Pearman making most of stretch run
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
November 19, 2004

Three starts, three 100-plus yard performances.
To say senior tailback Alvin Pearman is going out with a bang is an understatement.
After getting the starting nod at tailback in place of junior Wali Lundy against Duke on Oct. 23, the senior has done everything in his power to keep his status just that way - as a starter.
The numbers don’t lie.
Over the last three games, the Charlotte, N.C., native has churned out 499 yards. That helped Pearman not only leap frog Lundy on the depth chart but on the stat sheet.
For the year, Pearman has 755 yards, 20 more than Lundy.
Against Miami, Pearman carried most of the load, getting 21 carries. Lundy rushed the ball six times and only once in the second half.
Virginia coach Al Groh said the decision was based solely on who had the hot hand.
“It’s kind of just how the game went, a little bit,” Groh said. “Alvin seemed to be going pretty well there. But that’s always the tricky part. There’s only really one of two ways to do this, you just say, you know, ‘every six carries we’re going to change guys or every quarter we’re going to change guys or each guy is going to get 18 carries.’
“You either say that, or you just kind of have a feel during the course of the game who’s in there,” Groh added. “I think we have a general idea how, in a theoretical basis, how we’d like to see it dispersed, but we’re going to get a feel for the circumstance of the game.”
It has been quite a turnaround for both tailbacks.
Lundy opened the season in historic fashion by becoming the first player in school history to score three touchdowns in three consecutive games.
Pearman didn’t complain. He was too busy returning punts and kickoffs and doing the small things to keep the Cavaliers undefeated. Pearman even lined up at wideout against Syracuse.
Through the first five games of the season, Pearman carried the ball 45 times for 244 yards. At that point even sophomore tailback Michael Johnson had more rushing yardage than Pearman.
Things suddenly changed after Virginia lost its first game of the season, a 36-3 trouncing at Florida State.
Lundy carried the ball 10 times for 32 yards against the Seminoles. Pearman managed just
12 yards on six attempts.
After the game, Groh challenged every starter on the team. He said no job starting spot was secure.
Pearman took advantage of the opportunity and in a big way. The following week against Duke, Pearman rushed for 223 yards, just one yard shy of tying the school record.
Pearman has held onto the starting spot since that day. While Lundy has performed well off the bench since his demotion (41 carries for
229 yards), Pearman has carried a majority of the load.
While both players prefer starting, Pearman said it has done little to the close relationship that the duo shares off the field.
“There’s not anything different,” Pearman said. “I talked about it before the season, whatever role I was, whatever role he was, we were supportive of each other regardless of the situation.
“I love to see him do well. He loves to see me do well. I’m a big Wali Lundy fan. At the same time, he’s been very supportive of me, helping me out in whatever way he can.”
Groh may need both to play well if they want to win at Georgia Tech on Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets have allowed an average of 66 rushing yards in their six wins, but 187 in their three losses this year.
It doesn’t help that the game is on the road. Virginia has struggled away from home in November under Groh, going 0-4 in the past three years and losing all four games by more than
10 points.
“[Georgia Tech is] a very tough place to play. We’re anticipating a hard-fought battle,” Pearman said. “That’s our mindset going into the week - that this is going to be the toughest game of the year.”

Good to go. When Groh addressed the media on Wednesday, he indicated that defensive end Brennan Schmidt should be able to play the remainder of the season despite the shoulder injury that he suffered against Miami.
“He’s got a situation that isn’t going to change here until after the season,” Groh said. “So, as is the case with a lot of guys coming down the home stretch, he’s going to have to manage it, we’re going to have to help him manage it and get him ready for the games the best way that we can and get him through the games.”

News & Notes. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Wednesday that Georgia Tech running back P.J. Daniels is “doubtful” for the Virginia game. Daniels, who has not played in the Jackets’ last two games, has 125 carries for 582 yards and five touchdowns this season. ...
The ACC released the conference games-only portion of the league's football schedules from 2006 through 2015 seasons on Thursday.
The ACC will play in two six-team divisions - Atlantic and Coastal - starting in 2005. Each school will play all five opponents in their division, one primary crossover opponent every year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division.
Virginia will play Coastal division foes Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina and Virginia Tech and crossover opponent Maryland every season. Virginia's rotating opponents is as follows: 2006 (Florida State and N.C. State); 2007 ( N.C. State and Wake Forest); 2008 (Clemson and Wake Forest); 2009 (Boston College and Clemson); 2010 (Boston College and Florida State); 2011 (Florida State and N.C. State); 2012 (N.C. State and Wake Forest); 2013 (Clemson and Wake Forest); 2014 (Boston College and Clemson); 2015 (Boston College and Florida State).


 

In search of answers
Questions plentiful as Virginia kicks off season
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
November 19, 2004

When Virginia hosts Robert Morris tonight at University Hall (7:30 p.m.) it will be the tipoff to the program’s 100th year of competition. Perhaps it is fitting that there are about 100 questions surrounding the program as it embarks on this journey.

Who will start at the point, freshman Sean Singletary or sophomore T.J. Bannister? If it is Singletary, how will he perform? How will the team play with a consistent point guard in general? How healthy is Devin Smith’s back? How trim is Elton Brown? Will Jason Clark perform at the level that has so often been predicted of him? Can Pete Gillen successfully distribute minutes in what should be one of his deeper teams by position? Who will be the Cavaliers go-to player, Smith, Brown or even sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds? Will last year’s strong finish carry over to this season? And then there is the big one: Will the Cavaliers’ season-long performance be a referendum on Gillen and is this team’s fate and his directly tied?

Everyone seemingly has opinions if not answers to those questions these days and there are countless more questions, plots and subplots.

What is for certain is that the referees will throw the ball up tonight and it all will begin. In any case, the 100th season of Virginia men’s basketball should be an interesting one.

Like any good drama, there is an underlying current that trumps all. For this show, it is Gillen. At times, the pro-Gillen and anti-Gillen camps are split in a fashion not all that different from the red state-blue state political makeup of our country. Yet, there is a certain irony when one peers through all that, a vision of perhaps Gillen’s most talented squad emerges. The Cavaliers actually will be operating with one less scholarship allowed by NCAA regulations but for the first time in recent memory have a full compliment of players with various skills and sizes. Sophomore small forward Gary Forbes recently compared the team to Noah’s Ark because it had “two of everything.”

While it will be revealed at about 7:30 p.m. if it is Singletary or Bannister that gets the starting nod, either one gives the Cavaliers a true starting point guard for the first time in four years. There won’t be

two-guards playing out of position nor will there be small forwards trying to be undersized power forwards. It won’t be a hodgepodge starting five but rather one that is fairly defined. Again, from that point on [no pun intended] all those questions will be answered, one-way or the other.

If everyone seems to have an opinion, it’s Gillen’s that is most interesting and encompasses just about everything in just a handful of words.

“We put more pressure on ourselves than we get externally. We want to win. We don’t want to let down the fans, students and administration. Sure there is pressure,” Gillen said. “I feel good about this team. I go into with my eyes open because I know it is an unbelievable league but I think this is a good team.”

Only time will tell if the Cavaliers are a good team but they at least appear to be a better team. In total, the Cavaliers have played five preseason games. They played three in Canada and then two against Division III teams the last two weeks. The competition was overmatched in each case - sometimes painfully so - but still the Cavaliers operated as a better unit aesthetically for the first time in quite a while.

“I think we’ve been ready to play for a long time. I think we are a team that is solid at every position. We will have somebody that can come in for that same position. What will be key is that we all play with the same effort,” said Smith, whose health is arguably the best it’s been during his Virginia career. “The main thing will be to stay consistent.”

Consistency has been the program’s biggest enemy since reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2001. The ability to turn in the same performance game-in and game-out has escaped the Cavaliers. Whether this team will leap that hurdle is another question and another answer that can only be found in time. Still, the Cavaliers enter the season with what at least appears to be relative consistency in terms of personnel.

“I think we will play eight or nine players consistently. I think that is the rotation. I think we have good players and a good team but time will tell,” Gillen said.

Added Forbes, who will likely be the first player off the bench but is labeled as a “starter” by Gillen: “The deeper teams are the ones that win championships. You have to have guys coming off the bench and producing the same amount as the starters.”

Of those eight or nine players, nearly all have some questions. They range from Smith’s health to Brown’s play in the post to Reynolds’ shooting and so on and so on. Some are actually more observations than any kind of nagging worries. At the end, it is two positions that will absolutely be key: point guard and power forward.

Singletary has been labeled as the best player ever recruited by Gillen’s staff. The speedy

6-foot Philadelphia native committed to Virginia in June of 2003 and his arrival has been highly anticipated since. Gillen has been particularly cautious in putting expectations on Singletary and is quick to note that he is a freshman and ups and downs are almost inevitable.

His teammates have been less cautious. Brown has already stated that in a league with a half dozen great point guards, Singletary is already among the top three. What is sometimes lost in Singletary’s expectations is the simple and plain fact that he’s a point guard. Even if he doesn’t score in the fashion of Wake Forest’s Chris Paul, a player Singletary has been compared to, having him or Bannister at the point solves the rudderless ship situation that has plagued Virginia the last three seasons.

“It’s so important to have a point guard. They push the ball and all you have to do is get out and run with them. They will find you,” Reynolds said.

Added Smith: “It will help us a lot because now it’s a position you don’t have to worry about. In the past we had to worry about who was going to play the point. Now it’s a matter of which one will play and we don’t even have to worry about that because we play with them every day and they are both good players.”

The power forward position is a more mercurial one because the Cavaliers’ most mercurial player plays it. Clark, a 6-8 senior forward, has typified the Cavaliers’ inconsistency. At times, his athleticism is staggering. At other times, one wonders where he disappears to on the court. He is undoubtedly the Virginia player whose upside has been untapped.

Last season, Clark missed the first semester with academic issues and was never fully in shape or in rhythm. In many ways, he has been the most impressive player in the preseason. With rebounding a certain area of concern, he has attacked the glass with more resolve. His career rebounding numbers are not impressive but that fits neatly into the general unfulfilled nature of Clark’s career.

“He’s working harder and is more dedicated. He’s put in a lot of extra time. He had always worked hard in the weight room and now he’s putting in the extra time on the court. He’s a valuable player. He gives you toughness and rebounding. He is not going to back down and not going to be intimidated,” Gillen said. “He’s an underrated player. … He does the little stuff. He doesn’t always want to shoot the ball and that’s rare. You have to have the passion for the game and he’s discovering that now.”

One way or another, however, every road seems to lead back to Gillen. Whether that is just or unjust, fair or unfair, it is the reality of college coaching. The players aren’t oblivious to it. Once in the preseason, Smith made the most obvious and simplest of statements.

“We want to go out there and win basketball games. Coach Gillen wants to go out there and win basketball games. He wants to win and we want to win. That’s all we can worry about,” Smith said.

Notes. Virginia announced the official signing of three recruits Friday. Laurynas Mikalauskas, a 6-foot-8 forward from the Blue Ridge School; Mamadi Diane, a 6-5 swingman from DeMatha Catholic High School in Maryland and 6-11 Sam Warren of Cherry Creek High School in Colorado have all officially signed with the Cavaliers after verbally committing earlier this fall. Another of Virginia’s early commitments,

6-4 Brian Moten of Cincinnati, as expected has not and will not sign with the Cavaliers. While his coach at Cincinnati Christian Center Academy, Travis McAvene, says Moten remains strongly interested in UVa but doesn’t currently meet the necessary academic requirements for admission. … Gillen will host a season tip-off luncheon this afternoon at Bryant Hall. The luncheon begins at 12:30 p.m. Gillen will be joined at the luncheon by Bannister and Reynolds. The cost is $15 per person. Reservations can be made by calling 982-5555.

Gillen now has two options at point guard
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 19, 2004

For the past two years, Pete Gillen has complained that his basketball system hasn’t worked the way he wanted because he didn’t have a true, proven point guard. Well, now he has two.
Chuck-n’-duck is back.
When Virginia hosts Robert Morris University tonight as sort of a warm-up to Sunday’s home game against national powerhouse Arizona, the Cavaliers will attempt to play at greyhound speed. The difference will be the point guard spot where sophomore T.J. Bannister returns and newcomer Sean Singletary appears.

Speed and defense
Gillen is convinced that the two point men will allow UVa to play quicker on offense and provide more pressure on defense.
It didn’t take senior center Elton Brown long to figure out the impact of the two point guards. When the Cavs took a five-day excursion to Canada for three exhibition games last month, Brown was amazed at how the point guard duo impacted the games and his own team’s style of play.
“They were able to put more pressure on the other team’s offensive plays out on the perimeter,” Brown said. “So much at times that the other team couldn’t get into its offense.”
But then came Virginia’s offense. Bannister and Singletary were able to perform what Dickie V refers to as the “Three D’s of basketball:” drive, draw and dish. That is the key to success for most really good basketball teams.
“Sean really knows how to direct traffic,” Brown said. “He knows when I want the basketball and where I want it. Heck, he sees things out there that I don’t even see.”

Who’s the starter
We aren’t certain who will start at the point guard spot tonight.
Bannister finished last season’s campaign in a strong fashion after having been gingerly brought along as a true freshman. His passing skills were instrumental in some of UVa’s upsets down the home stretch and Bannister could do what his predecessor, Keith Jennifer, couldn’t: Score.
Singletary is the schoolboy hotshot who tore up the Philadelphia courts and carved out a reputation as the next Chris Paul in the ACC. His work ethic is becoming legendary and his leadership and skills are uncommon for a true freshman.
“They both bring things to the table,” said Gillen, who mentioned that at times he will play both the guards together in a change of pace stratagem.
While UVa’s two games against Lehman College and Marymount last week didn’t offer up enough competition to get a true gauge of how this Cavalier team will fare when serious basketball is to be played, it did give us a glimpse of Singletary’s and Bannister’s talent.
Bannister gave us a preview late last season when he started 10 of the last 11 games and set a new Wahoo record for most assists (12) by a freshman in a game as Virginia upset nationally ranked Wake Forest. He also
scored 15 points and had four rebounds in another upset over nationally ranked Georgia Tech.
Singletary’s reputation preceded his arrival to Charlottesville. A near miss on the McDonald’s All-American team, the Philly Flash could have gone to play hoops for many of the nation’s big-time programs.
The gym rat’s high school coach said that he envisioned Singletary doing for Virginia what Paul did for Wake Forest last season as he won ACC Rookie of the Year and helped the Deacs reach the NCAA Tournament.
Automatically, Wahoo fans hailed Singletary as the savior of Virginia’s downtrodden basketball program. But Singletary wasn’t interested in any of this savior stuff. He just wanted to come in, work hard, lead by example and win.
He’s quick. He’s smart. He can pass. He can shoot. Oh, and did we mention his work ethic?
“I just want to come in here and find the hardest working guy on the team and work
10 times harder than him,” Singletary said back in the
summer.
Seasoned by pick-up games on the cement courts of Philadelphia and the gyms of the city, Singletary will not be intimidated by anyone he faces in the ACC. He has already faced NBA players and college stars in those pick-up games.
The college foes he will face this weekend and this season can’t throw anything his way that he hasn’t seen before.
He’s stared down Allen Iverson for goodness sakes. How can anyone from Arizona throw a scare into him after that?
If Gillen’s guys are to take the program to the next level this season, then it’s going to be on Singletary’s and Bannister’s shoulders to help take them there.
“Look around,” Brown said. “There haven’t been any great college teams out there that didn’t have a great point guard.”
Now Big E and Pete have two of ‘em.

Cavs' Brown wants respect
Elton Brown blames being snubbed in the all-ACC voting on his attitude as a freshman.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia men's basketball player Elton Brown was offended. After putting up numbers last year that ranked him in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring and rebounding, Brown didn't make first-, second- or third-team all-conference.

"I'd be offended, too," UVa coach Pete Gillen said. Brown also finished second in the ACC in field-goal percentage but fell 20 points short of the 15th-leading vote-getter.

How does that happen?

"I've got some ideas," said Gillen, whose Cavaliers open the season tonight against Robert Morris, "but, I choose to keep them to myself."

Possibly, it has something to do with reputation. For the first two years of his college career, there was an image of Brown as an overweight pouter and self-promoter.

He shed much of the excess weight before the 2003-04 season, which he opened at 250 pounds, down from approximately 275 in his first two seasons. He also cleaned up his act in other areas, but wonders if anybody noticed.

"This year, people have been looking at magazines and telling me, 'You're not preseason all-anything,'" Brown said. "I think my first two years really hurt me. It's like I tell the freshmen, 'Attitude is everything.'

"Sometimes, people only see you one time and they take that and run with it."

Brown made notable improvement from his sophomore year in 2003-04, lifting his scoring average from 9.6 to 14.8 and his rebounding average from 4.3 to 6.3. Most remarkable was his improved free-throw shooting, from 53.8 percent to 62.7.

On top of that, Brown became a low-post threat for the first time. After taking 93 free throws in 2003-04, he shot 204 last season.

Only Duke's Shelden Williams had as many as 200, and he played in 37 games, six more than Brown.

A possible explanation for Brown's lack of support for all-ACC may have been the Cavaliers' tie for seventh place in the ACC race. Voters who wanted to pick one Virginia player may have split their support between Brown, who had 49 points, and Devin Smith, who had 17.

"The first time I heard it, I thought it was a joke for some reason," Brown said.

Maybe Smith had the bigger gripe because he was named team most valuable player.

"Nobody on the team made all-ACC?" Brown said. "They put it on the board and I was like, 'Wow!' There were a lot of players on that team who didn't average as much as I did. It really hurt.

"I put up numbers that could have put me on the second team or at least the third team. I thought I was a lock. Tim Pickett [of Florida State] made first team and he averaged 16 points and they were tied with us. It's like when were in high school and I didn't make the McDonald's game. It's politics. Ain't nothing you can do about it."

Or, maybe there is. Brown, who once envisioned the possibility that he would turn pro before the end of his college eligibility, attended an NBA-sponsored camp for collegians this summer .

"What I learned was, they're not looking for players who can score," Brown said. "They're looking for players who can make plays ... rebounding, setting screens, doing all the dirty work that helps a team win.

"I talked to George Karl for a long time and he said, 'I know you can score, but I'm looking for you to do other things,'" Brown said. "He told me, 'When I go back to my organization, I want to be able to say, this guy can help us win.'"

So, that's the secret.

 Lundy hopes for more big holes, less colorful quotes
Kickoff strategy worked, but did anybody notice?
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

In honor of Terrell Owens, this week’s edition of the UVa Insider is X-rated.

OK. Maybe R-rated.

It all started Nov. 8, as reporters congregated for the Monday news conference following Virginia’s 16-0 victory over Maryland. Talk quickly turned to a quote in that morning’s edition of The Cavalier Daily.

“I saw it from the sideline,” said junior tailback Wali Lundy, who had not started but had still run for more than 100 yards. “There were just holes opening up like a June bride. It was crazy out there.”

Head coach Al Groh was in a good enough mood that reporters asked him about Lundy’s quote. First, Groh blushed. Then, he uttered something about having been married in October or November, then he asked for a copy of the paper.

Fast forward five days. In a 31-21 loss to Miami, Lundy had a season-low six carries.

A connection, perhaps?

Don’t count on it.

The fact of the matter is, Lundy’s carries had dropped from 20 against Clemson to 10 at Florida State and 11 at Duke, where senior Alvin Pearman got his first start of the season at tailback. Even when Lundy had 24 carries for 107 yards against Maryland, Pearman had 31 carries for 170 yards.

As for the Miami game, “it’s kind of just how the game went, a little bit,” Groh said this Monday. “Alvin seemed to be going pretty well there. But, that’s always the tricky part.

“There’s really only one of two ways to do this, you just say, ‘Every six carries, we’re going to change our guys or every quarter we’re going to change guys or each guy is going to get 18 carries.

“You either say that, or you just kind of have a feel during the course of the game who’s in there. I guess if we were coaching basketball, we’d feel the same way. If a guy has hit seven out of the last eight, I’m probably going to be reluctant to take him out.”

Groh said he makes the discussion when to switch tailbacks, but “we all discuss the thing,” he continued. “We do keep track of the carries upstairs, so that we know where that is.”

So, what about the June bride quote? Transcripts of Groh’s news conference made available by UVa and the ACC this week did not address that matter.

“Actually, I asked him about that, and he was like, ‘Coach, I used to have a coach who said that; is that what it means?’ ” Groh related. “I said, ‘Well, you can interpet it for what you want. Maybe we’ll just hold off on that one for a while.

“As much of the lyrics as he writes on his rap music, he was just actually quoting somebody on that one.”

LAST WEEK’S Insider dealt with the UVa kickoff team, one of the few special teams that did not fail the Cavaliers against Miami. UVa’s strategy was to kick the ball high and short and let its return team converge on the Hurricanes’ return men.

“The end result was pretty much what we wanted,” Groh said. “In fact, in averaging the starting point for each team after kickoffs, we actually started on our 27 and they started on their 25.

“As best as we were trying to do, we kept the time bomb from exploding. However, the first two kicks, while they were well covered, didn’t go quite according to plan, so we didn’t want to try our luck any further.”

As a result, placement specialist Connor Hughes took Kurt Smith’s place as kickoff specialist for the Cavaliers’ final two kicks.

“DO WE HAVE a stupid coach or not?” Groh said last week when asked if the Cavaliers might challenge Miami’s Devin Hester on kickoffs, so I had to wonder this week when he said he might play sophomore Ian-Yates Cunningham.

As a true freshman, Cunningham started at left offensive guard for the second half of the 2003 season, but he underwent back surgery in May and did not dress for a game until Saturday against Miami.

“He’s progressed to the point that, if he can do something to help us, he’s available,” Groh said.

I already had wondered about the advisability of playing true freshman Chris Gorham and Bud Davis for a handful of plays against Duke. What sense does it make to use Cunningham for two and maybe three games and cost him a redshirt year, unless Groh knows something about the proposed five-for-five plan that we don’t.

As it turns out, Groh does have some new insight into a proposal to allow a student-athlete to play in five seasons over five years. Insiders have told him it is “losing steam.” On the Cunningham front, he provided some clarification after the formal part of the news conference ended.

If the Cavaliers needed Cunningham -- say, Virginia lost either of its starting guards, Elton Brown or Brian Barthelmes, to injury -- Cunningham would be the option if it was viewed as the possible difference between winning and losing a game. But, as far as throwing him in the game for five plays after the outcome is decided, that’s not going to happen, Groh said.

ACC parity is a good thing, or is it?
By TOM ROBINSON, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 19, 2004

This is a good one.

If you can’t stand the Miami Hurricanes, ACC fans, pray they win their final games over Wake Forest and Virginia Tech.

Click here Then wish and hope real hard for the Hokies, after they defeated Maryland on Thursday night, to beat Virginia next weekend.

If your dreams come true, the result will be a three-way tie for the ACC championship — and the Bowl Championship Series bid that goes with the league title.

Those three teams finishing 6-2 in the league is a ’Cane-haters most devilish scenario. Why? Because Miami will get royally, well, you know.

To get to 6-2, Miami will have beaten Virginia Tech and Florida State. In any world, head-to-head results are the first tie-breaker, except this year’s new-look ACC is in a different orbit.

Florida State and the Hokies won’t meet this season, so head-to-head does not apply. For lack of a definitive conference title game — that starts next year — the ACC’s BCS bid will go to the team rated highest in the unpredictable and often indecipherable BCS standings.

At the moment, that’s No. 8 Florida State, four spots above Miami!

Ouch.

In a way, a three-way logjam would be a fitting way for this unexpectedly intriguing ACC season to end.

It’s funny, because the concept of parity in the NFL is widely viewed as distasteful, a worm in the apple. When it’s hard to tell the outhouse from the penthouse, tough to break from the pack, difficult to predict the winners week to week, the parity-poopers throw the blanket of “mediocrity” over the whole thing.

I’m not sure why. Consider the ACC. Sure, adding Miami and Virginia Tech this year — and Boston College next year — has wrecked the cozy, practically perfect-for-a-half-century basketball schedule.

We’ll just need to get over that.

Clearly, though, the two Big East defectors have already forced the ACC football holdovers — perennial fat-cat Florida State included — to pick up the pace or view life from the ditch.

The dominant Seminoles ostensibly have raised all boats to a degree. But what this season has best revealed is the sudden proximity of talent and skill between the ACC rivals, head to toe.

The product has been a surprising and, yes, attractive parity that puts a weekly edge onto the ACC schedule that was never there. An edge that only promises to grow sharper.

Seems to me that’s a good thing, to quote a famous female federal convict in West Virginia.

Now, losing to Duke didn’t exactly advance coach Tommy Bowden’s future at Clemson. And Miami couldn’t get out of Chapel Hill alive, then doubled its misery by losing to Clemson at home.

Yet in the big picture, the ACC’s reputation has to grow when four teams are in the top 20, but almost anybody can beat almost anybody else almost any week.

“It’s fast becoming that you’re just not sure what’s going to happen each Saturday,’’ ACC commissioner John Swofford recently told reporters, “and I think that really speaks to the depth and quality.”

Today, only Duke, North Carolina and Maryland have been eliminated from bowl eligibility — i.e. teams with no shot at the required six victories. Seven teams had won as many as four league games.

All that beating on each other does have consequences, however. A likely, but unintended, result of a more competitive ACC is the league will miss a lucrative second BCS bid.

The ACC runner-up will have lost at least twice, drastically reducing its chance to crash the big party and bag an extra $4.5 million for the league.

This year, that’s the price of doing business in a brave, new world.

U.Va. has one goal: the NCAA tournament
Pete Gillen, back on the hot seat, knows better than anyone what needs to be done this season.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published November 19, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It was probably the longest two weeks of Pete Gillen's professional life. Would he stay as the men's basketball coach at Virginia, or did he need to update his resume?

It was 14 very draining, very confusing and very public days. Finally, in an announcement made on April Fool's Day, Gillen was welcomed back for his seventh season.

Your boss taking two weeks to decide your future isn't the strongest vote of confidence. They have a phrase for it in this profession: The Hot Seat. Few would argue that Gillen, despite a contract that goes through the 2011 season, is squarely on it. So as the Cavaliers open their season tonight at home against Robert Morris, Gillen knows what he needs to do.

"Sure, there's pressure," he said. "But, hey, if I worried about everything everybody said about me, I'd stay in a glass house and never come out. Could they throw me in the river tomorrow? Yes. Sure. But I'm not going to worry about it.

"We've done OK - we've averaged 18 wins the last five years with five postseason tournaments in a row. We want to do more. The University of Virginia is used to having great success and we're going to try to get back to that level of great success."

Gillen knows it isn't that simple. Those five postseason tournaments in a row he talked about? Four of them, including the last three, have been in the NIT. Though Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage has not put it in these terms, anything short of making the NCAA field likely would leave Gillen where he was a year earlier.

Gillen realizes his hot-seat status will continue to be debated. He wants his players to avoid the distraction.

"There is pressure, but I don't think the team is paying attention to that," sophomore swingman Gary Forbes said. "If we just win games - that's what people want to see - then basically, there's no pressure."

Gillen's salary ($900,000 annually) is a matter of public record, but the university has refused the Daily Press' attempts using the Freedom of Information Act to release anything else regarding his contract. Specifically, U.Va. will not disclose terms of a buyout clause - or confirm whether one exists. The university's lawyers say U.Va. agreed to a confidentiality clause in Gillen's contract that gives the coach the power to decide what else about the contract is revealed to the public, and he has not consented.

Several newspapers reported it would have cost U.Va. $6.3 million (his salary, $900,000, times the length of his contract, seven years) to fire Gillen after last season.

After his evaluation last spring, Gillen reshuffled his staff by firing Scott Shepherd and Rod Jensen and hiring John Fitzpatrick and Mark Byington. He invited other head coaches, whom he would not identify, to come in and observe the program. And he beefed up the non-conference schedule by adding Arizona (Sunday's opponent in University Hall), Auburn and Richmond and keeping Providence and Iowa State.

"I'm enthused by what is taking place in our program," Littlepage said. "The pieces are in place for us to have a good year."

A good year - making the NCAA tournament and even winning a game - would be a sure way to avoid a repeat of last spring's uncertainty.

The hardest part will be surviving a conference schedule that features 10 games against six teams ranked in the preseason top 25. But with Gillen returning eight of his top 10 scorers and bringing in maybe his best recruit since coming to U.Va. (point guard Sean Singletary), it's a reasonable goal.

"I feel good about our team," Gillen said. "I'm not going in without my eyes open. I know it's an unbelievable league, but that's exciting to me. That's not something you run away from.

"I think we'll be improved, but time will tell. We want to be very good to excellent so we can get back into the NCAA tournament."

Creatine leads to secondary NCAA violation
BY NORM WOOD
247-4642
Published November 19, 2004

BLACKSBURG -- Virginia Tech will announce today it committed a secondary NCAA violation by providing methods for athletes to obtain discounted creatine, but no major punishments will result, according to Dave Chambers, Tech's senior associate director of athletics for external affairs.

Tech will release its findings from an internal investigation that began in early November. Chambers said the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA have reviewed Tech's findings.

Tech became aware of the possible violation earlier this month. Offensive lineman Nick Marshman and former linebacker Mike Brown told a newspaper that Mike Gentry, Tech's football strength and conditioning coach, had gotten them creatine at discounted prices in the 2003-04 school year.

Creatine is a supplement that promotes muscle growth. It can be taken in pill or powder form and can be purchased in nutritional stores. Many doctors have questions about the long-term effects of creatine, but the NCAA permits its use. Athletic departments are not allowed to provide creatine, or discounted methods of obtaining creatine, to its athletes.
 

Some good ol'-fashioned smashmouth football
On the Front Row
Chris Graham
chris@augustafreepress.com

Save a total meltdown in the final five minutes against Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech would be 7-2 and a notch ahead of Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.

The key to the Yellow Jackets' success: their defense, which has held Tech's opponents to one offensive touchdown and 195.3 yards of offense a game in the team's past four wins.

Chan Gailey's stingy D is going to be put to the test on Saturday in Bobby Dodd stadium by the UVa. offensive juggernaut - which leads the ACC in total offense at 442.4 yards per game, 251 yards of that coming on the ground.

It's not quite the unstoppable force against the immovable object, but you get the idea.

"They are good," Gailey said of the Cavs. "You don't get to be 7-2 if you aren't good. They can run the football and stop the run. They do a good job overall. (Marques) Hagans is the leading percentage passer in the conference. If you look at statistics, they do a lot of things very, very well, and that's why they are a good football team."

So there's part one of NFL coachspeak for this week, courtesy of Gailey, the former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

Part two comes from Virginia head man Al Groh, who returned to his alma mater after a year at the helm of the New York Jets.

"Well, in general, like most of these top run defenses, they do everything they can to crowd the point of attack. They're going to get as many people to that area as they can. It looks like a New York City subway station," Groh said of the Georgia Tech defense.

"Each team's got their own little way in getting a lot of guys there, but they all really have the same motivation, they all have the same motive in what they're trying to do on defense," Groh said.

One thing is for sure: It's not going to be much of a chess match out there on Saturday between Gailey and Groh, who worked for a year as assistants at Air Force on their way up the coaching ladder.

Blocking and tackling should be the order of the day.

"I don't think they are drastically different from as far as schemes go than any team we have played," Gailey said.

 

Cavs focused on present
With Arizona game looming, U.Va. turns its attention to opener with Robert Morris
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Nov 19, 2004
ROBERT MORRIS AT U.VA.
TODAY: 7:30 p.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The Wildcats are coming, the Wildcats are coming.

University of Virginia basketball players have seen the schedule. They know who they're playing Sunday evening at University Hall - the 10th-ranked Arizona Wildcats.

"But we can't worry about them right now," Cavaliers forward Jason Clark said.

First things first for U.Va., which opens its seventh season under coach Pete Gillen tonight against Robert Morris (1-1) at U-Hall. Gillen has eight of the top 10 scorers back from a team that finished 18-13 last season after losing in the NIT's second round.

Since classes started at U.Va. this semester, Gillen's club has played five exhibition games: three on a trip to Montreal last month and two at U-Hall this month. The Cavaliers won all five by an average margin of 51 points.

That speaks as much to the quality of the competition as to U.Va.'s ability. Virginia played Division III schools Lehman and Marymount this month.

"We didn't get that much [out of the recent exhibitions], honestly," Gillen said, "but it was good to play games, to get the young guys in. . . . I think we got something out of it, but it's not an indicator by any means."

Asked who'll start against Robert Morris, Gillen didn't hesitate to name seniors Clark (power forward), Elton Brown (center) and Devin Smith (small forward) and sophomore J.R. Reynolds (sophomore). Gillen declined, however, to say who'll be at point guard at the opening tip.

"Not yet," Gillen said Monday. "We'll know [today]."

Sophomore T.J. Bannister started against Lehman on Nov. 5. Touted freshman Sean Singletary got the call against Marymount last Friday.

"They're both good players," Gillen said. "They're both considered starters. We're not going to alternate them. We're going to go with one, and then he'll go, whatever, as long as he goes, then the other guy will come in. Both are going to play a lot of minutes."

Gillen said he also considers Gary Forbes a starter, and the 6-6 sophomore from Brooklyn, N.Y., played like one in the recent exhibitions. In the routs of Lehman and Marymount, Forbes averaged 16 points, 4.5 rebounds and two steals and shot 13 of 15 from the floor.

Singletary, the high school player of the year in Philadelphia last season, is one of three freshmen at U.Va. The others are Adrian Joseph, a 6-7 swingman who impressed in the exhibitions, and Tunji Soroye, a 6-10 center who'll have to battle for minutes in a crowded frontcourt.

"I think they're talented," Gillen said. "I think they're three very good athletes. I think they're unselfish players, so I think they have a chance to help us this year."

Questions surround Hagans' recent play
U.Va.'s passing game has struggled since his injury against Duke
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Nov 19, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia's passing game received a failing grade against Miami last weekend, continuing a decline that began Oct. 23 against Duke. And now Marques Hagans finds his ability as a quarterback being questioned.

"I don't really pay attention to what people say," Hagans said.

That's probably a good thing, because U.Va. coach Al Groh says the "winds of negativity blow in like a hurricane" in these cases. Groh, 60, has seen it happen repeatedly during his long coaching career.

"It's pretty smooth sailing to be the quarterback when you just went 25 for 30 for three or four touchdowns, and the quarterback's the toast of the town and can't get anointed for enough awards," Groh said. "The challenge in being a quarterback . . . is after you've gone 13 for 31 with three interceptions, and the whole world is telling you what you know better than anybody else."

In his first season as a full-time starter, Hagans has completed 119 of 189 passes - 63 percent - for 1,580 yards and seven touchdowns, with five interceptions. He continues to lead the ACC in passing efficiency.

In the Cavaliers' 31-21 loss to the Hurricanes, the 5-10, 211-pound redshirt junior from Hampton rushed for a career-best 85 yards, but he connected on only 10 of 25 passes, for a season-low 94 yards. He threw one TD pass and two interceptions, though the second pick came on a desperate heave into the end zone with 13 seconds left.

Virginia's receiving corps is under fire, too, after catching one pass for 4 yards against Miami. A week earlier, in a 16-0 win over Maryland, the receivers combined for 24 yards on three receptions.

"We just don't have that rhythm in our passing game," senior wideout Michael McGrew said. "Hopefully we can get it back the next couple of weeks."

The 18th-ranked Cavaliers (4-2, 7-2) head into their game at Georgia Tech (4-3, 6-3) tomorrow with the ACC's best running attack. U.Va. tailbacks Alvin Pearman and Wali Lundy rank third and fifth, respectively, among conference rushers. After being held to 20 yards rushing in a 36-3 loss at Florida State on Oct. 16, the Cavs have rushed for 864 yards and seven touchdowns (on 158 carries) in their past three games.

During that span, U.Va. has attempted 62 passes.

"If we threw the ball 40, 50 times [a game] like we did last year, I'm sure the passing game would be better," McGrew said. "But the last couple of weeks, we've been winning with the running game."

Groh said: "There's a trade-off in all of it. Some of those games in the past, where our M.O. was 40 or 45 throws, we stayed in a real good rhythm offensively with the passing game. Did the fact that we were passing the ball 35 for 45, which was desirable, did that keep us from getting in a groove with the running game? It might have, but that's the trade-off."

Hagans injured his hip in the third quarter against Florida State. He started against Duke the next week, but the injury clearly affected his passing, and the Cavaliers chose to run the ball on most downs. Hagans looked better against Maryland, completing 10 of 17 passes for 114 yards, but never seemed comfortable throwing against Miami.

"I made a couple bad reads and made some bad decisions," Hagans said.

Neither Groh nor Hagans cares to discuss injuries. If Hagans hurt more than his hip against FSU, as some suspect, he hasn't said so publicly.

Asked Wednesday about Hagans' health, Groh said, "Physically, I think, there's no strain. In fact there's been a lot of mustard on the ball the last couple of days. Where the strain might be, and it's usually the case when quarterbacks slump a little bit, is in the decision-making process and how fast that occurs."

In Virginia's first six games, Hagans completed 88 of 127 passes - a remarkable 69.3 percent - for 1,209 yards and five touchdowns. He was picked off only twice. In his past three games, Hagans has gone 31 for 62 for 371 yards and two TDs, with three interceptions.

Hagans said his faith in himself hasn't wavered.

"Like I said, we've still got a lot of football to play. I can't allow myself to hang my head," he said. "I've got a team that depends on me."

 

Cavaliers Are Eager to Get Started
Virginia Is Improved, but Has a Lot to Prove in the Ultra-Competitive ACC
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, November 19, 2004; Page D08

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Nov. 18 -- Back for a seventh season as Virginia's basketball coach, Pete Gillen has talented players at every position. A glance at the roster or the 73-point average margin in the Cavaliers' recent exhibition wins seems to bear out his assertion that "we're certainly an improved team."

The problem, though, is that Virginia is not alone. To reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001, the Cavaliers will have to negotiate an ACC that is expected to be stacked with top teams, most of whom can also legitimately claim to have improved since last season.

Forward Elton Brown, right, gives Virginia a strong presence in the paint. (Rachel Zahumensky - AP Photo/Daily Progress)

Some outside observers think an NCAA berth could be too much to expect from Virginia, which opens its 100th season Friday night against Robert Morris (1-1) before hosting No. 10 Arizona on Sunday.

Senior power forward Jason Clark, one of the team's three captains, said the players have tired of the doom and gloom of the past two years.

"There's no reason that we shouldn't make the elite eight. That's how confident I am in this team," Clark said. "We have so many good players. . . . From what we hear, we're supposed to finish, you know, eighth in the conference, and if anything, barely make the NCAAs. We laugh at stuff like that, because we feel that we're much better than eighth in the conference. We just have to prove it to the whole world."

Virginia appears well stocked at shooting guard and small forward with senior Devin Smith -- finally healthy after offseason back surgery -- sophomores J.R. Reynolds and Gary Forbes and freshman Adrian Joseph. Clark, senior Elton Brown and sophomore Donte Minter should provide a decent front line.

Point guard could be the biggest change. Savvy three-point specialist Todd Billet is gone, leaving the position to sophomore T.J. Bannister and freshman Sean Singletary, both significant upgrades in quickness and athletic ability. They had a tight preseason battle for the starting job, with Gillen declining to publicly name the winner in advance of the opener.

Forbes said he is most excited about the team camaraderie he saw on the court and on the bench when Virginia played three exhibitions in Montreal six weeks ago.

"We were playing as a team," Forbes said. "Last year, guys had a lot of attitudes, as well as myself, you know, sulking on the bench or whatever. [In Montreal] guys were just clapping for each other. It was really fun, just winning. When you win, you have fun."

What about when you lose? The Cavaliers will no doubt have to deal with adversity at some point this season, but they hope they have the maturity and the leadership to pull through.

"We're a whole lot better than last year," Bannister said. "As far as winning games, you'll see a big difference."

Cavaliers Notes: Virginia received signed letters of intent from three members of next year's recruiting class: power forward Laurynas Mikalauskas (Montrose Christian), guard-forward Mamadi Diane (DeMatha) and center Sam Warren (Englewood, Colo.). The Cavaliers are still waiting on shooting guard Brian Moten (Saginaw, Mich.), who must clear up academic issues. . . . Minter played four minutes in last week's exhibition game after missing time in preseason because of a dislocated right kneecap. However, he is not yet in top shape.
 

Cavaliers look to contain Ball, break historical trend
Georgia Tech quarterback leads ACC in rushing, has excelled of late while Virginia signal caller Hagans has cooled off after hot start; Cavs have not won in Atlanta in 10 years
Barney Breen-portnoy, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

Two quarterbacks whose seasons are on opposite trajectories will face off tomorrow when No. 18 Virginia (7-2, 4-2 ACC) travels to Atlanta to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-3, 4-3). Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball has been stellar of late, leading the Ramblin' Wreck to two consecutive victories over N.C. State and Connecticut with two TD passes in both games while Virginia quarterback Marques Hagans has lacked consistency over the past four games.

Against UConn, Ball picked apart the Huskies' secondary, racking up 288 passing yards. However, Ball's main asset is his mobility. Ball has scrambled for 295 yards, making him the second leading rusher among ACC quarterbacks behind Virginia Tech's Bryan Randall. Virginia coach Al Groh understands the versatile offensive threat posed by Ball.

"Reggie's another one of those multi-dimensional quarterbacks," Groh said. "He's mobile, not just within the pocket, but he can also get up the field with the ball. He's really got a strong arm, and can put a lot of distance on the ball, which fits this receiver they have very well."

The Yellow Jacket receiver that Groh is referring to is freshman phenom Calvin Johnson. In his rookie campaign, Johnson has accumulated 624 receiving yards, second among receivers in the ACC. Six of Johnson's 36 receptions have been for touchdowns.

For Hagans, the 2004 season has been a tale of two halves. During the first five games, Hagans accumulated prodigious offensive statistics that placed him among the nation's elite quarterbacks. However, since the Florida State game on Oct. 18, his production has dropped off noticeably. Virginia's offense has lacked the consistency that it had in the first half of the season. Against Florida State the offense produced only a single field goal, and against Miami Hagans threw two interceptions and connected with receivers on only 10 of his 25 passes.

Groh said that the adversity Hagans has faced is common in the development of many quarterbacks.

"It is part of the process of playing this position," Groh said. "It's pretty smooth sailing to be the quarterback when you just went 25 for 30, for three or four touchdowns. The challenge is after you've gone 13 for 31 with three interceptions. [The critics] are trying to tell the quarterback what he should've done, [but] he knows better than anybody else."

To defeat Georgia Tech, the Cavaliers will have to turn around several historical trends. The home team has not lost in the Virginia-Georgia Tech series since 1994 when Virginia won in Atlanta 24-7. Also, since Groh arrived for the 2001 season, Virginia has not won a conference road game after Nov. 1.

These final two games of the season against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech are critical to Virginia's bowl hopes. The Cavaliers still have hopes of capturing a share of the ACC title.Virginia's bowl destination could be anywhere from the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, to the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, or anywhere in between depending on the outcome of these final two games and the fortunes of other conference foes.

Virginia wide receiver Michael McGrew said he still has confidence that the Cavaliers can accomplish a lot this season.

"We really want to do something big this year, and the ACC championship is still in our grasp," he said. "We can still get a piece of it, and we want it that bad, so we're going to do whatever we can to get it."