UVa going into the Devils' lair
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 29, 2007

DURHAM, N.C. - It was shortly after Virginia’s 7-6 overtime loss to Duke here two weeks ago that UVa coach Dom Starsia said he expected to face the Blue Devils again before the season was out.

Starsia has proved prophetic.

Today, Virginia will face Duke in the final of the ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils, who have won seven straight games, are the top seed in the tournament - and they’ll be getting to play on their home field.

“It’s one of those things where you’re not necessarily looking forward to it,” Starsia said with a chuckle, “but it is what it is … it’s going to be a tremendous challenge. They’re a very dangerous lacrosse team that is playing very well. We’re going to have to play our best in order to pull this one out.”

UVa (12-2) did not come close to playing its best when the team’s met on April 14. UVa was sloppy with the ball throughout the game and blew a late lead.

“I think Duke had a lot to do with that,” Starsia said. “They’re one of the teams that we play during the year that we feel like can run up and down the field with us, [but] we clearly weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. Hopefully we can clean some of those things up.”

The first meeting came just a few days after three former Duke players were cleared of all charges stemming from an alleged incident with an exotic dancer. With all the hoopla surrounding the game, Starsia doesn’t believe either team played to its capabilities.

“I’ve said all along that if there was going to be a second Virginia-Duke game, it would probably be more indicative of what the teams are actually like than in the first time around,” Starsia said. “I think this will be more like a regular lacrosse game. There was so much emotion and distraction on both sides last game that it was hard to really tell what was going on at times.”

A major key for Virginia heading into the rematch will be the health of leading scorer Ben Rubeor. In the semifinal win over Maryland, Rubeor’s right knee once again gave him problems. Afterward, the junior revealed that his kneecap had popped out of place - something that has happened to the All-American on numerous occasions.

“I’m concerned about it,” Starsia said, “But I’m not sure there’s much I can do about it.

“He probably needs a couple of weeks’ rest, which he just can’t get right now. On the other hand, we’re fortunate that he can at least go out and play with it.”

Rubeor initially injured his knee in the first Duke game. In each of the last two games, he has fallen to the ground in apparent pain.

“I think what happens is that it scares him at first, more than it hurts him,” Starsia said. “It takes a few minutes for [the knee] to settle down a little bit.

“He’s one of the guys who I look at and say, ‘You need some time off, son.’”

If Rubeor can make it through today’s game, he will get that time off. The NCAA Tournament doesn’t begin until May 13.

Although UVa has changed dramatically since beating Maryland in last year’s ACC title game, the expectations remain the same, according to Virginia co-captain Ricky Smith.

“Winning the [championship] has definitely been one of our goals since the beginning of the season,” Smith said. “We’re excited to do that.”

Ground balls

Virginia will be gunning for its sixth ACC crown since 1997. … UVa leads the all-time series with Duke 48-17. Virginia has defeated the Blue Devils more than anybody in school history. … Goalie Kip Turner (ankle) and Mike Timms (ribs) are a few other Virginia players who are nursing injuries. “I think, all things considered, we’re pretty good,” Starsia said. “Everyone is hurting right now at this time of the year.”

 

Cavs defense faces tough test vs. UNC
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 29, 2007

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Having won its first six games of the season, including a 15-4 thumping of third-ranked Maryland, the Virginia women’s lacrosse team was riding high.

Then came North Carolina.

The Tar Heels, the No. 1 team in the country, strode into Charlottesville and dominated Virginia, 16-7.

“It was definitely an off day for us and a very good day for Carolina,” recalled Virginia coach Julie Myers. “Our biggest breakdown came in transition [offense]. We just kept trying to force the ball down the middle.”

Today, Virginia and North Carolina square off again - this time in the final of the ACC Tournament.

“We’re excited to get another crack at Carolina,” Myers said. “I don’t think the last time around scares anybody.”

Virginia (15-3), seeking its second straight championship, will be riding the momentum of an exhilarating comeback win over Maryland in the tournament semifinals. The Cavs trailed 7-4 midway through the second half before scoring six unanswered goals to win, 10-7.

“The win was great,” said Virginia goalie Kendall McBrearty. “We just didn’t want to go home.”

Virginia’s defense, anchored by McBrearty, held Maryland scoreless for the final 16-plus minutes.

“As the season has gone on, I’ve learned things in practice every day, and I think our defense has really come together,” McBrearty said. “I’m really happy with how the defense is playing.”

McBrearty and company will need to come up big again today. North Carolina (15-3), which defeated Duke in the semifinals, has a potent offense. In the win over the Blue Devils, Kristen Taylor and Christina Juras each notched hat tricks.

In their victory over Virginia last month, the Tar Heels pelted McBrearty with 36 shots. UVa had just 14.

“I think a lot of things broke down last time and they were on top of everything,” McBrearty said. “We didn’t help each other out and stick to our defensive plan. That left a lot of people open right in the middle.”

The breakdown clearly affected Virginia’s quick-strike offense. In preparation for the rematch, Myers has installed a new play to help combat the problems that her team had in the transition game.

“We have a reverse option where we can go up the opposite side,” she explained. “It will enable our attack to do their thing.”

Myers said beating UNC and winning an ACC championship would be a great accomplishment.

“Four of our top teams in the [ACC] are within the top six in the country,” she said. “It would give us great confidence going into the NCAAs.”

Ground balls

In the win over Maryland, Brittany Kalkstein set the new freshman record for draw controls. She now has 48, which is just nine shy of the all-time single-season school record. … Senior Kate Breslin is three points shy of moving into the all-time top 10 in scoring. She currently has 160 points. … UNC is making its first appearance in the tournament final since 2002.

 

Seabury comes through in 10th
Cavs claim series from UMd, maintain slim lead in Coastal Division
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 29, 2007

The distance left something to be desired.

The result, however, told a different story.

Beau Seabury connected on a game-winning, two-out infield hit to third base in the 10th inning off Maryland reliever Brett Cecil, lifting Virginia to 3-2 victory in front of 2,116 fans at Davenport Field.

Virginia (36-10, 15-7 ACC) won its 14th straight contest over the Terrapins (23-23, 7-16 ACC). The win also won the series for the Cavaliers and kept them in sole possession of first in the ACC’s Coastal Division with a half-game on North Carolina.

“It wasn’t a pretty win, but that is baseball,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “Our guys continued to fight the entire game, and good things happen when you put the ball in play.”

The game-winning run came after Virginia failed to score in six consecutive innings. Luckily for the Cavaliers, their bullpen matched the Terps down the stretch as Michael Schwimer and Jake Rule combined for five scoreless innings in relief.

“Those two guys were simply amazing in relief tonight,” O’Connor said.

To their credit, both Cav hurlers pitched out of jams.

In fact, Schwimer entered the game in the sixth inning after Virginia starter Matt Packer (5 IP, 8 H, 2 ER) had allowed a leadoff single to Maryland designated hitter Jon Greenwich and fell behind Mike Murphy by throwing back-to-back balls.

“I knew that I was going to go to Schwimer for the next hitter, and after Packer fell behind 2-0, I knew I didn’t want to get it into a multiple-base runner situation,” O’Connor said.

It happened anyway.

Schwimer, after racing the count full, allowed a double to Murphy that landed in the gap in left-center.

“It was supposed to be an inside fastball and it was right down the middle,” Schwimer said of the pitch. “The guy did what you are supposed to with it: he crushed it.”

Admittedly, Schwimer did not panic and he escaped the inning unscathed by retiring three straight on a pop fly, a strikeout and a weak grounder.

“After that double, I got my location back and I was pretty good,” said Schwimer, who allowed only two hits in three innings.

Rule, who earned the win, was equally impressive, stranding a runner at second in the ninth and using a double play to end the 10th.

“There’s no bigger double play this season than that one,” O’Connor said. “Turning those double plays at crunch time is big going down this stretch run.”

That set the stage for the 10th-inning magic, which started with a leadoff single by Brandon Marsh. After Sean Doolittle sacrificed Marsh to second and Brandon Guyer was intentionally walked, the runners advanced on David Adams’ groundout to third.

Seabury, having made the final out in a 14-inning marathon loss to James Madison on Wednesday, got the redemption he longed for.

After falling behind 1-2, Seabury hit a chopper to third that skipped out of Murphy’s glove at third base and bought Virginia’s catcher enough time to beat the throw to first.

“It was an inside slider,” said Seabury, who finished with two hits. “I was sitting on something inside because, on the at-bat previous [in the eighth], Cecil was pounding me in.”

The loss dropped Cecil to 5-4 on the season and spoiled a solid start from their ace, starter Casey Baron. The left-hander worked seven innings, allowing seven hits and two early runs.

The two teams will close out the series today at 1 p.m.

 

Teams find success isn't leading to better schedules\By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

Southern Illinois was a pest for Kansas and nearly cracked the Elite Eight, yet as schedules are taking shape this month for next season, the Salukis are left fighting for scraps, unable to get a sniff from the big boys when it comes to an A-list tournament or a neutral-site, single-game event.

Virginia was a No. 4 seed in the Big Dance and was in play for a piece of the ACC title but drew Northwestern (no offense) in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

That's the reality facing three programs that are on the rise, especially the Salukis. All have different interests, and you could argue that they have varying philosophies on the subject.

Virginia ultimately will be fine. Recently, Cavaliers coach Dave Leitao said the Cavs will return a game to Stanford and are working on a series with Syracuse as well as a return game with Arizona. That's quite a slate. But for whatever reason, Virginia isn't getting respect in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The reason is quite simple: Duke and North Carolina are always going to get the top two perceived teams in the Big Ten, although matchups can sometimes alter that (for example: Duke is playing Wisconsin next season after previously playing Michigan State and Indiana -- the two likely Big Ten favorites -- while North Carolina is returning a game to Ohio State).

The way it shook down for the Cavs is this: The only other team that could have arguably been in their slot was Illinois, but the Illini got placed with Maryland on the road (there are home-and-road issues, too). Virginia is expecting to get plenty of ESPN and ESPN2 games once the ACC schedule is finalized, and there is a good chance that the aforementioned Stanford, Arizona and Syracuse games will get national play.

So if there is a slight against the Cavs it is mainly in the Challenge.

Oregon is in a different situation because of Fox Sports Net's exclusivity. The ESPN and ESPN2 windows are limited to Oregon going on the road. Oregon coach Ernie Kent said he's more concerned about the pop coming off the Elite Eight in recruiting than scheduling. But the schedule isn't littered with nationally televised games.

Oregon will play at Kansas State in a scheduling agreement between the Pac-10 and Big 12. The game likely will be picked up by a regional carrier at the very least. Oregon's game at Nebraska probably won't get national play, according to Kent. The Ducks are tentatively scheduled to be in a doubleheader at the Palace of Auburn Hills against Oakland (a home game for Detroit natives Malik Hairston and Tajuan Porter), with the headline game being Texas-Michigan State. Kent said he doesn't expect the Oakland game to be on national TV. The Ducks will host a tourney at home with Pepperdine, Long Beach State and another squad, and they are still looking for an opponent for their Portland Jam event.

Yes and no. For whatever reason, Gonzaga seems to be remembered for the games it plays in those first two months of the season. The games that it gets, that a school like the Salukis can't touch, are ones like last season's contests against Texas (in Phoenix) and Duke (in New York), being a host in the NIT Season Tip-Off, getting featured in the Maui Invitational or taking on UConn in Boston this upcoming season.

Southern Illinois is 127-38 the past five seasons, 75-15 in the Missouri Valley with a 3-5 NCAA Tournament record, including a Sweet 16 last month. Gonzaga, during that same stretch, is 130-32 overall, 63-7 in the WCC (the WCC plays 14 games to the Valley's 18) and an NCAA record of 5-5 with one Sweet 16 (in 2006). There are plenty of other differences between the two schools, like the number of top-50 recruits the Zags can lure that the Salukis can't, or NBA players (let alone draft picks) like the most recent (Adam Morrison and Ronny Turiaf). Add a national player of the year (Morrison) and a major Nike deal that seems to put the Zags equal at times to the big boys dressed in blue (like Carolina, Duke and Kentucky) and the Salukis can't compete. SIU isn't getting that kind of play.

But if there is one area where the Salukis would like to catch up, it is in scheduling. They feel they deserve to get more of a play and it's simply not happening.

"We've got more living alumni than Kentucky and Alabama, and we show up wherever we go," SIU athletic director Mario Moccia said. "But maybe we're not as romantic a name. We're not as sexy as Gonzaga. We [pick up] our lunch pails [and play a defensive-oriented style]. We're not as exciting. Maybe we're not as appealing to the masses."

SIU was in an ESPN regional-sponsored Orlando tournament last season. The Salukis will play in a similar event this season in Anaheim with USC. They will get on TV, but everyone in the industry would admit it's not played up as well as Maui or the NIT.

The rest of the slate for the Salukis next season is this: Indiana at home, Western Kentucky, Butler and Saint Mary's (a BracketBusters home game), and road games at Charlotte, Saint Louis and Murray State. The Indiana series, which started last season in Bloomington, wasn't a traditional home-and-home. According to Moccia, the only reason it occurred was that Indiana requested SIU to move a football game, and as part of the deal SIU got IU to sign on for a home-and-home hoop series.

Gonzaga can get Virginia and Stanford for true home-and-home games. Memphis and Georgia played in the Spokane Arena, but the Zags also didn't play on campus at either place (to be fair, the Tigers don't have an on-campus arena, as they play in the FedEx Forum). Oklahoma State played the Zags in Seattle and also in Oklahoma City. Missouri was the last team to play a Seattle game against Gonzaga but got the advantage of hosting the Zags in Columbia.

SIU doesn't see these kinds of games. Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin said he encourages the Salukis and all of his teams not to play one-way games without a return, which the Zags don't do either.

"Maybe teams don't like to play us because we bother them [defensively]," Moccia said. "That's why we don't get the home-and-homes. We know who we are and teams don't like our style."

"We've tried," Lowery said. "Teams don't have to come to Carbondale. We would do a neutral-site game."

The Salukis had an offer for next season to play George Mason in Washington, D.C., as part of the BB&T Classic. But that's not what Lowery is talking about. He said he could get the Patriots on his own for a home-and-home. Now, if you want SIU to play Georgetown in D.C. with a neutral-site return, well, that he would do.

"We're getting respect, but no one wants to play us on a neutral court," Lowery said. "Last year we played seven of our first 11 on the road. Our league is pretty tough and what we've done is pretty impressive. We have people tell us that we'll buy you, but that's not fair to our fans. We owe it to them to play games at home or at least a neutral site. It's also about economics and revenue streams."

Lowery said playing in an event like Maui (as Oregon is in 2008) would "elevate us."

"Just look at Gonzaga, when Adam Morrison almost single-handedly beats Michigan State and then [the Zags fall to Connecticut] ... and [Morrison] goes in the lottery. You can see how that can help you in recruiting and scheduling," Lowery said.

"Gonzaga had their success in the NCAA Tournament, and we've got to keep doing that too," Lowery said.

But even then, even if SIU were to get in another Sweet 16 -- the Salukis were in the Sweet 16 in 2002 under former coach Bruce Weber -- the phone might not ring.

"We'd love to get those Gonzaga-type neutral games. We feel our record the last five or six years shows we should," Lowery said. "But it's a lot easier said then done."

Yes it is, especially when no one is calling requesting the Salukis to headline an A-list event.


 

Notre Dame a new world for Corrigan
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
April 29, 2007

Gene Corrigan sat back in his chair at Glenmore Country Club a few days ago and reflected on what a blessed life he has led.

A wonderful wife, Lena, gave him seven children. He was a star high school athlete in Baltimore and an All-American lacrosse player at Duke before crossing over to coaching.

Corrigan coached numerous sports at Washington and Lee and then the University of Virginia, which led to a distinguished career in athletic administration at both those schools, then Notre Dame, before he became only the third commissioner in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

He always believed that coaching was the best job that he ever had, but he realized in that day and age there wasn’t enough money in the profession to feed his family.

The hardest job he ever had was being director of athletics at UVa, because during much of his 10-year stint (1971-80) the school was woefully short on money for its sports programs and he spent much of his energy urging administration to become realistic about becoming competitive in the ACC.

Ask him about his years as athletic director at Notre Dame and Corrigan will readily tell you that it was the one job that meant the most to his family.

However, it wasn’t that easy getting Corrigan out of Charlottesville. In fact, he dragged Lena, kicking and screaming, all the way to the Golden Dome.

During the summer of his final stretch at UVa, Corrigan was called by four schools interested in him becoming their AD. Stanford was one. Notre Dame was another.

“Father Joyce had called me out of the blue to come out and talk about their job,” Corrigan remembered. “Being a Catholic guy from Baltimore, I was intrigued. I had never been to Notre Dame and didn’t know much about it.”

He would soon find out. Father Edmund P. Joyce was the right-hand man to Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, who served as Notre Dame’s president for 35 years. The two had a firm grip on the way Notre Dame should conduct its business and were known as giants in their profession.

Once Corrigan met with Joyce, also the school’s chief financial officer, it was clear that Joyce wanted him to take the AD’s job.

“Father Joyce said, ‘Are you going to take it?’” Corrigan remembered. “I said, ‘Well wait a minute. I’ve got a family, a wife and seven kids, and this is a big move for us.’”

Joyce asked how much money Corrigan was making at Virginia, to which he answered $50,000.

“When I told him that, he said, ‘We could never pay you anything like that here,’” Corrigan said. “I said, ‘Father, the dance is over. I can’t move from there to here for less money.’”

They negotiated awhile before settling on $55,000.

Corrigan headed back to Charlottesville feeling good about the deal until he met with Lena and then-UVa president Frank Hereford.

Hereford told him, “you’re not leaving,” and upped the ante with a $25,000-a-year raise, an annuity and a free house to live in near Scott Stadium. All of this thrilled Lena.

“I didn’t have a penny in the bank at the time, had seven children and a lot of loans,” Corrigan said.

Still, he told his wife that he thought he needed to take the Notre Dame job, leaving Lena to question his sanity. While it took her awhile to come onboard, the Corrigans were off to South Bend, Ind.

“It was an amazing time to be there,” Corrigan said. “To work for Father Hesburgh and Father Joyce and the lessons I learned there only reinforced all the things I had learned at Virginia from ethical people like Edgar Shannon and Frank Hereford, that this is the way you run things.”

Once he moved, he realized that life under the Golden Dome was a little different in other ways. About 90 percent of the students lived on campus and all of them ate at the same two dining halls at the same time (except when practices ran late).

Athletes stand in the same lines as their fellow students, which created a close-knit community.

One day, Father Hesburgh called Corrigan into his office and asked him what was the difference between Virginia and Notre Dame.

Corrigan explained that in terms of being AD that one of the biggest differences was that at UVa, he would go before the Board of Visitors three or four times a year and give a report on athletics.

“He said to me, ‘Well, you’ll never do that here,’” Corrigan said Father Hesburgh told him. “I said, ‘Wait a minute, I’m a big shot ... are you telling me ...’”

He never got to finish his statement.

Hesburgh cut him off and said, “If I let you report to them, they’re going to think you work for them. You work for Father Joyce and me and the three of us will handle athletics here, and we don’t need their help.”

Plain and simple, but it was a highly effective philosophy.

Corrigan’s biggest frustration at Notre Dame was the Irish football program, which was struggling under Jerry Faust. Faust was the product of an experiment that took one of the nation’s most successful high school coaches, who was given the keys to Knute Rockne’s legendary program.

But Faust was a bust and everyone knew it. After three years it was clear to Corrigan that Faust needed to go. Players lined up at his door weekly seeking a transfer out. New assistants came in to try to help Faust salvage the program.

The alumni were screaming for Faust’s head.

But Faust had a five-year contract. A Chicago columnist took on the matter one day and Corrigan, who had danced around the issue in the story, got a surprise call from Hesburgh that morning.

“Father Hesburgh would never read the sports pages, but he did that morning,” Corrigan said. “He called me and said, ‘Gene, you’re struggling with the Faust thing, aren’t you?”

Corrigan said yes and went on to explain the entire situation, the player unrest, the criticism from fans and the rest.

After a while, Hesburgh said, “It looks like we’ve made a mistake.”

Corrigan agreed.

“Father Hesburgh said, ‘Well, how long is the contract?’”

Corrigan replied two more years and expected some relief from his president.

“He said to me, ‘Well, let’s put it this way ... unless [Faust] dies, he’ll be here two more years.”

Click.

Corrigan was stunned but later realized it was a great lesson learned.

“Everybody in our athletic department was thinking like me, that [Faust] is killing us and that he’s not going to get it done,” Corrigan said. “I got them all to realize that [Faust] was going to be there two more years and what are we going to do, sit around and moan about it, or are we going to back him and do everything we can to help him win?

“The next two years we weren’t much better, but at least everyone was onboard with [Faust], and when his time came, he stepped down,” Corrigan said.

It was the end of a bad era in Irish football but also the beginning of a great one.

Corrigan would hire Lou Holtz, who indeed woke up the echoes and stirred Rockne’s ghost. Between Corrigan, Holtz and NBC, they made Notre Dame football America’s team with an exclusive TV contract that remains one of the most brilliant deals in the history of sports television.

“When I went to see Lou, I knew this was the only job in the world he really ever wanted,” Corrigan said.

He had learned a long time ago, through his years at W&L and UVa that when you go to hire somebody, you take a list of everything that is wrong.

“Because I guarantee you, they’ll find out all those things the first month they’re there and they’ll be on your back, saying, ‘Why didn’t you tell me this?’” Corrigan said.

His list was a long one: no transfers, no athletic dorms, no training table, no this and that. He explained the entire scenario, good and bad, to Holtz.

In Corrigan’s best impression of Holtz’s distinct lisp, he spat out Holtz’s answer: “Gee, this is great, the way it should be every place.”

It wouldn’t be long before Corrigan felt a tug to come back home again. The ACC was calling.

 

Cavaliers get another shot at the Blue Devils
BY BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Apr 28, 2007 : 11:40 pm ET

When Duke rallied for a dramatic overtime victory over Virginia two weeks ago to earn the ACC regular season title, Virginia men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia admitted he was almost happy for the Blue Devils.

Now, with the ACC Tournament title on the line, there's no doubt that Starsia and the Cavaliers are happy to see the Blue Devils again.

"If I was a little bigger person, I might tell you that I was happy for Duke at the end of a long week," Starsia said two weekends ago, four days after three former Duke lacrosse players were cleared of all charges in a legal case that hung over the program for more than a year. "I think our programs respect each other a great deal.

"And there's a fair chance -- a better-than-average chance -- that we're going to see each other again somewhere down the road."

The teams' roads will converge today at 3:30 p.m., again at Koskinen Stadium, and again with a championship on the line.

It takes two victories to win the four-team ACC Tournament, but because of Duke's unique circumstances, both teams enter today's game on a three-game winning streak in ACC Tournament play. The Blue Devils won the 2005 tournament and opened this year's tournament with a 13-9 victory over UNC, but the Blue Devils didn't play in last year's tournament after the balance of their season was canceled amid the pending court case.

Virginia captured the ACC tournament title in 2006 -- not to mention the NCAA Tournament -- and opened this year's ACC tourney with an 11-10 victory over Maryland.

Friday's narrow win over Maryland marked Virginia's fourth consecutive game decided by a single goal, including a 7-6 overtime loss to Duke in a game in which the Blue Devils never led until the sudden-death victory.

"We beat Virginia in overtime, which is all well and good, but by no means were we happy with our performance," said Duke senior attackman Matt Danowski, who moved up to second on Duke's all-time scoring list with two goals and four assists Friday. "We played pretty sloppy on offense and it got a little frantic, and we kind of played out of our character a little bit.

"It was a great win, but by no means did we think we were world-beaters. We knew we had to get better, and I think we have gotten better."

The Blue Devils (12-2) enter today's showdown on a seven-game winning streak and are ranked second in the latest United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll. Virginia (12-2) has lost only its season opener and the game two weeks ago to Duke and enters the game ranked No. 3 in the USILA poll.

Duke junior attackman Zack Greer and Virginia junior attackman Ben Rubeor entered Saturday tied for second in the nation with 43 goals each, and senior goalies Kip Turner of Virginia and Dan Loftus of Duke rank first and third nationally in career winning percentage.

"We've got to worry about ourselves," Greer said. "If we go out and execute our things on offense and shut down on defense, then usually things are going to go our way.

"We had a good week of practice this week, so if we just keep working and put the ball in the cage when we have the chance to, we should be fine."

 

Stith quickly succeeds as coach
David Teel
April 29 2007

Bryant Stith won two Virginia high school basketball championships. He broke the University of Virginia's career scoring record and played 10 seasons in the NBA.

Stith then returned home. He established a foundation for area youth and coached his former team back to the state playoffs.

So disregard that baby face and tender age of 36. Stith very much deserved Saturday's induction into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

"I'm ecstatic to know they hold me in that regard," Stith said before the evening ceremonies in Portsmouth. "When you retire, you're back home and (raising) your kids, you have a tendency to think you've been forgotten."

Forgetting Stith requires a rather short memory.

He led Brunswick High to Group AA state titles in 1987 and '88, and shared top billing with Alonzo Mourning on some of the best summer teams Boo Williams has ever assembled. A 6-foot-5 hybrid, Stith expanded his game in college, helped Virginia earn three NCAA tournament bids and scored more points (2,516) than any Division I men's player in state history.

The Denver Nuggets selected Stith with the 13th pick of the 1992 draft, and a decade later he departed the NBA with a 10.1 career scoring average, more than $25 million in earnings and a truckload of resentment.

No matter that Stith was 31 and wealthy beyond his dreams. He believed fervently that he was being shoved aside by teams - Stith played one season each in Boston and Cleveland after eight years in Denver - interested merely in youth movements.

"I didn't get the opportunities to showcase my talent and I left the game on a bitter note, knowing I still could play," Stith said. "It really hurt. For two or three years I couldn't watch basketball. I had really lost the passion for the game, didn't care to be around it. I just wanted to step away."

Stith and his wife, Barbara, retreated to their Brunswick County home. They continued to raise their four children and founded SCORE (Setting Children On the Road to Empowerment), a non-profit organization that provides young people recreation, academic assistance and spiritual guidance.

"I got caught up in kids' dreams, where you're not influenced by money and not influenced by TV," Stith said. "They just want to go out and have a good time. It was a rehabilitation process for me more than anything else.

"They allowed me to regain, rekindle, that passion I once had for a sport that's done so much for me. Now I love basketball as much as when I first started playing. I'm following the NBA playoffs, following the great season U.Va. had."

Stith left out a rather important element of his reunion with basketball: He's coaching.

Last year Brunswick High principal Lawrence Whiting approached Stith about taking over the Bulldogs' boys varsity. Stith never had considered coaching but jumped at the chance.

He borrowed from many of his former coaches: Jerry Burke and Freddie Reekes at Brunswick; Terry Holland and Jeff Jones at Virginia; Mike Krzyzewski on a national team; Bernie Bickerstaff, Rick Pitino and Dick Motta in the NBA. He added a dash of his own theories and guided Brunswick to the state championship game, where the Bulldogs fell to Roanoke's William Fleming High.

"I jumped right into it, and man, did we have us a ball this year, both the players and me," Stith said. "It was just a wonderful connection. ... Now everybody has the big notion, 'Bryant, we just want you for a few more years before the colleges come in and grab you up.' Let's not put the cart before the horse. I'm just having a great time. I'm able to stay home close to the family and at the same time give back to the kids."

Bryant and Barbara's kids - Brandan, Broderick, Bria and Brooke - range in age from 12 to 7. They attended Saturday's induction, as did Katrina Pleasants, Bryant's sister.

Most treasured by Stith: His parents, Maudriece and Norman, were able to attend. They still live in Freeman, but Norman has been hospitalized since suffering a stroke last month - doctors granted him a temporary pass Saturday.

"I tell everybody, I get my quiet strength and humility from my mother," Stith said. "She's always been a very discerning person, very analytical. ... My father, if anybody knows my father, they understand where I get my burning desire and dedication to the game, because he always strived for perfection. The combination of their qualities helped mold the person that the world was able to see."