Ten things about the Cavaliers
Posted August 14, 2006 at 10:17 AM

Doug Doughty

I've always worried that I'd attend a Virginia football practice, something major would happen and I wouldn't notice.

I usually attend 2-3 practices during the spring and 2-3 during the fall, mostly to show that the media appreciates the opportunity, limited as it may be.

That said, here are some observations from Saturday's 8:45 a.m. practice, which required me leaving Roanoke before 6:30.

1. Jason Snelling looked more like a tailback than he ever had before, mostly because he's down under 230 pounds.

2. Some of the best punts of the day were unloaded by nickel back and ex-soccer goalie Ryan Best. However, I'm not sure why Best and reserve quarterback Scott Deke were practicing their punting. (Maybe it was a drill for the return men).

3. Redshirt freshman Jeffrrey Fitzgerald has moved ahead of Alex Field at one of the defensive tackle spots. Field was ahead of Fitzgerald on the depth chart in the media guide.

4. On occasions when the first defense was on the field, junior Nate Lyles and sophomore Byron Glaspy were the safeties, although fifth-year senior Tony Franklin, a late addition to the roster, was wearing one of the orange jerseys reserved for starters.

5. Four safeties had orange jerseys, including Jamaal Jackson, a starter at several points last season. Media gadfly Jeff White, a Crozet resident with easy access to the UVa practices, said he would be surprised if Lyles and Franklin don't start.

6. Glaspy may have had the best play of the day, returning an interception for a touchdown.

7. Offensive linemen did chest bumps and exchanged high fives when Michael Johnson broke through the defense on one play. Johnson, a fifth-year senior, is no better than co-No. 2 behind Cedric Peerman behind Snelling. Johnson's teammates appear to be pulling for him.

8. Offensive lineman Zac Stair, first noticed trading shoves with DL Chris Long, was wearing jersey No. 1, with "One a Day," written under it. When coach Al Groh expressed his displeasure at the penalties Stair had been incurring, Stair reportedly told him, "Ah, coach, it's just one a day." One day later he had a new jersey.

9. One day after practice, Deyon Williams showed up for practice on crutches. Another veteran receiver, Emmanuel Byers, has an Achilles problem that bears watching but did not appear to be limping.

10. Cornerback and former record-setting Gretna High School quarterback Vic Hall was holding for field goals and extra points and it wasn't long before the Cavaliers started working on fakes. I don't see the fakes working unless Hall did all the holding, but that would mean supplanting John Phillips, who hasn't dropped a snap in two years.

Commonwealth rivalry in need of a jump start
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 31, 2006
Last updated: 11:06 PM

Instead of everybody biding their time, waiting until late November for the annual Virginia Tech-Virginia football game - and the inevitable Hokies victory - what would you think if the schools moved up the date of the Commonwealth Cup?

Moved it way, way up.

To Labor Day.

That's right. If Tech and U.Va. come to some sort of agreement, they conceivably could open a season, if not the 2007 season, on the first Monday of September.

Labor Day appears to be a strange time for a rivalry game. But as Miami and Florida State discovered, you can't beat the exposure. For the third season in a row, they open up against one another, on Sept. 4. The Hurricanes and Seminoles will play for a national TV audience. Once again, they will have the stage all to themselves.

But this year's Sunshine State, out-of-the-blocks throwdown is the last, at least for a while. Three years is long enough to be breaking in new players and formations against a big in-state rival.

"Florida State and Miami," said ACC commissioner John Swofford, "have done their part for three straight years and would rather not continue that, so it presents another opportunity for someone else in the conference to pick up the mantle."

Why not Virginia Tech? Why not Virginia? Together on Labor Day. It's what the listless rivalry needs.

The opportunity would be perfect for Tech, wouldn't it? Its football program is a lot of things, but camera shy isn't one of them.

The Hokies' love of exposure is even suggested in the school's initials: VT is the mirror image of TV.

After huddling with television over the years, the Tech schedule-maker has scrambled like Michael Vick, moving games to weeknights before that kind of programming was fashionable. Is there a night of the week on which a Frank Beamer team has not played? Contrary to rumor, the Hokies have never suited up for a sunrise Tuesday contest. But only because ESPN hasn't thought of it yet.

TV has been berry-berry good to Tech, so it's hard to believe that the Hokies wouldn't consider stepping onto another big stage, even if it meant sharing the spotlight with U.Va.

Right from the start, viewers tuned in Labor Day evening would be aware of what Tech is all about; they'd become better acquainted with the players and sooner reminded of Beamer's resume. You think anybody outside Hokie Nation will be paying attention Sept. 2 when fearsome Northeastern rolls into Blacksburg?

Virginia, on the short end of the rivalry, has even less to lose by agreeing to a Labor Day date. It's no good limping into a rivalry game with, say, a 6-5 record. If you're the underdog, it's better to bask in pre-season publicity while awaiting a national TV shot against your in-state nemesis.

This year, Tech and U.Va. will meet in Blacksburg in the last regular-season game for both teams. But it's not like the rivalry hasn't deviated from this late-November tradition. In 1984 and '87, the schools played in September. Other times, the game has been held in October.

When it comes to media coverage beyond the commonwealth, Tech and U.Va. will face greater competition than one another Nov. 25. That same Saturday, Florida meets Florida State in a national attraction. Meanwhile, we can expect Notre Dame's visit to Southern Cal to be the mother of all hyped games.

Tech and U.Va. could bring greater focus to their match-up by employing a little scheduling imagination. What better way to pump some life into the competition than to give it a national presence when both teams are 0-0.

It could never be Labor Day times three for our teams. The national demand just isn't there. But one year would work. A single game involving both Virginia schools would change the pace. And add a new wrinkle to the rivalry.

Reach Bob at (757) 446-2373 or bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com

 

Clark injury benefits Burrell
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Rockbridge County product Aaron Clark, who received playing time in nine games last year at outside linebacker, was on crutches at Virginia's practice Sunday and no timetable was given for his return.

UVa head coach Al Groh said that Clark has a sprained knee that has created an opportunity for 6-foot-4, 212-pound Denzel Burrell, a redshirt freshman from South Orange, N.J.

"He's got nice height and can really run," Groh said. "He's got the requisite skills. It's a disappointing deal for Aaron, but it's worked out well for [Burrell]."

Groh had spoken of Clark's inconsistency earlier in camp but said there are no plans to shift him to the defensive line, a move that has been taken with another redshirt freshman, Jason Fuller.

Clark, 6-5 and 234 pounds as a true freshman last year, now weighs in the low 250s, "which is a good weight for this position," Groh said.

"He's only been in the program for 13 months and some guys can make a lot of gains in the first 2 [or] 2 12 years, so who knows where he's going to end up. That's a perfect deal with these tall, rangy athletes. Either they're a real good sized for the position where they're at, or they grow into something else."

There is no indication that Clark's injury is season-threatening, but he has a redshirt year at his disposal.

Conversation piece

Everybody wanted to know why offensive lineman Zak Stair was wearing jersey No. 1 on Saturday and Stair was more than happy to oblige them.

"I guess I'm coach Groh's favorite player," Stair said. "That's why he gave me No. 1."

On closer examination, under the numeral were the words "A Day," as in "1-a-day," the motto for a popular vitamin.

Turns out, Groh commissioned the jersey after a conversation he had with Stair, who was called for penalties several times early in camp. Stair didn't think it was a big deal, estimating that he'd only gotten one penalty a day, "which is one too many," Groh said.

Groh reminded Stair that one penalty a day equals 365 per year and had the equipment room prepare the new jersey overnight.

"That's a special number that's going to be retired when he's finished with it," Groh said.

Depth at LB

Groh could be overheard correcting sophomore linebacker Jon Copper from Northside High School on several occasions this weekend, but Groh said that Copper has continuing to build on the progress he showed in the spring.

Copper has been wearing the orange jersey that designates Virginia's first defensive unit, but he could be pushed by 6-1, 259-pound Rashawn Jackson, a redshirt freshman.

"He's got very good natural quickness," Groh said. "This is a big player, now. He's got the runner's instincts for finding holes. I think you'll find that a lot of the really, really good linebackers were high-school running backs. There's a similarity in the vision needed to see holes and the flow of play."

Jackson was a SuperPrep All-America running back in high school, "but, I've got an affinity for linebackers," said Groh, who also liked that Jackson had played in a 3-4 defense, the same as UVa's. "Truthfully, I've had my eye on him [as a linebacker] for a while."
 

Bannister opts to transfer
Reserve point guard's minutes had fallen off due to injury
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
August 15, 2006

Virginia point guard T.J. Bannister had as frustrating a season as a basketball player could possibly have during the 2005-06 campaign.

Apparently, Bannister has decided it’s time for a fresh start.

On Monday, a source told The Daily Progress that the Jacksonsville, Fla. native has decided to transfer.

“I can’t comment on that at this time,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, when reached by telephone Monday evening.

Bannister played in just 16 of Virginia’s 30 games this season, averaging 2.1 points and 2.3 assists.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder, who would have been a senior, was in and out of the lineup with a nagging sports hernia injury for much of the year. When he was healthy enough to get on the court, his playing time was sporadic because of rustiness.

The loss of Bannister, who couldn’t be reached for comment, is a blow to Virginia. Although he was only being counted on for spot duty off the bench, Bannister was arguably the team’s only pure point guard; and his decision to leave comes so late in the summer that Virginia cannot use his scholarship on another player.

Without Bannister, returning All-ACC First-Team guard Sean Singletary has no proven backup.

Leitao will most likely give shooting guard J.R. Reynolds more minutes at the point. Reynolds grew more comfortable at that spot as the season wore on last year, and logged major minutes there for a college touring team from New York that played in the Bahamas this summer.

Incoming freshman Solomon Tat, who played some point guard in high school, is another possibility.

Calvin Baker, a transfer from William and Mary, is a legitimate point guard. However, he won’t be eligible until the 2007-08 season.

Bannister, who was recruited by former coach Pete Gillen, told The Daily Progress in February that he was unhappy with the fact he hadn’t taken a medical redshirt that would have given him another year of eligibility.

“I went in and talked to Coach about it,” Bannister said, “but when I did, he told me it was too late because I had already played [too many] games.”

Bannister is the fourth player to leave the program under Leitao’s watch. Swingman Gary Forbes transferred to UMass last August. Post players Donte Minter (Appalachian State) and Sam Warren (destination unknown) left during the season. All four were recruited by Gillen.

Bannister’s best season was in 2004-05 when he started the last 10 games and averaged 4.3 points and 3.7 assists. On Jan. 5 of that season he hit a jumper in the lane with just 2.7 seconds left to beat Western Kentucky.

DUNKS: Incoming freshman Solomon Tat, who battled visa problems before marrying his longtime girlfriend in the spring, has had his high school transcripts approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse. That’s good news for Wahoo Nation. The Nigerian has impressed teammates during pickup games this summer. “I don’t know how he does it, but he always gets [to the basket],” said junior forward Adrian Joseph said. “He’s strong when he finishes, so he can take the contact.”

 

Cavs to run with multiple backs?
Snelling, Peerman could split time
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 15, 2006

Few teams in college football have made a two-tailback system work quite like Auburn did in 2004.

Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams took turns preying on opponents as the dynamic duo amassed over 2,000 yards that year. Both went on to be picked early in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Could Virginia be in store for something similar with the start of the season less than three weeks away?

Virginia coach Al Groh has not said that directly, but senior Jason Snelling and sophomore Cedric Peerman have gotten his attention in training camp.

“If you have the right kind of backs, it can serve you well to use them both,” Groh said on Monday. “I’m not saying we’re in this category yet, but it worked out pretty well for Auburn a couple of years ago with those two guys.”

Another senior, Michael Johnson, is playing without pain and redshirt freshman Mikell Simpson has progressed throughout training camp leading Groh to one conclusion:
“I’m sure that there’s not going to be a solitary ball-carrier on this team,” he said.

Switching Spots: Shortly after training camp started this month, Groh said true freshman John Bivens would work at safety.

Apparently that project has been put on hold.

On Monday, Groh told reporters that Bivens would focus, at least in the short term, on learning how to play inside linebacker.

“I don’t know where this is going to go,” Groh said.
One way or another, the project will likely be put on hold as Virginia turns its preparations toward the Sept. 2 Pittsburgh game.

“This is a week where we’re trying different things with some of the personnel and some of the schemes,” Groh said. “We’re just trying to put more of the pieces in place as we see that we need them.

“As we get a little closer to the game, we’ll pick some guys and get them ready. Right now, we’re trying a couple of different things.”

Bivens entered camp at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, which would seem small for an inside linebacker in Groh’s 3-4 defense.

Do not be alarmed.

“I wasn’t here when [former linebacker] Angelo Crowell came but certainly I was here when he finished and I saw what he looked like,” Groh said. “There were some people who know Angelo when he came here and they say he wasn’t much bigger than what John is right now.

“I’m kind of going on that faith that maybe the same thing will happen for him.”

EXTRA POINTS: Linebacker Aaron Clark missed Sunday’s practice and was using crutches to aid his movement around the practice field. Groh said the sophomore suffered a right knee sprain. With Clark out, the team has added practice reps for redshirt freshman Denzel Burrell at outside linebacker.

“It’s working out well for [Burrell] there,” Groh said. “He’s got nice height and he can run well. He’s got a good natural aggression about him. He’s very raw with his techniques at the position, but he’s got a lot of requisite skills."

“It’s been, I’m sure, a disappointing deal for Aaron, but it’s been a good opportunity for Denzel and it’s kind of been fun getting involved with him in a little bit more detailed way.” …

Redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell returned to practice on Sunday and did not appear to be bothered by the injury sustained in a bike accident last week. … The three practices scheduled for this weekend that were originally slated to be “open” practices have been closed to the public. Fans will get a chance to “Meet the Team” on Thursday at Scott Stadium. Gates open at 3 p.m. with players arriving at 3:45 p.m.

 

'Hoos Who: Clint Sintim
By Jay Jankins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 15, 2006

It happens every year. Some team has some player that makes fans wonder just how many years of eligibility does that player have.

It could have been said for Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst or UVa tailback Wali Lundy, both of whom finally wrapped up their respective careers a year ago.

Becoming a household name early in a career can have that kind of impact.

It might not be long before Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim draws the same kind of comparisons.

As one of the best high school players in the state at Gar-Field High, recruiting junkies were buzzing about Sintim long before his college career even started.

The anticipation only grew as Sintim waited in the shadows of former outside linebackers Darryl Blackstock and Dennis Haley during a redshirt season in ’04.

The wait was well worth it. Sintim exploded onto the scene last year as a rookie, earning Freshman All-American honors after recording 53 tackles.

To say that Sintim, who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 257 pounds, is entering just his sophomore season even makes the Northern Virginia native scratch his head.

“I am going into my third year now and I have been playing for a full year so yes, it has seemed like I have been here a while,” Sintim said. “I see a lot of newer guys coming in every year and I say, ‘Wow. I remember when I first got here.’

“I have been here my fair share.”

With a host of new faces joining the starting lineup on the defensive line and at inside linebacker, Sintim agrees to disagree with those who think Virginia’s defense might struggle.

“People can say what they want, but not too many people actually know what goes on with an actual college football team,” Sintim said. “People don’t have the inside sources. They just hear from the outside, but they can say whatever they want. We have a great team right here and we have a chance to be even better than that.”

Sintim has seen drastic improvements since the first day of practice.

“The guys on defense are really working hard,” Sintim said. “I think our third downs are improving tremendously out here on the practice field, but of course you never really know until the first game. We will see when that happens.”

That first game is less than three weeks away and while questions remain unanswered, Sintim takes comfort in knowing that when he is called upon to blitz that he is protected by an ever-improving secondary, one that includes veteran safeties Tony Franklin and Nate Lyles.

“They all understand what they have to do on each play to make us a better team,” Sintim said.

It doesn’t hurt having a cornerback like Marcus Hamilton either, Sintim added.

“For most of the summer now, I have been playing on the right side and that’s where Marcus plays,” Sintim said. “For me just to know that he is back there and he has my back … that just makes me that much more confident and comfortable.”


 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Aug 15, 2006

GOOD TO GO? To be eligible this fall, several Virginia football players needed solid efforts in summer school. That group included Olu Hall. The sophomore linebacker said Sunday that he believes he did well enough in the most recent session to pull through.

"I'm good," said Hall, who as a Robinson High senior was rated the state's No. 1 prospect by many recruiting analysts.

Hall spent the 2004-05 academic year in Hargrave Military Academy's postgraduate program. As a true freshman at U.Va. last season, he appeared in eight games but made only one tackle. He didn't play in the Cavaliers' final four games and is battling for a spot on the two-deep this summer.

His first year "was an experience for me, because I got to get a feel for it, and I know how to prepare and everything now," Hall said. "I don't think it was a wasted year, even though some people might think that. I think it was a learning experience."

Hall, who sat out spring practice to concentrate on his schoolwork, said he's getting a better grasp of Virginia's 3-4 defense. He played defensive end at Robinson.

"Everything's starting to slow down a little bit," he said. "I'm starting to get the hang of it."

OPEN AND CLOSED: U.Va.'s annual "Meet the Team" session is Thursday. Gates at Scott Stadium will open at 3 p.m., and players will be available for photographs and autographs from 3:45 to 5 p.m.

Concessions and U.Va. merchandise will be for sale, and fans can pick up posters, schedule magnets and schedule cards. Fans are encouraged to enter on the stadium's west side.

However, fans who were intending to attend U.Va.'s practices Friday or Saturday need to change their plans. Virginia announced yesterday that all remaining practices are closed to fans and media members.

INSIDE JOB: After working at safety early in training camp, true freshman John Bivens is now at inside linebacker, the position the former Prince George High star was projected to play when he signed with U.Va. in February.

Bivens, who's listed at 6-2, weighed 215 pounds at the start of camp. That's light for an inside linebacker in the 3-4, but Bivens figure to add weight after working with strength coach Evan Marcus, and he's an excellent tackler.

"I wasn't here when [former U.Va. inside linebacker] Angelo Crowell came, but certainly I was here when he finished," sixth-year coach Al Groh said yesterday, "and I saw what he looked like. And there are some people who knew Angelo when he came here, and they say he wasn't much bigger than what John is right now."

The 6-1 Crowell, now a starter for the Buffalo Bills, was listed at 209 pounds in U.Va.'s media guide for 2000, his sophomore season. He plays at 235 now.

MARKED MAN: He's No. 76 on the roster, but second-team offensive tackle Zak Stair took the field Saturday morning in a jersey with "1 A DAY" printed on it.

"He was having a little habit of getting one penalty a day," Groh explained after the practice. "He said, 'Well, it's just one a day.' Well, one a day adds up to 365 during the course of a year."

And so Groh had a special jersey made for Stair, a 6-6, 303-pound sophomore who completed his two practices Saturday without being penalized. Sunday, however, he reverted to form.

"He gets one penalty a day, which is one too many," Groh said yesterday.

HOBBLED: Second-team outside linebacker Aaron Clark, who practiced Saturday, was on crutches at practice Sunday. Clark, a sophomore, has a sprained knee and is out indefinitely.

In Clark's absence, Denzel Burrell, a 6-4, 212-pound redshirt freshman, is getting more work, and it's "working out well for him there," Groh said. "He's got nice height, and he can really run well. He's got a good natural aggression about him.

"It's been a disappointing deal for Aaron, but it's been a good opportunity for Denzel, and actually it's been fun getting involved with him in a more detailed way."

NAME TO REMEMBER: Inside linebacker Darnell Carter impressed in a one-on-one tackling drill at practice Sunday, making textbook stops of such players as tight end John Phillips and tailback Jason Snelling. A 6-3, 223-pound freshman from Englewood, N.J., Carter is likely to redshirt this season.

-- Jeff White
 

Beamer ball or Beamer brawl?
The football coach's new get-tough strategy at Virginia Tech isn't tough enough to ensure "thugs" will fade as a label for Hokie-style play.

Coach Frank Beamer's new "get tough" strategy with Virginia Tech football players sounds about as effective as sending Barney Fife to Baghdad with one bullet.

Last season, the much-acclaimed "Beamer Ball" soured into Beamer Brawl. Either Beamer lost control or he enabled the team's "aggressive" style of play.

By season's end at the Gator Bowl, cheap shots, trash talking and dirty play combined to mightily soil Virginia Tech's reputation, both as a football program and, by association, as a university. Quarterback Marcus Vick was the most notorious offender, but his departure couldn't totally restore the team's image. Hokies were still known for thuggish play. Beamer vowed this fall's season would be different.

Don't count on it.

The Hokies' opening kickoff is less than a month away, and Beamer's promise to crack the whip on flagrant and personal fouls now sounds more like a ticklefest.

He can do better.

Here's a sample of Beamer's strategy: If a Hokie commits a flagrant or personal foul during a game, he'll forfeit $100 from any post-season stipend he might receive for food, travel and entertainment. He'll have to wake early one day and run 100 yards for every yard of the penalty.

Can you feel the pain?

Instead, how about some real tough rules: Any player who commits an obviously flagrant foul should be suspended for an entire game. Punishing personal fouls presents thornier issues because officials toss flags sometimes when players have no ill intent. But an objective, appointed observer could decide what punishment is just. In many cases, Beamer's proposed punishment might be adequate.

Aside from an unspecified and undoubtedly malleable point system for being late to or skipping classes or tutoring sessions, Beamer avoids cutting playing time.

College football is now a high-pressure game and a lucrative business. But collegiate sports programs should have a higher calling than providing bragging rights for alumni. They should showcase sportsmanship and fair play. Kids are watching.

Beamer promised months ago to clean up his team's act, but he apparently hasn't devoted much off-season time or thought to devising a sound strategy.

At the university's sports information department Monday, uncertainty lingered about whether Beamer's $100 fine was for each infraction or for the season.

Dave Smith, sports information director, ultimately said it was his impression Beamer meant to penalize each infraction.

Here's one sure thing -- failing to corral trash-talking, dirty football will mean trash-talking about Virginia Tech will continue.
 

JPJ a 'jewel' - and not just for basketball
On the Front Row
Chris Graham
chris@augustafreepress.com

It's funny to think of now, but the people in charge of planning and designing University Hall actually had it in mind that they were going to end up with an arena that was going to serve many more purposes than simply hosting college-basketball games.

"When you look at when they built this place, the committee that was associated with the design for this had a lot of folks on it from the drama department. So a major part of the focus for this was not about sports. It was about performances," said Mark Fletcher, an associate athletics director at UVa. who has overseen a slew of athletics-facilities projects at the University in recent years, in an interview for an upcoming book on the history of U Hall, Mad About U, written by Chris Graham and Patrick Hite, which is set for release in October.

"You can see in the aisles that there are lights that are on the steps. That's only for one reason - when you had a production in here, they could turn on the lights just like in a movie theater," Fletcher said.

That University Hall, which opened in 1965, fell short of those goals has been obvious for years - never more so than when one gets a gander at the building across the street.

"We're going to be able to have big-time concerts, presidential debates, a circus, a pro-wrestling match, what have you," said Barry Parkhill, a former basketball star at the University who was instrumental in the effort to bring the John Paul Jones Arena to life, in an interview for Mad About U.

JPJ, as some have taken to calling the $130 million arena - The Jack is the name of choice, it appears, among those in local-media circles - opened last week with a performance by the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil. A look at the schedule for the remainder of 2006 bears Parkhill's observation out - a World Wrestling Entertainment event is on the calendar for next week, with a concert by The Dave Matthews Band and a comedy showcase featuring Larry the Cable Guy set for later on in the year.

The conventional wisdom right now, it seems, is that the state-of-the-art 15,000-seat arena is single-handedly going to transform the Charlottesville entertainment scene - and turn Charlottesville into an entertainment destination on par with, or surpassing, established Old Dominion destinations like Richmond, Roanoke and Hampton Roads.

Another view that is gaining more in the way of acceptance is that the arena instead is the final piece in the puzzle that leaders in Charlottesville and Albemarle set out to solving 20 years ago in terms of trying to make the region an entertainment destination.

"In terms of entertainment venues, it now means that we've got some very significant kind of anchor stores in the entertainment area," said Mark Shore, the director and CEO of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"I say that in the sense that if you're going to visit a mall, and your intent is to go shopping, you probably don't want just one major department store, you want there to be several anchors," Shore said.

"Whether you look at that in terms of John Paul Jones Arena and Monticello being anchor stores, or John Paul Jones Arena and The Paramount and The Charlottesville Pavilion being anchor stores, I think you could easily say you've got some major facilities that draw. And because they're all together, they create an incredible synergy," Shore told The Augusta Free Press.

The Paramount Theater, which reopened in 2004 after an extensive restoration effort, and The Charlottesville Pavilion, which opened in July 2005, both have packed schedules that feature national-level acts themselves - from Bill Cosby and Vince Gill at The Paramount to Bruce Hornsby, Lyle Lovett and The Black Crowes at The Pavilion - in settings that are very much distinct from the larger JPJ.

"There definitely is great variety in what we have to offer here," said Chad Hershner, the president and CEO of the 1,000-seat Paramount.

"If you want to go to The Pavilion, you can have that kind of experience, an outdoor experience. Or The Paramount can offer world-class artists in a very, very intimate setting - when you're here to see Paul Anka, Trisha Yearwood, whoever you're here to see, if you're in the last row of the theater, you're seeing them. You're seeing the expression on their face, and it's a really incredible experience. And then JPJ offers that Cirque du Soleil high-as-you-can-possibly-go experience with 15,000 people - and that's awesome, too," Hershner told the AFP.

Kirby Hutto, the general manager of the 3,500-seat Charlottesville Pavilion, sees the synergy playing out to everybody's benefit.

"The fact that you begin to establish the area as a destination means folks are going to look at the calendar - and maybe we've got a great show on a Saturday night, and John Paul Jones has somebody that Sunday. Or The Paramount has somebody the Friday before. People then decide to stretch it out and make it a longer stay as opposed to just coming for a single show and then turning around and going back," Hutto told the AFP.

Shore sees something else that is significant - "When you look at the schedules, what stands out is that there's something for everybody and every lifestyle."

"The folks at all three work really hard to try to reach multiple audiences," Shore said.

"They try to offer a great selection - and in an already thriving community, people can come and experience an event like what will happen at the John Paul Jones Arena or The Pavilion or The Paramount, which normally take place in the evening - but they also know that there are plenty of things to do during the day. There's shopping and dining on the Downtown Mall, there are the wineries out into the Albemarle countryside, they can visit historic sites," Shore said.

"All of that adds up to make it a great trip - whereas some other localities, people may say, Well, we'll go in for the show and maybe spend the night. Whereas here, it's a full experience of a trip to Charlottesville, with the full experience of things that they can do and see while they're here," Shore said.

That's not to dismiss the impact that the John Paul Jones Arena itself is expected to have on the Charlottesville-Albemarle economy. According to Tim Hulbert, the president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, the arena is expected to have as much as a $20 million fiscal impact on Charlottesville, Albemarle and surrounding areas in its first year of operations.

"The arena is absolutely a jewel," Hulbert told the AFP. "It's the best house in Virginia. It's a defining attraction for Charlottesville. And before the 3,500 hotel rooms that we have in the Charlottesville-Albemarle region get full, some smart people will say, Let's stay in Waynesboro. Let's stay in Staunton. Let's stay in Culpeper. So it's going to have an impact on the broader region."

It's a long way from the days when University Hall fell silent in the spring, summer and fall in between the times of year when the sound of basketballs otherwise filled the air - that's for sure.

"U Hall, when I was in school, we did have some pretty big-time concerts, but a big-name entertainer is not going to come to University Hall," Parkhill said in his interview for Mad About U.

"They will come to the John Paul Jones Arena, though. So we've got a lot of advantages that go beyond basketball," Parkhill said.