Hughes showing off all his kicks
UVa's all-time leading scorer, as well as his teammate Kurt Smith hope to catch the eye of a few NFL teams some time in the offseason.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- For NFL teams in the market for place-kickers, Virginia was the place to be this spring.

If the scouts didn't like what they saw from Connor Hughes, they could always take a look at Kurt Smith.

Chances are, they liked what they saw out of Hughes, the first-team All-ACC place-kicker this past season and the No. 1 scorer in UVa football history.

"Kurt did a great job on kickoffs his whole career here and, of course, I did the field goals," Hughes said. "A lot of the teams have come in here and wanted to see if we could do the opposite thing."

With more than a dozen scouts on hand for UVa's pro timing day, Hughes mostly kicked off. The only kickoff of his college career was against Temple this past fall in a 51-3 UVa victory. It landed 7 yards deep in the end zone.

Thirty-eight of Smith's 66 kickoffs resulted in touchbacks this past season, and he had a kickoff travel more than 80 yards in the air after a penalty that sent Virginia back to its 20-yard line at Miami.

ESPN rates Hughes as the No. 4 prospect among place-kickers going into the NFL Draft this weekend, but that doesn't mean he will be drafted.

"What I've heard for this year is that not a lot of teams are looking to draft kickers," said Hughes, who was 66-of-79 on field-goal attempts during his UVa career. "A lot of teams are looking for kickers, though. A lot of teams are looking for young guys who can come in and compete and maybe win a job."

One of the teams in the market was Dallas, which dispatched special-teams coach Bruce DeHaven to Charlottesville on a cold, rainy morning in late March. DeHaven was delayed at several stops along the way.

"Before I got on the plane this morning, I said, 'Well, I want to know when they're kicking because, if I get up there a little bit too late and they've already kicked, there's no use flying up,' " DeHaven said.

DeHaven was told that Hughes and Smith would not kick until 11:30 a.m., but, with bad weather on the way, plans were changed.

"You've got two good kickers here, I'm telling you what," DeHaven said. "They volunteered to go out and kick again for me."

What was Hughes going to do? Refuse to kick?

"Going back out is never a problem," he said. "If it was a nice day, maybe we'd show a little bit better. If it's a bad day, we just show that we can go out there and kick in anything. Either day, it will work out."

If DeHaven had gotten there earlier, he would have seen Hughes join the UVa position players at the bench-press rack, where teammates roared as he did 12 repetitions at 225 pounds.

"I just wanted to get out and have some fun, look like an athlete," Hughes said.

If the scouts had looked at Hughes' biography, they would have already known that.

At Lafayette High School in Williamsburg, Hughes was talked into trying out for the team and ended up as the starting quarterback for a state championship football team.

In the end, DeHaven's trip might have been in vain. Two days after Virginia's pro timing day, the Cowboys signed free agent place-kicker Mike Vanderjagt, left unprotected by Indianapolis despite going 23-of-25 on field goals last year.

Dallas could still draft Hughes, but that's why it would be preferable in many ways not to be drafted.

"Free agency works out great with me because then I get to look at the different programs and the different situations out there and pick the best option for me," he said. "It's not about the money."

If the scouts are convinced Hughes can kick off, that would be a bonus, saving a roster spot for teams that otherwise would carry a place-kicker and a kickoff specialist.

That isn't a concern in college, but most teams don't split those duties, much less with players in the same class.

"You don't get to see that very often," DeHaven said.
 

Groh sees silver lining in kicking situation
Latest grid commitment from tight end
Doug Doughty

To watch Ryan Weigand’s first punt sail for 50 yards Saturday, you would have thought Virginia’s kicking issues had been resolved for next season.

Then, Weigand got off a couple of clunkers and you had to wonder.

“That’s the way it’s been,” said coach Al Groh in an aside to the media following UVa’s spring game. “But, there have been years around here when we didn’t get [the 50-yarders], so I guess we can be happy for that.”

Weigand, punting for both teams, averaged 39.3 yards on nine attempts.

In Groh’s five seasons as head coach, only one punter has averaged 40 yards and that was a George Welsh holdover, Mike Abrams, in 2001.

In a nine-year span from 1993-2001, Virginia did not have a punter average fewer than 40 yards. In the past four seasons, UVa’s punters have averaged 34.8, 34.5, 35.8 and 39.3 yards per punt.

It’s no wonder there were no complaints with Gould’s punter. His average, in contrast with his predecessors, was pretty respectable.

Presumably, Groh would have been content with Gould as the Cavaliers’ punter for the next two years; however, Gould, the younger brother of Chicago Bears’ place-kicker Robbie Gould, was recruited “to kick off the ground,” as Groh has said several times.

Weigand was recruited out of junior college in the middle of last summer and was redshirted in the fall. He has two years of eligibility remaining and has been projected as the Cavaliers’ punter for 2006.

Gould almost certainly will be the No. 1 place-kicker and kickoff specialist, the latter job vacated by Kurt Smith, although it was walk-on Noah Greenbaum whose 44-yarder as time expired lifted the White team past the Blue team, 10-7, in the Cavaliers’ spring game Saturday.

Gould had been wide right from 46 yards on the previous drive, not that Greenbaum’s game-winner is about to win the job for him.

However, it may be time for UVa fans to stand back and realize how fortunate they’ve been with Hughes and Smith over the past four seasons and wonder if kicking needs to be added to the list of concerns for this year.

IT WASN’T TILL this column was under way that Virginia had taken its sixth football commitment from a junior, Mark Ambrose, a 6-foot-6, 223-pound tight end from Mt. Carmel, Pa., located approximately one hour north of Harrisburg.

“I’m projected as a receiving tight end,” said Ambrose in a short telephone interview, “but, I can block, too. You need to be able to do both.”

Ambrose had offers from Virginia, Syracuse and Temple and thought Boston College was about to offer after an Eagles’ delegation was in his home earlier in the week.

Connecticut also had expressed interest and Ambrose had spoken with a West Virginia recruiter, “but West Virginia doesn’t really use a tight end,” Ambrose said.

If it seems that Virginia is loading up quickly, consider that the Cavaliers may take only 14 commitments. Part of the reason for that is the number of 2006 UVa signees who may need to spend a year in prep school.

Preliminary indications are that as many as six to eight members of the 24-member recruiting class announced by the Cavaliers in February will be going to prep schools.

Trenton (N.J.) linebacker Almondo Sewell already has said he will go to Hargrave Military Academy and Orange County coach John Kayajanian says that nose tackle Asa Chapman will need a year at prep school, most likely at Fork Union, before he matriculates at UVa.

Virginia assumed from the time that Winston-Salem (N.C.) Mount Tabor quarterback O.C. Wardlow committed in August that he would not enroll at UVa until 2007.

IT’S NO WONDER that one of the first offers received by Virginia quarterback recruit Peter Lalich was from Ohio University. Lalich’s father, Todd, and his grandfather, Peter, played basketball at Ohio University.

In 1945-46, Peter Lalich played professionally for the Youngstown (Ohio) Bears in a league that was considered a forerunner to the NBA. One of his teammates was Press Maravich, who later went on to coach at North Carolina State and LSU and is maybe best known as the father of “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

“Peter was named after Pete Maravich,” Todd Lalich said. “Pete Maravich died in January (1988) and Peter was born in May, later that year. Of course, my father was named Peter, too, so we covered all of the bases.”

Todd Lalich lettered at Ohio U. in 1971-72.
 

Cavaliers get quarterback boost with West Springfield recruit
Virginia receives a commitment from West Springfield High quarterback Peter Lalich, one of the state's top signal-callers.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
April 26, 2006

Peter Lalich chatted on the phone Tuesday with his friend Greg Little, who, like Lalich, is a coveted rising senior football recruit. Little asked Lalich to list the top five colleges he was considering attending.

"And I couldn't think of anyone but U.Va.," Lalich said later.

So Lalich decided to call Virginia recruiting coordinator Mike Groh and make it official: Lalich is heading to Charlottesville. A quarterback at West Springfield High, Lalich is the Cavaliers' fifth and most highly regarded commitment for the Class of 2007. He is considered, along with Hampton High's Tyrod Taylor, to be one of the state's best quarterbacks.

Taylor's father, Rodney, said his son was unaware of Lalich's decision and that Virginia is officially still in contention. On Monday and Tuesday, coaches from U.Va., Tennessee, Louisiana State and Virginia Tech visited Hampton High. Rodney said his son hopes to choose a college by summer's end. Lalich, a 6-foot-5, 235-pounder, completed 189 of 331 passes last fall for 2,671 yards, 22 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He was a first-team all-star in January at an invitational combine affiliated with the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

Lalich said he didn't pick U.Va. because it was close to home. Just the right fit, he said. "I figured if I knew what I wanted, then I shouldn't wait, because someone else would take it," he said.

He said Virginia was the first school to offer him a scholarship last June. West Springfield coach Bill Renner said U.Va.'s interest increased last June after his team attended a 7-on-7 tournament that Virginia hosted for the first time. Though Groh and running backs coach Anthony Poindexter recruited Lalich, seven U.Va. assistants visited West Springfield on Monday to simply stand next to the football field and watch Lalich throw. "They wanted to send him a message," Renner said.

Lalich also got offers from Michigan, Miami, N.C. State, Maryland, Nebraska, UCLA and Mississippi, among others. He received guidance from former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann, who owns the Alexandria restaurant where Lalich's mom, Penny, is a bartender. But as for quarterback comparisons, "I'm kinda like Ben Roethlisberger," Lalich said. "I can run a 4.8 40 (-yard dash), but I can throw the ball 40 yards in 1.8 seconds."

Which sounds like a curious stat. "My friends were making fun of me because I'm not like Tyrod Taylor, and I can't run for 100 yards a game. But I was like, 'I can throw the ball faster than he can ever run.' "

Lalich also said he'd capitalize on his friendship with Little, the standout wide receiver from Durham, N.C., whom Lalich met at the January combine - and whom Virginia is recruiting.

"I'm gonna get him to come," Lalich said.
 

D'Brickashaw Ferguson anchored U.Va.'s offensive line.
He's ready to do the same in the NFL.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 28, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE Kansas State's new football coach, Ron Prince, never tires of talking about D'Brickashaw Ferguson the offensive player - or D'Brickashaw Ferguson the person.

This, after all, is a young man who earned his degree in religious studies from the University of Virginia in 3½ years, has served as a youth minister in his church, holds a black belt in karate and dazzles seemingly everyone he meets with his intelligence and poise.

"I think he's a very unique story," said Prince, who was Ferguson's position coach at U.Va. "He has very Jack Kemp-type qualities. I would not be surprised if he was president one day."

The 6-5, 305-pound Ferguson's immediate concern, of course, is football, not politics. He's one of six players the NFL has invited to New York for the draft festivities, and he's a lock to be selected early tomorrow.

"He'll be picked with the expectation that he'll come in and play [immediately], and he's already experienced that once before," U.Va. coach Al Groh said.

That was in 2002. A few months after graduating from high school on Long Island, N.Y., the kid with the 87-inch wingspan found himself starting at left tackle in Virginia's season opener, despite weighing about 250 pounds. He never lost the job. By the time Ferguson's college career ended, he'd started 49 games, made the all-ACC first team twice and been named to The Associated Press' All-America first team.

"He's a great model for the university in general," Groh said. "To have a player of this level and this accomplishment, who's also graduated in seven semesters, paints a pretty good profile of what we're looking for."

Ferguson could have entered the NFL draft a year early. He'd have gone in the first round, and he'd be a wealthy man already. He told reporters that he never seriously considered passing up his senior season at U.Va. Ferguson made sure he graduated in December, though, so he'd be able to concentrate this semester on preparing for the draft.

The Fergusons "are a very purposeful family. They are very professional people," Prince said. "Brick wanted to do everything that he could do in college first, including getting his degree.

"He's not distracted by a lot of things that distract young people. He's really been about school and football, and that's about it. You're not going to see him out at the bars on Friday and Saturday night. That's not who he is. Because of that, that's why you'll see him be a success in the NFL. He won't get caught up in all the trappings. I think D'Brick could really not give a damn about the money."

Ferguson, who steadily added pounds and muscle during his college career, played at about 295 last season. That's light for an NFL offensive tackle, so Ferguson went to work after the Music City Bowl.

"I guess since my last game, I've put on about seven pounds," Ferguson said at U.Va.'s pro-timing day last month, "just really working out hard, trying to gain extra size and muscle, so I can just really show that I can play at a higher level."

In January, Ferguson's performance at the Senior Mobile in Mobile, Ala., cemented his status as a top-10, if not a top-five, pick in the draft. Even at 300 pounds, he remains extraordinarily athletic.

"He's not a finished product yet . . . but he's awful close," said ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.

Prince said: "I have absolutely no doubt that D'Brickashaw will do terrific. I see D'Brickashaw doing for the left tackle position what Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates have done for the tight ends."

Ferguson said he'll bring as many family members as permitted to the draft, "because it's definitely going to be a wonderful occasion. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I'm glad that I have a chance to take part in. It's a true blessing. I feel that God has blessed me."

 

Good behavior for U.Va. lacrosse
Cavs have had some run-ins with law, most minor traffic offenses
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 28, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The off-field behavior of men's lacrosse players at Duke and, now, North Carolina has been scrutinized, criticized and publicized this spring. In the Charlottesville area, police say they don't consider the players at the University of Virginia to be a problem in the community.

Asked if there have been serious incidents involving men's lacrosse players at U.Va., Capt. Chip Harding of the Charlottesville police said, "None that have come to my attention."

Capt. John Parrent of the Albemarle County police: "I don't know of any issues with that team."

The Times-Dispatch's on-line search this week of cases in the Albemarle County and Charlottesville general district courts revealed that members of the 2004,'05 and'06 teams at U.Va. have had occasional run-ins with the law. The large majority of these incidents, however, were traffic violations, such as speeding, failure to obey a highway sign, and failure to yield on a left turn.

Of the 39 players in the Cavaliers' 2006 media guide, four have criminal cases listed in the Albemarle or Charlottesville court systems:

A 19-year-old freshman was charged last fall with unlawful possession of alcohol. His case was continued until October.
Another 19-year-old freshman was charged last summer with underage possession of alcohol. His case was continued until September.
Two sophomores had misdemeanor charges of assault and battery dismissed this month.
Two seniors on U.Va.'s 2005 team had been arrested on criminal charges in Charlottesville, according to the court data base. The first was charged in September 2002 with unlawful possession of alcohol, a misdemeanor. That charge was dismissed in July 2004.

The second was charged with a fireworks violation, a misdemeanor, in September 2004. He was found not guilty in March 2005. In connection with the same incident, this player also was charged with public swearing and intoxication. He was found guilty of that misdemeanor charge in March 2005 and paid a $25 fine and $66 in court costs.

Virginia, the nation's top-ranked team, plays for the ACC title Sunday in Baltimore. The Cavaliers have won two NCAA titles under Dom Starsia, their coach for the past 14 seasons.

"Any violations, any citations would be too many," Starsia said Wednesday. "But I also understand that mistakes can be made along the way as kids grow up. That's part of college, and we deal with it on a case-by-case basis. But nothing [involving U.Va. players] in the community has been brought to my attention. Nobody has called and said, 'Dom, your team is a menace.'"

Nor has Craig Littlepage, Virginia's athletic department, received such a call.

"The behavior of our men's lacrosse players has not come to my attention through any means as being an issue, either individually or collectively," Littlepage said yesterday.

Starsia told him recently, Littlepage said, that "there's probably not a day that goes by that in some way he and the coaches don't address the situation, either with the whole team or individuals who take the message back to the team. . . . We're all under the microscope, and the focus has been sharpened."

Capt. Mike Coleman of the U.Va. police said: "I've been here a long time - nearly 28 years - and I've never known the lacrosse team, to the best of my knowledge, to have a bad reputation."

In Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C., more problems involving lacrosse players are known to have occurred in recent years. UNC's student newspaper, the Daily Tar Heel, reported Wednesday that eight of the school's 43 men's lacrosse players (almost 19 percent) have been arrested or cited in Chapel Hill in the past 2½ years.

"I'm concerned as a head coach that we've had as many incidents as we've had in the last few years," North Carolina's John Haus told the Daily Tar Heel. "I've made it very clear to our student-athletes that there's a privilege to be here, and we won't tolerate those things."

The Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer reported this month that nearly a third of Duke's 47 players have been charged in recent years with offenses such as disorderly conduct and public urination.

Duke's athletic director, Joe Alleva, told The Herald-Sun of Durham that he warned then-coach Mike Pressler last year that "his team was under the microscope, and he had to do everything he could to get them in line and to not have any more behavior problems."

Pressler resigned April 7 in the wake of allegations of sexual assault by Duke players at a March 13 off-campus party. On April 18, two Duke players were charged with first-degree forcible rape, first-degree sexual offense and kidnapping.


 

Cavs need just one win for ACC title
With only three teams in tournament, U.Va. receives bye into final
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 28, 2006

It's tournament time in ACC men's lacrosse, but it's not much of a tournament.

Duke's decision early this month to cancel its season left the ACC with three teams, and they'll be in Baltimore this weekend for what may be the smallest tournament of all time.

"It is kind of an odd format," Virginia attackman Danny Glading said.

U.Va., the nation's top-ranked team, is seeded No.1 and has a bye into Sunday's championship game at M&T Bank Stadium. Tonight, second-seeded Maryland meets third-seeded North Carolina for the right to face the Cavaliers.

"You'd have to seriously reconsider whether you'd have a tournament in the future with three teams," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "I don't think the conference had much choice this year, given the commitment" it had made to Baltimore.

Duke has not announced whether it will field a men's lacrosse team next season.

Virginia whipped Maryland 15-5 on April 1. The Wahoos won 21-13 at UNC a week later.

The NCAA tournament starts May 13, and U.Va. would lock up the No.1 seed with a victory Sunday. Starsia said his team has other motivation this weekend.

"I don't think in the big picture, a win or a loss here makes a great deal of difference," he said. "What's at stake here is a conference championship, which means a lot to us. It probably means more at our school and in our community than it does in the [college] lacrosse community."

At the pre-tournament awards banquet last night in Baltimore, Starsia was named ACC coach of the year, and Glading was named the conference's top freshman.

Five Cavaliers made the all-ACC team: senior attackman Matt Ward, a three-time selection; senior defenseman Michael Culver, a two-time pick; senior midfielder Kyle Dixon; junior midfielder Drew Thompson; and sophomore attackman Ben Rubeor.
 

Commitment from Lalich shows football program developing
Will Searcy, Cavalier Daily Columnist

Al Groh has put his "rebuilding" process on a fast track for success, all due to this past weekend's spring game.

Anyone who went to the spring game must have felt it in the atmosphere. It was certainly a fan-friendly affair. There was free food for the students, bounce houses (or moon bounces or moon walks, the correct title is still being debated in my apartment), a combine challenge, a student that was inches away from winning tuition for a year and a lucky individual who won a Toyota Tundra, season tickets and more. This good use of marketing brought a pretty solid crowd to Scott Stadium to observe the spring game.

The actual game was not extraordinary but showed some promise for the future. Christian Olsen looked solid, as did several of the new linebackers, running back Mikell Simpson and others. However, the players in the game do not prompt my earlier statement.

Future players, namely one, attending the game are what have caused my wave of enthusiasm. Somewhere amidst the games, food and football, two top-100 players, who will be high school seniors next year, committed to play for Virginia in 2007.

The first player was so excited about committing to Virginia he did so that very day. J'Courtney Williams, a six-foot-four-inch, 212-pound linebacker will be suiting up for the Cavaliers in the fall of '07.

While Williams was an excellent pick-up, his commitment was nowhere near the importance of adding Peter Lalich. Lalich is a six-foot-five-inch, 235-pound quarterback from Springfield, Va. who is currently the 53rd best player, sixth best quarterback, in the country. He is the most highly touted quarterback that has ever committed to play for Virginia, besides Ronald Curry who backed out of his commitment.

Lalich passed for 2,700 yards and 22 touchdowns this past season and is known for having a strong arm and good speed for his size (rivals.com lists his 40-yard time at 4.65 seconds). He turned down offers from the likes of Michigan, Miami, N.C. State, Maryland and Oklahoma. He also received interest from Florida, Florida State, the University of Southern California and many more.

Lalich's credentials are certainly outstanding, and I personally cannot wait to see him light up the scoreboard for the 'Hoos, but his play alone is still not what has prompted me to say Groh's "rebuilding" process has been put in fast-forward. Comments like the following do.

"It's not over," Lalich said in response to a question regarding his recruitment process, according to DailyProgress.com, "Because I'm going to start recruiting guys to come to Virginia with me."

What type of guys might Lalich encourage to join him at U.Va.? Perhaps, one of the other top-75 players in his class that joined him at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, where he made first-team All-Combine, will follow him to Virginia. One such player, whom Lalich made friends with, according to dailypress.com, could be wide receiver Greg Little of Durham, N.C. Maybe it will be one of his other friends, such as tailback Max Millen of Yorktown, Va., whom timesdispatch.com said is friends with Lalich.

This is what is most exciting. By signing early with Virginia, a highly coveted player such as Lalich will cause other top players to consider Virginia as an option. Rivals.com currently lists four of their top-50 juniors as being interested in the Wahoos. Maybe now that number will increase and some of those players will sign with Virginia. Either way, Virginia has become a viable option for the nation's best talent, and this makes Groh's "rebuilding" job much easier.
 

Cavs travel north to tangle with Terps
Final ACC road series of the season will come against struggling Maryland; Virginia has won 10 of last 11 games
Barney Breen-Portnoy, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Virginia (35-10, 13-8 ACC) will close out the road portion of its conference schedule this weekend with a three-game set at Maryland (20-25, 7-17 ACC). With four weeks remaining until the ACC Tournament starts in Jacksonville, the Cavaliers have won 10 of their past 11 games and are ranked as high as No. 13 in the national polls.

Virginia's recent hot streak has coincided with increased offensive productivity from two key players, freshman catcher Beau Seabury and sophomore third baseman Patrick Wingfield.

Seabury, a Washington state native, has started 40 games behind the plate this season for the Cavaliers. He has been solid in terms of both defense and game management all season, but in recent weeks his bat has picked up as well. He is currently working on a 10-game hitting streak during which he has gone 13-35 at the plate with nine runs batted in.

"About two weeks ago, [assistant] coach [Kevin] McMullan, [freshman] David Adams and I worked a lot in the batting cage," Seabury said. "We ironed some things out, and I'm feeling really good and a lot more confident at the plate. I struggled a lot early in the season with falling behind in the count. Lately, I've been swinging a lot more early in the count and getting good pitches to hit."

Seabury's greatest contributions still come from his defensive work behind the plate, and he has earned the confidence of Virginia's pitching staff.

"He's great," sophomore middle reliever Michael Schwimer said. "I don't know how many times I've thrown third-strike sliders in the third, and he's blocked it and thrown the guy out every time. It's great to know that we have a rock behind the plate who also has a cannon of an arm. We don't care how he hits. He's not coming out of the lineup."

Wingfield has started the past four games for Virginia at the hot corner, during which he has gone 7-16 at the plate while driving in five runs. The Winchester native was stuck behind Ryan Zimmerman last year and has had to battle with freshman Jeremy Farrell for playing time at third base this year. ingfield has been in the starting lineup 11 times this season.

"He's a funny guy," Schwimer said of Wingfield. "He does his job. He gets clutch hits and makes every play defensively. I can't say enough good things about him."

While Virginia holds a nine-game winning streak over Maryland since 2002, coach Brian O'Connor expects a formidable test this weekend in College Park.

"We've played six ballgames in the past two years against Maryland, and I think four of those have been extra-inning games," O'Connor said. "They've all been tight, low-scoring games. It's going to be Senior Day for them on Sunday, so it's going to be a challenging weekend ahead."

Maryland's Shipley Field features some of the smallest dimensions in the ACC, which may prompt O'Connor to tweak his normal offensive game plan. The fence is 325 feet down the lines and a mere 380 feet to dead center field.

As O'Connor's squad heads into the stretch run, every conference contest will be of vital importance towards determining seeding for the ACC Tournament to be held May 24-28. The top two teams in both the Atlantic and Coastal divisions are guaranteed the first four seeds in the eight-team tournament while the four latter seeds will be granted to the teams with the next four best records, regardless of division. Virginia is currently tied with Georgia Tech for second place in the Coastal division, two games behind North Carolina. The Cavaliers made it to the conference championship game last season after entering the tournament as the No. 7 seed.

"I don't really pay attention to the seeding," O'Connor said. "I don't think it matters. All eight teams are going to be great."

The Cavaliers appear to be on track to make a run at the school record for wins in a season. The 1996 squad under coach Dennis Womack went 44-21, while the 2004 squad under O'Connor went 44-15.

 

Accuser made prior rape report
The woman who says she was raped by three Duke lacrosse players had a previous case
Michael Biesecker, Samiha Khanna and Anne Blythe, Staff Writers

DURHAM - The woman who said three men raped her at a party held by members of the Duke University lacrosse team made a similar report 10 years ago in a nearby town.
Creedmoor Police Chief Ted Pollard said Thursday that a woman matching the full name and birth date of the accuser in the Durham case filed a report with his department Aug. 18, 1996, saying she was raped by three men three years earlier, when she was 14.

Pollard said that the archived records from that time are sketchy but that it appears none of the three men named in the 1996 complaint was arrested.

The woman's father said Thursday his daughter was not raped in the 1996 incident.

"They didn't do anything to her," he said.

The father said his daughter was held against her will by a group of men who had picked her up from school in Durham and drove her to Creedmoor. She was not sexually assaulted or injured in the encounter, he said, and she was returned home safely the same day.

The 1996 accusation came to light Thursday after Essence.com, the Web site of Essence, a lifestyle magazine, reported in a news update that the accuser's mother had said her daughter was raped by several men in Creedmoor when she was a teenager. When contacted by The News & Observer on Thursday, the mother said the magazine misrepresented her comments. She refused to elaborate on what her daughter had reported to the Creedmoor police.

"I'm not going to tell you anything," the mother said.

It is the policy of The N&O to not disclose the names of people who report they were sexually assaulted or their family members.

Authorities arrested two Duke lacrosse players on felony charges of rape and kidnapping April 18. Collin Finnerty, 19, and Reade Seligmann, 20, were each released on $400,000 cash bail.

District Attorney Mike Nifong said last week he intended to build a case against a third man identified by the accuser in a photo lineup who she was "90 percent sure" was one of her attackers. He has been adamant that he believes a sexual assault occurred and that a physical exam performed at Duke Hospital is consistent with her story.

Nifong had no comment Thursday night about the accuser's prior rape report.

Defense lawyers said the revelation bolsters the lacrosse players' contention that nothing happened at the March 13 team party where the accuser and another woman were hired through an escort service to dance.

"This is just jaw-dropping," said Pete Anderson, a Charlotte lawyer representing a team member who has not been charged.

Joseph B. Cheshire V, a Raleigh lawyer who represents a team captain who lived in the Buchanan Boulevard house where the rape is alleged to have occurred, called on Nifong to end a runaway prosecution.

"It certainly raises substantial questions about this woman's credibility," Cheshire said. "It's awfully bothersome when both allegations of rape include three men. It gives one a lot of pause about her credibility. ... This is a train off the track."

Lawyers for Finnerty and Seligmann could not be reached late Thursday.

The woman's accusations and the resulting arrests have drawn national media attention to Durham, where many residents are split between those who believe her story and those who support the lacrosse players. In the wake of the accusations, the lacrosse team's season was canceled and its coach forced to resign.

Though the 1996 complaint does not prove the dancer's current accusations are false, a legal observer said if the case goes to trial, defense attorneys will attempt to use the prior rape report to undermine her on the witness stand.

"From the defense standpoint, I think that's some crucial information that really can be used to bolster their claim that the accuser has a less-than-honorable motive in bringing the charges," said John Fitzpatrick, a Durham defense lawyer who is not involved in the case. "As a defense lawyer, that's something I would want to investigate completely to see if she's crying wolf. If she's crying wolf in 1996, then potentially she could be crying wolf in 2006."

The dancer, 27, is the mother of two children and an honor student and N.C. Central University, where she studies psychology. When told of the 1996 complaint Thursday, some NCCU students said they will continue to stand by their classmate.

"Rape is wrong, sexism is wrong and classism is wrong," said Khari Jackson, an NCCU senior from Winston-Salem. "If it turns out [that the allegations are] not true, I'll still support her because of the deeper issues that's surrounding this case."

A group of Duke students heard of the earlier rape report while celebrating the end of the semester at a local bar.

"It all sounded questionable. ... I just hope if it's a false accusation, that the amount of media attention focused on the players, the same amount of attention is put on their innocence," said second-year law student Adam Levine.

 

Accuser in Duke lacrosse case made rape allegation in 1996
BY SHARIF DURHAMS
Charlotte Observer

DURHAM, N.C. - A woman who accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her at a house party last month told police in a nearby town a decade ago that she had been sexually assaulted by three men when she was 14, the city's police chief said Thursday.

A woman with the same name, birth date, address and race as the accuser in the lacrosse incident filed a 1996 complaint with police in Creedmoor, a city about 15 miles northeast of Durham. She told police three black men had sexually assaulted her, Police Chief Ted Pollard said.

The officer who investigated the case now works for the Durham Police Department, Pollard said. His office could not uncover additional details about the reported assault Thursday because case files were not computerized in 1996, he said.

In an earlier interview with the Charlotte Observer, the woman's ex-husband said the accuser "has been hurt before," but he would not elaborate. The two married when the accuser was 18 and divorced two years later.

According to the Creedmoor police report in August 1996, when the woman was 18, she told officers she was raped and beaten by three men "for a continual time" in 1993, when she was 14.

Attorney Joe Cheshire, who represents one of the uncharged players on the team, said he wants to know if prosecutors in the current case knew about the earlier allegation, or if the accuser told them about it.

He added that he found it notable that authorities apparently declined to prosecute the earlier case.

"These are serious allegations, particularly for a person that age. In my mind, it would raise real issues about her credibility," he told the Associated Press.

The report surfaced Thursday as several community activists and national groups have tried to rally around the accuser, an exotic dancer who says Duke lacrosse players trapped her in a bathroom and assaulted her after teammates hired her for a March 13 party.

The woman, now a 27, told Durham police that three white Duke lacrosse players held her in a bathroom and choked, raped and sodomized her.

A grand jury indicted two lacrosse players, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann, on rape and kidnapping charges last week. Both say they're innocent, according to their lawyers.

Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong has repeatedly said he believes the accuser, who is a student at N.C. Central University, a historically black school a few miles from Duke. Nifong has said he's still determining whether he can bring charges against a third player.

Nifong would not comment about the case Thursday.

The accuser's father said Thursday his daughter is dealing well with her ordeal and with national media scrutiny over the case.

The woman's father denies reports that his family received death threats. He also said he believes his daughter will keep cooperating with investigators, despite speculation by some Durham residents and media commentators that she might back away.

"I don't think she's thinking that way," the father said. He said his daughter was handling the situation well "under the circumstances."

An official with New Black Panther Party for Self Defense, a black nationalist organization, said his group offered to provide security for the accuser this week after an article in Essence magazine quoted her father, saying the family had received threats.

"We received a call from some concerned citizens in Durham who said the young lady was in distress," said Hashim Nzinga, national chief of staff for the group.

The accuser's father said he turned away the assistance.

The New Black Panther Party is planning a rally Monday near Duke University. The group has been denounced by the Black Panther Party that was formed in the late 1960s.

The group has distributed fliers containing pictures of Finnerty and Seligmann, along with the question: "Had enough of disrespect and racism from Duke University?"

Duke spokesman John Burness says university police and city police have spoken about the rally and the school doesn't challenge the right of anyone to protest. The university, however, will not allow protesters near classroom buildings or residence halls since students will be studying for final exams, Burness said.