Cavs open strong vs. Leopards
Guyer's 1st-inning homer, Doolittle's arm pace Virginia past Lafayette
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
June 2, 2007

Surely Jim Hendry took notice.

The general manager of the Chicago Cubs, who was among those in attendance at Davenport Field for the opening game of the Charlottesville Regional, witnessed Brandon Guyer deliver a towering homer and Sean Doolittle hurl what was easily his best game of the season.

The efforts of both juniors, two potential draft picks on Thursday in the Major League Draft, propelled Virginia to a 5-1 victory over Lafayette in the regional’s opening game.

More importantly, the Cavaliers (44-14) remained in the winner’s bracket of the four-team, double-elimination event. Virginia advanced to face Oregon State today at 6 p.m.

“We are obviously very excited to win the first game of the regional,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “Sean Doolittle came out and gave us a very, very good start, a start that we needed to save our bullpen; and it was great to see Brandon Guyer step up in that first inning and break it open with a three-run home run.”

Lafayette, which dropped to 33-19, could not overcome a brutal opening inning. After retiring the opening batter, Leopards starter Matt Kamine allowed a single to Brandon Marsh and walked Doolittle, setting the stage for Guyer’s heroics on a two-strike change-up.

Ironically, Guyer’s eighth blast of the season came after he failed to lay down a bunt early in the plate appearance.

“To tell you the truth, I was kind of glad I didn’t get that bunt down,” Guyer joked. “It all worked out for the better.

“[Kamine] gave me a good pitch to hit. It was a mistake, and he didn’t make many of those tonight. I knew the way we have been pitching lately it would be a momentum boost for us. I was just trying to put the ball in play, and I’m glad I could help this team get out to an early lead.”

Virginia, which failed to score a run in the first inning in three ACC Tournament games last week, also tacked on another run in the opening frame on an RBI double from catcher Beau Seabury.

“[The start] was huge,” O’Connor said. “That allowed Sean Doolittle to go out there and attack the zone, which we teach him to do. It is impressive any time you can jump up big like that.”

Doolittle, who pitched 7.2 innings, his longest start of the season, made the four-run cushion stand while showing the ability to pitch with runners on base. In fact, Lafayette led off the second, third and fourth innings by putting at least its leadoff man on base.

“To win at this level, you have to make clutch pitches and pitch with runners on,” O’Connor said. “That’s the difference between average pitchers and great pitchers. I think that’s why Sean has been great in our uniform.”

Virginia added an insurance run in the fourth in opportunistic fashion - Tyler Cannon singled, advanced to second on a balk by Kamine and crossed the plate on Marsh’s single.

Lafayette, which registered 11 hits, finally scored off Doolittle in the eighth inning, but the Cavaliers limited the damage with a play that left most in disbelief. After slapping a one-out RBI single into left field, Leopards senior James Conrad was picked off first with the hidden-ball trick by first baseman John Scaglione.

“Earlier in the game on a throw over from Doolittle, as soon as I threw it back I noticed that [Conrad] was jumping off the bag immediately,” Scaglione said. “I was ready for the next opportunity that I had to fake a throw and put a tag back on him.”

While the trickery eventually helped UVa escape the frame, O’Connor pointed out that the play had never been practiced before.

“I don’t have that play,” O’Connor joked. “It was an instinctive decision by John Scaglione.

“As long as I coach, I may never see that again.”

It marked the second time in the game that Conrad, who has stolen 48 bases on the season, was caught stealing.

“I got beat at my own game today,” Conrad said. “They caught me in vulnerable spots and I didn’t do a good enough job seeing it coming.”

Virginia reliever Jake Rule allowed three hits to the Leopards but recorded the final four outs to secure the win.

With the victory, Doolittle broke the school record for career wins - he now has 22, including eight this season and one in an NCAA Tournament game. The southpaw may be joined in the top spot by today’s starter, Jacob Thompson, who boasts 21 career wins in two seasons.

“Hopefully, I have some company after tomorrow,” Doolittle said.

 

Just what the doctor ordered
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
June 2, 2007

About this time a year ago, Virginia’s baseball season and dreams of reaching Omaha came crashing down in a lopsided home loss to South Carolina in the NCAA regionals.
No one pinned the blame on Cavaliers pitcher Sean Doolittle, who was roughed up in one of the longest days of his young life. But Doolittle, simply known as “Doc” around Charlottesville, took that loss hard.

Off to a good start
When Friday’s opening round game against Patriot League champ Lafayette began, Doolittle was more focused, more revved up than ever before. The South Carolina loss had stuck in his craw too long and, even though UVa was favored, the Good Doctor didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
Relaxed by an early four-run lead, Doolittle, well, was Doolittle. He pitched 7.2 innings and, as he described it, “managed the damage,” as he held Lafayette to one run off nine hits. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter in 102 pitches in the Cavaliers’ 5-1 win.
“I knew before the game that this very well could be my last start at Davenport Field,” the junior left-hander said after becoming UVa’s all-time wins leader with 22 (teammate Jacob Thompson could tie that record today). “Lafayette battled all day and made it difficult, but in the end I wanted so bad to get a ‘W’ for the team, that it made a difference in the ball game.”

Seeking redemption
Knowing that this would be his only pitching appearance of the weekend, no way was Doolittle going to go out with another postseason disappointment, not on his watch. He couldn’t help but drift back to what happened against the Gamecocks last season.
“I had been pitching so well to that point and had a really good year on the mound,” Doolittle said, “so to be honest, I think [South Carolina] might have caught me on a bad day, and that left a bad taste in my mouth, not having my best stuff on a day when we really needed me to have my best stuff.”
Lafayette, a good hitting team with an aggressive offensive strategy, got some of Doolittle’s best stuff. His velocity may not have been at its zenith, but everything else was in place.
“I knew he was a strike thrower (72 of his 102 pitches were strikes) with a breaking ball and that he was going to compete and go at people,” said Lafayette coach Joe Kinney, who had watched Doolittle in high school back in New Jersey. “What I saw was what I expected to see.”

Mr. Versatility
Ditto for UVa coach Brian O’Connor, who marveled at what the multi-talented Doolittle has done for the program. Not only is he the Wahoos’ career leader in pitching wins, but is also the all-time RBI leader, a rare combination.
“That shows the kind of player he has been in our program,” the Virginia skipper said. “This guy has toed the rubber every weekend and pitched as deep into the ball game as he could for three years. Every inning that he hasn’t pitched, he’s played first base and handled it very well.”
As a true freshman three years ago, Doc came in and batted in the cleanup spot behind Ryan Zimmerman and hammered 11 home runs. Because his bat is just as valuable as his arm, O’Connor purposely gave Doolittle the Friday start so that he could rely on that big stick for the rest of the weekend.
Even though Doolittle went 0 for 3 at the plate against the Leopards, O’Connor knows he’ll need him the rest of the way. After all, Doc came into the NCAA Tournament batting .382 in his previous nine games.
While the pitching ace may have been a bit worn down at this time a year ago, that is no longer the case. O’Connor said that against South Carolina last year, Doolittle was fatigued. He had pitched more than 100 innings and was in the lineup every day.
Thanks to a strong bullpen, the southpaw has thrown considerably less this year (73.2 IP heading into the NCAAs), and he’s in a little better shape. When a lot of pitchers are wearing down, Doc has shown no signs of letting up.
“He’s got his legs to him now,” O’Connor pointed out. “He’s been the best the last three weeks of the season when we needed him most.”
Doolittle believes his last two starts have been his best and he’s not totally sure why. He knew that the final month of the season would be demanding on his body, so he worked extra hard in that department.
But he and the coaches have tinkered with his pitching all year to try to duplicate last year when he was virtually unstoppable until South Carolina popped up.
“It’s lots of really small things that, to be honest, I don’t think most people would even notice,” Doc said of his tweaks. “Last year, I would get ahead of guys and not try to strike them out. I wasn’t trying to put up some of the numbers that I did, but I was putting myself in good counts and that stuff kind of took care of itself.”
Friday was his longest outing of the year and part of that could be attributed to reverting back to what worked before. That has been his modus operandi during the past few weeks from the mound point of view.
Now, it’s up to his bat.
When he exited the game and left things in the hands of reliever Jake Rule, Doolittle was greeted with a huge ovation from the Davenport Field crowd.
“That was cool,” Doolittle said.
What wasn’t cool was the noticeable reddish rash sprawled across his upper lip that caused one media representative to query if it was razor burn or a bad “dye job.”
“A little of both,” Doolittle chuckled. “I was catching a lot of flak that I was going to be on the mound and nobody was going to be able to tell I had a mustache, so I had to try to do something about it. I really don’t know what it is, but right now it stings.”
This sting will go away. A win tonight might even make that early departure at the hands of South Carolina a year ago fade away.

 

Guyer misses bunt, rips HR
Blast highlights four-run first inning as Virginia tops Lafayette in NCAA opener
Saturday, Jun 02, 2007 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- With runners on first and second and one out, University of Virginia junior Brandon Guyer fouled off a first-inning bunt attempt. That made the count 0-2, so Guyer swung away on the next pitch.

And what a swing it was. Guyer belted a changeup from Lafayette left-hander Matt Kamine over the left-field wall, and suddenly, the Cavaliers led 3-0. Later in the inning, Beau Seabury doubled home David Adams to make it 4-0, and the Leopards never recovered.

In a game that lasted only 2 hours and 13 minutes, U.Va. opened with a 5-1 win in the NCAA baseball regional at Davenport Field.

"Obviously, letting up four runs in the first is not a good way to start your first game in the NCAA tournament in 17 years," Lafayette coach Joe Kinney said.

Guyer's homer was the first by a Cavalier in the NCAAs since Mark Reynolds' three-run shot in the ninth inning of a win over George Mason in 2004, also at Davenport. This is Virginia's fourth straight appearance in the NCAA tourney.

"To tell you the truth, I'm glad I didn't that get that bunt down," Guyer said. "It worked out well."

Virginia (44-14) advances to meet No. 2 seed Rutgers or No. 3 seed Oregon State today at 6 p.m. Lafayette (33-19) faces the Rutgers-Oregon State loser at 1 p.m. in the first elimination game of this four-team regional.

Tonight's "game is the biggest game of the year," said Brian O'Connor, Virginia's fourth-year coach. "The players know that. Everyone knows that. We have not, since I've been the coach here, been 2-0 in a regional. When you fall into the losers' bracket, [winning a regional] can happen, but it makes it very, very challenging."

The Wahoos will start all-ACC right-hander Jacob Thompson, a sophomore who's 11-0 this season. For his career, he's 21-4. Only one player in U.Va. history has more career victories: Sean Doolittle. The junior left-hander got the win yesterday to push his career mark to 22-7.

"Hopefully I've got some company after [tonight]," Doolittle said.

Doolittle wasn't dominating. He allowed nine hits. But he went 72/3 innings -- his longest appearance of the season -- before giving way to Jake Rule, who did the rest. Doolittle struck out six and walked none.

"I was glad I could get that far in the game and conserve the bullpen," Doolittle said after improving his pitching record in the NCAAs to 1-2.

A two-time member of the all-ACC first team, Doolittle is expected to turn pro after this season. The crowd of 2,696 gave him a rousing ovation when he headed to the dugout in the eighth after what likely was his final pitch at Davenport Field.

Doolittle went 0 for 3 yesterday, but with his next RBI, he'll become the Cavaliers' career leader.

"That's amazing, to see what this kid's done in our uniform," O'Connor said.

The Cavaliers' defensive work proved instrumental in their victory. Led by center fielder James Conrad, the Leopards came into the game with 138 stolen bases, and Virginia knew they would be aggressive on the basepaths.

Before yesterday, Conrad had been thrown out only four times in 52 attempts this season. The Cavs caught him stealing in the third and again in the fifth. Then, in the eighth, with the Leopards looking to mount a comeback, U.Va. first baseman John Scaglione pulled out the old hidden-ball trick.

Scaglione pump-faked a throw back to Doolittle. Conrad strayed off the bag. Scaglione tagged him out.

"I'm not really sure where that came from," Doolittle said, "but that was cool."

O'Connor, smiling, said: "That's never been worked on, but John Scaglione has been known for crazy things like that. . . . As long as I coach, I may never see that again."

 

Fast start helps Cavs win opener
UVa never trails after scoring four in the first inning on Lafayette.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- More important than the record-setting 22nd victory of Sean Doolittle's college career was his first NCAA win.

Virginia staked Doolittle to a four-run, first-inning lead Friday and the Cavaliers defeated Lafayette 5-1 at Davenport Field.

"Hopefully, I'll have some company tomorrow," said Doolittle, who entered play Friday as one of five past and present UVa pitchers with 21 career victories.

His teammate, sophomore right-hander Jacob Thompson, goes for his 22nd career victory when the Cavaliers (44-14) return to action tonight against the winner of Friday night's game between second-seeded Rutgers and third-seeded Oregon State.

"Tomorrow's game is the biggest game of the year," said Brian O'Connor, who has taken the Cavaliers to the NCAA regionals in each of his four seasons as head coach but has not seen UVa win its first two games..

Seldom has UVa reached the kind of comfort level provided when All-ACC outfielder Brandon Guyer cracked a three-run home run in the first inning.

Guyer faced a 1-2 count after a bunt attempt went foul.

"Tell you the truth, I'm kind of glad I didn't get the bunt down," said Guyer, addressing the media as teammates snickered.

"It would have been good to move the runners up, but everything else worked out. I'll take the home run over the bunt."

Lafayette (33-19) matched the Cavaliers with 11 hits but needed an eighth-inning run to avert a shutout.

The Leopards, who were ranked second in Division I with 2.65 stolen bases per game, were caught stealing twice.

Leopards leadoff man James Conrad, who entered play with 48 steals in 52 attempts, had three hits in four at-bats but was caught stealing once and was picked off twice.

On the second pickoff, with Lafayette threatening in the eighth, Conrad was the victim of a hidden-ball play by stopgap Cavalier first baseman John Scaglione.

"Play?" O'Connor said. "There was no play. John Scaglione might have played first base three times."

When he isn't pitching, Doolittle normally plays first base for the Cavaliers.

UVa steals leader Greg Miclat and .403-hitter Jeremy Farrell both have gotten playing time there, but arm injuries have sidelined Miclat for the season and relegated Farrell to pinch-hitting.

Doolittle threw over to first base to keep Conrad close to the bag and had no idea what was happening when Scaglione pump-faked the return throw and tagged an overanxious Conrad when he left the bag.

"It's never been worked on," O'Connor said, "but John Scaglione's been known for strange things like that.

"He's a clown in practice and those kind of things happen with clowns. As long as I've been coaching, I don't know if I'd ever seen that before."

Said Conrad: "I got beat at my own game today. They caught me in some vulnerable spots."

Doolittle, the 2006 ACC player of the year, went 0-for-3 Friday and saw his average drop to .313. O'Connor elected to move Doolittle out of his customary No. 2 spot in the rotation in the hope that he could give full attention to his batting for the remainder of the weekend.

In addition to the UVa record for career victories, Doolittle also holds the school record for runs batted in -- not bad for a player who has not completed his third year, although Doolittle could be departing in the upcoming free-agent draft.

"He's toed the mound every weekend since he's been here and, when he hasn't been pitching, he's played every inning at first base," O'Connor said.

"To be the career wins leader and the career RBI leader is just amazing."

 

Tech has room for newest recruit
Cavs set for best Directors’ Cup finish
By Doug Doughty

Virginia Tech’s decision to take a late-May commitment from 5-foot-9 Las Vegas, Nev., senior Hank Thorns sent me scurrying to take a look at the Hokies’ roster.

Where did Tech find a scholarship for Thorns and why did the Hokies need him?

“We’ve got scholarships,” head coach Seth Greenberg told me Wednesday.

That, they do.

Tech has six returning scholarship players (senior Deron Washington; juniors A.D. Vassallo and Cheick Diakite; and sophomores Nigel Munson, Lewis Witcher and Terrance Vinson).

The Hokies signed six players in the fall or spring (Jeff Allen, Terrell Bell, Malcolm Delaney, Dorenzo Hudson, Gus Gilchrist and Darrion Pellum).

The addition of Thorns puts the Hokies at 13, the NCAA limit.

Greenberg said in a statement that Gilchrist will be going to a prep school in 2007-2008. However, it appears likely that Gilchrist will meet NCAA eligibility guidelines once his home-school work has been evaluated. That would be the only thing stopping Gilchrist from going to Tech in the fall.

Gilchrist has said that April 16 shootings at Tech have made him uncomfortable with the prospect of attending school in Blacksburg. But, you know what? As of the middle of the week, he had not made a formal request to be released from his scholarship and Tech had not extended one.

GREENBERG SAID in a statement that he is looking forward to recruiting Gilchrist again in the fall, but you’d have to say that it’s a longshot Gilchrist will ever wind up in Blacksburg.

That would put the Hokies at 12 for the fall.

The issue was never 2007-2008, although the Hokies needed redshirt-sophomore center Robert Krabbendam to leave for the scholarship numbers to be where they are now.

A bigger question concerns 2008-2009. Tech already has taken commitments for that season from rising high-school seniors D.J. Thompson and Shamarr Bowden and, with Washington the only scholarship Tech senior about to complete his eligibility, Tech is sitting on 13 – the NCAA limit – for 2008-2009.

A question I had is what effect new NCAA legislation has on Bowden, who was a junior when he played for Grimsley High School in Greensboro, N.C., in 2005-2006. Bowden subsequently transferred to the Miller School outside Charlottesville with plans to repeat his junior year.

The NCAA is expected to enact an eight-semester rule for the 2008-2009 season. Current Tech recruit Jeff Allen slipped in under the wire, but, if he follows through on plans to play for the Miller School in 2007-2008, Bowden will have spent more than eight semesters in high school.

A source close to the Tech program confirmed that Bowden is a good student who has the credits to graduate from Miller School this year – on time. He would then play for Miller as a postgraduate and have no problem playing for the Hokies in 2007-2008.

GREENBERG THINKS he has his point guard of the future in Munson and maybe his backcourt of the future in Munson and Delaney, and he wasn’t really looking for another point when he learned about Thorns, who averaged 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists this season at Las Vegas Valley (Nev.) High School.

(We’re “efforting” a scouting report from Jeff Motley – wonder what he’s weighing these days ? – from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway by way of Fieldale-Collinsville High School, Virginia Tech and the Lynchburg News & Advance in its post-Golden Era).

“[Thorns’] dad runs a youth foundation,” Greenberg said. “He had an AAU team and, instead of playing with other Las Vegas prospects, he played for his dad. They call the team the Las Vegas Dogcatchers. So, at all of these AAU tournaments, [the son] would play off the beaten path.

“He was a big-time football player (hmmm!) so people thought he’d play football for a while, but he loves basketball. Word gets out that he’s going to play and his dad had a decent team, good enough to play in the AAU Tournament in Vegas He had 24 against Boo [Williams] and ended up with 38. He just tore it up.

“Boo thinks the guy is terrific. When I told Boo we were going to get him, Boo said, ‘You’re not getting that guy. That guy’s too good, now. That guy’s going to a Pac-10 school.’ All the kid’s people I knew from my Long Beach State days.

“It was one of those rare instances in recruiting when everything just connected. The people who were advising him called up ‘X’ guy who had worked at some university to ask about Seth Greenberg. People out there like me.”

Reporter Mark Berman likes Greenberg, I suggested.

“I owe Berman a lunch,” said Greenberg, who circled the wagons during the Gilchrist saga. “He’s upset because I haven’t been returning his phone calls.”

IT WAS INTERESTING to see Virginia listed as one of the teams involved with Thorns, who actually took a visit to Charlottesville, because the Cavaliers have scholarship issues that are more pressing than the Hokies’.

If two-time All-ACC selection Sean Singletary removes his name from consideration for the NBA Draft and returns for his senior year, Virginia would have 14 scholarship “candidates.” That would include four signees and all of the underclassmen who were on scholarship last year.

One of those players, Ryan Pettinella, began his Division I career at non-scholarship player at Pennsylvania and, presumably, would have the resources to pay his way again. I have no evidence that such an arrangement was ever discussed and would think Pettinella and his family would have to approve. Pettinella was on grant this past season.

Should we assume, since the UVa staff did not offer a scholarship to Thorns, that the Cavaliers think Singletary is staying? Possibly. Or maybe it was just the realization that there are a lot of guards already in the program, with or without Singletary.

Moreover, if the Cavaliers had another grant available, what of Calvin Baker, a 2006-2007 redshirt who might have qualified for some need-based aid after transferring from William and Mary? Wouldn’t that have been a slap at Baker, a former Colonial Athletic Association freshman, if he hadn’t been bumped up to an athletic full ride?

Maybe Baker has a pretty good financial package already, but, aside from Singletary, UVa’s 2007-2008 guard corps will include Baker and signees Sam Zeglinski, Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan. To bring in another guard in the same class would smack of over-recruiting.

THE BEST NEWS for Virginia this week was its seventh-place standings in the Director’s Cup rankings that were updated Thursday.

UVa has never finished higher than ninth in the Director’s Cup and has a shot to catch sixth-place Duke, which has an 11 ½-point lead over the Cavaliers. Even if Virginia fares no better in baseball than it did last year, when the Cavaliers did not get past the first weekend of regional play, it would still pick up 25 points.

Duke’s baseball team did not advance to postseason play but I guess there’s always the possibility that the NCAA could award the Blue Devils an honorary men’s national championship in lacrosse, if not a pair of national championships dating back to the 2006 season that Duke (and not the NCAA or ACC) canceled.

Eighth-place Florida is 1 ½ points behind the Cavaliers, which says something for the validity of the Directors’ Cup. All the Gators did this year was win the Division I football and men’s basketball championships.

Coming off a 45th-place showing in 2006 that was the best in school history, Virginia Tech currently stands 50th, but that does not include men’s and women’s track and field. The Hokies were indoor and outdoor ACC women’s champions.
 

Coaching carousel spinning
Former U.Va. assistant Rob Lanier's status with Florida is in the air. The Gators will talk to VCU's Anthony Grant.
STAFF, WIRE SERVICE REPORTS «
June 2, 2007

Billy Donovan's departure from two-time defending national champion Florida to coach the Orlando Magic will have no effect on former Virginia assistant Rob Lanier's decision to leave the Cavaliers for the Gators - at least for now.

The University of Virginia had no official comment on the news Friday.

Lanier announced May 23 that he was leaving U.Va. to join Donovan's staff at Florida, replacing Donnie Jones, who accepted the head coaching position at Marshall in early April. Donovan began wooing Lanier last year, but Lanier, 38, stayed on Dave Leitao's staff.

In a news conference introducing him as the Magic's new coach Friday in Orlando, Donovan announced he's bringing Florida assistant Larry Shyatt with him to the pros, The Gainesville Sun reported.

Donovan did not mention the rest of the Gator assistants in a video of that news conference posted online by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, nor in a transcript of a news conference hours later in Gainesville.

A voice message left with and an e-mail sent to the Florida sports information staff by the Daily Press were not immediately returned Friday.

Lanier, a former head coach at Siena and assistant at Texas, said Florida was a good fit for himself and his family. "I think Florida is a place where there is an opportunity to do special things in college basketball," he told Florida Today.

There were rumors that Donovan might be the Magic's man when Lanier accepted the job, but Lanier told the Florida newspaper, "I'm confident in (Donovan). He's been honest with me from day one. That's enough for me."

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Friday that Florida received permission to talk to Virginia Commonwealth coach Anthony Grant. Grant, Donovan's top assistant for 10 years, led VCU to a 28-7 record and a first-round NCAA tournament upset of Duke in his first year with the Rams last season. He signed a contract extension that bumped his base salary from $275,000 to $400,000, but Florida is expected to offer a deal in the $1-million-a-year range.

ESPN reported Grant will meet with Florida today.

The Times-Dispatch reported that if Grant leaves for another school, that school must schedule a home-and-away series with VCU or pay $75,000.

Donovan went 261-103 in 11 seasons as Florida's head coach, making nine consecutive NCAA tournaments.

"It would have been easy for me to stay, but I am out of my comfort zone, taking on a challenge that I have never done before," he said in a news conference in Gainesville.
 

Clock’s ticking on Singletary decision
A strong pre-draft outing makes the NBA decision that much more difficult for the Virginia standout.
By Kyle Hightower
Orlando Sentinel
June 1, 2007, 8:13 PM EDT

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. -- The idea always has been about playing it safe, but Virginia junior guard Sean Singletary did all he could this week to get a full test of himself while attending the Pre-draft Camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports near Orlando.

Singletary, who averaged 19 points a game and was a first-team ACC selection last season, has about three weeks left to decide if he wants to keep his name in the draft. Having not signed with an agent, he can pull his name out by June 18.

Though he hasn't done anything extraordinary this week, he also hasn't really been exposed, playing on a team alongside former fellow ACC opponent and Maryland guard D.J. Strawberry.

While some have questioned whether an extra year of school will improve Singletary's stock, at just 5-foot-11, others aren't sure if the extra year will help. And that's what Singletary said he tried to get a bead on in Orlando.

"I'm learning a lot," Singletary said this week. "I know I'm not playing as best I can by far. But I'm learning a lot about the game at the professional level. It's something new, but I'm taking it all in stride."

He said he wasn't leaning one way or another about whether he will remain in the draft.

"It's either way right now," Singletary said. "I haven't made any decisions yet. Just taking it day by day and trying to get better."

Before trekking to Disney for the camp, Singletary spent two weeks in Houston working with former NBA coach John Lucas. Singletary said it was just another way to gain professional training.

"It's an advantage," he said. "A lot of people don't have that. But he's been through it many times, and he's been a coach as well. I'm very blessed to have been in that type of situation."

Singletary's team lost its first two games at camp this week, but he said he didn't letting that discourage him.

"It's tough to play in this type of setting on short notice and not having that much chemistry with your team," Singletary said. "But like I said, I'm learning about the game, how to share the ball and getting certain personalities to gel.

"It's all a learning experience, though. And something I'm gonna take to heart as I make my decision."
 

Steelers Coach Sorry for Raunchy E-Mail
By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Larry Zierlein apologized Thursday for accidentally e-mailing an explicit sex video to numerous NFL employees, including league commissioner Roger Goodell.

Zierlein said the incident has been difficult for him and his family and that he intends to use his team-issued computer only for football business from now on. He sent a note of apology to all NFL employees and those with the Steelers who received his raunchy e-mail.

"It's hard because I made an inexcusable mistake," Zierlein said, discussing the matter for the first time. "It was hard first for the organization. They had to explain and go through ... and my family, for what they're going to have to hear. So it was tough, but when you've been at this stuff for as long as a lot of us have, tough things happen and you've got to move on and that's what we're doing."

The incident is the first blemish on new Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and his staff, and it clearly bothered team chairman Dan Rooney — a Hall of Fame executive and one of the league's most respected owners. It is uncertain if the Steelers, or the NFL, will discipline Zierlein, though Rooney has talked to him.

"I'd rather just keep it within," Zierlein said, asked what the Steelers said to him. "I will say this is a very supportive organization."

The problem occurred two weeks ago when Zierlein — a 61-year-old grandfather — intended to forward the video clip, which was e-mailed to him by another Steelers employee. However, Zierlein accidentally e-mailed the video to numerous league personnel, causing staff members with other NFL teams to begin discussing the foul-up.

"It was 100 percent unintentional," Zierlein said. "I don't even know how to mass e-mail. I don't know these machines very good, it was just a 100 percent unintentional thing. Hit the wrong button. It's something I really regret for obvious reasons: for the organization, for my family, for the whole thing. It's been a tough deal, but it's like anything else. You learn from it and you move on."

Zierlein did not explain why, when after he initially viewed the video he didn't delete it rather than attempting to e-mail to someone else.

"I'm not very good at these machines and I hit the wrong button," Zierlein said. "There's nothing else to say, no other explanation."

Zierlein was hired in January after Tomlin replaced Bill Cowher as coach. Zierlein has been a coach since 1970, working at the Texas high school level, collegiately at Houston, Cincinnati, Tulane and LSU, and in the NFL with the Bengals, Bills, Browns and Steelers.