Cavs await 103-mph pitcher
David Teel
May 27, 2009

And the winner, by 177 miles, is Virginia. Alas, this is one victory the Cavaliers' baseball team could do without.

Less than 24 hours after Virginia celebrated its first ACC tournament championship since 1996, the NCAA selection committee Monday shipped the Cavaliers to California for a first-round encounter with the college game's most acclaimed pitcher in memory.

Suffice to say, were this men's basketball, talk radio would be outraged, and Dick Vitale would be howling.

Sage hand that he is, Virginia coach Brian O'Connor refuses the bait, at least publicly. He knows teams that whine about postseason assignments risk losing their competitive edge.

"It was a bit of a surprise, obviously," O'Connor said of the Cavaliers' cross-country excursion. "Initially you're kind of taken aback. But it's a great opportunity."

Here are the details: Virginia is seeded second in a four-team, double-elimination regional hosted by UC Irvine, the tournament's No. 6 overall seed. But Baseball America ranks the Anteaters No. 1 nationally, the Cavaliers No. 7.

Hence, surprise that the tournament champion from arguably the season's top conference — Virginia finished the ACC regular season sixth but only 21/2 games behind first-place Florida State — drew such a challenging bracket. Not to mention distant.

Mapquest says it's 2,552 miles from Charlottesville to Irvine. Georgia Southern, headed to a regional in Fullerton, Calif., will log the second-most miles at 2,375.

But jet lag is a secondary hassle for O'Connor. Foremost is Virginia's opening game Friday (7 p.m., ESPNU) against San Diego State and junior right-hander Stephen Strasburg.

His fastball clocked at 103 mph, the 6-foot-4 Strasburg makes Nolan Ryan look like Tim Wakefield. He is the presumptive No. 1 pick of next month's major-league draft — rejoice, Washington Nationals fans — with a 13-0 record, 1.24 ERA, 180 strikeouts and 19 walks in 102 innings.

"The scary thing is, he could develop a little more velocity in the next couple of years," a National League scout told Yahoo! Sports. "He absolutely could be recognized as the fastest pitcher ever, at least since pitchers have been clocked."

San Diego State coach Tony Gwynn — yes, that Tony Gwynn — has cautioned folks not to pigeonhole Strasburg as some one-dimensional Nuke LaLoosh. Strasburg is effective with any number of pitches.

"He's a special talent, no question," O'Connor said of Strasburg. "Great stuff, great command. He has everything. ... (But) our guys won't back down from it. We had a great approach against Alex White from North Carolina in the ACC tournament."

Virginia pounded White, a first-team all-conference selection, for eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings last week. Moreover, in early April the Cavaliers roughed up Georgia Tech's Deck McGuire, the ACC pitcher of the year, for four earned runs in seven innings.

Very impressive for a lineup in which the top six hitters, by average, are freshmen and sophomores, including ACC rookie of the year Danny Hultzen, the Cavaliers' first baseman and ace starter (8-1, 2.21 ERA).

Such inexperience made this an unlikely team to win the program's first championship of any kind in O'Connor's six seasons. The Cavaliers lost the ACC final in 2005 and '08, and in five consecutive NCAA appearances have yet to survive the first weekend.

But at the conference tournament in Durham, N.C., Virginia (43-12-1) dusted Clemson, North Carolina, Duke and, in Sunday's title game, Florida State. The sum is remarkable progress for a program that earned two NCAA bids in the 30 years prior to O'Connor's arrival from Notre Dame, where he was associate head coach.

"It was important not only for the team but also the program to climb over that hurdle and get that done," O'Connor said of a championship. "We needed to prove we can win a title on a weekend."

Sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt was the tournament's MVP, and sophomore closer Kevin Arico continued his recent excellence with two saves in as many chances. Arico's emergence and the performance of freshmen such as second baseman Keith Werman, third baseman Steve Proscia and left fielder John Hicks have convinced O'Connor the Cavaliers can go deep into June.

"They are really good athletes who can not only hit but also defend," he said of his young core. "Part of it is talent, but it's also other qualities that are so important. The mental toughness and character that they have. ... Their toughness is at a different level."

 

UVa gets short end of the stick
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: May 27, 2009

A few unanswered questions remain about how the team with the sixth-highest RPI in the nation was treated more like a non-top 25 program by the NCAA Division I baseball committee over the weekend.
For years now, all we’ve heard about is how tournament selections are made on various criteria, with the RPI being a chief component. That’s the way it is with selection committees in most sports, but apparently not with baseball committee chairman Tim Weiser’s committee.
In perhaps one of the worst jobs ever by a tournament selection committee, Weiser was talking out of both sides of his mouth in trying to explain some choices that were either incredibly stupid or incredibly political.
What’s going on?
Either way, this committee gave the shaft to the people that matter most, or at least are supposed to matter most to the NCAA, and that is their own student-athletes.
Let’s start with Virginia, the team that was profoundly shafted. The Cavaliers won the ACC Tournament, beating three ranked teams in four days after finishing with a decent regular season, placing sixth out of 12 teams.
The ACC is rated as the best conference in the country and, while UVa didn’t play a strong nonconference schedule, the Cavaliers won 20 games in its own league, which accounted for the sixth-best RPI in the nation.
While there was some debate as to whether Virginia would host a regional, although this band of Wahoos are better than some other UVa teams that have hosted, absolutely no one would have predicted the Cavaliers’ fate.
Instead of hosting, or playing in a regional, say close by like at East Carolina, Weiser’s committee sends Virginia clear across the country into what was already a strong regional with UC Irvine, which was ranked the No. 1 team in the nation most of the season; with defending College World Series champion Fresno State; and with San Diego State, which boasts the No. 1 pitcher in America.
The question is why?
We have a strong suspicion that the television folks may have had something to do with it all. Isn’t it a bit odd that ESPN will televise two regionals nationally, and this is one of them?
Isn’t it just a little strange that San Diego State coach Tony Gwynn happens to have a strong relationship with ESPN, from whom he used to draw a paycheck?
We have to believe that the NCAA committee caved in to pressure by the TV people to make the Irvine regional a sexy draw in order to attract viewers. Clearly, the committee wasn’t thinking of the athletes, including Irvine, which probably expected a creampuff first round draw instead of the defending national champs.
And what about UVa? For all the Cavaliers accomplished, winning the toughest conference in the country, they are rewarded by being shipped clear across the country to face ace right-hander Stephen Strasburg, most likely the top pick in the Major League Baseball draft.
Coincidence? We think not.
Something smells here, and it smells of TV and ratings and the NCAA committee not have enough brass to tell TV to back off.
Most who follow the bracketology of the baseball tournament expected Washington State to fill that fourth slot in Irvine, which would have made much more sense for a variety of reasons, including
economics.
It would have made more sense to either have UVa host or at least take a short trip to ECU, and for Washington State to stay on its coast. But no ... that didn’t have the same saucy flavor of adding UVa to a regional that ESPN wanted to televise in the first place.
If that’s the case, and TV influenced the NCAA to switch things around just for ratings, then some head should be rolling.
Can you imagine if TV came in and influenced the NCAA basketball committee to pull the switcheroo on its field just to enhance the ratings?
It would be a national scandal, an outrage from coast to coast.
Cavaliers’ coach Brian O’Connor took the high road when asked about the selection before Tuesday’s practice at Davenport Field.
We asked him if he would use the slap from the NCAA as motivation for his team.
“Absolutely,” the Virginia skipper said. “This is an opportunity for Virginia baseball, our team, our players to show the country what this program is all about. It’s a nationally televised regional, there’s going to be a lot of hype around it and we have an opportunity to make our program shine on a national level.
“We’ve obviously won a lot of games in the years past, but we haven’t made a statement at the end of a year from the national standpoint,” O’Connor continued.
“This is providing an unbelievable opportunity for this because there’s a lot of controversy around it and we’re playing great teams, going to the No. 1 team in the country’s ballpark and probably facing the No. 1 pitcher in the country, and the defending national champion being there.”
Weiser said that Virginia was given its fate because of a weak nonconference schedule.
True, the Cavs don’t play a great non-league slate, however strength of schedule is a key ingredient to a team’s RPI, which again we point out was No. 6 in the entire nation.
Virginia wasn’t the only bungle by Weiser’s committee. Weiser, who just happens to be deputy commissioner of the Big 12, seemed to make sure that his conference had nine teams in the 64-team field.
While most of those are legit, one has to do some head scratching to figure out how Baylor and Oklahoma State were included. Baylor lost 12 of its last 14 games and its last 10 conference games.
Oklahoma State (32-22), finished ninth in the conference and didn’t even qualify for its own conference tournament?
Huh?
How could a team that didn’t qualify for its own conference tournament qualify for the national tournament?
This whole thing stinks and smacks of TV meddling and politics.
If the NCAA really cares about transparency and fairness to the kids its supposed to serve, then it needs to examine how tournament selections are handled and needs to take a very close look at how Weiser and his committee caved in to pressure.
 

ThisEmail ThisPrint ThisMost PopularShareThisUVA surprised it was shipped to West Coast
By Kirk Kenney
2:00 a.m. May 27, 2009

The Virginia baseball team swept through the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament last week, winning four straight games to claim the title in the nation's toughest conference.
That completed a regular season in which the Cavaliers were ranked No. 7 in the nation by Baseball America and also among the top 10 schools in terms of RPI. Virginia has won 43 games this season. Only four teams in the nation have won more.
As such, the Cavaliers expected to be a host site for an NCAA Regional or, at the very least, assigned to a regional close to home.
Instead, Virginia has been shipped clear across the country in what some observers are calling “the regional of death.”
The Cavaliers find themselves in a bracket that is being hosted by the No. 1-ranked team in the nation (UC Irvine) and includes the defending national champion (Fresno State). And they're playing a first-round opponent (San Diego State) that is expected to start the nation's best pitcher (Stephen Strasburg).
“After winning the ACC championship, we were a little surprised, well I shouldn't say a little, we were very surprised that we were shipped all the way across the country,” said Virginia coach Brian O'Connor, who has guided Virginia to the NCAA Tournament in each of his six seasons as head coach. “Obviously, the committee didn't think as much of the ACC as everybody else in the country did.”
O'Connor has done his best the past two days to be diplomatic.
“After you have a chance to analyze it, we're very excited and we're looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “There's four great teams in it. Whichever team endures this regional has a really good shot at getting to Omaha (site of the College World Series) the following weekend.”
Outrage has flowed freely in other corners, and it isn't limited to Cavaliers fans.
“Virginia got royally screwed. You can quote me on that,” said Aaron Fitt, Baseball America's national college writer. “It's really inexplicable. The committee had to go way out of its way to job Virginia the way it did. There's no reason they had to do that.”
Fitt said he felt nearly as bad for the Anteaters because Virginia was a candidate for a No. 1 seed. Selection committee chairman Tim Weiser said a weak out-of-conference schedule is what cost the Cavaliers.
UC Irvine may be the top-ranked team in the nation and the top-seeded team in the regional, but Virginia is statistically the best team in the bracket.
The Cavaliers (43-12-1) are averaging 8.32 runs per game and batting .333 as a team, led by outfielders Jarrett Parker (.375, 16 HR, 60 RBI) and Dan Grovatt (.387, 7, 50), third baseman Steven Proscia (.326, 8, 53), and DH Phil Gosselin (.312, 5, 60).
The Virginia pitching staff has compiled a 3.33 ERA and limited opponents to a .236 batting average. O'Connor has not yet decided on his Friday starter, although freshman left-hander Danny Hultzen (8-1, 2.21 ERA, 86 SO in 73 1/3 IP) and senior right-hander Andrew Carraway (6-1, 4.58) are the team's top two starting pitchers.
Everyone expects Strasburg to start for SDSU, although Aztecs coach Tony Gwynn hasn't made his decision.
O'Connor said he won't feel slighted – relieved perhaps? – if SDSU chooses to hold back its ace for Saturday's game in the double-elimination tournament.
“It wouldn't surprise me at all, really,” said O'Connor. “It's about winning the entire regional. It's not about winning one game. I wouldn't blame Coach Gwynn if he tried to go at Virginia with somebody else and tried to save Strasburg for Game 2. . . .
“My formula has always been line it up to put your team in the best position to win the whole thing.”
No matter what hand you're dealt.
 

Aztecs eager to showcase their 100-mph ace
Strasburg lights up radar guns, now will pitch in NCAAs.
By Bernie Wilson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

SAN DIEGO — His team had to sweat it out, but the best pitcher in college baseball will get a chance to showcase his talent in the NCAA tournament this weekend.

Ace right-hander Stephen Strasburg and San Diego State received one of the last at-large bids to the 64-team field.

The Aztecs, coached by Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, are the No. 3 seed in the Irvine Regional and will play No. 2 Virginia on Friday (ESPNU, 6 p.m.).

The Irvine Regional is the toughest of the 16. San Diego State (40-21) has Strasburg. Virginia (43-12-1) is the ACC champion. Top seed UC Irvine (43-13) is No. 1 in the country in several polls. And fourth-seeded Fresno State (32-28) is the defending national champion.

Because of the high-profile matchups, ESPNU will televise most of the games from Irvine, Calif.

Strasburg, likely to pitch Friday, is the biggest drawing card. There was no question he was a factor in the Aztecs getting the berth, Gwynn said.

"Best player in the country, people want to see him," the coach said. "That's kind of like our ace in the hole.

"You want it to be on merit. We won 40 games. There aren't many teams in this field that won 40 games. We felt like we were worthy. Having the best player in the country didn't hurt. It worked out."

Strasburg, with a fastball that regularly tops 100 mph, is widely regarded as the No. 1 prospect for the June amateur draft. He is 13-0 with a 1.24 ERA and coming off a no-hitter of Air Force. The 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pounder has incredible statistics: 102 innings, 57 hits, 19 walks, 180 strikeouts.

The Washington Nationals, who have the No. 1 pick in the draft, will select him as long as they think they can sign him. Strasburg is represented by notorious hard-bargainer Scott Boras, who already has said his client deserves a record-setting contract.

First up, though, is the regional.

Gwynn is OK with being lumped into such a tough group.

"It's another opportunity," he said. "Everybody's got big-time credentials in this bracket. We're getting a lot of pub, too. It should be good. It should be interesting. It's close enough where our fans can come watch us play, too. So we're excited."

Gwynn wasn't certain San Diego State would make it after the Aztecs were upset twice by Utah and knocked out of the Mountain West Conference tournament. He knew the MWC had never gotten more than one team in. It ended up getting three — TCU, which is hosting a regional; Utah, which won the conference tournament as the No. 6 seed; and San Diego State.

It's taken Gwynn seven seasons in his dream job to get his alma mater back to the NCAA regionals. Their last postseason appearance was in 1991, when he was halfway through his 20-season career with the Padres.

"I think people are saying, 'Yeah, it's about time, you've been there seven years.' We finally got here,'' he said.

"We've been climbing, climbing, climbing; almost get to the top and slide back down. This year we've finally gotten to it, and so now, let's keep going. Let's see how far we can go."
 

U.Va. Notes: Outcry continues over U.Va.‘s NCAA spot
By Staff Reports
Published: May 27, 2009

Outcry continues
Like many Web sites that cover the sport, CollegeBaseballInsider.com was stunned by the NCAA selection committee's treatment of ACC champion Virginia.

The Cavaliers (43-12-1) were shipped to the four-team regional in Irvine, Calif., where Friday night they'll face the nation's No.1 pitcher, San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg, in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.

"It's laughable the way Virginia was treated," said Sean Ryan, an editor at CollegeBaseballInsider.com and a former University of Richmond player.

"It won the ACC tournament and has a RPI of 6, and its reward is to be sent across the country for the second year in a row, this time to UC Irvine, the best team in college baseball for most of the year. It's almost as if [the NCAA selection committee] didn't even wait to see what happened in the ACC title game.

"I doubt Irvine is amused either. Its reward for being one of the best teams is the toughest regional by a long shot."

Irvine is seeded No.1 in the regional. U.Va. is No.2, San Diego State is No.3 and defending NCAA champion Fresno State is No.4.

Camping out
Football coach Al Groh and his staff will stage several camps at U.Va. next month.

A camp for offensive and defensive linemen will be held June 20. It's open to boys who'll be in grades 8-12 during the 2009-10 academic year.

One-day camps, also for boys who'll be in grades 8-12 in 2009-10, will be held June 25 and June 26. Finally, a camp for boys and girls ages 6 to 13 will be held June 27 at Scott Stadium.

For more information, visit algrohfootballcamp.com.

Impeccable timing
When he came to the plate in the top of the ninth inning Sunday afternoon at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, U.Va. freshman John Hicks was 0 for 4 in the ACC championship game.

In one of those at-bats, the former Goochland High star had fanned with two outs and the bases loaded.

"I had a tough day before that," Hicks acknowledged Monday when he asked about his final at-bat.

This time, though, with the bases loaded and the score 3-3 with one out, Hicks delivered. His two-run single put the Cavaliers ahead for good in their 6-3 victory over the Seminoles.

"I knew that I could hit," Hicks said. "I just tried to keep my confidence up."

End of an era
Doug Tarring, who in 1972 played on the first U.Va. men's lacrosse team to win an NCAA title, has retired as coach of the boys team at St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville.

Tarring went out with a flourish. STAB beat St. Stephen's & St. Agnes 9-8 this month in the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association's Division I championship game in Richmond.

The state title was the Saints' seventh under Tarring, whose record in 31 seasons was 407-132. STAB also won state championships in 1980,'82,'86,'89, 2000 and'08.

Tarring's stars this season included three U.Va. recruits: senior defenseman Howie Long, junior attackman Owen Van Arsdale and junior goalie Austin Geisler. Van Arsdale's father, Marc, is Virginia's associate head coach.

Lacrosse players cited
Virginia, which lost to Cornell in the NCAA semifinals Saturday, placed three players on the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's All-America first team: senior attackman Danny Glading, sophomore midfielder Shamel Bratton and junior defenseman Ken Clausen.

Clausen is a repeat selection. Glading was named to the third team in 2007 and the second team in'08.

The USILA's All-America third team includes two Cavaliers: junior midfielder Brian Carroll and senior attackman Garrett Billings. Carroll was a third-team pick in 2008. -- Jeff White
 

Cavs’ champs return
By Whitey Reid
Published: May 27, 2009

One is known as “The Dominator,” the other as “Showbiz.”
On Tuesday evening at the Charlottesville Airport, they were each sporting some bling.
The Virginia men’s doubles team of Dom Inglot and Michael Shabaz, who won the NCAA doubles championship in College Station, Texas on Monday, were wearing their medals as Wahoo fans greeted them at the terminal.
Inglot and Shabaz, who were unseeded, became the first doubles team from the ACC to win an NCAA title, defeating No. 2 seed John-Patrick Smith and Davey Sandgren of Tennessee, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
The victory certainly took some of the sting out of getting upset by Southern Cal in the quarterfinals of the team tournament the week before.
“It does make up a lot for the team loss,” agreed Inglot, a London, England native. “We wish we could have done better in that, but this feels really good and we’re really happy. Michael and I put a lot of hard work in.”
With the win, Virginia won an NCAA Individual Championship for the third consecutive year. Former Cavalier Somdev Devvarman won the 2007 and 2008 NCAA singles championships. The last school to win NCAA individual titles in three consecutive years was Stanford from 1998-2000.
“The team event was pretty disappointing, but the best way we could kind of heal that was to win this,” said Shabaz, concurring with Inglot. “You’re playing for a lot of people — not just yourself — the University and all the supporters. To get it done is really special.”
The win was Inglot and Shabaz’s 41st of the season, a new school record.
Ranked No. 12 entering the tournament, the Cavalier duo became the lowest ranked team to take the title since 2002.
The title was the first-ever doubles championship for the ACC. Inglot and Shabaz were the first ACC team to reach the final since the start of the modern NCAA individual
championships in 1978.
Things didn’t come easy, though. Inglot and Shabaz dropped the first set in three of their five matches.
“They showed a lot of resilience and toughness throughout the tournament,” said Virginia coach Brian Boland. “They had some really tough matches and kept battling back.
“I give them all the credit in the world.”
Midway through last season, it was Boland who decided to shake up his doubles lineup. After a performance against Clemson that left a lot to be desired, the coach paired Inglot with Shabaz and Houston Barrick with Sanam Singh.
This season, the move paid huge dividends as Virginia dropped just three doubles points.
“We get on so well off the court that it’s just a natural to get on so well on the court,” Inglot said. “I think our games complement each other really well.
“I think we just peaked at the right time and our
confidence was really high.”
Shabaz vividly recalled the conversation that he had with Boland in the car ride back from Clemson, just before the switches were made. “The next thing you know, like a year later, this happens,” Shabaz said. “It’s pretty cool.”
Shabaz, a Fairfax native, said it felt great to be able to get the victory for Inglot, a senior.
“For me, it was big to see Dom go out like that,” said the sophomore, “since it was possibly his last match as a Cavalier.”
Boland, while still hoping to obtain that elusive team title, had plenty of reasons to smile.
“This is a great way to end our season,” he said. “For the third straight year, we have won the final match we have played. This program keeps growing and keeps getting stronger, and we know that if we continue that hard work that there will be more success in the future.”
 

At Virginia, Bennett Has Settled In, Branched Out
By Zach Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 27, 2009

After accepting the Virginia men's basketball coaching position almost two months ago, Tony Bennett outlined three goals he needed to accomplish immediately, the coaching version of an agenda for the first 100 days in office.

Bennett sought to quickly assemble a staff with ties to Virginia's recruiting territories; he wanted to keep the pair of high school seniors who had signed letters-of-intent to play for the Cavaliers; and he pledged to familiarize himself with his new players and prospective players.

Bennett succeeded with each goal. He hired a staff that includes former Liberty coach Ritchie McKay and former American assistant Jason Williford, a U-Va. alumnus. He kept recruits Tristan Spurlock (Word of Life) and Jontel Evans from fleeing elsewhere. And he used a collection of spring practices and off-the-court icebreakers to learn the team.

Bennett's next task in rebuilding the program?

"Recruiting," he answered, without a moment of hesitation. "Familiarizing yourself with the university. Just basically getting to work doing what coaches do when they are trying to build teams."

Virginia's men's basketball history is marked by blips of success interrupted by periods of decline. Bennett aspires to a steadier level of success, one that has eluded other coaches who arrived in Charlottesville with plans that sounded hopeful at the outset. Bennett, who has never coached east of Wisconsin, answered plenty of questions about his inexperience in Virginia's recruiting territory as he crisscrossed the state meeting with alumni and fans.

"College basketball is such a national, international game," Bennett said. "I have some ties with [area coaches]. Maybe not ties like the guys in the ACC do, but that's why you hire a Jason Williford and a Ritchie McKay. And [assistant coach Ron Sanchez] is from New York, so he has some ties there. Because of who I hired, it's not like we're coming into here blind without any ties."

Instant headlines in recruiting will be difficult. The player chase begins early, and 46 of Rivals.com's top 100 prospects for the class of 2010 have made oral commitments. Bennett insists he cannot take shortcuts with character and must identify the players who fit with the program's profile.

"Top 100, four-stars, five-stars -- yes, that's important," Bennett said. "But there's also hidden gems. There's guys who will fit. Hopefully, there will be so many commitments that some kids will really explode this summer and you'll be left standing."

The critical classes will be 2010 and 2011, when at least seven scholarships will open for the Cavaliers. Williford will be counted on to help the Cavaliers institute a stronghold in the Washington area and throughout his native Virginia. Williford's experience as an American assistant allows him to navigate the area without needing to ask for directions, although the caliber of player he's pursuing has been elevated.

"Absolutely, it's different," Williford said. "At the same time, I was in DeMatha's gym. I was in Gonzaga's gym. I've watched the D.C. Assault. I've been following those kids. But the difference now is what I can offer. And when they see Virginia, I have" more credibility.

In addition to remaining visible to the power brokers on the recruiting scene, Bennett spent his first two months in office meeting Virginia fans. A spring tour included stops in all corners of the state, including a recent visit to Rosslyn. The itinerary has been particularly important for Bennett, whose hiring surprised many observers.

Athletic Director Craig Littlepage and executive associate athletic director Jon Oliver conducted a stealth coaching search. They were wary of forcing Bennett to respond to speculation after his name came up in connection to vacancies at Indiana, Marquette and Louisiana State in 2008.

"As people have gotten to know Tony and know what Tony is all about, they feel good about who's leading the program," said Dirk Katstra, the executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation who played for the Cavaliers from 1987 to 1991. "I think people feel good about all the things he's had to do up to this point. And obviously, the results will ultimately be how he's evaluated on, which is what we all know. But that's where we've probably seen the most impact: how people feel about the program."

Earlier this month, Bennett attended the ACC coaches meeting in Amelia Island, Fla. A glance around the room indicated the difficulty of the Cavaliers job. Despite Virginia's location in a fertile recruiting base, it has not been able to maintain a place among the top teams in the conference.

"Following it, listening to the coaches talk, the top-to-bottom quality of the league, you go on the road and one through 12, there's just very good depth in the league," Bennett said. "That is the challenge to me: to consistently put yourself into consideration for postseason play."

Virginia Opens NCAA Play in 25th Place
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 05/26/2009

Toledo, Ohio – The Virginia men’s golf team had to battle through wet and windy conditions during the opening round of play at the 112th NCAA Championships taking place at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Playing in the morning wave, the 22nd-seeded Cavaliers shot 22-over 306 to tie for 25th after the first day of competition. Virginia, and the other 12 teams playing in the morning wave, had to content with a steady rain for about half of the round in addition to the windy conditions that hampered the entire field all day.

Also shooting 306 were 19th-ranked UCLA and No. 35 Oregon. Second-ranked USC, fifth-ranked Stanford and No. 13 South Carolina are one shot ahead of those three teams at 305.

Top-ranked Georgia and fourth-ranked Oklahoma State took the early lead shooting 4-over 288. Chattanooga, ranked No. 28, is third at 292 while No. 6 Washington and San Diego are tied for fourth at 293.

After 54 holes of stroke play, the field will be cut to eight team and those schools will compete in head-to-head match play Friday and Saturday to determine the national champion.

“We started off pretty well and then hit a rough patch on holes six through nine,” said UVa coach Bowen Sargent. “We certainly didn’t get the best of the weather today. It was windy for everyone, but those of us playing early also had to contend with the rain. But that’s golf.”

Starting on the first tee, the Cavaliers finished their first four holes at even par. The end of the front nine was another story. As the rain picked up, UVa’s four scoring players shot 11-over the final four holes.

“If the weather stays the same and we can go out and shoot two really good rounds, we can probably get back into this,” Sargent said. “You just have to be patient with this course. You can’t get overly aggressive and try to attack it. You have to drive it in the fairway here. All of our players said they were able to score on the holes they were able to keep it in the fairway. When they didn’t, they weren’t able to score.”

Freshman Ben Kohles led the Cavaliers with a 4-over 75 to finish the day in 56th place. Virginia’s top finisher at the NCAA East Regional, Kohles posted six bogeys and two birdies during his round.

“That was a pretty solid round for a freshman,” Sargent said. “He’s done some outstanding things for us this year and it is good to see him get off to a good start for us at our national championship.”

Three other Virginia players rounded out the Cavaliers’ scoring with 6-over 77s to place 93rd. That group included freshman Bruce Woodall, sophomore Will Collins and junior Kyle Stough. Woodall posted a pair of birdies over his first four holes to start his round under par. Bogeys on holes six and seven brought him back to even before a double-bogey on No. 9 put him two-over at the turn. He managed another birdie on No. 11, but ended the day with bogeys on five of his final seven holes.

Collins also struggled on the back nine with five bogeys and four pars. Stough used his final stretch of holes to bring his score back down. He played his final eight holes at 2-under thanks to birdies on No. 12 and No. 14. Conrad Von Borsig, a senior who was not a counter after finishing with an opening-round 80, played the final nine holes at even par. Von Borsig is in 139th place.

The championship’s individual lead was shared by Northwestern’s Jonathan Bowers, Illinois’ Scott Langley and NC State’s Matt Hill at 2-under 69. Only eight players in the 155-man field managed to better par at the historic Inverness Club.

The Cavaliers will start their second round Wednesday at 12:59 p.m. from the 10th tee. Virginia is paired with Northwestern and Ohio State during the first two days of competition. Thursday’s pairings for the final round of stroke play will be based on the team standings.

Live scoring of the event is online at Golfstat.com.

NCAA Championships
Inverness Club
Toledo, Ohio
Par-71, 7,255 yards
First Round Results

Team Results 1. Oklahoma State (4) 288 1. Georgia (1) 288 3. Chattanooga (28) 292 4. Washington (6) 293 4. San Diego 293 6. Arizona State (14) 294 6. Ohio State 294 6. Tennessee (20) 294 9. Michigan (45) 29610. Arkansas (9) 29710. Duke (42) 29712. Texas A&M (12) 29812. Northwestern 29812. Alabama (10) 29815. Illinois (15) 29915. TCU (16) 29917. UCF (23) 30018. Georgia Tech (7) 30118. Iowa 30120. Wake Forest (27) 30221. Texas Tech (17) 30322. USC (2) 305 22. Stanford (5) 30522. South Carolina (13) 30525. Oregon (35) 30625. Virginia (47) 30625. UCLA (19) 30628. Texas (24) 30829. Florida (8) 31029. Arizona (36) 310Number in parenthesis is Golfstat rankingIndividual Leaders1. Jonathan Bowers, Northwestern 691. Scott Langley, Illinois 691. Matt Hill, NC State* 694. Alex Ching, San Diego 704. Tom Hoge, TCU 704. Philip Francis, UCLA 704. David Holmes, Tennessee 704. Nick Taylor, Washington 709. Simon Ward, UCF 719. Fredrik Qvicker, Chattanooga 719. Corey Nagy*, Charlotte 719. Russell Henley, Georgia 719. Trent Leon, Oklahoma State 719. Jamie Marshall, Arkansas 719. Brian Harman, Georgia 71*Individual competitorVirginia 56. Ben Kohles 75 93. Bruce Woodall 77 93. Will Collins 77 93. Kyle Stough 77139. Conrad Von Borsig 80




 

The Top Ten NCAA Lacrosse Teams Of The 2000's
by NunesMagician on May 26, 2009 10:00 PM EDT 1 comment

Next season, the 2010 NCAA Lacrosse National Champion will be crowned. And while it may very well be Syracuse, it won't count towards the 00's or the Aughts or whatever the hell you want to call this decade. For all intents and purposes, this one's over and it's officially time to tally up the past ten years and figure out who were the best teams over that time.

Using a highly scientific formula that involves me assigning arbitrary number values to what each team did in each season, the list is below. It is non-negotiable and non-transferable. Sure you know some of the big names and you'll see them near the top, but you might be surprised by some of the selections based on their longevity and ability to crack the NCAA lacrosse glass ceiling.

Now before we get to the Top Ten, let's make sure we hand out a couple honorable mentions.

HONORABLE MENTION

Delaware - The Hens basically earned this spot when they made a Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2007. Upsetting #2 Virginia in the first round, Delaware met it's match in Johns Hopkins in the semis, but it doesn't deter from the accomplishment. Unfortunately for them, it was the lone highlight of the decade. Their only other tourney appearance was 2005 and that was over quickly.

Loyola - The Greyhounds were pretty decent when the decade started and pretty decent when the decade ended. Four tournament trips ('00, '01, '07, '08) isn't shabby, though they were only able to make it out of the first round once.

Hofstra - The Pride is nothing if not consistent. Six trips to the NCAA tournament ('00, '01, '03, '06, '08, '09). In 2001, they upset Virginia in the first round (I'm noticing a trend). A three seed in 2006, they came within one point of advancing to the Final Four.

Towson - You might not remember but Towson went to the Final Four in 2001. In fact, they were a pretty consistent attendee in the NCAA Tournament through the decade, going five times, though not since 2007.

UMass - A five-time tournament team but no appearance was nearly as memorable as 2006. Unseeded, they beat #6 Cornell in the first round, #3 Hofstra in the second and #2 Maryland in the Final Four. They met their match in the national title game against Virginia, but they're still the lone team outside this Top Ten to advance to the finals.

And now, let's get to the teams that distinguished themselves so much that they should be considered the ten best NCAA lacrosse teams of the 2000's.

10. Notre Dame - Between 2002 and 2005, the Irish missed out on the NCAA Tournament. Otherwise, they've been a fixture. A Final Four team in 2001, the Irish have been to the last four tournaments. They even reeled off an undefeated regular season this year though it was marred by their first-round loss to unseeded Maryland.

9. Georgetown - Notre Dame might have the Final Four appearance but Georgetown has a little something more...consistency. They missed out on the last two tourneys but between 2000 and 2008, the Hoyas were there. Seven times they advanced to the 2nd round and seven times they were beaten. One day, perhaps...

8. Navy - The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Navy lacrosse is the 2004 Final Four, when the #2 Midshipmen came within a goal of winning the national title. Syracuse played the villain (sorry) and Navy had to settle for 2nd place, but it didn't diminish a magical season. They've made the tournament all five seasons since, though they have been unable to duplicate that success.

7. Cornell - The Big Red jumped from an Honorable Mention team to the #8 spot with their recent run to the finals. And if not for that epic collapse at the end of the game, they'd be even higher with a national title to their name. As it is, they'll have to live with two Final Four appearances ('07, '09) and eight NCAA Tourney berths.

6. Maryland - The Maryland of the 2000's wasn't the powerhouse of years past, but it remained mostly consistent throughout. 9 NCAA Tournament berths and three Final Fours ('03, '05, '06), though the team was never able to advance to the national title game. The Terrapins face an uphill battle back to dominance now that their schedule is littered with much-improved ACC teams.

5. Duke - They've become the early 90's Houston Oilers of NCAA lacrosse. Always among the best in the game but never the one with the trophy at the end. They end the decade being best known for not being able to seal the deal. Oh and, you know, that other thing. Had it not been for the canceled 2006 season, Duke might have ended the decade on a five-Final Four-appearance streak. As-is, they went to four of them total ('05, '07, '08, '09). Advanced to the championship game twice. Even went into a couple tournaments as the #1 seed. Still, no titles.

4. Princeton - The Tigers and the Blue Devils have been on opposite sides of the same coin this decade. A powerhouse when it started, Princeton has struggled in recent seasons. It's been five years since their last Final Four appearance, an eon in lacrosse terms, but it's what they accomplished at the beginning of the decade that got them here. 4 Final Fours and three straight trips to the national title game ('00 - '02). They won their lone title of the decade in 2001, over hated Syracuse no-less.

Note: The Top Three were so far and away ahead of everyone else it's laughable. Parity be damned.

3. Virginia - Princeton's fall was the Cavaliers chance to reclaim it's spot atop the NCAA lax throne. They won it all in 2003 and 2006 and went to the Final Four seven times in all. Routinely a top-ranked team, they've turned in some memorable games against hated rival Syracuse as well as Princeton, Johns Hopkins and Maryland. They ended the decade by being either the #1 or #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament four-straight times.

2. Johns Hopkins - Hopkins has the same amount of national titles as Virginia (2, '05, '07) and the same amount of Final Fours (seven) but they get the edge for two reasons. They played in four title games to Virginia's two and they made the NCAA Tournament every single year, the only team to do so. You don't get much more consistent than the Blue Jays...

1. Syracuse - ...unless you're Syracuse. Five, count'm FIVE national titles in the decade ('00, '02, '04, '08, '09). 8 Final Four appearances, the most of any team. It's a testament to how dominant the Orange were that they're the best team of the decade despite their 22-year Final Four streak ending and missing the tournament altogether one season ('07). The Orange opened the decade as the most dominant team in the nation and they closed it just the same.