Kendall mulling options
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
May 8, 2005
Steven Kendall, a junior guard who committed to UVa last fall, has withdrawn
from classes at the Blue Ridge School and is finishing the semester at
Charlottesville High School.
Kendall, a Charlottesville native, withdrew from Blue Ridge for both scholastic
and family issues.
Kendall averaged 13.2 points and 4.4 assists per game this past season at Blue
Ridge and connected on nearly 40 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Blue Ridge coach Bill Ramsey has referred inquires of the withdrawal to the
Kendall family but has said that Kendall likely would be welcomed back at Blue
Ridge in the fall.
Right now, Kendall is looking at a variety of options for next season. Those
include returning to Blue Ridge but postgraduate programs such as Hargrave
Military Academy and Fork Union Military Academy are also viable options at this
juncture.
“Right now I’m looking at options to finish my senior year. Returning to Blue
Ridge is an option but I’ve also been looking at programs like Fork Union and
Hargrave. I’m looking at programs that will enhance myself both academically and
athletically for my senior year,” Kendall said.
Kendall committed to former UVa coach Pete Gillen last fall but that commitment
is not binding. The Kendalls will likely contact new Virginia men’s basketball
coach Dave Leitao in the next week or so to discuss Kendall’s future.
Kendall is not naïve about the situation or that Leitao and his staff may opt to
re-evaluate the 6-foot-4 guard.
“I understand that. It’s his job. I actually don’t think it would be right or he
would be doing his job if he just accepted me not having seen me play,” Kendall
said. “If I were him I just say, ‘We’ll re-recruit you or make a decision in a
different direction.’”
At the moment, Kendall’s commitment fills one of two scholarships the Virginia
staff has available for the 2006 class.
UVa women advance to NCAA Championships
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
May 8, 2005
The Virginia women’s golf team advanced to the NCAA Championships with a
fifth-place finish Saturday at the NCAA East Regional in Gainesville, Fla.
The Cavaliers finished with a three-round total of +41 (881), which placed them
behind regional winner Ohio State (+16), Duke (+22), Furman (+31) and Pepperdine
(+34).
The top eight teams advanced to the NCAA Championships, held next weekend in Sun
River, Ore.
“For the program, this being our second year and advancing to the championships,
it is just awesome. It speaks to the type of players we have. They are such
fighters and played with such confidence,” UVa coach Jan Mann said. “No one
expected us to make it I don’t believe.”
Individually, sophomore Leah Wigger led the way by finishing in a tie for second
with Furman’s Jenny Suh. Suh and Wigger both had 54-hole totals of 210 or even
par.
“She [Wigger] just played solid all weekend long. She was leading the tournament
entering Saturday and we talked how important it was for her to focus just on
one shot at a time,” Mann said. “She wasn’t concentrating as much on the
individual title as she was on getting the team to Oregon and that’s what she
did. She played solid golf and really, they all did.”
Virginia’s Sally Shonk finished with a total of 222 while Lauren Mielbrecht was
at 226. Rachel Smith had a total of 229 and Lindsay Robinson was at 233.
The players will take their exams at UVa this week and then board a plane on
Thursday for Oregon. The UVa women’s golf team does have the highest GPA of any
sports team at the school.
In just their second season, Mann and her golfers have received a certain amount
of attention since qualifying for NCAA Regionals. They, along with the men’s
program that has also had a successful spring and awaits its NCAA fate Monday,
have certainly found a niche among the UVa spring sports.
“I think people have started to take notice a little more. [UVa men’s coach]
Bowen Sargent has done a fantastic job since he came in. I think both programs
doing well has really opened some eyes and I think everyone is excited for us,”
Mann said. “I think golf is definitely on the rise at Virginia and I think there
will be more people following us now.”
ACC taking look ahead
Bowl tie-ins, basketball tournaments on agenda for meetings
Swofford says many topics await.
By LUCIANA CHAVEZ, Staff Writer
The ACC's spring meetings, which begin today and run through Wednesday, will
lack the explosiveness of two springs ago, when the ACC voted to expand to 12
schools, and the urgency of last spring, when the ACC hashed out new television
contracts.
That's all right with some of the people who will attend the meetings in Amelia
Island, Fla.
"I think this will be as normal a meeting as we've had in some time," North
Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour said.
The ACC will be handling several larger issues, including examining five of the
ACC's six football bowl tie-ins, which all expire after the 2005 season, and
discussing future conference tournament sites.
ACC commissioner John Swofford said other topics to be covered include an update
on academic standards and continuing discussions about sportsmanship and crowd
control at the end of basketball and football games. The ACC will hear year-end
reports from its TV partners.
Five of the ACC's current bowl tie-ins are a priority because the contracts,
except for the ACC's spot in the Bowl Championship Series, expire after the 2005
bowl season, N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler said.
Swofford has said the ACC would be looking to add other bowl tie-ins if
possible. The ACC has spots in one BCS bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Gator Bowl, the
MPC Computers Bowl, the Champs Sports Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
The men's basketball tournament sites are set through 2010, but, with 12 schools
cutting deeper into the ticket allotment, the ACC will have to decide what types
of venues best fit its needs.
One option is to keep the men's tournament rotating between the league's two
biggest venues, the Greensboro Coliseum (23,500 seats) and the Georgia Dome in
Atlanta (40,000-plus). Greensboro will host the 2006 and 2010 events. Atlanta is
the host for 2009.
Swofford said the need for more tickets and seats must be weighed against a
desire to have events that cover the ACC's entire geographic area.
The 2005 men's tournament was held in Washington at the MCI Center. The MCI
Center (20,674) is similar in size to Tampa's St. Pete Times Forum (20,500) and
the new Charlotte Arena (19,023), which will host the men's tournaments in 2007
and 2008, respectively.
"That experience [in D.C.] will give schools a better sense of how things will
work with more schools and fewer seats," Swofford said. "I think the fact that
we've been through that now will help our schools in terms of decision-making
for a future rotation [of tournament sites].
The ACC also will consider baseball tournament sites, including Fenway Park,
home of the Boston Red Sox. Swofford said Thursday that the Red Sox and the ACC
had spoken about the idea of conducting a tournament there two months ago when
ACC officials visited Boston College.
The 2005 and 2006 ACC baseball tournaments will be held in Jacksonville, Fla. No
other tournament sites have been set.
Swofford said Greensboro, which has a new baseball park and traditionally has
done a solid job hosting other big ACC events, also would be considered.
"I don't think there's any question that Greensboro will have its turn,"
Swofford said.
The ACC also will discuss NCAA proposals that may crop up in the 2005-06
legislative cycle.
During the past year, the ACC backed off of a proposal that would have given
football players a fifth year of eligibility. Fowler said he wasn't sure if the
league would pursue it again, but N.C. State coach Chuck Amato, a member of the
board of trustees for the American Football Coaches Association, told him the
coaches may be looking to back a similar proposal in 2005-06.
Though the ACC meets several times annually, the May meeting also brings
together every ACC athletics director, senior women's administrator and faculty
athletics representative as well as the league's men's and women's basketball
and football coaches.
Swofford sees the gathering as a chance for building relationships with the
newest members. Miami and Virginia Tech are completing their first year with the
ACC. BC officially becomes the 12th member on July 1.
"That interaction is often as important as the subject matter," Swofford said.
"... I think it has helped us a great deal to have our new schools take part in
meetings even before they started competing on the field."
Swofford excited about brave new world for ACC football
By FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
fdascenzo@heraldsun.com
May 7, 2005 : 1:15 am ET
If you haven't already looked, then I suggest you do -- at ACC football, and its
new format, for 2005.
With apologies to historic purists, things are changing. Look, you don't have to
like it, just get used to it and relax. ACC commissioner John Swofford will
appreciate it.
Swofford's flight from Charlotte had just landed in Jacksonville, Fla., on
Friday afternoon at 2:45, and the sign he saw was one he liked.
"It said '211 days to the ACC football championship game,' " Swofford said.
"This is great. Never in our history have we had anything like this. Quality
teams, depth, no gimmies in most all the games. It's a new world."
They do these things in the SEC and in the Big 12. Two divisions, an inaugural
ACC championship game on Dec. 3, and usual heavyweight Florida State isn't
guaranteed a thing, not with those new guys now in the league. Miami and
Virginia Tech arrived a year ago, and Boston College officially enters the ACC
on July 1.
"Look at our start," Swofford said. "Texas A&M at Clemson is on ABC on Sept. 3
and goes to most of the nation; Virginia Tech at N.C. State goes national
television on Sept. 4, and the Miami at FSU game on the 5th is national.
"It's great exposure the first week of the season, and not only does it set the
tone for us, but it's indicative of where we are as a league. I honestly
believe, for the first time, we're able to be as competitive in football, on a
national basis, as we are in basketball. Now, we can look anybody in the eye."
Swofford deserves lots of credit for pushing football forward, making sure the
ACC didn't become a football lightweight behind its consistently powerful
basketball programs. Football is a cash cow, and it feeds Olympic sports and
spreads the wealth. Swofford had the vision and the know-how to see this
through.
Some unusual sights that may catch your attention:
-- Wake Forest is at Nebraska on Sept. 10. Memo to the Deacon Club -- your guys
have a good chance. The Cornhuskers are beatable, even at home.
-- Virginia is picked No. 22 by one preseason magazine. Big deal, the Cavs lost
three of their last four games a year ago, and tight end Heath Miller is gone.
-- Maryland plays Navy in Baltimore on Sept. 3. Who is the best coach in this
game, Maryland's Ralph Friedgen or Navy's Paul Johnson?
-- Memo to Iron Dukes who actually might be thinking of making the trip to the
Orange Bowl to see the Blue Devils play the Hurricanes on Oct. 8: Duke's last
game at Miami resulted in a 20-7 win in 1976 -- honest.
True, FSU has slipped some. The Hokies are very good but couldn't beat N.C.
State, in Blacksburg, Va., last season, and the Wolfpack finished 5-6.
In case nobody's informed you, Tom O'Brien's BC Golden Eagles have won five
straight bowl games, the latest being that beating they registered against John
Bunting's North Carolina Tar Heels last December in Charlotte at the Continental
Tire Bowl. Take my word for it, O'Brien is a very good coach. I'm reasonably
sure Notre Dame fans will agree with me.
Just in the event you're seeking the potentially best early-season ACC matchup,
consider that Sept. 17 affair when the Seminoles visit Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Bobby Bowden's team entered the ACC in 1992 and didn't lose a September
conference game until N.C. State shocked the Noles 24-7 in Raleigh in 1998.
Somebody named Torry Holt had a lot to do with that outcome, and all it did was
snap a 20-0 ACC September record for FSU.
UNC, in John Bunting's first season and with lots of help from Julius Peppers
and friends, upset the Seminoles in 2001 when the Heels won 41-9, and Miami, as
usual, beat FSU last season in the opening game.
Swofford will be beaming when the first ACC championship game is played at
Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium. The cash register will be close by, too.
"This is the first time in our history we'll have something like this," Swofford
said.
As for those divisions, the Atlantic and Coastal, all I can say is they were
devised to be equal. But are they?
The safest early-season prediction for the matchup at Alltel? You wouldn't
consider Miami and FSU, would you?
Naturally, I wouldn't want to anger Virginia Tech football fans. I learned what
that can do to e-mail inboxes when the Hokies were politically battling their
way out of the Big East and into the brave new world of the ACC.
May 03, 2005
We know you can't wait until selection actually occurs, so welcome to
Braketology on Inside Lacrosse. If the season ended today, what would the
playoffs look like? Take a look for yourself:
All AQ's were decided by whoever is in first place in their conference.
There was no attempt made to predict future games. The brackets are made as if
the season ended today. Seedings were based on selection criteria that the
committee values most: wins over highly-ranked opponents, SOS and RPI. Pairings
were made based on both seedings and geography, which the committee also
considers.
Johns Hopkins (11-0)
Seed/type: #1/At large
Poll Rank: 1/1 SOS: 3
Comments: Is there any doubt that Hopkins deserves the top seed in the
tournament? They've been ranked #1 in the country since pre-season, have
beaten six top-ten teams and are 11-0 with the third-most difficult schedule.
Duke (13-2)
Seed/type: #2/At large
Poll Rank: 2/2 SOS: 6
Comments: They may have lost to Maryland this weekend, but the Blue Devils also
took Hopkins to double overtime. They have only two losses and the sixth
toughest strength of schedule. They also have quality wins over Virginia,
Maryland, Army and Georgetown. They're still a two despite this weekend's loss.
Maryland (8-5)
Seed/type: #3/At large
Poll Rank: 5/6 SOS: 1
Comments: The ACC tournament sure helped the Terps, giving them wins over two
top-five teams in a span of two days. That means Maryland now has four wins over
top-ten teams (Duke, Virginia, Georgetown and Towson) and a win over #14
Bucknell. They have the toughest strength of schedule in the country and are #2
in the RPI. In one weekend they moved from bubble AQ to strong #3 seed.
Virginia (9-3)
Seed/type: #4/At large
Poll Rank: 6/5 SOS: 4
Comments: With three losses to the #1, #2 and #5 teams in the country, Virginia
plays the fourth toughest schedule in the country and has beaten four top 15
opponents: Syracuse, Maryland, Towson and Denver. However, they're seeded fourth
in the tournament (Maryland edged them out for the three seed) because the Terps
have more quality wins and a tougher strength of schedule.