right now because losing always hurts, but we played the way we’re supposed to, the way this program has to, especially on the defensive end.

“Our shots weren’t really falling, but our defense kept us in it the entire game.”

Dunks

Scott (14 points, 11 rebounds) had his eighth double-double of the season and the 18th of his career ... Farrakhan had four assists, the fourth consecutive game in which he has had at least four assists he also tied a career-high with five rebounds ... Zeglinski tied a season high with four steals.

After losing streak, Bennett’s 1st year ends on high note
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: March 13, 2010
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GREENSBORO, N.C.

A year ago, Virginia’s basketball team limped out of Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, having suffered a 76-63 decision to a mediocre Boston College squad in the opening round of the ACC tournament.

It was the 18th loss of the season and there appeared to be little hope of turning the program around as the Dave Leitao era came to an abrupt end.

When Virginia bowed out of this year’s ACC event on Friday afternoon, the situation was dramatically different. Not in terms of wins and losses, but in terms of hope for the future.

From this perspective, it appeared that first-year coach Tony Bennett sent a signal that this was the first of many battles with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski that will be filled with fireworks. The Cavaliers exited Greensboro Coliseum with their self-respect intact after a 57-46 battle with top-seeded Duke, the nation’s fourth-ranked team.

It was evident that Bennett’s game plan — minus the higher-profile chess pieces in sneakers that Krzyzewski had at his disposal — made the Blue Devils sweat for 34 minutes before moving on to the ACC semifinals.

Bennett strategically chose to defend Duke’s top scoring threat, Jon Scheyer, with a quicker player, which gave the Blue Devils problems for most of the day. Virginia controlled the pace to its liking, preventing Duke from operating at its preferred greyhound speed and holding the Devils to a season-low scoring output.

At the break, the undermanned Cavaliers found themselves deadlocked at 27-all with the Devils, and Krzyzewski was searching for a way to motivate his team. He called a timeout 13 minutes into the half and lit up his team, hopping up and down, blasting them with a verbal barrage and throwing a towel in disgust in hopes of starting a fire.

The Cavaliers, unable to recapture the shooting touch that enabled them to knock off an uninspired Boston College team in the opening round, relied instead on defense to keep the Blue Devils at bay.

In fact, Duke fans were getting a little nervous with 6:22 remaining after Mustapha Farrakhan’s 3-pointer drew the Cavaliers within 46-44, moments after another Krzyzewski timeout.

During that interlude, Coach K attempted to give his team yet another warning.

“The situation created a sense of urgency,” the Duke coach said afterward. “I told them, ‘You better play or you’re going to be home tonight wondering what happened.’”

Apparently the Blue Devils got the message and increased their already intense defensive effort. Virginia, which managed only 19 points the entire second half, didn’t make another field goal after Farrakhan’s shot.

The Cavaliers missed their next nine attempts as Scheyer finally came alive with seven of his 15 points during an 11-0 Duke run down the stretch.

“I don’t think it was the best game we ever played, but I think Virginia had a lot to do with that and how they handled the ball and how they controlled tempo,” Krzyzewski said. “Virginia played well.”

Krzyzewski, a shoo-in to become major college basketball’s winningest coach before he’s done, tried to force a faster pace earlier by pressing but to no avail. He was looking for turnovers and easy baskets that never came with the tactic.

Instead, he depended on those old standards, defense and rebounding, to get the job done. UVa was held to 32 percent shooting and Duke outscored UVa 15-2 on second-chance buckets.

“Virginia was playing well, but I think, pretty much for the full game our defense was there,” said Duke’s Kyle Singler, who scored 18 points. “I think that’s what kept us in it.”

While it came from the opponent’s camp, those words were music to Bennett’s ears because they were confirmation of what he preaches on a daily basis to his players.

“It was one of our better team defensive efforts this year,” Bennett said. “I think we had Duke nervous for a little while.”

The Virginia coach’s goal now is to make Duke and everyone else in the ACC a little nervous for a long while.
 

Teammates: Landesberg leaving UVa
By Whitey Reid
Published: March 12, 2010
Updated: March 12, 2010
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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Since Sylven Landesberg was suspended prior to the Maryland game last Saturday for never show-ing up to one of his classes, speculation had been rampant as to whether the sophomore guard would come back to the University of Virginia next season.

Following UVa’s loss to Duke on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, there was a more definitive answer. Two of Landesberg’s teammates, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Daily Progress that they don’t expect the team’s star back.

Phone calls and e-mails to Landesberg were not returned.

Through a Virginia spokesperson, Coach Tony Bennett had no comment on the situation following Friday’s loss. After Thurs-day’s win over Boston College, Bennett had said the door would be open for Landesberg’s return.

A week ago, Bennett suspended Landesberg for failure to live up to his academic obligations. The Progress reported that the suspension was for failure to attend an art class.

In Monday’s ACC coaches teleconference, Bennett spoke of established guidelines regarding class attendance and participa-tion from his players. In reference to Landesberg, he said, “Sylven’s situation was where he was at a lot of his other classes. This was one, obviously, it didn’t happen.”

As a freshman, Landesberg was named ACC rookie of the year. This past season, the Queens, N.Y., native was a second-team All-ACC selection after averaging 17.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore.

Landesberg, a McDonald’s All-America selection as a senior at Holy Cross High School, is expected to test the waters in the upcoming NBA draft, although he could elect to transfer to another college.

On Sunday, an NBA scout told The Progress that Landesberg, as it stands now, would not have a very good chance of getting selected in the first round of the draft. The scout, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he isn’t permitted to talk about college players, said that Landesberg, in all likelihood, would be a second-round pick — in which case his contract wouldn’t be guaranteed.

However, the majority of NBA mock drafts don’t have Landesberg being selected in either of the first two rounds.

“I don’t want to kill the kid, but he’d probably spend the next year or two in the D-League,” said the scout, referring to the NBA’s minor league, “which is not a better life than staying at UVa, I can tell you that.”

There has been speculation that Landesberg would try his hand in Europe, or possibly Israel. However, it is rare that a player, especially an American one, leaves behind a promising college career early for that.

However, two American high school players have chosen a year in a foreign professional league over college in recent years. Milwaukee Bucks rookie guard Brandon Jennings spent the 2008-09 season with Lottomatica Roma of the Italian Lega A. Jer-emy Tyler, a post player from San Diego, passed up his senior year of high school to spend this season with Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Super League.

UVa Insider, the column - Doug Doughty | The Roanoke Times

Based solely on gut reaction, I’ve been telling people all week that I would put the odds of Sylven Landesberg returning to Virginia next year at 25 percent.

Or, should I say, the odds of Landesberg returning to Virginia next week, because he won’t be back next year if he doesn’t return to classes next week.

The more I hear about the situation, I’d say that the 25-percent estimate is optimistic.

Most people think he’s gone, that he will play professional basketball next year, abroad if not in the NBA.

An NBA scout told me today that Landesberg is not a first-round draft pick this year, based on his play for the Cavaliers. He could improve his stock through individual and team workouts, but, if he’s a second-round pick, that’s probably the best he can hope for at this point.

Landesberg’s departure won’t necessarily have a devastating effect on a team that has played well in the past two games without him and four of the five double-figure scorers in Thursday’s 68-62 ACC Tournament win over Boston College.

The chances of the other underclassmen returning en masse might be better without Landesberg than without him. I keep hearing that one or more players might have been tempted to transfer over an absence of playing time.

“I ain’t going nowhere,” junior postman Mike Scott said Wednesday.

Landesberg played 32.9 minutes per game this year. Sammy Zeglinski, Mustapha Farrakhan and Jeff Jones would be very happy to get another 11 minutes per game apiece, not that Zeglinski is going anywhere.

I also find it hard that Farrakhan and/or Jones would transfer prior to their senior year but I’ve heard that notion floated.

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Zeglinski, Farrakhan and Jones have played better in two games since Landesberg was suspended, not that they won’t bomb Friday against Duke, but they’re not looking over their shoulders.

They haven’t been competing for playing time with Landesberg for the past two games and Thursday they didn’t compete with Calvin Baker.

Baker dropped off the team for personal reasons and, while we’ve been told that there was an illness in hid family, he simply was not happy with his playing time and his attitude was not having a positive effect on the team. The one adjective that strikes me when I think about Baker is “sour.”

Baker was playing 16 minutes per game, so between Landesberg and Baker, that’s almost 50 minutes per game that Bennett now has at his disposal. It enabled him to play freshman point guard Jontel Evans for 23 minutes on Saturday, up from Evans’ 16.2 minutes per game.

If there’s a player who most people expect to leave, it’s 6-7 freshman Tristan Spurlock, although Spurlock indicated to reporters this week that he has not made up his mind. I like Spurlock’s athleticism and his shooting ability and Bennett has talked about his upside, but I’m still not sure he’s Bennett’s kind of player.

There’s always the specter of academics. After all, Landesberg wasn’t the first UVa player to be suspended this year. Jamil Tucker, the top returning scorer from the 2008-2009 junior class, was suspended before the season and later dismissed for academic reasons.

Fact is, four Virginia players were suspended in all – Tucker, Assane Sene, Baker (for two games during the regular season) and Landesberg. If that isn’t dysfunctional, I don’t know what is.

Clearly, UVa would be better with Landesberg than without him in 2010-2011, but the players should have a better idea of what to expect and maybe put an end to the soap opera.

Exodus to NBA should shape 2010-11 race
Delaney could be preseason ACC player of the year
By Doug Doughty

While discontent may be simmering inside some fanbases, most notably at Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, chances of a coaching change or changes in the ACC are fairly remote.

There has been a head-coaching change in the ACC each of the last three years, involving North Carolina State (2007), Wake Forest (2008) and Virginia (2009). In fact, six of the 12 head-coaching positions have changed hands since 2004.

While the ACC may not be undergoing a coaching facelift this year, no one should get particularly close to the players.

Two of the top three scorers in the ACC are seniors, No. 2 Greivis Vasquez from Maryland and No. 3 Jon Scheyer from Duke. They won’t be back. Neither will No. 9 scorer Trevor Booker, a senior for Clemson.

As usual, the intrigue surrounds the underclassmen. Names I’ve heard mentioned as possible early applicants for the NBA Draft include Duke junior Kyle Singler, Virginia sophomore Sylven Landesberg, North Carolina sophomore Ed Davis, Wake Forest sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu, Florida State redshirt sophomore Solomon Alabi and the Georgia Tech trio of junior Gani Lawal, sophomore Iman Shumpert and freshman Derrick Favors.

Duke junior Nolan Smith already has indicated he will return for the 2010-2011 season, when he could contend for preseason player-of-the-year honors with Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney, the ACC’s leading scorer going into the tournament this week in Greensboro, N.C.

That’s not to say that Delaney is any less undeserving of NBA consideration than the other players. It’s just that there hasn’t been much buzz about Delaney turning pro, possibly because he does not play as close to an NBA market as do, say, the Georgia Tech players.

It’s not all about the allure of the NBA. Some of these guys simply don’t want to go to school. Case in point: Landesberg. From all accounts, he did not attend one of his classes during the first six weeks of the second semester.

We won’t know Landesberg’s next step till next week but if he were to return to classes next week, there’s still no assurance that he would be eligible next year. From everything I hear, Landesberg was on academic warning after the first semester and a failing grade in the second semester probably would result in a one-year suspension.

Landesberg had to know after the first semester that he was in a zero-tolerance situation. It’s unclear what he was thinking if he was going to most of his classes but not going to one at all. Maybe he didn’t think he was going to be caught and was leaving at the end of the season anyway.

Don’t think that’s the only time that has happened. A group of Virginia football players stopped going to class as soon as their 2009 season ended and maybe before then, since it was known UVa wasn’t going to a bowl.

But back to the 2010-2011 ACC basketball season and its likely makeover. Very few of these players belong in the NBA or wouldn’t reap more benefit from another year in college than they would in the D-League or Europe. Take the case of North Carolina’s Davis, hailed as a possible top-five pick.

A coach who has observed Davis and whom I’ve respected for a long time told me, “There’s a lot more [Davis] can’t do right now than he can do.”

I’m told that all of Singler’s preparation and scheduling this year has been geared toward an early entry into the NBA Draft, but my guess is that he’ll make the right move. If it’s in his best interests, he’ll come out. If theres’s any indecision, coach Mike Krzyzewski will make sure Singler gets the best advice possible.

I’m not sure that Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt has that kind of pull or power, but there’s such an NBA culture in Atlanta that Yellow Jackets’ players are always going to find the pro life hard to resist.

Wake Forest and Winston-Salem, N.C., are farther from the beaten NBA path, but 2008-2009 Deacs Jeff Teague and James Johnson set a precedent for their future teammate, Aminu. Also, five losses in the last six games may have removed some of his motivation for staying, not that that wouldn’t be the best move.

 

ACC Tournament: Analyzing UVA-Duke and UVA's Future
Allen J. Kha
Written on March 12, 2010

Virginia basketball put in an extremely confident and valiant performance against the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils, showing its mettle and holding its own against a top team on a nationally televised broadcast.

The Cavaliers surprised many observers when it battled to a 27-all halftime score, and surprised many more when they kept the game close for the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Although Duke's famed "Big Three" scored a total of 48 points, the Cavalier defenders generally did a fantastic job defending the three players to the best of their ability. The 48 points given up to those three doesn't give an accurate impression of the overall performance of the Virginia defense; the statistics do not fairly represent the overall positive performance put in by the Virginia squad.

Virginia may have lost their ACC quarterfinal matchup against Duke, but the Cavaliers take away many learning points to ponder, analyze, and improve. While the Cavaliers ultimately lost the Duke game because of their lack of athleticism, Tony Bennett will leave Greensboro understanding what realistically needs to be done to make Virginia an ACC and NCAA tournament contender.

The point that Duke beat Virginia due to its superior athleticism is extremely important to consider because athleticism is a quality that generally cannot be improved through practice. After all, we do generally believe in the mantra "you can't teach a kid speed."

While Virginia will not rise to Duke's prestige without time and sustained success because of this figurative "athletic gap" (I speak of elite ready-made athleticism, not Murray State-like raw athleticism), the Virginia squad can improve in other areas and compete.

Bennett has already done a marvelous job improving the athletic facet of the team's nature, hauling an impressive incoming recruiting class that features two four-star players, and a bagful of solid three-star recruits.

K.T. Harrell is an athletic and refined playmaker with great savvy, while James Johnson is an extremely talented and smart low-post player that will make an impact after some time in the weight room. The other recruits all contribute to the quality of Virginia's team through a blend of raw athleticism and defined skill sets.

The infusion of these new recruits will compensate for the losses of Calvin Baker and Jerome Meyinsse. The loss of Baker will hurt more on the intangible side than it will on the court, but the loss of Meyinsse will definitely hurt the team unless his contributions can be directly replaced.

Meyinsse's performance this season was nothing less than awe-inspiring and admirable. His story is a poster board for the head honchos at the NCAA and the University of Virginia—his academic notoriety and courageous rise to athletic respect is a story Bennett should frame and preach.

Meyinsse was able to heavily contribute to this Virginia team with consistent post play. While often overmatched in athleticism, size, and strength, Meyinsse found ways to rise to the occasion against the biggest opponents and score in double figures.

While Meyinsse lacks the body to play his quintessential low-post, under-the-basket style, he scrapped his way to points and rebounds and helped his team avoid blow-out losses in the stretch run of the season.

Today against Duke, Meyinsse's lack of athleticism was exposed. Duke, and Brian Zoubek in particular, disallowed Meyinsse to position himself in the low-post, forcing Meyinsse to muscle his way to the rim. Meyinsse on many occasions during the game tried to outmuscle Duke's low-post defenders to no avail.

Virginia's 32 percent shooting afternoon didn't help its cause. Virginia, unable to accomplish much shooting the ball or in the low-post, later shifted away from the shot-contingent motion offense and attempted to run dribble-drive sets toward the end of the game.

Jontel Evans, the primary driver (due to Landesburg's suspension), was able to use his really good speed to break both Duke man-to-man and zone defenses, but was unable to finish. Sammy Zeglinski, the anointed playmaker before this game, also attempted to drive to no avail.

The Virginia offense currently possesses too many unidimensional players, and lacks offensive diversity. Jontel can pass, Sammy and Mustapha can shoot, and Meyinsse can battle in the low post.

The only players that possess any sort of offensive diversity and creativity are Mike Scott and Jeff Jones. Scott possesses a solid Kevin Garnett-like mid-range game to complement his low-post game, while Jeff Jones can both shoot and drive, albeit not with great quality.

This lack of offensive diversity was extremely apparent in Virginia's scoring droughts against Duke. Virginia twice endured scoring droughts longer than five minutes, and constantly struggled to get its shots falling.

Considering the foul trouble Duke's bigs were in throughout the game, Virginia would have been able to take the game had they been able to drive. A more refined driver such as Landesburg surely would have helped in that aspect, although Landesburg's presence would not have guaranteed a Virginia victory (as his presence could have adversely affected Virginia on the defensive end).

It was definitely frustrating to observe Virginia's offensive struggles when Duke, on the other end, was able to get all of their shots to fall while struggling on offense for the majority of the game.

Virginia played extremely inspired defense, frustrating Duke throughout the game with its wolf pack (i.e. pack-line) defense. Duke was able to move to ball, but was unable to meaningfully pass and create offense through its offensive sets. While the Virginia players were overmatched in terms of size and athleticism against Singler, Smith, Scheyer, and Zoubek, they held their own for the majority of the game.

Duke for the majority of the game failed to break Virginia's zone. Virginia did encourage the Blue Devils to drain the shot clock and force shots, which was a smart tactical decision from Tony Bennett.

Duke was granted good shot opportunities, but those shots did not fall. Lulled to sleep on offense, Duke's poor rebounding positions (along with Zoubek's absence due to his early foul trouble) fueled the Virginia fast break that kept the Cavaliers in the game.

Duke, on a good day, would have most likely beat Virginia by a wider margin, but the Cavaliers held their own and performed admirably. Nonetheless, while Duke struggled on offense and only shot a modest 38 percent on the afternoon, Duke showed its true grit and scored when it needed to score.

Duke's innate athleticism eventually wore down the Virginia defense and prevailed. In the game dynamic, great teams and players often find ways to score points (and make the effort look easy)—Nolan Smith in the first and early second half, along with Singler and Scheyer in the closing stretch of the match.

Virginia was helpless stopping Smith's Monica Wright-esque pull-up jumpers and Scheyer's determined scrap baskets. No defense can stop that sort of individual playmaking; Virginia couldn't have realistically stopped Singler's no-look, backwards overhead pass in the second half.

Virginia's defense is staunch and solid, and simply lacks the offensive complement to make the team's defense a game-winning factor. Virginia needs to focus on emulating the sort of offensive spontaneity that Duke and other top teams possess to move forward, and take the first step towards postseason relevance.

K.T. Harrell will be the focal point of this offensive refocus. Aside from Landesburg, who may not remain with the team, Jones, who simply lacks the talent to compete at the high-major level, and Tristan Spurlock, Harrell possesses the type of playmaking ability needed for Virginia to take the next step.

Freshman recruits outside the top 10 prospects often do not heavily impact team success in high-major play, although I have the feeling K.T. Harrell and James Johnson will immediately contribute next season.

Johnson, who possesses every low-post scoring move in the book and has some range, will provide a low-post complement to Mike Scott. The team's rebounding ability should improve providing both low-post players workout and strengthen up in the offseason.

Harrell and Mitchell are players that possess the intuitive playmaking ability the current Virginia team so desperately needs. Assuming Spurlock or Landesburg stays—or both—and improves in Bennett's system, Virginia should be prepared to compete in the ACC next year.

Virginia showed us in the early part of the season that confidence and fan excitement alone can carry a Virginia team to ACC success (my previous article, pre-Duke game discusses this). These two factors, combined with a reload and upgrade in talent and additional experience, should bode well for Virginia basketball in the future.

Assuming the players do their part and work hard in the offseason in the classroom and on the court, Virginia basketball should be slotted for a mid-table ACC finish, and NCAA tournament contention. From there, it's up to the Virginia fans to get behind the team and become that sixth man.

Virginia will not become better relative to the top teams in the ACC, since Duke, North Carolina, Maryland, Wake Forest, and NC State hauled in extremely impressive recruiting classes that are better than Bennett's.

Nonetheless, if Bennett can mold his players to perfectly execute his system and maintain their innate basketball qualities, he will have a better and more well-rounded team that Virginia fans can get behind and be proud to support.

Some scoring records hard to break – and keep
Media report Chelan’s Joe Harris set new 1A record but that may not be correct
By Corey Voegele
World sports writer
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

WENATCHEE — State scoring records are apparently as tough to keep track of as they are to break.

Several of the state’s newspapers reported last weekend that former Cascade basketball star Ryan Hansen’s 14-year-old state Class 1A scoring record had fallen. But now it turns out Hansen might still be the state’s top dog in Class 1A.

Chelan’s Joe Harris made a run at Hansen’s 1A record, wrapping up his high school career Saturday with 2,398 points.

Depending who you ask, that’s either 16 points more or 13 points fewer than what Hansen scored in his career.

“I was at the 1A tournament last week, so (I) was aware that there was discussion about Joe Harris breaking the all-time 1A scoring record,” Cindy Adsit, assistant executive director of the WIAA, wrote in an e-mail to The Wenatchee World on Tuesday. “I have no way of verifying, nor of disputing, that fact. WIAA maintains records for only the WIAA-sponsored state championship events.”

The WIAA doesn’t keep track, and a pair of respected state sports historians can’t agree. The discrepancy lies in who’s counting what games.

“I don’t recognize individual and team statistics in regard to games versus Australian schools,” wrote WIAA sports historian David Maley in an e-mail Tuesday. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s an exhibition (non-counting) game.

“WIAA sports historian (and former Tacoma News Tribune writer) Don Davison recognizes the games; he and I disagree about this.”

So Maley’s tally has Hansen scoring 2,382 points. But according to the newspaper clippings from the mid-1990s in Hanson’s scrapbook, he finished his prep career with 2,411 points.

Cascade athletic director Elia Ala ’ilima-Daley said that’s the same number that’s been on the Leavenworth school’s Wall of Honor for more than a decade. That’s also the number that WIAA sports historian Maley concedes Hansen scored — if you include the 29 he had against a team from Australia during his Cascade career.

The Goats also played a team from “down under” last season, but Harris was injured and did not play in that game.

Hansen, who is now the head coach at Auburn, doesn’t plan to lose any sleep over the record. He said he is sure that even if it hasn’t happened already, it’s only a matter of time before his 1A record will fall.

“It’s a lot of points, but it’s a record that’s there for someone to take down,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before it does fall.”

And while Harris, who is headed for the University of Virginia, may or may not be the state’s new Class 1A scoring king, his career numbers are pretty staggering as well.

“It’s funny ... I remember watching Joe when he was a sixth-grader following his dad around,” Hansen said. “He was just this little squirt running around. I’ve heard great things about him, and I’m excited to get to watch him in the ACC.”

Longtime Chelan head coach Joe Harris, the father of his team’s star player, also remembers Hansen.

“He’s still hounding us,” said a laughing Harris when contacted Monday about the scoring record. “I bet he averaged 40 a game against us.”

Hansen also held the overall state career scoring record at one point. But it was broken by Curlew’s Jeremy Groth in 2000 during the Class B state tournament in Spokane. Hansen happened to be a senior at the time at Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney.

“I was right there when he broke mine, and his got broken a year or two later,” Hansen said.

Hansen had other commitments last weekend when Harris was making his final assault on his record in Yakima — namely, the Class 4A state tournament where his Auburn team was playing.

“I was really fortunate,” he said. “I did my student-teaching at Auburn, and then the job opened up. I was 24, and Auburn took a chance on me, and I think that’s worked out pretty good for everybody. It’s pretty rare to get a job at a big school like that at that age. I feel very fortunate that they were willing to do that.”

Virginia hands FSU baseball its first loss: Seminoles' offense struggles against Cavaliers' Hultzen
By Ira Schoffel • DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER • March 13, 2010

Florida State ace Sean Gilmartin might not have had his best stuff Friday night against No. 4 Virginia. In the end, it probably didn't matter.

The way Cavaliers starter Danny Hultzen was throwing, Gilmartin would had to have been nearly perfect to simply hold serve.

After a brief rain delay that pushed the game back 15 minutes, Hultzen and two relievers combined to limit No. 2 Florida State to just three hits in a 5-0 victory. The Seminoles, who entered the game averaging more than 10 runs a game, produced just three baserunners.

"That was just a beautiful game of baseball," FSU coach Mike Martin said. "You can't say enough about all three of Virginia's pitchers. It was just a beautiful, well-pitched game on their part, and they deserve all the credit."

The loss was the first of the season for FSU (12-1, 0-1), and it was the Seminoles' first shutout since falling to Bucknell in the 2008 NCAA Regional.

The game was billed as a showdown of the conference's top two pitchers, and Hultzen (3-1) came out on top. With a pair of nasty off-speed pitches — a changeup and a slider — and a sneaky fastball, the sophomore left-hander kept FSU's hitters off balance all night.

Hultzen, who allowed two hits and no walks in six innings, had a no-hitter going until Sherman Johnson doubled in the bottom of the fifth inning. He struck out six.

"He pitched a great ballgame tonight," UVA coach Brian O'Connor said. "He was in great command of all of his pitches. It looked like he had really good velocity on his fastball, and he was hitting his spots. Florida State's got a great club — they've got a lot of really good hitters.

"But really great, dominating pitching always beats a great offense. And he was in control of the game tonight."

Gilmartin (3-1) struck out six as well, but he struggled to locate his fastball, walking three and allowing a career-high 11 hits — with the big one being a two-run homer to UVA cleanup hitter Dan Grovatt in the fourth inning. Grovatt later added a solo shot off of reliever Hunter Scantling. That was the only hit Scantling allowed in three innings.

"I know one thing — that's the best baseball team we've played," Martin said.

The loss marked the first for FSU in an ACC opener since it fell at Virginia in March 2002.

FSU and Virginia (11-2, 1-0) will continue the series today at 6 p.m. Junior left-hander John Gast (3-0, 1.50 ERA) will start for FSU against junior right-hander Robert Morey (2-1, 3.63).

Yesterday in past for Martin: FSU knows opening loss needs to be forgotten
By Ira Schoffel • DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER • March 13, 2010

With more than 40 regular-season games remaining, you'll have to excuse veteran Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin for not getting too worked up about a series-opening loss.

When asked what he told his players after Friday night's 5-0 loss to Virginia, Martin said it was short and sweet.

"I congratulated them for playing very well for the first 13 games," he said. "You just have to understand that in this game, you can't get up, and you can't get down. You've got to be ready to go the next day. We're playing a very good Virginia team the next two days, then we take a day off and play a very good Florida team. So there's no rest here."

FSU's players didn't all take it as well. Long after the game ended, senior shortstop Stephen Cardullo still wore a scowl as he answered questions about an FSU lineup that was out-scored 5-0 and out-hit 12-3.

He gave credit to Virginia's pitchers, but he also said that he and the other FSU hitters did nothing to help themselves.

"We've got to let the game come to us," Cardullo said. "Offensively, we did nothing today. The pitching was great. But if you don't put up any runs, you're not going to win."

Martin said the beauty of baseball is the Seminoles won't have to wait long for redemption — they will get two more opportunities against the Cavaliers this weekend.

And Virginia coach Brian O'Connor already was preparing his players for FSU's response. Though Gilmartin is the Seminoles' ace, today's starter John Gast has been extremely impressive this season as well.

"Florida State's got one of the richest traditions in college baseball," O'Connor said. "They've got a very, very good club. You don't do what they did last week (against Georgia and Florida) and not have a very talented club. I know Gast is a very good pitcher, and we're going to have our work cut out for us in the remaining two games. There's no question about that."

Cavaliers, Hultzen Hand Florida State Its First Loss, 5-0
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 03/12/2010

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Behind six shutout innings from Danny Hultzen (So., Bethesda, Md.) and a four-hit, two-home run performance from Dan Grovatt (Jr., Tabernacle, N.J.), the Virginia baseball team rolled to a 5-0 victory over Florida State on Friday evening at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. With the three-hit shutout, the Cavaliers earned their first win in Tallahassee since 2005 and snapped the Seminoles' 12-game win streak to start the season.
Both teams are ranked nationally among the top five. Virginia is ranked as high as No. 1 in the Baseball America and Rivals.com polls, while Florida State stands as high as No. 2 nationally in the Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls.

Hultzen (3-1) allowed just two hits and struck out six over six innings. He was dominating as he mowed through the first 14 Seminole batters before Sherman Johnson hit a two-out double to center field in the fifth inning to break up the perfect game. Tyler Wilson (Jr., Midlothian, Va.) and Kevin Arico (Jr., Flemington, N.J.) finished off the shutout by pitching the final three innings for Virginia. The trio of UVa pitchers combined to strike out 11 with no walks as the Cavaliers shut out FSU for the second time in school history (1-0 in 1994).

Florida State starting pitcher Sean Gilmartin (3-1) also pitched six innings, giving up four earned runs, a career-high 11 hits and three walks while fanning six. He entered the game with a 0.90 ERA through his first three starts.

Florida State (12-1, 0-1 ACC) had surrendered just two home runs through its first 12 games, but Virginia (11-2, 1-0) swatted three Friday night, with two coming from Grovatt and one from Stephen Bruno (Fr., Audubon, N.J.).

Grovatt tied his career high in hits and recorded his first career multiple-homer game. He is the first Cavalier to hit two homers in a game since Jeremy Farrell posted a pair of home runs against Georgia Tech on May 16, 2008. Overall, Grovatt was 4-for-5 with three RBI and a pair of runs scored.

Tyler Cannon (Sr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) and Jarrett Parker (Jr., Stafford, Va.) each added two hits for Virginia.

After leaving runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings, Virginia broke through in the third with a two-out rally. Cannon hit a single to center and moved to second on a wild pitch. Grovatt hit a dribbler off the end of the bat for an infield single, moving Cannon to third, and Steven Proscia (So., Suffern, N.Y.) followed with a grounder deep in the hole at shortstop for an infield single to score the run.

Virginia added a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Cannon doubled to left field to lead off. He scored when Grovatt pounced on a hanging Gilmartin pitch and cranked it high over the right-center field fence for his first home run of 2010.

UVa again used the long ball in the sixth inning. With one out, Bruno belted an 0-2 Gilmartin offering to right-center for his second home run of the season, giving the Cavaliers a 4-0 edge.

Grovatt hit his second home run of the game to lead off the ninth inning against reliever Hunter Scantling.

The teams will play the second game of the series at 6 p.m. Saturday. The finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.

 

UVa grad breaks barriers
Associated Press
Published: March 13, 2010
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WASHINGTON — The football players at Calvin Coolidge Senior High School, Mayor Adrian Fenty and a room full of cheering staff needed only one word to describe her: coach.

Natalie Randolph, a 29-year-old biology and environmental sciences teacher and a University of Virginia graduate, was introduced Friday as the coach of the school’s Coolidge Colts. She’s believed to be the nation’s only female head coach of a high school varsity football team.

“While I’m proud to be part of what this all means,” Randolph said, “being female has nothing to do with it. I love football. I love football, I love teaching, I love these kids. My being female has nothing to do with my support and respect for my players on the field and in the classroom.”

The news conference drew the kind of attention usually reserved for the Washington Redskins and was delayed nearly two hours so Fenty, who is up for re-election this year, could be there and proclaim “Natalie Randolph Day” in the city.

Randolph was chosen from about 15 candidates after the previous coach resigned. The Washington native and UVa track star played six seasons as a receiver for the D.C. Divas of the National Women’s Football Association, helping the team win the title in 2006.

She also was an assistant coach from 2006-08 at another D.C. high school, H.D. Woodson, where opposing coaches would throw funny looks her way when told she was on the staff.

Now she’s a head coach, ready to dispel naysayers. And she doesn’t plan to do it by screaming in the kids’ faces.

“I’m probably more Tony Dungyesque,” said Randolph, who has a copy of the Super Bowl-winning coach’s book. “I’m soft-spoken, so me yelling is not me. I’m going to be me. That’s what I do in the classroom. When I get observed, the observers say ‘I didn’t expect you to be able to handle this class,’ but I do what I have to do to get it done.”

Randolph’s finance, Thomas Byrd, warned that Randolph’s polite demeanor could be misleading — “She packs a mean punch,” he said — and her Divas teammates were on hand to describe the grit that kept her playing on a severely injured ankle several years ago.

But Randolph will no doubt have to work a bit harder than the average coach to win the respect of players, opposing coaches and the football community at large.

Some of Randolph’s players already know and respect her — she’s been a teacher at the school for two years. They also know players on other teams will have a field day talking trash.

“I need trash talk as my ammunition to do better,” junior defensive tackle Daniel West said. “There’s nothing like proving somebody wrong. And I think that’s what we’re going to have to do this season — because a lot of people have something to say about her being our coach, and I feel like it’s my duty and it’s the team’s duty to prove everybody wrong, to show that it doesn’t matter. As soon as we start winning, everybody will want to be on the bandwagon.”

Coolidge went 6-4 last season under coach Jason Lane and has a state-of-the-art field, so it’s not necessarily a school that needs to draw attention. Principal Thelma Jarrett insisted that in “no way” was this a publicity stunt.

“People are always going to think negative things,” Randolph said. “I know what the deal is. My administration supports me, the kids support me. So that’s all that really matters.”

The schedule, however, poses an unusual challenge. Her finance is the offensive coordinator at Woodson. That should make for an interesting week when the rivals play.

“Good competition, good fun,” she said with a smile. “I love you all over there, but we’re going to beat you on the field and go hang out later.”