No bowl offers expected until next week
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 29, 2004

While Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage said Sunday that he hasn’t given up hope of the Cavaliers landing a spot in the Peach Bowl, but he doesn’t expect to receive any offers until next weekend’s Virginia Tech at Miami game is concluded.

UVa announced after Saturday’s 24-10 loss at Virginia Tech, that it would decline invitations from any bowl that is played during the school’s exam period, which ends on Dec. 21. The Champs Sports Bowl (formerly the Tangerine Bowl) is played on that same day in Orlando.

Officials from that bowl game were miffed that Virginia or the ACC did not notify them of UVa’s conflicting exam dates until midweek last week and said it expects the conference to fill the slot with a team of equal quality. The Cavaliers are 8-3.

“If it becomes necessary, we will work with the universities and the conference to work out a resolution,” said Champs Sports Bowl official Mike Strickland, who attended the game in Blacksburg. “We do expect to get a team of equal caliber if there is a conflict. An agreement would have to be worked out, some sort of compromise with the conference.”

Under one scenario, the winner of the Miami and Virginia Tech game would get the ACC’s bid to the BCS, leaving the Gator and Peach to choose between the loser of that game, Florida State and possibly Virginia for those bowls.

If the Peach Bowl selects Florida over Alabama as its SEC representative, then Florida State would be eliminated from that bowl’s picture. FSU said it will not agree to a rematch with Florida.

That could mean that FSU could play in the Gator or the Champs bowls. Because Tallahassee is only a two-hour drive from Jacksonville, home of the Gator Bowl, there is a concern that Seminoles’ fans would not make the financial impact on that bowl that perhaps a team like Virginia Tech might.

“We sit around at our team selection committee meetings and just stare at each other and talk about scenarios and we really don’t get anywhere because until these 18-, 19-, and 20-year old kids finish playing, nobody knows,” said Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett. “If we’ve got Pittsburgh on the other side of our equation, then we need a team that will travel ... and, I don’t mean buy tickets, I mean travel. We still have to fill up hotels.”

Catlett said that FSU fans will buy tickets and coach Bobby Bowden will turn TV sets on, but the flip side is that the bowl needs somebody to stay in hotels.

“We know how well Virginia Tech fans travel,” Catlett said. “Miami is a great television team. They probably have more fans than anybody but Notre Dame in the country, but they don’t go to their games, they don’t travel. When they played in our game against Georgia Tech, they brought about 6,000 people and about 4,000 of them came up on game day.”

Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan said that his bowl will prosper under any scenario because he believes any of the teams still under consideration would provide great matchups and guarantee a sellout at the Georgia Dome.

“I really don’t see anything happening before [Virginia Tech-Miami] next weekend,” Littlepage said Sunday. “The conference position at this point is that they want to wait until that last game is played to see what happens in terms of the BCS position, the Gator and the Peach.”

Littlepage is hoping that something will work out to allow the Cavaliers to play in the Peach.

“I tend to be an optimist, and so, until I’m told otherwise, I think that we’ll still have an opportunity maybe for the Peach,” Littlepage said. “If that doesn’t happen, then we’ll go to another bowl, our team will be prepared and we’ll play well and hopefully bring home a trophy.”

Littlepage did acknowledge that the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, remains a possibility as well as other bowls that do not have direct ties to the ACC.

“I believe there can be some movement if there aren’t sufficient teams and that’s what has happened in other conferences where if they have six slots and only four or five teams are eligible,” Littlepage said. “I understand there are four or five conference slots around the country that are not going to be filled by the conferences with direct ties [to those bowls].”

Before Virginia could be released to play in one of those bowls, the ACC would have to satisfy the needs of the Champs Sports Bowl.

UVa coach Al Groh said Sunday that he stands behind his school’s decision to not accept a bowl game during exam period.

“This was an easy one,” Groh said. “The University’s fundamental issue is to educate. Virginia has proven it knows how to educate at the highest level. I fully support that mission.”

The coach said it didn’t matter to him that Virginia doesn’t know what bowl or what opponent his Cavaliers will face.

“We find out in plenty of time to know who and where and get our preparations set,” Groh said. “It’s like clinching a playoff berth but not knowing who you are going to play. If Team A wins, you play at your place. If team B wins, you play at their place. You don’t need a month to prepare. You get six days to prepare for regular-season games.”

Littlepage said he researched previous exam dates and discovered that they are normally held a week earlier than this year. He also noted that based on conversations with UVa president John T. Casteen III, and other senior university administrators, that Casteen would like the school to look closely at future exam schedules, not only for football conflicts but academic conflicts and other student issues.

“I would say that in the future our exam schedule will not be as late as Dec. 20 or 21,” Littlepage said.

While officials at the Champs Sports Bowl are miffed, so are some UVa fans, who reserved tickets to a list of bowls that the Cavaliers could qualify for, when the athletic department sent out bowl ticket order forms in early November. The Champs Bowl was on that list.

“In retrospect [the Champs Bowl] shouldn’t have been on there,” Littlepage said. “From the standpoint of where we are, it’s one of those situations that we (the senior administrative athletics department staff) fully expected to be playing in the BCS, Gator and possibly Peach. That’s unfortunate we got to the point we did yesterday.”

Littlepage said the question of a possible conflict didn’t arise until last week when an ACC official called and asked what Virginia’s chances would be of playing in the Orlando game because of the exams overlapping the game date.

“I told them it was unlikely but we could at least do the exercise of checking to see how many of our players had exams on those days that might be requested that the team be in Orlando,” Littlepage said.

Research revealed that up to 350 students, including players, band members, cheerleaders, student managers and student personnel would be impacted.

“Nobody felt that was a workable situation to release that many students from that many exams for possibly four days,” Littlepage said.

He noted that UVa submits its exam schedule almost a year in advance to the ACC office.

“I don’t know if it’s our responsibility to inform them,” Littlepage said. “I’m not trying to point a finger that anybody dropped the ball, but obviously there hasn’t been a change in our exam schedule.”

Cavs dispatch Spiders
Virginia now 4-0 on season
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
November 29, 2004

Last season when Devin Smith played with continual soreness in his back, Virginia coach Pete Gillen called his performances “heroic” and courageous.

Wonder what Gillen labels the healthier Smith’s performances now?

Smith scored 26 points as the Cavaliers improved to 4-0 with an 85-58 victory over Richmond on Sunday afternoon at University Hall.

Smith connected on 8 of 13 shots, including five of his 10 3-point attempts, and also grabbed seven rebounds.

“I thought Devin was spectacular. We played him 18 minutes in the first half and I was afraid his legs were dying but he kept playing. He’s got a great heart,” Gillen said. “What he did last year was amazing. He’s healthier now after surgery last summer. He’s a very good player and I’d certainly like to see him healthy all the time.”

Elton Brown had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers to collect his third double-double of the season while Sean Singletary added 11 and Gary Forbes had 10. J.R. Reynolds finished with nine points and a career-high six assists.

Kevin Steenberge led Richmond (2-1) with 14 points.

The Spiders, an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament last season, were playing their first game against UVa since a 69-65 Virginia win at the Robins Center on Dec. 21, 1999. It was also Richmond’s first game in Charlottesville since the 1996-97 season. The two schools reached an agreement on a two-year contract last spring and Virginia will face Richmond next season as the Richmond Coliseum.

“I want to thank Pete Gillen and Craig Littlepage for helping start this series again. Obviously it is a meaningful series for us. ... We are a young basketball team and we were exposed today,” Richmond coach Jerry Wainwright said. “I think we will be more than competitive throughout the season and I think this will turn out to be a real good win for Virginia.”

Wainwright added that he had an early indication Sunday that it wasn’t going to be his and his team’s day.

“I knew that I was in trouble when I went to church this morning when he was there and had beaten me there. He prayed more than me today so I had no shot,” Wainwright said.

Smith’s shooting from the perimeter highlighted an overall strong performance in that area by the Cavaliers.

Virginia, which entered the game misfiring on 25 of its last 32 3-point attempts, connected on 11 of its 27 attempts Sunday against Richmond (2-1).

“We think we can shoot pretty well from the 3-point line. Tonight we made our 3-point shots and that’s not something we have been doing,” Gillen said. “We work on our shooting a lot and when you make 3s you are a better team because they can’t collapse on you defensively.”

Virginia gained its 47-29 halftime lead thanks in large part to that strong shooting from behind the arc. The Cavaliers made eight of their 17 first-half 3-point attempts and the treys figured prominently in what ultimately was the game’s decisive stretch.

Holding a 35-27 lead with just over three minutes to play before halftime, Sean Singletary connected on a 3-pointer from right of the key. That was followed next by a Smith trey and then with 2:04 remaining, Reynolds knocked down the Cavaliers’ third straight 3-pointer. That gave Virginia a 44-27 advantage, which it ultimately pushed to an 18-point lead by the break.

Singletary’s two first-half 3-pointers were his first two since making one trey against Robert Morris in the season opener. Singletary, however, had been just 1 for 10 from behind the arc entering Sunday’s game.

“Sean can shoot them from there. We think he can be a very good shooter,” Gillen said.

Added Singletary: “I know I have been struggling a little bit. I need to get more reps in practice and get into a better rhythm. I feel a lot more comfortable having hit those tonight.”

Virginia led 47-29 at halftime and quickly increased that lead at the start of the second half. A Smith 3-pointer with 17:45 remaining made it 53-31 and that started a 14-3 Virginia run. A pair of free throws by Brown capped the spurt and gave Virginia a 64-34 lead with 14:01 left in the game. The Spiders would get no closer than 20 the rest of the way.

Brown has said that rebounding would be a personal point of emphasis this season. Sometimes Brown’s predictions and statements produce almost sheepish reactions from the media, but certainly Brown is making good on this promise for now. He is averaging 10.1 rebounds per game through the early portion of the season.

“As I’ve said earlier, my biggest thing this season is to rebound. You have to rebound to win. ... I’m not worrying about scoring. I’m worrying about rebounding first,” Brown said.

There seems to be another point of emphasis for Brown and that is taking charges. He took two Sunday and has taken a handful more this season.

“I’m trying to be the next Shane Battier,” Brown joked.

UVa, Smith deliver 3s for Gillen
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 29, 2004

Richmond coach Jerry Wainwright said he knew he was in trouble when he drove to church in Charlottesville on Sunday morning only to find that rival Virginia coach Pete Gillen had already beaten him there.

It wasn’t the only time Gillen would beat Wainwright on Sunday. Gillen’s Cavaliers rolled to 4-0 with a resounding 85-58 win over the Spiders, sparked by 33 points from behind the 3-point arch.

“Pete must have prayed more than I did,” Wainwright quipped.

If Gillen was praying for 3-pointers, then he was answered as the Cavaliers rained 11 of them on Richmond, which dropped to 2-1. Senior forward Devin Smith led the way, connecting on half his 10 shots from bonusphere as he scored a season-high 26 points in the rout.

What a relief

For Smith, the shooting performance was a welcome relief. For big man Elton Brown, who relies on outside help to free him up in the paint, it was even a bigger relief.

“When Devin’s rolling, I know we’re going to have a good game,” said Brown, who racked up another double-double in the win. “When he’s out there laughing and smiling, it’s a good sign for us.”

Richmond’s game play was to play a sagging man-to-man defense and double team Brown inside as much as possible. When Smith’s clicking from long range, the defense can’t take the risk of sagging. Instead, they are forced to spread out and cover the perimeter shooters.

Brown had hit 6 of 16 of his long-range attempts in UVa’s first three games, so he nearly equaled that output in 33 minutes against the Spiders.

“Devin was spectacular,” said Gillen, who might be Smith’s biggest fan after the trying season the injury-plagued youngster experienced a year ago.

Overcoming injuries

Smith came to UVa as a sophomore two years ago and was bothered by an offseason knee injury. Last year things got worse when he was hampered by a herniated disk in his back.

That nagging pain prevented him from practicing with his teammates after Christmas last season and kept him out of the lineup or highly ineffective in some games he attempted to play in. Still, he managed to courageously lead his team in taking charges and won a few games with his shooting ability and determination.

“His teammates respect him more than anybody after they watched what he went through last season,” Gillen said.

Brown truly appreciates what Smith did and what he brings to the table as a healthy player. Back surgery corrected Smith’s problems last May and he has played injury-free thus far this campaign.

“He’s a different guy,” Brown said of his fellow senior teammate. “He goes hard all the time. After the surgery, he’s like a new person. He rebounds and plays defense.

Just watching him last year gave me the courage to play harder this season.”

Smith said it felt good to go out and score early, especially against a tough team like Richmond.

“Once I get it going early, it keeps me in it,” Smith said. “Today I was really knocking down my shots [8 of 13 overall].”

It works both ways, Smith said. If he’s dropping in shots, the defense can’t sag on Brown. But when the ball was passed into Brown and he didn’t have a shot, then Brown kicked the ball back outside to the perimeter shooters for open jumpers.

The Cavs hit 11 of 27 from outside, with guard J.R. Reynolds adding three, point guard Sean Singletary two of them and forward Adrian Joseph yet another.

“We shot a lot of [3-pointers] in the first half [8 of 17],” Gillen said. “We think we can shoot pretty well from out there. Sean is better than what he has shown (2 of 4 against the Spiders). We don’t have a Todd Billet, but we have three guys who can shoot it in Devin, J.R. and Sean, plus a couple of guys off the bench, Gary Forbes and Joseph, who can shoot it as well.”

If Virginia can find the same kind of shooting touch on this week’s challenging road trips against Northwestern (the ACC/Big 10 Challenge), Auburn and Iowa State, then it could be the formula to success that Gillen has been searching so desperately for.

Hawaii's Andrew Pearman may be transfering to UVa
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
November 29, 2004

The letters on the back of Virginia tailback Alvin Pearman’s jersey read “Al. Pearman” this season.

Why? It remains a mystery. Of course, Cedric Peerman is in the program, but his name is spelled differently.

Maybe, it was foreshadowing.

In Saturday’s edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Pearman’s father, also named Alvin, said that paperwork has been filed to allow his youngest son, Andrew, to transfer to Virginia from Hawaii.

Andrew Pearman, who also plays tailback, committed to Virginia in the summer of 2003, but looked elsewhere when UVa running backs coach Kevin Ross left the program to become offensive coordinator at Army. He elected to sign at Hawaii, to play for coach June Jones.

It now appears that Andrew Pearman would like to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

“We can’t say, ‘Yes, he’s going to Virginia,’ but we have hopes he might be received there,” the older Alvin Pearman told the newspaper. “There are a lot of positives for him there, but who knows if they’ll want him back. At this point that’s the only place he’s looking at.”

Pearman’s father said the decision to leave Hawaii “is final,” but some loose ends need to be handled before leaving the program.

Andrew Pearman has been on an excused leave from the team for over a week, to deal with homesickness and to decide on his plans for the future.

“We just want to make sure we know what all the penalties are,” Alvin Pearman, Sr. said. “We want to make sure there’s nothing crazy like he has to sit out three years or something.”

Andrew Pearman scored 37 touchdowns and rushed for 2,268 yards during his senior year of high school at Charlotte Country Day.

Hawaii has apparently released Andrew and NCAA rules will require him to sit out another football season if he transfers to a Division I school like Virginia.

The scholarship release from Hawaii allows Andrew Pearman to accept a scholarship as early as the spring semester in 2005 from his future school. Without the release, Andrew Pearman would not be able to receive a football scholarship until the season he is eligible to play, which at UVa would be the fall of 2006.

Cavs clobber Richmond
Virginia knocks off a 2004 NCAA tourney qualifier for the second time in eight days.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Although Richmond did not come to University Hall with a top-10 rating, the Spiders shared a distinction with earlier Virginia opponent Arizona.

Like the Wildcats, Richmond played in the 2004 NCAA men's basketball tournament - and not as an automatic qualifier. The Spiders made the NCAA field on the strength of their power index, a rating that Virginia hopes to build with victories such as its 85-58 triumph Sunday at University Hall.

Richmond (2-1) had not given up more than 84 points in a game since the 1996-97 season.

"We're a young basketball team and I think we got exposed today," third-year Spiders' coach Jerry Wainwright said. "I still think we'll be more than competitive throughout the season. I think this is going to turn out to be a real good win for Virginia."

The Cavaliers (4-0) had started slowly Wednesday night in a 78-60 victory over Appalachian State, a game that was 30-30 at the half, but they led 47-29 at the break Sunday.

Virginia was ahead by 30 points, 64-34, and was on an 11-0 run when coach Pete Gillen called a timeout with 13:41 left. Taking the opportunity to regroup, Richmond cut the deficit to 73-53 but could pull no closer.

Senior forward Devin Smith had a game-high 26 points for the Cavaliers only four days after going 1-for-5 and scoring three points against Appalachian.

"That was his third game in six days and he didn't have his legs," Gillen said. "The games take it out of you physically, as well as emotionally, so he just didn't have it and that's going to happen sometimes."

Smith underwent surgery in May, in which two herniated disks were repaired, but says that he has been pain-free this season.

"It's kind of a Catch-22," Gillen said. "You can't pound him too much because of the back, but you've got to work enough that you have the wind.

"This is the healthiest he's been since he's been at UVa. We played him 18 minutes in the first half and I was afraid his legs would die in the second, but they didn't."

Smith was 5-for-10 on 3-pointers and the Cavaliers were 11-of-27 as a team. They made more 3-point field goals in the first half, eight, than in the previous two games, in which they were a combined 7-for-32.

Wainwright was aware of that, "but I saw a bank balance on my wife once before I was married," he said, "and that was false, too. I don't mean that disrespectfully, but I was holding my breath."

Virginia used a 17-2 first-half run to break open the game during a stretch when the Spiders couldn't make a shot from anywhere. They were 0-for-7 from the free-throw line in the first half.

"That kills you," Wainwright said. "Those are turnovers. They make a '3' and you come down and make a two-shot foul. You might as well throw the ball to them."

Wainwright credited Virginia for coming at the Spiders' top-two scorers, center Kevin Steenberge and point guard Daon Merritt. Steenberge made his first four shots from the field but did not have a field goal in the second half, finishing with 14 points - well under his two-game, 25.5-point average.

The Spiders had opened the season with a 77-71 victory at Seton Hall, so there was reason to believe they would give UVa a fight. Now, the Cavaliers might be a candidate for their first rating in nearly two years.

"I don't know about that," said UVa center Elton Brown, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds. "Aren't these the same people who thought we were trash before the season?"

For starters, UVa needs to learn how to finish
The Cavaliers know they had their chances, but they failed to follow through.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG - The operative word in the Virginia interview room Saturday was "finishing," as in the Cavaliers were unable to finish a game and unable to finish a season.

For the second time in three weeks, the Cavaliers were in position to beat a Top-25 opponent, but collapsed down the stretch in a 24-10 loss to then 11th-ranked Virginia Tech. "I don't know if guys got lackadaisical, thinking they got the game under wraps," said Andrew Hoffman, a senior nose guard who had a hand in two sacks. "But we just could not finish."

Virginia (8-3, 5-3 ACC) was 0-3 against its three ranked opponents, including a 31-21 home loss to Miami when the Cavaliers, down 24-21, needed one defensive stop to get the ball with more than 2 minutes remaining.

With 2 minutes remaining Saturday, the outcome was settled. After a first half in which Virginia held Tech to 82 yards, the Hokies had 265 yards and scored 24 points in the second half - including scoring plays of 45, 32 and 37 yards.

The first two were touchdown passes from Bryan Randall to Josh Hyman, who beat UVa cornerback Tony Franklin on both plays. Franklin and Marcus Hamilton got virtually all of the time at cornerback after Week 10 starter Philip Brown was left home for reasons Groh would not disclose.

On the first touchdown, Franklin had help from senior safety Marquis Weeks, but "I just misjudged the ball," said Weeks, who started every game but did not have an interception all season.

"You're sitting back there licking your chops on a ball like that. I don't know whether it floated [in the wind] but I thought it would come down sooner than it did. I slowed down a little bit and it went over my head."

Virginia was still in the game after Hyman's second touchdown catch made it 17-10 with 9:52 left, but UVa had a three-and-out offensively and the Hokies responded with a 37-yard touchdown run by back-up tailback Cedric Humes.

"I'm not saying I was happy about that," UVa coach Al Groh said. "In fact, I was very unhappy about it, but we were trying to do some things defensively we wouldn't do in the first quarter. We wanted to keep them out of field-goal range."

Mostly, Groh was unhappy about an offense that got one field goal from two trips inside the Tech 10-yard line. On the first, the Hokies recovered Wali Lundy's fumble at the 7-yard line. On the second, UVa had to settle for a 19-yard Connor Hughes after a penalty gave them first-and-goal at the Tech 2.

Senior tailback Alvin Pearman provided virtually all of Virginia's offense. He carried 28 times for 147 yards, caught a 32-yard touchdown pass and finished with 240 yards in all-purpose yardage.

"He's earned a place in my heart forever," Groh said. "For any kid who's playing Pop Warner ball or in high school or at the University of Virginia, what a tremendous model he's been in everything that he does."

Littlepage expected top-3 finish for Cavs
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Choosing a word with which he is not normally associated, Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage said Sunday that "ego" may have played into the timing of an announcement concerning UVa's bowl availability.

Virginia released a statement Saturday following a 24-10 loss to Virginia Tech in which president John Casteen said the football team would be unable to play in a bowl game held during UVa's exam period, Dec.13-21. In the process, the Cavaliers (8-3, 5-3 ACC) removed themselves from consideration for the Champs Sports Bowl, a game for which they otherwise would have been slotted based on a fourth-place tie in the regular season.

Neither the ACC office nor the Champs Sports Bowl, previously the Tangerine Bowl, was aware of Casteen's directive until the middle of last week.

"Maybe it was my ego," said Littlepage in an impromptu news conference Sunday at halftime of the UVa-Richmond men's basketball game, "but I was thinking we would be [No.] 1, 2 or 3, possibly, in the league."

Virginia season ticket holders were left to wonder why they were sent an order form in early November in which the Champs Sports Bowl was one of the options.

"It probably, in retrospect, should not have been on there," Littlepage said. "It was one of those situations where our senior administrative staff fully expected that we would be playing in the BCS, Gator or possibly Peach [bowls] and took our eye off the Champs Sports game.

"It's unfortunate that we got to the point where we did yesterday."

Littlepage said that assistant ACC commissioner Mike Finn called him 10-12 days ago and asked about the possibility of Virginia playing in the Champs Sports Bowl, to be held Dec.21.

"I told him it was unlikely, but we would at least do the exercise of checking to see how many of our players had exams on those days when the team might be requested to be in Orlando," Littlepage said. "When we did the analysis, it was clear that there was too much of an overlap.

"Adding the band, cheerleaders, student managers and other personnel, you're probably talking about close to 350 students that could have been impacted. Nobody felt that that was a workable situation."

UVa coach Al Groh indicated Sunday that he was aware of the school's decision well in advance of Saturday's game.

"I knew when exams were and when the game was," said Groh on his weekly Sunday teleconference. "Hey, this was an easy one. A university's fundamental issue is to educate. And, the University of Virginia has proven very well that it knows how to educate at the very highest levels. I fully support and agree with that mission."

Littlepage said he could not remember a time when Virginia's exam period has ended as late as it will this year and reported that UVa already was contemplating an earlier exam period as the result of other issues, such as a newly instituted January term.

Littlepage could not offer much insight into Virginia's bowl destination but said the ACC was prepared to wait until the Miami-Virginia Tech game this Saturday before asking for releases for its other teams. He said he had been under no pressure to come to terms with the Boise, Idaho-based MPC Computers Bowl, which has the sixth choice of ACC teams.

Of course, Littlepage's life would have been made easier if Virginia had beaten Virginia Tech.

"I wasn't too happy when that game ended," he said, pausing before adding, "for a lot of reasons."

Nobody figured U.Va. for an Orlando trip
Craig Littlepage, the athletic director, says the ACC office has known the school's exam schedule for several months.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published November 29, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Though Virginia did not inform the Champs Sports Bowl or the ACC that it would not play in a postseason game that coincides with its exam schedule until Wednesday, athletic director Craig Littlepage said it wasn't until the past two weeks that he realized the Cavaliers were in that game's picture.

"Our exam schedule has always been out there; that hasn't changed," Littlepage said Sunday. "It wasn't until about 10-12 days ago that it appeared there was serious discussion about Virginia possibly being in that position for that bowl. There were any number of conversations during the course of the season where representatives for the bowl would say, 'It's unlikely that we'd be getting you guys.'

"Maybe it was my ego, but I was thinking we'd be 1-2-3 (in the ACC's bowl pecking order). So it wasn't until 10-12 days ago when the question was asked, 'If your exam schedule overlaps, what are the chances?'

"I (said) it was unlikely, but let's do the exercise in checking to see how many players had exams on those days; that it might be requested the team be in Orlando.

"When we did the analysis, it was clear there was too much of an overlap."

Littlepage added that the conference office has known Virginia's exam schedule for several months.

"I don't know if it's our responsibility to inform (the bowl) or what," he said. "And I'm not trying to point a finger that anybody dropped the ball, but obviously there hasn't been a change to our exam schedule and there hasn't been a change (in) our practice as it relates to competition during exams."

But when U.Va. recently sent season ticket holders an order form to reserve bowl tickets, it listed every game with which the ACC is affiliated, including the Champs Sports Bowl.

"In retrospect, it probably should have not been on there," Littlepage said.

At the moment, Virginia's probable destination appears to be the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho. But the only projection Littlepage had to offer was that it probably won't be known until after Saturday's Virginia Tech-Miami game, which will decide the conference championship.

"And the dominos will fall from there," he said. "I really don't see anything happening before the game is played next weekend in Miami."

Virginia's announcement could become good news for Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets appeared set for the MPC Computers Bowl. That would put Tech (6-5) in Boise for the second season in a row. Now the Jackets could play in Orlando.
 

Cavs defy norm with uncanny accuracy
Torrid shooting behind the 3-point arc lifts Virginia to a surprisingly easy win over Richmond.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published November 29, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia had gone 7-of-32 from the 3-point arc in its last two games, a number Richmond coach Jerry Wainwright undoubtedly noticed. But numbers can be deceiving.

"My bank account before I got married," he offered as an example. "That wasn't true, either."

Neither, at least on this day, were the Cavaliers' shooting woes. Virginia hit 11 of its 27 3-point attempts, four during a deciding run late in the first half, and cruised to an easy 85-58 victory over Richmond on Sunday afternoon in University Hall.

Devin Smith finished with 26 points, 15 coming on five 3-pointers. J.R. Reynolds knocked down three treys and backcourt mate Sean Singletary added two, including the game's first basket on a pull-up in transition.

"We had some games earlier when the shots weren't falling," Smith said four days after the Cavs went 3-of-15 from the arc against Appalachian State. "But today they were. Everybody's been coming in on their own to do some extra work, and it paid off today."

That was the difference. At halftime, UR (2-1) trailed 47-29 despite shooting a higher percentage from the floor and having the same number of field goals. The problem was, the Cavs (4-0) outscored UR 24-3 from the 3-point arc and 11-0 from the foul line.

The second half was more of the same, with U.Va. (4-0) leading by as many as 30 points.

"Tonight we made our perimeter shots," coach Pete Gillen said. "But the score differential is no indication of the difference between the two teams."

For the fourth consecutive game, Virginia also played solid defense. UR, which won at Seton Hall in its opener, shot 40.8 percent from the field and ended up 3-of-11 from the arc. Center Kevin Steenberge, who scored 51 points in his first two games, had 14.

The Cavaliers put the game away with a 20-4 run to close the first half. Consecutive 3-pointers by Singletary, Smith and Reynolds turned a 35-27 lead into a 44-27 advantage with 2:04 left.

"We have some good shooters on this team," Singletary said. "Devin's a great shooter, and so is J.R. But we can shoot better than this. We like to play inside-out, and when they're doubling Elton (Brown) down low, that leaves guys open."

Brown finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, his third double-double in four games. He also had three assists, each out of a double-team. Reynolds had a personal-high six assists and one turnover in 32 minutes.

Listed first among "others receiving votes" below the Associated Press Top 25 last week, Virginia likely will make its debut in the rankings today. The Cavs now face a three-game stretch away from U-Hall that begins Wednesday at Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

"I think we'll know a lot more about the team in the next eight to 10 days," Gillen said.
 

Shocking Season: Virginia Tech has been the surprise of the year in the ACC
By Lenox Rawlings
JOURNAL COLUMNIST

BLACKSBURG, Va.
On a bone-chilling afternoon, as the blue sky turned gray and the mountain winds turned crimson lips blue, Virginia Tech rattled assorted Virginia bones and shook the ACC's cage.

The flags fluttered and the kicks floated, but Virginia Tech's resolve never wavered. So many times over 86 seasons, the Old Dominion rivalry played out under similar conditions, with 43 degrees feeling about one breath above freezing and warm smiles frozen in place.

The Hokies, once known as Gobblers, scored the last two touchdowns and won 24-10. The Hokies, thrice known as Big East champions, clinched a share of the ACC championship on their first attempt. Supported by a superior league record (6-1), Tech can clean the table with a victory at Miami (5-2) next Saturday. At worst, the Hokies (9-2 overall) will split the glory with Miami and Florida State (6-2).

Few outsiders saw this coming last summer, when a cesspool of legal problems shortened the roster and recent competitive slippage lengthened the odds. An ACC media poll picked the Hokies sixth, which seemed reasonable based on their Big East mediocrity the previous three years and their first unranked finish since 1997.

Some magazines played rougher. Coach Frank Beamer zeroed in on an eighth-place prediction. He couldn't remember the source, but his incessant references wiped all other data from his players' minds. As they celebrated personal redemption yesterday, one Hokie after another referred to that No. 8 on their scarlet faces.

Cornerback Eric Green remains incredulous about the August perceptions.

"People didn't expect us to come into this conference and do anything," Green said. "We didn't come into this league just to join it. We came in to take it over. We go to Miami now. It's in our hands. We have a chance to be ACC champs, real ACC champs."

If Tech can beat Miami for the second consecutive season, the outright title will produce a Bowl Championship Series invitation. Green, born in Pahokee, Fla., 22 years ago, might just dance the Hokie-Pahokee-Pokey if that occurs.

Defensive end Darryl Tapp cited the slight as a constant source of motivation, which Tech needed after losing a tense opener against No. 1 Southern Cal and especially after missing a field goal that would have defeated N.C. State in the fourth game.

"It hurts a little bit to know people don't think as much of this program as we do," Tapp said. "We're a good program. We've always been a good program. We had a chip on our shoulder, and it played a large part in this team coming together."

Tech lost the national title to FSU in the Sugar Bowl after the 1999 season and finished 11-1 again in 2000, but quarterback Michael Vick's departure sapped the offensive explosiveness from Beamer's formula. The Hokies scratched out records of 8-4, 10-4 and 8-5 the next three years, a total further dulled by that 11-10 record against Big East opponents.

Even so, sixth place is sixth place and eighth is eighth. Tapp and his buddies never expected such a dim light, particularly after strolling into the ACC spotlight.

"It was a shocker," Tapp said, "because the media didn't respect the program we had or the talent we had. The media didn't respect Coach Beamer. It was like a slap in the face."

Hokies not satisfied

A slap for a slap? Football players that tackle like the Hokies would hardly settle for an even trade. They certainly won't settle for a partial title.

"That's not our goal," Tapp said. "Our goal is to win the whole ACC. We're nowhere near being satisfied."

Beamer, born in Mount Airy 58 years ago, seemed more reflective and less combative as he walked away from a midfield conversation with Virginia's Al Groh. He reported that Groh said respectful things about the Hokies. Beamer appreciated that sentiment and all other gentle gestures since his mother, Herma, died 10 days ago.

He had sensed unusual promise in this Tech team before practice ever started. He conveyed that message to the Hokies again yesterday as they turned a scoreless first half into a historic victory with long-range implications and turned on a passionate crowd of 65,115.

"We had nine or 10 kids on official visits and about 30 to 35 more here unofficially," Beamer said. "When they see this atmosphere, it's not like everywhere else. I think there are special fans, special support and this is a special team right now. I've told the team that we're onto something special now. The way they play when things don't look good, not everyone can do that."

For 50 years, from the moment seven rebellious Southern Conference schools formed the ACC in Greensboro until the 2003 expansion circus, Virginia Tech coveted a piece of the action. The ACC turned a cold shoulder, plotting a three-team deal involving football prize Miami, Boston College and basketball champ Syracuse.

"In my opinion, what conference wouldn't want us?" Beamer said. "I think in reality it has been us and Miami for a long time in the Big East."

Odd political bedfellows disrupted the original blueprint. North Carolina and Duke, those equivocating expansion opponents, eventually joined Virginia as impediments. When the jostling ended, with the University of Virginia representing Virginia's perceived state interests and aiding rival Tech, the lineup changed. The Hokies made the first cut and Syracuse disappeared.

"Probably the greatest day for Virginia Tech is the day we got into the ACC," Beamer said.

Yesterday, although stone cold and steel gray, didn't rank far behind.

U.Va. takes it easily
3-pointers spur Cavs in a matchup of two of state's best teams
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Nov 29, 2004
U.VA. 85 UR 58

CHARLOTTESVILLE - He had seen the statistics, which suggested the Virginia basketball team struggled to shoot accurately from long range. Jerry Wainwright put little stock in those numbers.

"I saw a bank balance one time of my wife's, before we were married, and that was false, too," Wainwright said yesterday at University Hall. "I don't mean that disrespectfully, but I was holding my breath."

By the time the University of Richmond coach exhaled, his team was in trouble. In the first meeting between these teams in nearly five years, U.Va. made eight 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a season-high 11 in a 85-58 rout of UR before 7,506 fans.

The 85 points were the most allowed by the Spiders since a 98-86 loss at George Mason in January 1996.

"We're a young basketball team, and we were exposed today," Wainwright said. "But I still think we're going to be more than competitive throughout the season, and I think this'll turn out to be a real good win for Virginia."

In its first three games, U.Va. had made 14 of 52 attempts from beyond the arc. Against UR, it went 11 for 27. Senior forward Devin Smith led Virginia (4-0) with five treys, and sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds added three. Freshman point guard Sean Sing- letary, 1 of 10 from long range in the first three games, went 2 for 4 against the Spiders (2-1).

"We've got great 3-point shooters," Reynolds said. "The first couple of games, we weren't hitting, but we've just got to keep shooting, and sooner or later they're going to go in for us."

After Virginia opened a 24-16 lead on freshman swingman Adrian Joseph's trey with 9:21 left in the first half, Richmond crept back behind junior center Kevin Steenberge and freshman guard Courtney Nelson. A Steenberge tip-in pulled UR to 27-25, but the Cavaliers closed the half with a 20-4 run that included 3-pointers by Singletary, Smith and Reynolds. The Spiders trailed 47-29 at the break, in part because they had gone 0 for 7 from the free throw line.

"That kills you in games," Wainwright said. "Those are turnovers."

The defeat was UR's most one-sided since a 77-46 loss at Cincinnati in December 2001. The Spiders, who made nearly half of their field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes, shot 30 percent in the second half against U.Va., which harassed them with a sticky zone defense and came up with 11 steals.

Only two players scored in double figures for UR: Steenberge (14 points) and sophomore point guard Daon Merritt (10), who was limited to 24 minutes because of foul trouble. Steenberge went 0 for 3 from the floor in the second half after making 5 of 6 attempts before the break.

"Tonight we made perimeter shots, which we had not been making, and we did pretty good defensively," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "But the score differential is no indication of the difference between the teams. They're a very good team. We just had a good game."

Smith, coming off a three-point outing against Appalachian State, torched UR for a game-high 26 and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior center Elton Brown, with 12 points and 10 rebounds, posted his seventh career double-double. Reynolds finished with nine points, a career-best six assists, four rebounds and two steals.

"He's a great player," Gillen said of the Roanoke resident. "The more you watch him, the more you appreciate what he does. When he has the ball in his hands, you feel good."

Next up for Virginia is its first road game, Wednesday night against Northwestern in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. That same night, UR entertains South Florida at the Robins Center.

"This was a great lesson," Wainwright said. "I don't think we were physically beaten today. I think we were technically beaten. Those kids were well-prepared, they did what they were told, and they really executed."

UR and U.Va. will meet next season at the Richmond Coliseum.

Early wins, losses don't mean much
BOB LIPPER
POINT OF VIEW
Nov 29, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE You eyeball Virginia's Cavaliers and Richmond's Spiders for 40 please-Mr. Referee-put-that-whistle-in-your-pocket minutes, and what do you see? You see one team that might be looking at a brighter tomorrow, but who knows? You see another team that might be looking at diminished returns, but who knows?

It's not even December. Christmas presents haven't been wrapped and returned yet. The first conference encounters are five weeks and an auld lang syne away.

Meaning we should not read a whole lot into yesterday's 85-58, wire-to-wire U.Va. romp.

Except: This was fairly impressive stuff for the 4-0 Cavs, who've now book-ended a muddled effort against Appy State with pastings of then-No. 10 Arizona and the Spiders. Jerry Wainwright teams don't routinely lose by four touchdowns. They defend, search for good shots, play you tough. U.Va. broke from 31-27 tension to 47-29 breathing room at intermission and never let this UR edition even dream about challenging again. Not a bad day's work.

Except Part 2: With December road tests looming at Wake Forest, VCU, Pitt and maybe Arizona, the Spiders have some issues to address. They committed 22 turnovers and didn't reveal much of a long-distance game. They didn't put a natural scorer on University Hall's floor. Everyone not named Kevin Steenberge and Daon Merritt combined for 12-for-35 scattershooting.

And whereas everybody in last year's lineup could handle the ball, only Merritt among this group looked comfy with the rock - and he's still working through the hangover from his 84-assists/86-turnovers rookie campaign.

All that said, neither coach was ready to make any pronouncements based on this return.

"Too early to tell," said U.Va.'s Pete Gillen. "I can't gauge anything. I think we have a chance to have a good team, but I can't say right now. We beat Kentucky two years ago. We wound up 16-16."

Similarly, Richmond won on the road at Stanford that season - and labored across the finish line 16-13. So Wainwright wasn't about to get cosmic about this setback.

"It's like when somebody learns how to cook," he said. "Sometimes you're surprised when it's good food. You're certainly not surprised when it's awful. I think what happens in your early going is people show you what you need to work on. Hopefully, these are things that will help us grow."

The 6-11 Steenberge already has. He averaged 4.5 points as a sophomore. He's up to 21.6 through three November outings and overmatched U.Va.'s Elton Brown early on yesterday. But he scored only four points over the concluding 27 minutes. UR's shooting evaporated to the 30-percent level in the second half, and that pretty much was that.

U.Va.'s defense had much to do with UR's collapse. Meanwhile, at the other end, the Cavs converted turnovers into baskets and spread the floor to ring up 11 makes from 3-point territory. Good omens there. With Brown its only proven low-post threat, U.Va. needs to score in transition and from long range to generate offense. Freshman playmaker Sean Singletary is the key guy in both areas. He's savvy. He can penetrate, he can distribute, he can shoot some. He also can dream.

"We want to go undefeated," Singletary said. "That's our goal."

Memo to irrepressible youth: Won't happen. Beyond that, it's tough to reach conclusions about these two teams. The Spiders are missing four starters from an NCAA team - but compete in a depleted Atlantic 10. The Cavs retained four starters from an NIT entry - but suit up in the brutal ACC.

They met yesterday, and one squad demonstrated it's further along than the other. It might end up that way. But those developments are still pending.

Ending on a high note
Cavaliers still could finish the season with win, but against who?
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Nov 29, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - In each of its first three seasons under coach Al Groh, the University of Virginia football team won its final game. The Cavaliers will have an opportunity to extend that streak to four, but they still don't know where or when or against which opponent they'll play in a bowl.

"It really doesn't make any difference to me," Groh said last night. "I'm serious about that ... I'm sure there are a lot of other people who'd like to know something more definitive, but it's not an issue with us right now."

Idaho may well be Virginia's postseason destination. But the MPC Computers Bowl, to be held Dec. 27 in Boise, would not be able to invite the Cavaliers until they've been released by the bowls that pick ahead of it when choosing ACC teams: the Gator, Peach and Champs Sports. (Another bowl with which the ACC has a tie-in, the Continental Tire, already has selected North Carolina.)

It's possible, too, that the ACC could work out a deal with another conference to send Virginia to a bowl with which the ACC isn't affiliated.

At halftime of yesterday's U.Va.-Richmond basketball game at University Hall, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage told reporters that no bowls had yet released Virginia. Littlepage said the Cavaliers may not get an invitation before Virginia Tech plays Miami at the Orange Bowl on Saturday afternoon. That game will decide the ACC's representative in the Bowl Championship Series.

"I really don't see anything happening before the game is played next weekend in Miami," Littlepage said.

U.Va. closed its regular season two days ago with a 24-10 loss to Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium. After the game, Virginia announced it would not accept an invitation to a bowl that conflicted with the school's final exams, which run from Dec. 13 to 21. That unexpected announcement eliminated the 18th-ranked Cavaliers (5-3, 8-3) from consideration for the Dec. 21 Champs Sports in Orlando, Fla., the bowl to which they had appeared headed.

"Hey, this was an easy one," Groh said last night. "A university's fundamental issue is to educate, and the University of Virginia has certainly proven it knows very well how to educate at the highest level, and I fully support the mission."

The Champs Sports has the fourth pick of bowl-eligible teams from the ACC, choosing after the BCS, Gator and Peach, respectively.

"Maybe it was my ego, but I was thinking we were going to be 1, 2 or 3 in the league," Littlepage said.

When it became apparent recently, however, that U.Va. might fall to the Champs Sports, Littlepage said, the ACC asked him if the team would be able to play in that bowl. The ACC, he said, has long known about Virginia's schedule for final exams.

Littlepage said he told ACC assistant commissioner Mike Finn that "it was unlikely but we could at least do the exercise of checking to see how many of our players had exams on those days that it might be requested that the team be in Orlando. When we did the analysis, it was clear that there was too much of an overlap in terms of number of players and number of exams. And then on top of that, adding the band, cheerleaders, student managers, all student personnel, you're probably talking close to 350 students potentially who could have been impacted."

Littlepage was asked yesterday why, if U.Va. officials knew that final exams would keep the team from playing in Orlando, the Champs Sports was listed as a possible destination on a form the school mailed early this month to season-ticket holders.

"It probably, in retrospect, should not have been on there," Littlepage said.

 

U-Va. Clouds Bowl Picture for ACC
Decision to Not Play During Finals Affects More Than Just Cavaliers
By Mark Schlabach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 29, 2004; Page D09

The University of Virginia's decision to decline invitations to any postseason bowl games that conflict with the school's fall-semester final exams has caused quite a headache for the ACC. Conference officials spent much of yesterday trying to appease Champs Sports Bowl officials, who thought they were getting the Cavaliers, while still trying to work out a deal that could send Virginia to the more prestigious Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

Virginia, which lost to Virginia Tech, 24-10, in its regular season finale, probably won't know its postseason destination until after the No. 10 Hokies play at No. 9 Miami on Saturday. If the Hokies (9-2, 6-1) win their eighth consecutive game, they'll win the ACC and the automatic Bowl Championship Series berth that comes with it. If they lose to the Hurricanes, the Hokies could fall all the way to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando if the Peach Bowl shakes up the ACC's bowl pecking order and takes the Cavs instead.

Virginia has played in the Peach Bowl three times, most recently in 1998. The Peach Bowl was the first bowl game to invite the Cavaliers -- they beat Purdue, 27-24, after the 1984 season.

"Virginia has been an excellent team for us," Peach Bowl President Gary Stokan said yesterday. "They travel to our bowls very, very well. They feel there's a special relationship with the bowl."

But Stokan would have a hard time passing up either Virginia Tech or Miami, which both beat Virginia and would be a more attractive matchup against an SEC team, probably Florida. The Gators will be playing their final game under Coach Ron Zook.

After the Cavaliers (8-3, 5-3) passed on the Dec. 21 Champs Sports (formerly Tangerine) Bowl, it was widely assumed they would play in the Dec. 27 MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, and that Georgia Tech would take Virginia's spot in Orlando. But Champs Sports Bowl officials aren't excited about taking the Yellow Jackets, the ACC's sixth-place team with a 6-5 record and a two-game losing streak.

By taking the Cavaliers, the Peach Bowl would leave Florida State for the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., and the Miami-Virginia Tech loser in the Champs Sports Bowl. Georgia Tech would then play in Boise.

"We're kind of in a little bit of a holding pattern right now," MPC Computers Bowl Executive Director Gary Beck said. "There's a lot of horse trading going on."

Virginia Coach Al Groh yesterday defended the school's decision to bypass any games that conflict with final exams, which are scheduled from Dec. 13 to 21.

"This was an easy one," Groh said. "A university's fundamental issue is to educate, and the University of Virginia has certainly proven that it knows very well how to educate at the highest levels. I fully support and agree with that mission, and we want to play whatever role we can in being a part of that."