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Young Cavaliers confident
 By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
Nov 25, 2002
 
Get used to it.

Sophomore nose guard Andrew Hoffman said Virginia's 48-13 rout of Maryland should send that message to the rest of the ACC.

"It's on," Hoffman said in the team's jubilant locker room Saturday night. "We're coming, get ready, because this is just the beginning right now."

The Cavaliers (8-4) celebrated finishing up the conference portion of their schedule at 6-2, good for second place in a year they were predicted to finish eighth. They also turned their attention to Saturday's regular-season finale at Virginia Tech.

But at the same time, Virginia's players, especially the freshmen and sophomores, couldn't help but get excited about the future. Several said Saturday's dismissal of the Terrapins - the most-lopsided victory over a ranked team in UVa history - was a sneak preview of coming attractions at Scott Stadium.

"As young as we are, we're going to keep getting better," Hoffman said. "This wasn't a fluke or anything like that. Don't doubt us."

The Cavaliers started five seniors, four juniors, six sophomores and nine freshmen (including both kickers) against the Terrapins. Remarkably, true freshmen accounted for 42 of the team's 48 points. Wali Lundy scored three touchdowns (two receiving, one rushing), Michael Johnson and Jason Snelling each had one TD, and Connor Hughes kicked two field goals and six extra points.

It was as if Virginia's young players blossomed all at once, though the process surely has been more gradual. At any rate, the result was astounding.

UVa's previous five ACC victories had come by a total of 29 points, with the Cavaliers often getting outgained and shoved around, yet finding a way to prevail. Against Maryland, which entered the game ranked 18th and on an eight-game winning streak, Virginia thoroughly dominated a conference opponent for the first time in years.

"It means a lot when you're picked to lose every game and you prove everyone wrong," said senior linebacker Merrill Robertson. "This whole year has been like that. We knew what kind of team we had and now we proved it. We showed that we're the second-best team in the ACC."

The Cavaliers finished a game behind Florida State (8-4, 7-1 ACC) in the conference standings. Maryland (9-3, 5-2) can tie for second by beating Wake Forest, with N.C. State (10-3, 5-3) in fourth.

In the future, UVa coach Al Groh said, he hopes his team will be playing for first place in the conference, not second. Asked what finishing second says about his program, he said, "It says it's not too much further to the top."

In that respect, Groh didn't treat the triumph as a major breakthrough. After all, it didn't win any title for his team. It didn't clinch a major bowl bid. It didn't even lift Virginia into the top 25 of either major poll. (The Cavaliers are 26th in the AP poll and 27th in the coaches'.)

"It's a tremendous accomplishment for this team, but it isn't the pinnacle for the program," Groh said. "It's just a tremendous accomplishment for these players for the 2002 season."

 

 

Receiver Byers commits to UVa
 Nu Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
Nov 25, 2002
 
With Virginia losing the most prolific pass receiver in school history, Coach Al Groh and his staff are busy trying to find new targets for record-breaking quarterback Matt Schaub to throw to in the future.

As of Saturday night, the Cavaliers gained one more of those targets in Emmanuel Byers, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound wide receiver from Ragsdale High School in High Point, N.C. Byers took an unofficial visit to Charlottesville over the weekend to watch Virginia's convincing victory over Maryland. If he hadn't made up his mind on the Wahoos prior to the game, he certainly had afterward.

Byers confirmed with Mike Farrell's Rivals.100 recruiting web site that he had committed to the Cavs over the weekend, giving Virginia 14 commitments for the next class.

Byers had offers from UVa, Georgia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, N.C. State, Clemson, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Marshall, East Carolina, and expected one from Tennessee. Byers said that the Cavaliers' victory over Maryland left no doubt in his mind that Virginia was the place for him.

With 4.5 speed, Byers is considered one of the top athletes on UVa's recruiting list. As a junior, he caught 52 passes for 800 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also returned three punts and one kickoff for scores.

While he is a versatile athlete who also plays cornerback, Byers said that Virginia wants to use him exclusively as a wide receiver. With All-ACC senior wideout Billy McMullen graduating, there will be room for more receivers on the Cavaliers' roster.

College coaches have been impressed with Byers' athletic ability, his 33-inch vertical leap, his good hands and the fact that he's tough to tackle. Byers, a three-star rated prospect by Rivals, said that one factor in favor of Virginia was an opportunity to play as a true freshman, both on special teams and as a wide receiver.

Byers is the second wide receiver commitment the Cavaliers have gained thus far for the 2003 class. The other is 6-3, 185 Deyon Williams of Suitland High School in Marlboro, Md.

 

 

Upsetting matchup
It has been 20 seasons since Chaminade pulled what many consider the greatest upset in college basketball history.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

All over the country this week, sports stories will hail Monday's basketball game between Virginia and Chaminade as the "rematch" of the Silverswords' epic 77-72 upset victory over the Cavaliers in 1982.
Too bad. They've already had the rematch.

That took place in 1987, when a Virginia team led by Salem's Richard Morgan overcame a one-point halftime deficit and defeated the Silverswords 66-58 in the Chaminade Christmas Classic.

At least that game and the 1982 game were at the same site, the Neal S. Blaisdell Center on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The Maui Invitational is held in the Lahaina Civic Center.

Moreover, the teams will be playing Thanksgiving week, as opposed to their Dec.23 meeting in 1982, but those are mere technicalities.

It didn't take a genius to predict that Virginia would draw the Silverswords this year.

"It wasn't coincidence," UVa coach Pete Gillen said. "They did pick it out of a hat, but it was just a Virginia hat. It was fair, all right - fairly shaky.

"I think, honestly, they love to bring up bad news in the world today. Most of the media are recalcitrants. They wanted to praise Chaminade and kick Virginia in the teeth."

First-year College of Charleston coach Tommy Herrion, who handled much of Virginia's scheduling as a Cavaliers assistant for four seasons, said this year's Maui Invitational was on the schedule before Gillen's arrival as head coach in 1998.

The pairings were not announced till this summer, "although the more you read about the history of this game, the more you could see this coming," Herrion said.

Although the field is packed with national powers like Kentucky, Indiana and Gonzaga, the Cavaliers are in a win-lose, if not a lose-lose, situation. Chaminade is an NAIA team; as a result, the game does not count toward NCAA Tournament consideration.

"It counts on your record but not your RPI," Gillen said. "I'm disappointed. I'd rather be playing a Division I team."

Gillen can't remember what he was doing at the time of the first Virginia-Chaminade game but speculated that he "may have been getting Digger's laundry."

Gillen, then an assistant at Notre Dame, was referring to his boss at the time, Digger Phelps.

The Cavaliers, then ranked No.1 in the country, were coached by Terry Holland. Holland, Virginia's athletic director from 1995-2001, currently serves as a fund-raiser in his position as special assistant to UVa president John Casteen.

Holland will not be making the trip to Maui. UVa radio voice Mac McDonald, who called the 1982 game, is the only member of that traveling party known to be returning.

Many of the participants from the 1982 game are in coaching, including all three members of Holland's staff - Dave Odom, now the head coach at South Carolina; Jim Larranaga, the head coach at George Mason; and Jeff Jones, who is at American University after first succeeding Holland at UVa.

Jones, a senior on the Cavaliers' 1981-82 team, did not make the Hawaii trip because he had been in the Indiana Pacers' training camp and had not obtained a passport.

Rick Carlisle, the NBA coach of the year for the Detroit Pistons in 2001-02, played in the 1982 UVa-Chaminade game. So did Ricky Stokes, entering his fourth season as the men's basketball coach at Virginia Tech.

"I usually know when the tournament's coming up because that's when I start getting a barrage of phone calls," Stokes said. "What do I tell people? I didn't play well. We didn't play well."

Stokes had six turnovers, as did backcourt mate Othell Wilson. Wilson, who shot better than 73 percent from the free-throw line during his career, was 3-for-8 from the line. Carlisle went 7-for-21 from the field.

"Two things I remember: the awful feeling in the locker room afterwards and the fact we had to get up at 6 o'clock and run," Stokes said. "We had to run three miles at some ungodly hour."

That was in Stokes' pre-marathon days.

"We had been doing that," said Holland, an avid runner at the time. "If it was 6, it was only because of the travel schedule, and it was a chance to start all over with them. It was damage control. It wasn't to punish them.

"I thought we played hard. I didn't think we had played well, obviously. We killed them on the boards, which is a stat that usually reflects hustle. And, Chaminade was good. We had played them twice before and it had been a good game for 30 or so minutes."

Holland was right. The Cavaliers outrebounded Chaminade 55-31 but were doomed by poor shooting (39.1 percent from the field; 58.3 percent from the free-throw line) and 25 turnovers.

The UVa-Chaminade game is considered one of the great upsets of all time, but it was not the most disappointing Cavaliers loss during an era that is generally associated with three-time national player of the year Ralph Sampson, who did not win an ACC or NCAA title.

The opportunity to play against Sampson was a source of inspiration for Chaminade's Tony Randolph, a former Valley League rival when Sampson was at Harrisonburg High School and Randolph was at Lee-Staunton.

Randolph finished with 19 points. Sampson, who had been sick and missed an earlier game against Houston in Japan, finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds in 38 minutes.

"Thirty-eight minutes?" Holland asked. "Ralph never played 38 minutes. I can't believe Ralph played 38 minutes, but if that's what it said ... "

Sampson became an NBA Rookie of the Year before knee problems shortened his professional career. Carlisle, Wilson and Kenton Edelin later played in the NBA, and Edelin became a lawyer and agent for professional athletes.

None of the former players appears to have been scarred by the experience. Cable television was in its infancy and there was no ESPN Radio or other 24-hour sports-talk networks.

"Plus, it was Christmas," Holland said. "When we got home, everybody went home for Christmas. When we reassembled, it was for the Times-Dispatch tournament in Richmond.

"It wasn't a big deal for us at the time."

It's getting bigger all the time.

 

 

Hawaii trip no vacation
A lose-lose game for Cavs in Maui
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 25, 2002

Its first-round game in the Maui Invitational is a no-win proposition for the University of Virginia men's basketball team, and Pete Gillen isn't thrilled.

Twenty years ago this Dec. 23, U.VA. VS. CHAMINADEChaminade, an 800-student NAIA school, knocked off top-ranked U.Va. 77-72 at the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu in the greatest upset in college basketball history.

The Cavaliers' opponent this afternoon in Hawaii? That little ol' team from Honolulu, the Chaminade Silverswords, now members of the NCAA's Division II.

Somewhere, ESPN executives are smiling.

"That game's going to be like the Titanic and the Battle of Britain or Iwo Jima," Gillen said. "They beat us 20 years ago, and they can't wait to talk about the plane crash and the car crash and all that. I'm sure they'll bring it up.

"That's a tough game, because it's a lose-lose game."

The pressure is on Virginia (1-0), a member of the storied ACC, to win. Because Chaminade (0-1) is a Division II school, however, the NCAA tournament selection committee won't count the game when it computes Virginia's RPI, Gillen said.

"I'm disappointed," he said. "I wanted to play three Division I games."

This will be the second meeting between Virginia and Chaminade since their historic 1982 encounter. The Cavaliers won 66-58 in December 1987 at Honolulu. The teams met in 1979-80 and'81-82, too, U.Va. winning 79-54 and 75-59, respectively.

Chaminade's center in'82 was 6-7 Tony Randolph, a graduate of R.E. Lee High in Staunton. Randolph made 9 of 12 shots and scored 19 points. Virginia's center, of course, was 7-4 Ralph Sampson, the national player of the year. Sampson, from Harrisonburg High, finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds.

"Their guy played Ralph without fear," forward Kenton Edelin, a member of that U.Va. team, told The Times-Dispatch in 1992. "I'll never forget it. It didn't happen very often, I'll tell you that."
 

 

 

Virginia's Postseason Hopes
For U.Va., a Gator wait 3 bowl options alive for Cavs
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 25, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE Want to plan your trip to the Virginia football team's postseason destination? You might want to wait another week.

Brian Morrison, an assistant commissioner with the ACC, said last night that "the bowl-selection decisions will not occur until after Saturday's games."

Craig Littlepage, U.Va.'s athletic director, said yesterday that, based on his conversations with conference and bowl officials, "Virginia, Maryland and N.C. State are in position with the Gator, Peach and Tangerine."

An ACC source confirmed that those three bowls were likely to choose from among those three teams. Littlepage said he didn't have a sense of where U.Va., which has won eight of its past 10 games, would probably land.

No. 23 Florida State (7-1, 8-4), despite losing at N.C. State on Saturday, clinched the ACC title and will represent the conference in the Bowl Championship Series. For the 21st-ranked Wolfpack (5-3, 10-3), the regular season is over. Unranked Virginia (6-2, 8-4) and No. 25 Maryland (5-2, 9-3) each have one game left.

U.Va. visits 22nd-ranked Virginia Tech (8-3) on Saturday afternoon, and Maryland plays host to Wake Forest (3-4, 6-5). In their round robin with the Wolfpack and the Terrapins, the Cavaliers are 2-0. They beat State 14-9 on Nov. 16 and thumped then-No. 18 Maryland 48-13 two days ago at Scott Stadium.

Those wins should help Virginia's cause, Littlepage said, as should its nonconference schedule and the growing awareness of "where our program is and where it's going." Against Maryland, Virginia started two seniors on offense and three on defense.

"We should be very attractive," Littlepage said by phone from Hawaii, where he's attending the Maui Invitational basketball tournament.

The Wahoos have played one of the nation's toughest schedules - six of their opponents, including the Hokies, are in the latest Associated Press poll - and the "team's performance has put us in position where we have every reason to be a great second choice [after FSU] for the bowl partners and the conference," Littlepage said.

The Gator, Jan. 1 in Jacksonville, Fla., has first pick of the conference's non-BCS teams. Virginia probably must beat Virginia Tech to get a bid from the Gator. The Cavaliers might prefer a trip to the Peach, Dec. 31 in Atlanta, where U.Va. has a large alumni base. The Peach chooses after the Gator.

The Tangerine, Dec. 23 in Orlando, picks after the Peach. ACC officials will help determine which of the conference's teams end up in the Tangerine, Continental Tire (Dec. 28 in Charlotte, N.C.) and Seattle (Dec. 30) bowls, respectively.

On a conference call with reporters last night, Virginia coach Al Groh said he understands that the process for matching teams with bowls is "a combination of pecking order and politics."

He's aware of Virginia's bowl possibilities, Groh said, but he's more concerned with preparing for Virginia Tech.

"We got a pretty big game in Blacksburg," he said, "and that's where we want the team's attention to be, and that's where it needs to be."

 

 

Pack's bowl options on hold
By CHIP ALEXANDER, Staff Writer

RALEIGH -- N.C. State football fans can't start making their bowl plans yet.
The Pack, after beating Florida State 17-7 on Saturday to finish up its regular season, could be headed to the Gator Bowl. Then again, it could be the Peach Bowl.

And don't rule out a return to the Tangerine Bowl -- not yet. The bowl situation is still that muddled.

NCSU athletics director Lee Fowler said Sunday that he talked with ACC commissioner John Swofford earlier in the day. The gist of the conversation: Everything probably is on hold until after this week's games are played.

"We feel good about the Gator or the Peach, but I don't think anything will happen until those games are over," Fowler said.

Maryland hosts Wake Forest, Virginia is at Virginia Tech, and Georgia and Georgia Tech also face off. The Cavaliers finished 6-2 in the ACC, and the Terps are 5-2. Tech closed 4-4 in the league, as did Clemson.

The Pack has a 10-3 overall record and 5-3 ACC mark to dangle in front of bowl officials. It also has something else: the highest ranking among ACC teams.

State, which dropped out of the top 25 in both polls last week, is No. 20 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll released Sunday. FSU is 22nd and Maryland 23rd.

In The Associated Press' media poll, the Pack is 21st, the Seminoles 23rd and the Terps 25th. Virginia is unranked in both polls.

"That should help us a bunch," Fowler said of the pecking order in the rankings. "We also could move up even more."

The Seminoles (8-4, 7-1) clinched the ACC title Saturday when Virginia crushed Maryland, and grabbed the league's Bowl Championship Series berth. The Gator Bowl, played New Year's Day in Jacksonville, Fla., has the next pick of ACC teams.

Potential matchups in the Gator could have the Wolfpack playing West Virginia or facing Pittsburgh in a rematch of last year's Tangerine Bowl. The Panthers won that game easily, 34-19.

Last week, Fowler indicated the Tangerine Bowl might be lukewarm to having NCSU make a return visit. But that apparently changed Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium, when the Pack's big win was followed by a madcap celebration that had thousands storming the field and pulling down the goal posts.

"Their folks saw the excitement of our crowd," Fowler said of Tangerine officials.

State hasn't gone to the Peach Bowl since 1994, when the Pack topped Mississippi State 28-24. The Peach has the No. 3 ACC choice, and Peach officials believe the Wolfpack faithful would travel in great numbers to the game.

State linebacker Dantonio Burnette, asked his bowl preference after the FSU game, smiled and said, "A-T-L." That's short for Atlanta and the Peach, and Burnette is a native of Warner Robbins, Ga. Many in the NCSU program would like a shot at a Southeastern Conference team in the Peach Bowl, played New Year's Eve.

"We don't know what will happen," senior safety Terrence Holt said after the victory over the Noles. "We just wanted to let the bowl reps get a look at us and let them know what we can do as a team. That's all we could control; win this game and put ourselves in the best position possible."

The Wolfpack did that with a convincing thumping, and in a game that may mark the beginning of a true ACC rivalry for Florida State. The Pack now has beaten FSU three of the last five years, stunning Bobby Bowden's Noles last year in Tallahassee, Fla., on FSU's homecoming.

State scored a lot of points last year and then held on, 34-28. FSU had the ball last, and the game didn't end until an FSU pass fell incomplete in the end zone .

"That one was a shootout," Holt said. "This year we stopped 'em."

Stopped the Noles cold. FSU rarely had the ball as the Pack's offense had possession for almost 40 1/2 minutes. When the Noles did have it, they couldn't move it, gaining just 177 yards and failing to score an offensive touchdown.

Asked what N.C. State can offer a bowl, Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato didn't hesitate.

"An exciting football team," he said.

 

 

8 teams in mix for Gator Bowl

Notre Dame possibility if Miami falters
Garry Smits
Times-Union sports writer

Prior to the kickoffs in the Florida State-North Carolina State and Maryland-Virginia games Saturday, Maryland was the best Atlantic Coast Conference prospect for the Toyota Gator Bowl.

But after N.C. State and Virginia won convincingly at home, the ACC possibilities for the Jan. 1 bowl game at Alltel Stadium tripled.

With Virginia Tech still having an outside chance at the Gator Bowl (the Hokies would have to beat Virginia), and Miami technically a possibility if it loses its last two games, there are seven teams among the ACC and Big East, plus Notre Dame, in the Gator Bowl mix entering Thanksgiving week.

"It's been a crazy season," said Gator Bowl selection committee chairman Jim McCollum. "But we love it."

Notre Dame (10-1) remains a possibility instead of a Big East team, but that now requires a slip by Miami, ranked first in the BCS standings. The Hurricanes can clinch the Big East title and a BCS bowl bid by winning one of their last two games, at Syracuse Saturday, or at home against Virginia Tech Dec. 7.

If the Hurricanes win both games to reach the BCS championship game in the Fiesta Bowl, they likely will knock Notre Dame out of the Gator Bowl regardless of the outcome of Saturday's game at Southern Cal for the Irish. Orange Bowl officials have been adamant that if they lose Miami to the Fiesta Bowl, they would take Notre Dame, even with two losses.

Should Miami lose a game, and fall to the Orange Bowl, the Gator could snap up Notre Dame to replace its Big East team.

"We're not out of it for Notre Dame," McCollum said. "Stranger things have already happened this season."

The Wolfpack, which broke a three-game losing streak by beating the Seminoles for the second year in a row, and Virginia, which snapped Maryland's eight-game winning streak, played their way back into Gator Bowl contention in admirable fashion. N.C. State beat FSU 17-7 and Virginia crushed Maryland 48-13.

N.C. State, an early-season Gator Bowl favorite, has completed its regular season with a 10-3 record (5-3 ACC). Maryland (9-3, 5-2) plays at Wake Forest Saturday, with a chance to reach 10 victories. If Maryland loses (Wake is 6-5, 3-4), it likely would be eliminated from Gator Bowl consideration.

Virginia (8-4, 6-2) plays at Virginia Tech Saturday, and must win to have a chance to make the Gator Bowl. But either way the selection committee goes, it will get an ACC team that won its last regular-season game.

In the case of N.C. State or Virginia, the Gator would get a team coming off arguably its best victory of the season.

"We're looking at either a 10-victory N.C. State or Maryland team, or Virginia having finished its season beating N.C. State, Maryland and Virginia Tech," said Gator Bowl executive director Rick Catlett. "We're in a wonderful position."

The Big East representative in the Gator Bowl likely will be the winner of Saturday's game between Pittsburgh and West Virginia (both are 8-3 overall, and 5-1 in the Big East). West Virginia has shown strong fan support at past Gator Bowls, and the only matchup that poses a problem would be a regular-season rematch against Maryland. The Terps beat the Mountaineers 48-17 Oct. 5, in Morgantown, W.Va.

"We'd welcome the chance to play in the Gator Bowl, and we'd have no reservations about playing Maryland again," said West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong.

Catlett said the Gator Bowl also wouldn't have a problem with a Maryland-West Virginia game. The ACC and Maryland have the option to pass on the Gator Bowl under such a scenario.

"I don't know when we've had this many options," McCollum said. "It's a nice problem to have."

 

 

U.Va eyes Gator, but Peach, Tangerine possible
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press

Published November 25, 2002

In the closing moments of Virginia's 48-13 demolition of Maryland on Saturday night, some Cavalier players began doing the gator chop on the sideline. If only it were that simple.

Virginia locked up a share of second place in the ACC, and if Maryland loses Saturday to Wake Forest, the Cavs would be the conference's runner-up alone. But when the bowls make their selections, with very few restrictions, they are not tied to the standings.

The Gator and Peach have the second and third picks, respectively, among ACC teams. That does not mean they must select the second- and third-place finishers. The bottom line is that three teams - Virginia (8-4, 6-2), Maryland (9-3, 5-2) and N.C. State (10-3, 5-3) - are in the mix for each bowl. One will be left out and likely will fall to the Tangerine, which has the conference's fourth team.

The case for and against each:

Virginia. Since 1991, each of the ACC's second-place teams (outright or shared) with at least six league wins has gone to either the Gator or Peach. Virginia defeated Maryland and N.C. State, and head-to-head supposedly is a major consideration when selection committees get together.

Having beaten N.C. State, Maryland and South Carolina (no longer a top-25 team), the Cavs are 3-2 against ranked teams. Maryland and N.C. State are 1-1 against ranked teams.

But U.Va. is a relative newcomer, not having qualified for bowl eligibility until beating N.C. State on Nov. 16. And Virginia wasn't even on the Gator's radar screen until Saturday night.

N.C. State. First and foremost, the Wolfpack has a reputation for traveling well, which might be particularly appealing to the Gator. State won a school-record 10 games and was as high as ninth in the BCS standings earlier this month. The Pack dominated Florida State, the league champion, Saturday.

But of those 10 victories, two came against Division I-AA opponents (East Tennessee State and Massachusetts) and another against a team that maybe should be I-AA (Navy).

Maryland. The Terps had won eight consecutive games, by a 322-90 count, before Saturday's meltdown at Virginia. Florida State's loss in Raleigh gave Maryland a chance to claim a share of the championship, and had that happened, the Terps might be out of the equation.

This weekend's games could be critical. If the Cavaliers defeat Virginia Tech (8-3) in Blacksburg, it would be hard to deny them a spot in the Gator.

If Virginia loses, it could fall to the Tangerine, with Maryland going to Jacksonville and N.C. State to Atlanta (or vice versa).

Also, matchups must be considered. The Gator has the second pick among Big East teams, and that figures to be either West Virginia (8-3, 5-1) or Pittsburgh (8-3, 5-1), which play Saturday on the Panthers' home field. If WVU goes to the Gator, rule out Maryland because that would be a rematch of an October game. If Pitt goes, rule out N.C. State because that would be a rematch of last year's Tangerine Bowl.
 

 

 

After 20 Years, Cavs Try Again In Hawaii
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, November 25, 2002; Page D07

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- In the final weeks of 1982, Virginia jetted to Tokyo for an early-season tournament, fresh off a win over Patrick Ewing and the third-ranked Georgetown Hoyas in what was billed as "the game of the decade."

The Cavaliers, led by two-time national player of the year Ralph Sampson, had defended their No. 1 ranking. In Tokyo they improved to 8-0 by beating No. 14 Houston and Utah, two teams that went on to advance deep in the NCAA tournament that spring.

It seemed Virginia Coach Terry Holland had planned wisely by scheduling the trip to Japan after the Georgetown game. While the media back home was still buzzing about Sampson vs. Ewing, the Cavaliers were avoiding the hoopla. The Hoyas, on the other hand, had just been upset by American.

"I remember thinking, 'Boy, we did the right thing getting out of there,' " said Holland, who was in his ninth of 16 seasons as Virginia coach. "And then after winning two, we felt really smug: Oh yeah, we were smart to do this.

"Wham."

Virginia's perfect record was shattered six days later. On Dec. 23, the Cavaliers stopped on their way back from Japan for a game in Honolulu against Chaminade University, a Division II team Virginia had beaten by an average of 20.5 points in 1979 and 1981. Virginia's apparently easy win turned into perhaps the greatest upset in college basketball history.

Chaminade, a school with fewer than 1,000 students, beat the top-ranked Cavaliers, 77-72. The Silverswords limited Sampson, a 7-foot-4 senior who would close his career with a third player of the year award, to 12 points and held Virginia's outside shooters well below their usual shooting percentage. Chaminade center Tony Randolph scored 19 points against Sampson.

"I was in awe that we were that close," said Merv Lopes, Chaminade's coach at the time. ". . . It's unimaginable for you to think that you can win. I'm serious. I was like, There's no way."

Twenty years and two days later, the Cavaliers (1-0) will face the Silverswords in the first game of the Maui Invitational on Monday at 2 p.m. (9 a.m. local time).

They hope for a better result than their U-Va. ancestors, who were tied with Chaminade at halftime thanks to the Silverswords' strategy of swarming Sampson on nearly every possession. It was by no means the first time the Cavaliers had dealt with such a scheme, but it worked particularly well that night, with Sampson still recovering from the severe dehydration that plagued him during the Tokyo trip and teammates such as Rick Carlisle and Othell Wilson having uncharacteristic off-nights.

"We played hard; we just didn't shoot well," Holland said. "They deserved to win the game. I don't think there's any doubt about that."

The upset did not immediately become a national story. The game was not televised and was played in the wee hours of the morning on the East Coast. ESPN was still in its early years. Most sports fans at first saw nothing more than the final score.

"Literally almost nobody knew it had happened [at first], even back here," Holland said. "Or at least [they] thought it was a misprint."

The Cavaliers experienced little major fallout, in part because the story faded somewhat with the arrival of the Christmas holidays and then ACC play. They reached the NCAA round of eight before losing to North Carolina State, the eventual national champion, and finished with a 29-5 record and a No. 4 ranking.

Holland said Virginia had to quickly move past the loss, but Chaminade -- which also beat Louisville, Southern Methodist and Hawaii that season -- revels in the victory to this day.

"It's something that we can share with everyone" in Hawaii, said Randolph, who still lives in the state. "It's one of those true, classic games of David and Goliath."