Reaching 5-1
After a humbling loss, Virginia has been on a roll. Here are picks and pans on the way to . . .
Friday, Oct 12, 2007 - 12:10 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE That the Virginia Cavaliers are 5-1 at the regular season's midpoint is no shock, given the schedule they've faced and the fact that they entered the season with 18 returning starters.

How U.Va. arrived at 5-1, however, is more newsworthy.

On opening day, 7,220 feet above sea level, Virginia flopped 23-3 loss at Wyoming. And just like that, the preseason optimism about the Cavaliers appeared unfounded, and it was realistic to think that Al Groh's seventh year as coach at his alma mater might be his last.

Five games later, U.Va. fans are happier. With a victory tomorrow over Connecticut (5-0) at Scott Stadium, the Wahoos would have their first six-game winning streak in five years and might well break into The Associated Press' Top 25.

As narrow wins over North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Middle Tennessee have shown, though, U.Va.'s margin for error is thin. His players realize that, Groh said, and so he doesn't worry about overconfidence as Virginia heads into the second half of the season.

"You really get the sense that this team understands, 'Look, we're only at the halfway mark right now. This could turn out to be a 5-7 season, and this could turn out to be an 11-1 season, and what we've accomplished so far really isn't going to stand up for much on Saturday if we don't play better than the other guys,'" Groh said Tuesday.

Here's The Times-Dispatch's take after six games: Chris Long. The senior defensive end has played like a first-team All-American. Long, despite encountering frequent double teams, has seven sacks and has broken up six passes. He's second on the team in tackles.

Honorable mention: Cedric Peerman. The junior tailback, a first-year starter, was leading the ACC in rushing before hurting his right foot in the first quarter against Middle Tennessee last weekend.

Most improved: Ryan Weigand. The senior from Pasadena, Calif., leads the ACC in punting with a 46.7-yard average. Punting was a major concern for U.Va. entering the season.

Honorable mention: Peerman, who's averaging 97.5 yards rushing; senior kicker Chris Gould, who's 9 for 10 on field goals; and senior center Jordy Lipsey, who has emerged as an all-ACC candidate.

Biggest disappointment: Mikell Simpson. U.Va. essentially created a hybird position for the sophomore from Harrisburg, Pa., who was to be part tailback, part wide receiver. The experiment has yet to pay dividends. Simpson, a reserve tailback in 2006, has carried twice for minus-9 yards this season. He's caught four passes for 31 yards.

Honorable mention: Brandon Woods. The sophomore safety from Durham, N.C., still is listed on the two-deep, but his playing time has decreased as the season as progressed.

Best drive: Virginia's final possession last weekend at Middle Tennessee. After starting at the 20 with U.Va. down 21-20, sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell completed 5 of 5 passes for 63 yards to set up Gould's game-winner, a 34-yard field goal with 8 seconds left.

Honorable mention: After Duke pulled to 17-13 at Scott Stadium on Sept. 8, true freshman Peter Lalich led Virginia on a drive on which he completed 8 of 10 passes for 77 yards. The last one went to senior tight end Tom Santi for a 4-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, and Gould's PAT closed the scoring in U.Va.'s 24-13 victory.

Most spectacular play: Against Georgia Tech on Sept. 22, sophomore defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald, who like Sewell is a Hermitage High graduate, came up with his fourth career interception and ran 25 yards for his second career touchdown. Long had deflected a pass by quarterback Taylor Bennett, who then tried to knock the ball down. Instead, it bounced off Virginia linebacker Clint Sintim's helmet and landed in Fitzgerald's hands.

Honorable mention: A week earlier, Long, near the line of scrimmage, had plucked a pass from North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates out of the air and returned his first career interception 25 yards to set up a U.Va. field goal.

Top newcomer: Ras-I Dowling. The true freshman from Chesapeake has quickly become the Cavaliers' most dynamic player on special teams. In five games -- he didn't play in the opener -- Dowling had made 16 tackles.

Honorable mention: Danny Aiken. The true freshman from Roanoke had a nightmarish performance versus Duke, but otherwise Aiken has excelled as the Cavaliers' long-snapper.

 

Hernandez's switch helping Connecticut
Former starting QB leading team in receiving
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
October 12, 2007

Tyler Lorenzen and Dennis Brown have been subjected to a constant chatter.

As they are told, the two Conn-ecticut quarterbacks have it made.

The culprit of the nagging comments has a strong case.

D.J. Hernandez, after three years, eight starts and passing stats that added up to almost 1,400 yards as a quarterback, asked Connecticut coach Randy Edsall if he could play wide receiver.

“I brought it up in spring ball and Coach said we would take a look at it, because I said if I wasn’t the No. 1 guy then I wanted to help the team at receiver,” Hernandez recounted on Wednesday. “I felt it was the best situation for the team and I thought I could contribute a lot at wideout.”

After watching Lorenzen, a talented signal caller from the junior-college ranks, for about two weeks, Hernandez was certain the move would help the Huskies.

Hernandez, who remained at a playing weight around 200 pounds, had no idea what he was in store for. The life of luxury, at least in practice, was a thing of the past.

“I remember after the first day that I was just exhausted and dead during practice,” said Hernandez, who is from Bristol, Conn. “It was tough to focus because I was not used to running this much, especially coming from QB.

“I had to get myself in wide receiver-shape and as I kept practicing it came along. After I got that down, everything else just came along.”

It also opened up Brown and Lorenzen to the constant criticism.

“I am like a slave now,” Lorenzon joked. “I am even on special teams - they just take advantage of you if you are not a QB. I just joke around with them because all they do is throw the ball.

“They are just on offense and they don’t have to do special teams or anything extra like that.”

Due in part to some injuries at wide receiver, Hernandez opened the season as one of the team’s top pass-catching targets and has played a role in leading the Huskies to a 5-0 start.

“He’s a very talented player,” said Virginia coach Al Groh. “We haven’t done any decathlon events with him to judge him, but based on tape, he looks to be their most versatile overall athlete on their team.

“He is a very impressive player. In looking at him at quarterback last year, he was a very competitive player also.”

Through five games, Hernandez has 15 receptions and leads the Huskies’ balanced attack with 234 receiving yards.

The position switch, while not his original intent, will make Hernandez appealing when he hits the job market in the next two years.

“It is going to help me in the long run with coaching,” Hernandez said. “I am learning stuff every day about offense and special teams and other things, as well.

“I want to become a grad assistant and work my way to a coordinator one day and maybe even a head coach.”

Landing a job, as Hernandez is well aware, is tougher than any blitz pickup.

“It is very, very competitive,” he said. “I am just going to apply for many positions and, depending on my options, I will go from there.”

With that as a future goal, Hernandez has spent the past few weeks enjoying UConn’s meteoric rise - after going 4-8 last year, the Huskies are one of 11 unbeaten teams in the nation.

“Undefeated is undefeated,” he said. “That is what we worked for, and nowadays no win is easy. We just keep preparing day in and day out the same way.

“I just think we are focused and our heads are on straight. We are all focused on winning. That’s the main thing … everybody is on the same page and focused. We all expect the next guy to do his job and lately they have been doing their job.”

Hernandez knows the Huskies’ schedule is getting tougher. After playing at Virginia (5-1) on Saturday, contests with Louisville, South Florida and Rutgers loom.

“We have a tough stretch coming along, but we plan on treating every game the same,” he said. “If you take anything lightly anything can happen and you see that this year in college football.”

Extra points …

Virginia running back Cedric Peerman (foot) and cornerback Chris Cook (knee) are not expected to play on Saturday. “I would say that they are probably doubtful,” Groh said Thursday. Left tackle Eugene Monroe, who has missed the past two games with a knee injury, may return this week. “His chances are better,” Groh said.

 

Gould a student of place-kicking history
Fans introduce themselves to Danny Aiken
By Doug Doughty

Even before he was a Virginia football player, Chris Gould was a follower of UVa kicking fortunes.

Gould’s 35-yard field goal Saturday night at Middle Tennessee marked the first time since 1998 that UVa had kicked a game-winning field goal in a game it had been trailing with less than one minute remaining.

There had been other game-winning field goals since 1998, most notably in the 2005 Music City Bowl, but that came in a game that had been tied 31-31 until Connor Hughes booted a 39-yarder with 1:08.

If you want to talk about impressive kicking performances, Gould said earlier this week, you have to start with Virginia’ 27-24 home victory over Wake Forest in 2003.

That was the game in which Hughes kicked a career-long 53-yarder that pulled Virginia into a 24-24 tie with 1:51 left, then, following a Jamaine Winborne interception, booted a game-winning 38-yarder with 10 seconds left.

Gould was still in high school at the time, “but I watched the game on TV,” he said.

Actually, Gould already had committed to the Cavaliers, so he had a rooting interest in the game, but it would be two years before he would replace Hughes as the Cavaliers’ place-kicker.

Because he was needed as a punter, Gould was not redshirted and his numbers will place him well short of Hughes, who is the leading scorer in ACC history, but Gould is earning a niche in Cavalier annals.

His five field goals tied a school record that he now shares with Rafael Garcia and Hughes, and his 35-yarder Saturday night marked the first time since 1998 that a last-minute field goal had meant the difference between a win and a loss.

The last UVa place-kicker to enjoy that distinction was Todd Braverman, who kicked a 30-yarder with 49 seconds left to lift Virginia past Clemson, 20-18, in 1998.

That game was at home, however. You have to go back more than 20 years to find a similar occurrence on the road.

In 1986, Virginia won at Wake Forest 30-28 on a 36-yard field goal by fifth-year kicker Jeff Gaffney with 56 seconds left.

That was the only year that Gaffney served as the Cavaliers’ place-kicker, having used up his soccer eligibility in 1984, when he was a first-team All-ACC forward. Gaffney, a college teammate of current UVa men’s soccer coach George Gelnovatch, is the only Cavaliers’ soccer player of note to enjoy a successful stint as the Cavaliers’ place-kicker.

Gould, coming off a nondescript 11-for-19 season in 2006, has made nine of his 10 attempts this season and, as coach Al Groh noted earlier this week, is perfect on kicks that have gotten airborne. An early field-goal attempt against Duke was blocked after snapper Danny Aiken rolled the ball back to holder Vic Hall.

Gould has a chance at Hughes’ school record for field-goal percentage in a season, set when Hughes was 23-of-25 (92 percent) in 2003. Gould also might have the rare but dubious distinction of posting a higher percentage on field goals than extra points.

A miss Saturday night at Middle Tennessee left Gould at 88.2 percent (15-of-17) onn extra points for the season.

VIRGINIA HAS PLAYED in front of more intimidating crowds than the announced turnout of 23,277 at Floyd Stadium, but the Middle Tennessee fans made their presence known.

“When the seats are filled, all the crowd noise kind of blends together,” Gould said. “At Middle Tennessee, the fans were right on top of us and you could hear everything they said. They were really on Danny Aiken; they kept calling him ‘Clay’ all night.”

Unlike Clay Aiken, famous for his stint on American Idol, Gould and Danny Aiken were winners.
 

Huskies look to dash Cavs' high hopes
Virginia looks for sixth straight win in Homecoming game against Huskies, will play in front of sold-out crowd
Aaron Perryman, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Only a small number of Virginia fans probably circled Oct. 13 as a big game for the Cavaliers when the 2007 football schedule came out. Tomorrow's 3:30 p.m. game at Scott Stadium against Big East foe Connecticut, however, now looms large in the minds of Virginia players and fans alike.

Although the Cavaliers cannot say too much about the Huskies specifically, they do know that Connecticut is undefeated, a status that carries a lot of weight.

"We know that they are a good team [and] that they are undefeated," sophomore offensive tackle Will Barker said.

It is with this knowledge that the Cavaliers understand what kind of measures they will need to take to defeat the Huskies Saturday.

Noting Connecticut's staunch defense, junior offensive tackle Eugene Monroe said the game "is going to take a high level of preparation."

The Huskies' defense is the strength of the team. It ranks fourth nationally in total defense and scoring defense, allowing only 250.6 yards per game and 11 points per game.

Additionally, Connecticut has a 1.80 turnover margin, meaning that it has nine more takeaways than giveaways.

"They are one of the top teams in the country in terms of takeaways, especially interceptions, so that's certainly got our attention," Virginia coach Al Groh said.

The first thing that Groh mentioned about the Huskies, however, is their sharp special teams play, especially the return game.

"In the priority of how we see things, [the Huskies] have an excellent return game with two very explosive return men," Groh said. "They've already got one 97-yard return for a touchdown this year. As we saw in a number of games around the country this weekend, just one of those kind of plays throws everything ... out of kilter."

The hype surrounding Connecticut's defense and special teams does not mean the Huskies' offense is a joke -- far from it. The offense has managed to put a lot of points on the board (36.6 per game) and it has only scored under 34 points once.

The Huskies turn to junior quarterback Tyler Lorenzen for most of their yardage.

Much like Virginia sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell, Lorenzen is a dual threat, having rushed for 136 yards and a touchdown in addition to passing for 216.6 yards per game and six touchdowns.

"He's a very good player," Groh said. "He's really been the catalyst to a lot of their success. [The coaching staff] turned him loose [against Duke] and they've never slowed him down."

Six-foot-five and 226 lbs, Lorenzen has shown a solid ability to scramble. Groh said the junior can move outside the pocket and prove tough to bring down. In five games, Lorenzen has rushed for 243 yards.

On the ground, Connecticut likes to use three running backs consistently: sophomore Donald Brown (71.6 yards per game, five touchdowns), sophomore Andre Dixon (88.3 yards per game, one touchdown) and junior Lou Allen (23.8 yards per game, five touchdowns).

Despite good records, neither Virginia nor Connecticut is gaining much attention nationally. This could be because of their weak schedule strength: the combined record of the opponents both teams have played thus far is 18-34. Each team is receiving votes in various top 25 polls, but overall, this game appears to be flying under the radar across the country.

It is with this lack of respect that the Cavaliers play with a chip on their shoulder every week.

"I feel that we need to prove every week to others and to ourselves that we're a team to reckon with," Barker said.

 

All-new Cavaliers
Depth this season should help Virginia replace the loss of Reynolds, Cain
Friday, Oct 12, 2007 - 12:06 AM Updated: 12:57 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE To the extent that NCAA rules permit, University of Virginia basketball players have been practicing individually and in groups since the start of the fall semester, usually under the tutelage of Dave Leitao's assistants.

When the Cavaliers convene tomorrow morning for their first official practice of the 2007-08 season, Leitao will be back in charge. In his third season, he'll try to do what no U.Va. men's basketball coach since Jeff Jones in the mid-1990s has done: guide the Cavaliers to consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament.

In 2006-07, Virginia advanced to the NCAA tourney's second round and finished 21-11. Only two players -- starters J.R. Reynolds and Jason Cain -- are gone from that team, but statistics don't tell the whole story of their value to the Cavaliers.

Reynolds, a 6-2 guard who was second-team all-ACC, and Cain, a 6-10 forward who led the Wahoos in rebounding, were "our best defenders," said Leitao, the reigning ACC coach of the year. "Not only that, they understand what playing defense is all about. And so my concern is that you don't replace that just bringing in talented people."

Leitao spoke with reporters for about 15 minutes on a conference call yesterday, and senior point guard Sean Singletary was mentioned only in passing. That's because the college basketball world knows what Singletary, a two-time all-ACC pick who considered turning pro after last season, can do. Less clear is what shape the deepest team Leitao has had -- Virginia's roster consists of 17 players -- will take.

Q. Who's new at U.Va.?

A. Four scholarship freshmen have joined the program: guards Jeff Jones, Sammy Zeglinski and Mustapha Farrakhan and 6-8, 233-pound Mike Scott, a Chesapeake resident who prepped at Hargrave Military Academy in 2006-07. Also, former William and Mary starter Calvin Baker, a 6-2 sophomore, is eligible after sitting out last season.

Director of basketball operations Rick Brunson is new to Leitao's staff. A former Temple star and NBA guard, Brunson filled the vacancy created when Drew Diener was promoted to assistant. Diener took over for Rob Lanier, who left in May for the University of Florida.

Q. Who will replace Reynolds and Cain in the starting lineup?

A. If 6-5 junior Mamadi Diane were a better ballhandler, he could move from small forward, where he started every game last season, to Reynolds' old spot at shooting guard. But Diane is likely to spend most of his time at forward, which means Jones and Farrakhan each will have an opportunity to earn significant playing time. The 6-4 Jones is the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia's storied Catholic League. Among those battling for Cain's minutes will be Scott, 6-6 sophomore Will Harris and 6-8 sophomore Jamil Tucker.

Q. Reynolds averaged 18.4 points per game in 2006-07. Which veterans are most likely to raise their production in his absence?

A. Diane averaged 9.6 points and 6-7 forward Adrian Joseph 7.2, and each is capable of scoring regularly in double figures. Tucker is another gifted offensive player. He averaged only 3.4 points in limited action but is one of the team's best outside shooters.

Q. How healthy is the team?

A. Solomon Tat, whose freshman season was marred by injuries, is recovering from an operation to repair a sports hernia. The 6-5 sophomore swingman isn't ready to practice and may not be available when the season starts. Laurynas Mikalauskas, a 6-8, 246-pound junior, has a shoulder injury, but he's been cleared to play.

Q. Who's visiting John Paul Jones Arena this season?

A. Notable opponents include Syracuse (Dec. 5), Virginia Tech (Jan. 16), Boston College (Jan. 19), North Carolina (Feb. 12), Duke (March 5) and Maryland (March 9).

 

Leitao's top preseason priority: finding help on defense
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
October 11, 2007

There are plenty of things on Dave Leitao's list of concerns as Virginia prepares for its first basketball practice on Saturday morning.
One would figure replacing J.R. Reynolds' 18.4 points per game would be tops among them. Not so.

For Leitao it's always been defense, and last season, during which the Cavaliers went 21-11 and won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1995, Reynolds and forward Jason Cain were UVa's two best defenders. Now they're both gone.

"They understood what playing defense was all about and how it related to the other three guys who might be on the court at the same time," Leitao said in a Thursday teleconference.

"My concern is you don't just replace that by bringing in talented people. It's got to be a learned event. It takes some experience and some time. That, as much as anything, concerns me."

Reynolds, a second-team all-ACC shooting guard, was a perfect complement to first-team point guard Sean Singletary, who pulled his name from consideration for the NBA Draft in June to return for his senior season.

"I think (J.R.) was not a good, but a great locker room guy," Leitao said. "He kept the team together. He and Sean were largely responsible for our team chemistry."

Virginia has plenty of candidates who will vie for that responsibility this season. With a five-man freshman class that includes Jeff Jones, Mustapha Farrakhan, Sam Zeglinski, Mike Scott and non-scholarship addition Will Sherrill, the Cavaliers have 17 players on their roster.

"It allows us some fresh bodies," Leitao said. "We're not going with the same eight to 10 guys every drill."

One player who will not be ready when practice begins is guard/forward Solomon Tat. The sophomore is in the fifth week of recovery from offseason sports hernia surgery.

Virginia also has to deal with some shuffling of its coaching staff. Assistant Rob Lanier left to be on Billy Donovan's staff at Florida in the spring. Last month, Leitao promoted Drew Diener, who had been the director of basketball operations at UVa the last two years and was a graduate assistant for him at DePaul.

Rick Brunson, a former Temple guard who played for eight NBA teams from 1998-2006, was hired for Diener's old position.

"You make adjustments," Leitao said. "But I think what we have here as a group and as a staff is a bunch of guys that the players trust and understand and receive instruction from and feel good about.

"I think with the addition of Drew moving onto the court, it's somebody with a fresh voice and a fresh mind to bring to the table. I know for me personally that's going to be good."

The Cavaliers' have an exhibition game Nov. 4 at home against Carson-Newman at 3 p.m. They open up their regular season at the John Paul Jones Arena on Nov. 11 against Vermont at 2 p.m.


 

Cavs looking for some defense
By MELINDA WALDROP | mwaldrop@dailypress.com ¦ 247-4634
5:28 PM EDT, October 11, 2007
 

The 18 points that senior J.R. Reynolds averaged last season are long gone. But as Virginia's men's basketball team prepares to open practice on Saturday, coach Dave Leitao is missing Reynolds' defense more.

"Jason Cain and J.R. Reynolds were our two best defenders," Leitao said. "They understood what playing defense was all about and how it related to the other three guys who might have been on the court at the same time they were. You just don't replace that by bringing in talented people. That's got to be a learned event."

Cain, a forward who blocked 25 shots while contributing 6.8 points, also averaged a team-best 6.3 rebounds. "That presence is going to be missed," Leitao said. "Obviously, J.R.'s presence is going to be missed in a lot of other ways."

Reynolds, now playing overseas in Italy, had 117 assists and 28 steals as the backcourt partner of two-time all-ACC guard Sean Singletary.

One of the players Leitao will audition to replace Reynolds is 6-foot-2, 186-pound sophomore guard Calvin Baker, a product of Woodside High who transferred to Virginia last season after one year at William and Mary. Baker was named to the Colonial Athletic Association's 2006 all-rookie team after leading the Tribe with 11.6 points and 3.6 assists per game. He also logged a team-best 31.4 minutes per game.

After watching Baker practice with the Cavaliers for a season, Leitao wonders if that experience can help a Virginia backcourt that thins out behind Singletary and sophomore Solomon Tat, recovering from sports hernia surgery.

"His stability is something that we'll look for right out of the gate, and hopefully all year long," Leitao said. "(Baker) is multi-dimensional. He can shoot. He can play on the ball. ... I'm kind of anxious to see all that because I've looked at him for a year now."

Leitao also hopes junior guard/forward Mamadi Diane continues the defensive improvement he showed last season, which ended for the Cavaliers in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

"The second half of the year, he became a lot more trusted and valuable member of our group defensively," said Leitao, who said Diane has also worked on diversifying his offensive game and becoming a better ball handler.

Leitao said he's left most of the pre-practice workouts, when coaches can have two hours of contact a week with players, up to his assistants, so that those coaches and the players can get comfortable with each other.

One new face on the bench is Drew Diener, U.Va.'s former director of men's basketball operations who replaced Rob Lanier when Lanier left to take a position on Billy Donovan's Florida staff in May.

Lanier was the second coach to leave Leitao's staff in his two years at Virginia. Gene Cross went to Notre Dame after the 2005-06 season.

Leitao said that both men were close friends, but "personally, you make adjustments," he said. " ... I don't think we're suffering at all from not having (Lanier), but he was somebody we enjoyed being around."

The Cavs begin the 2007-08 season at home against Vermont on Nov. 11.

 

Cavs sophomore Harris adds bulk
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
October 12, 2007

Give Virginia strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown a couple of months and he could probably turn Manute Bol into the Incredible Hulk.

Give Brown an already-muscular, 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward to work with and the results are nearly as impressive.

Just check out Virginia sophomore Will Harris.

Harris was already a pretty big boy before hitting the weights with Brown this summer. Now, the New York City native, who averaged 3.6 points and 3.2 rebounds last season, looks like he could suit up for Virginia football coach Al Groh as a linebacker.

Harris, who will hit the court for the team’s first official practice on Saturday, said he packed on between “10 and 15” pounds of muscle in the offseason and is up to about 245 pounds.

“I think it’s a big help for me,” Harris said. “It makes me a lot stronger and a lot more imposing. I think it will work out well for me.”

Virginia coach Dave Leitao said Harris’ weight gain was just part of his natural progression as a player.

“I don’t think he went into the weight room and said, ‘I’m going to get bigger and bigger and bigger,’” Leitao said. “I think him playing more face-up 4-man for us last year - he knew that he had to get stronger because he’s playing defensively in the post a lot more than he or we had planned on when he first got here.”

Harris said playing the small or power forward doesn’t make much difference to him.

“In our offense, the ‘4’ is the same thing as a ‘3,’” he said, “so I think I’ll pretty much be doing the same things that I did last year.”

Harris doesn’t believe the added weight will cost him any of his athleticism.

“It’s going to make me a little stronger, a little tougher,” said Harris, laughing, “but I’m still the same old versatile kid that everyone knows.”

Huggie Bear

Virginia opens its exhibition season at home on Nov. 4 against Carson-Newman. However, that won’t be the Cavaliers’ first opponent.

Per NCAA rules, Virginia is allowed to have one closed-door scrimmage - with no fans or media - and will take on Bob Huggins’ West Virginia squad.

Huggins is in his first year at his alma mater after one year at Kansas State.

Aloha

Sources have told The Daily Progress that Virginia will likely play in the 2009-10 Maui Invitational. The University of Arizona, whom UVa plays in Tucson on Nov. 17, is also one of the schools in the field.

UVa last played in the preseason tournament in the 2002-03 season. The Cavaliers upset 15th-ranked Kentucky before losing to 19th-ranked Indiana in the championship game.

Virginia also played in the tournament in the 1996-97 season, losing to No. 2-ranked Kansas in the final.

Tat update

Sophomore swingman Solomon Tat won’t be on the court for the start of practice. The Nigerian is still recovering from sports hernia surgery he had about five weeks ago.

“It’s status quo,” Leitao said. “Other than the surgery being successful, we don’t know what the outcome will be until we get to some high-volume rehab things with him. It will be some more time before we get him back on his feet.”

Lanier lament?

Leitao said he has been pleased with how his new coaching staff has come together since Rob Lanier’s departure for Florida, although he sounded like he misses his longtime friend.

“He was somebody that I was close to basketball-wise, professionally and personally,” Leitao said. “You make adjustments. I think what we have here as a staff is a bunch of guys who the players trust and understand and receive instruction from and feel good about it.”

Drew Diener, the team’s former Director of Basketball Operations, replaced Lanier. Former NBA guard Rick Brunson took Diener’s spot.

“I don’t think we’ve missed too much of a beat,” Leitao said, “but at the same time, Rob was a valued member of our staff. I don’t think we’re suffering by not having him, but at the same point in time, he was someone we all enjoyed being around.”

Another Will

Virginia now has two Wills on its roster - Harris and Will Sherrill, a 6-9, 215-pound freshman walk-on from New York City,

“He’ll be like an Andy Burns - a guy that can compete and make our day-to-day practices better,” Leitao said, “and hope for an opportunity at some point to get on the court.”

 

Rule, Schwimer close the door, knot the series
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
October 12, 2007

Jake Rule was not exactly certain. He just knew it had been quite awhile.

The right-handed pitcher came on in relief Thursday and recorded 11 outs at Davenport Field without giving up a hit, lifting the Blue team to a 5-4 series-tying win over the Orange team in the annual intra-squad showdown.

The winner of Sunday night’s game, which starts at 6, will determine the victor of the opening series in the seven-game fall showcase.

“That had to be my longest outing in at least a year,” said Rule, who fanned four and earned the win. “Last year, I was pretty much one or two innings out of the bullpen, so it was definitely good to get out there and throw 3.2 innings.”

Rule had some help - senior righty Michael Schwimer, another pivotal reliever last year, pitched a hitless seventh, earning the save while relying on a heavy dose of sliders.

“It was hard today to get loose,” Rule said. “It has been 90 [degrees] of late and usually you have a bead of sweat just coming out here.

“I threw a lot of fastballs early, and once it got later, the sixth inning, that’s when I threw a lot of sliders. Schwimer just threw a lot of sliders and it really worked.”

All of the offense came in the early innings.

The Blue team, which was blanked, 3-0, on Tuesday, scored three times in the first inning off Orange starter Matt Packer. The frame was highlighted by an RBI double from catcher Franco Valdes, who was traded prior to the game from the Orange squad.

David Coleman, a freshman outfielder from Trinity Episcopal in Richmond, cut into the deficit in the bottom of the first with a solo homer for the Orange team and finished the game with two hits.

“I have liked what I have seen from David Coleman all fall,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor.

“I think he is going to be able to help us right away and hit in a good spot in our lineup. He is a guy … the barrel of his bat finds the ball consistently.

“That was great to see him have a really good offensive day.”

The Orange team took its first lead in the third, chasing Packer from the game, with a three-run inning.

Thanks to RBI singles from Phil Gosselin and Dan Grovatt in the top-half of the fourth, the Blue team regained the lead and used its relief pitching to register the win.

“It was a big win for the Blue and now we can get them on ‘Championship Sunday,’” Rule said, referring the weekend motto established by O’Connor for regular-season series in ACC play.

Quick hits …

Jake Cowan, who was drafted this summer in the 14th round by the Boston Red Sox, struggled on the mound, had an error behind him and was pulled after the first inning by Orange coach Kyle Werman. “Jake Cowan has to understand that this is the adjustment to college baseball,” O’Connor said. “It is tougher. It is a different level, and he found that out today.” O’Connor has said before that Cowan has the potential to earn a starting spot in the rotation. … Virginia sophomore Tyler Cannon, who is on the Blue team, did not play on Thursday. ... O’Connor said the Blue team would be the home team in the third game based on run differential in the first two games. ... The coaches in the series, Karl Kuhn (Blue) and Werman (Orange), will have to be creative on Sunday. O’Connor put in a rule that states that every pitcher on each team must pitch to at least one batter.

 

Coming to grips with fight for life
Former Phoebus football standout and Virginia starter Philip Brown deals with his illness.
By DAVE FAIRBANK | 247-4637
October 12, 2007
 

HAMPTON - For Philip Brown, it began three weeks ago with searing, almost paralyzing pain in his lower back. Since then, his life has been a whirlwind of hospital visits, surgeries, consultations with specialists, a diagnosis of cancer and an upcoming schedule of aggressive chemotherapy.

Brown, 22, a former Phoebus High football standout, had hoped to re-start his playing career at the University of Virginia. He played there in 2004 before his career was sidetracked by academic difficulties.

Now, football is secondary to a far tougher challenge.

"The past three weeks, everything has happened so fast, it's been a little overwhelming," Brown said. "Hospitals, doctors, go here, go there. It really hasn't hit me that much. I haven't had a chance to think about it. But every day, it's getting more and more real."

Brown was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He said that doctors also identified a softball-sized mass behind his abdomen, as well as nodules on his lungs.

He has undergone two surgeries in the past two weeks. One was to remove a testicle, the second was to insert a port in his upper left chest to receive the medicine in chemotherapy treatments that will begin Monday.

Brown said that because of the size and location of the mass, doctors told him that they didn't want to attempt to surgically remove it right away. They are hoping that chemotherapy reduces its size.

"They say I have a good chance of recovery," Brown said. "In the last 10 years, there's been a lot of advances in technology. With my age and being relatively healthy, they tell me my chances are pretty good."

Brown sat in the bleachers Wednesday evening behind Francis Asbury Elementary School, where for the past couple of months he has helped coach a youth football team with the Fox Hill Athletic Association. Most of the kids don't know him as a former all-state defensive back who helped Phoebus win back-to-back state titles in 2001 and 2002. They aren't aware that he played in 11 of 12 games as a true freshman at Virginia in 2004.

They just know him as "Phil" or "Coach Brown" and as a guy they maybe can hit up for a dollar for the snack bar.

"I get a kick out of coming out here with these kids," Brown said. "I kind of lost the sense of my football mode because I've been off the field for a while. I got my juice back being out here with the kids."

John Stein of the Fox Hill AA said his group will accept donations (Fox Hill Athletic Association, 100 Grundland Drive, Hampton, Va., 23664. Phone him at 850-9032) and has plans for a couple of fund-raisers. Donations will go to help defray medical costs, and for travel and lodging when Brown goes to New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute.

"He's a good kid who's in a tough spot," Stein said. "We want to try to help out."

Brown said that for the past year he has had some discomfort in his back and lower side, but he chalked it up to general stiffness and soreness from working out. Beginning around mid-August, however, he said that the pain increased.

He was in Charlottesville for the Virginia-Georgia Tech game Sept. 22. The Friday before, he said the pain became so severe that he went to the U.Va. hospital emergency room.

Two more trips to the hospital and several tests over the next three days identified further problems. By the following Wednesday, he was admitted to Hampton Sentara hospital, where he underwent surgery.

When doctors first used the word "cancer," Brown said, "It wasn't a big change in my emotions. It was just kind of shocking."

Brown still appears fit, though he said he has lost 16 pounds just since the ordeal began and is down to his high school playing weight of 189 pounds. The two surgeries have made him unable to do so much as a situp or pushup.

He has little appetite, usually subsisting on a few pieces of fruit or vegetables a day.

And he is just coming to grips with cancer and the possible effects of chemotherapy, which he admits scares him.

"Not so much of the outcome," he said, "because I do trust that God is going to make sure it works out how it's supposed to. But I worry about the effects of the chemotherapy, if I'll be strong enough to fight and want to keep going. I don't intend to give up, but I don't know what to expect.

"Somebody told me that chemo puts you as close to death as possible without dying. That kind of freaks me out a little bit."

Brown begins a 12-week chemotherapy schedule Monday. He receives treatment for five consecutive days, then takes off two weeks to allow his body to recover. He repeats that schedule for the next nine weeks.

When the chemo sessions conclude, he is slated to go to Sloan-Kettering for further treatment.

Brown is grateful for the support of family and friends and former teammates, though he said few people are aware of the severity of his situation. Since his football career was sidelined following the 2004 season, he has been a regular student at Virginia and has worked construction and painting jobs in order to help pay for school and for spending money.

He has tried to maintain connections with coaches and players at Virginia, in hopes of one day playing again. He realizes that cancer will have a say in his long-term goal.

"I know it's going to be a fight," Brown said. "Every day it gets more real. It never leaves my mind. I take it to bed with me and I wake up with it."