12/22/02 - Homegoing

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Billet's return a joyous one in UVa's win
By ANDREW JOYNER / Daily Progress staff writer
Dec 22, 2002

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - You may never be able to go home again but apparently you can find your game there.

Virginia guard Todd Billet, facing constant abuse from what once was his home crowd, scored 22 points and hit two key free throws in the final 15 seconds as the Cavaliers downed Rutgers 61-57 on Saturday night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

Jason Clark, starting in place of an injured Travis Watson, added 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Cavaliers (6-2) while Keith Jenifer finished with nine and Elton Brown had eight.

Ricky Shields, a teammate of Clark's and Jenifer's at Hargrave Military Academy, led Rutgers (5-3) with 14 while Sean Axani added 13.

The Rutgers student body serenaded Billet, who transferred from Rutgers to UVa in April 2001, with chants of traitor and booed every time he touched the ball while many also wore white shirts with an anti-Billet message in red letters.

Billet, who entered the game having made just two of his last 12 shots from the floor, finished 8 for 17 from the floor and made four of his 12 3-point attempts.

"It wasn't sure what to expect but that's part of the game," Billet said of his treatment from the crowd. "I had to play a game. That was my job. I couldn't worry about what the crowd would say."

Asked if he savored this victory more than any other, Billet just smiled.

"I don't know. I'm really tired right now. Maybe I will tomorrow," Billet said.

His guard's performance astounded coach Pete Gillen, who said that this game had Billet keyed up all week.

"To score 22 points when they're booing you every time you touch the ball is amazing," Gillen said.

Of course, Billet and his teammates were not able to leave with a victory until they survived a back-and-forth final 20 minutes.

Virginia led 33-24 at the break after Billet scored 14 in the opening 20 minutes. Virginia played 1-2-2 or 3-2 zone throughout the first half and it limited Rutgers to 31.4 percent shooting in the first half, including just 1 of 13 from behind the 3-point arc. For the game, Rutgers shot just 31.3 percent from the floor and was just 4 of 22 from beyond the arc.

Virginia, however, had its own offensive woes to begin the second half. The Cavaliers made just three of their first 13 shots and scored just 10 points in the half's first 12:24. The Scarlet Knights took advantage of Virginia's offensive ineptness as it erased the deficit and gained a 45-43 lead on a dunk by Axani with 7:59 remaining. An Axani lay-in with 6:46 left pushed the Rutgers advantage to four, 48-44, but a Billet trey that rattled in and an Elton Brown layup gave UVa the lead again at 49-48.

Billet's 3-pointer could only be described as a shooter's roll in his old gym and according to Rutgers coach Gary Waters it may have been the play of the game.

"It somehow went down. It was a big play because if it doesn't go in and we get the rebound, we come down the court up four. Instead, they're just down one," Waters said.

After Rutgers nudged back ahead 51-49 with 3:20 left, Jenifer scored UVa's next four points courtesy of two free throws and a baseline jumper that gave UVa a 53-51 lead with 1:17 left.

"I said, 'Wow it went in,'" Gillen said. "It was a great shot. He's not afraid."

Virginia expanded its lead to 55-51 on two free throws by Brown but Rutgers then got back-to-back treys from Jerome Coleman and then Ricky Shield to ultimately tie the game at 57 with 19.8 seconds left.

UVa inbounded the ball to Billet, who dribbled toward the UVa offensive zone and was then fouled by Mike Sherrod.

That sent Billet to the line in what could not have followed a better script.

"I was thinking that I hoped to God he made them. The poor kid. They were yelling names at him. It was almost like a storybook finish," said Gillen, whose team made its final 11 attempts from the stripe.

After Billet made the pair, Shields drove to the basket but couldn't make the layup after receiving some contact from Brown. No foul was called and Clark snared the rebound and was subsequently fouled.

At that point, Billet hugged Clark in exuberance as the forward strode to the line and then converted the free throws.

"He gave me a big bear hug before I shot the free throws. It was a big one for us but especially for Todd," Clark said.

Added Billet: "I think the guys used this as motivating factor for themselves as well. They made big plays down the stretch. … They really stepped up."

Note. Watson, who sprained his right ankle in Thursday's win over Gardner-Webb, sat on Virginia's bench in street clothes. It was the first time since last season's VMI game that Watson did not play and just the fifth time in his career he's missed a game. Gillen said Watson is questionable for next Saturday's game against Georgetown.

Virginia handles adversity
By JERRY RATCLIFFE / Daily Progress staff writer
Dec 22, 2002

PISCATAWAY, N.J.

Virginia came to Big East country Saturday under the most adverse circumstances the Cavaliers have faced all year. As it turned out, that's exactly what coach Pete Gillen's team needed to bring it together.

Playing in Rutgers' roughhouse, where the Scarlet Knights were 15-2 a year ago, was difficult enough. Making the trip without its best player, senior forward Travis Watson, Virginia was a five-point underdog.

It was also the long-anticipated homecoming of Cavaliers junior guard Todd Billet, who had transferred to Virginia after his sophomore season at Rutgers. The home student body were on him as soon as he stepped off the bus with chants of "Traitor" and other things that we aren't allowed to mention in a family newspaper.

From the opening tip, you knew it was going to be one of those thriller-dillers.

The weird thing about sports, perhaps the intangible that draws us like emotional human magnets to the games, is the drama created by adversity. Some teams thrive on it. Virginia came together as a team for the first time this season because of it.

"We knew [Rutgers] was going to try to put it to us," said Gillen after UVa's 61-57 win. "They were upset that they lost to us [in Charlottesville] last year where they thought they got a lot of quick whistles. There was the Billet thing, too. They had so many emotional crusades that they wanted to beat us by 100."

Virginia needed a couple of heroes and a few of them showed up, some expected, some unexpected.

Hollywood couldn't have scripted it any better in telling the Billet story. He stepped up with a game-high 22 points on an 8 of 17 shooting performance (4 of 12 beyond the arch).

When the Cavs trailed by four (48-44) with less than seven minutes remaining, Billet relied on his shooter's touch and a little faith as his shot from bonusphere rattled around before dropping in to bring Virginia back.

Keith Jenifer, the team's much-maligned point guard, hit four clutch free throws down the stretch and nailed a runner from the left baseline to give Virginia a 53-51 lead with 1:17 to go.

Jason Clark made huge defensive plays with key blocks and rebounds and eventually nailed the two foul shots that iced it with four seconds showing. Those came after Billet escaped Rutgers' fullcourt pressure and was fouled with 13 seconds to play.

He went to the line for two free throws with the game knotted at 57-all. If you could pick any kid in the country to make two free throws under those circumstances, Billet would be No. 1 on most everyone's draft board.

But even this situation had to be a little shaky. Nearly the entire crowd of 8,021 was on its feet, attempting to harass the former Rutgers star into a miss. He sank them both.

"I was thinking that I hoped to God he made them," said Gillen. "They were yelling names at him. It was almost like a storybook finish."

So was the entire saga of this road trip. Gillen's team had not played well since they returned from the Maui Invitational, where they knocked off Kentucky and played Indiana tough. The last two outings in particular, close wins over unheralded East Tennessee State and Gardner-Webb, left Cavalier fans shaking their heads.

The prospects of going to Rutgers and winning without Watson were dismal.

Gillen knew this trip would likely make or break his team over the coming weeks and that if the Cavaliers were going down, they were going to have to at least go down in flames.

Before the game, UVa's coach reached for some inspiration when he scribbled a few words on the team's blackboard in the locker room.

"Character, Togetherness, Courage, Playing to Win, Attitude," were the things Gillen wanted his team to understand.

"This was a big game for us, playing without Travis and with Todd coming back here," said Jenifer, who scored nine points, had nine rebounds and five assists. "Our motto was, without Travis this is really our team for next year. I think we came a step closer as a team tonight."

So did Gillen.

This wasn't about X's and O's. This was about guts. Freshman Derrick Byars, who has rescued the Cavs in the sluggish wins earlier in the week, was off his mark. So was forward Devin Smith, whose shooting touch abandoned him.

"Without Watson, beating any team on the road, let alone a Big East team, was remarkable," said Gillen.

"I think this is the second-toughest place to win in the Big East behind at Uconn."

The Cavs played it smart. They wisely used an effective zone defense the entire game, as Rutgers became mired in a shooting slump (21-67, 31.3). It was even worse from three-point land (4-22). The zone allowed UVa to control the boards, outrebounding the Knights 52-36.

They did everything that good teams do, including connecting on their last 11 consecutive free throws at crunch time.

It was a game that Virginia had to win and it found a way to win.

"Gillen is deadly when he's the underdog," said legendary hoops guru Howard Garfinkel after the game. "His team became a real team tonight."

Gillen didn't disagree.

"I know everybody talks about us beating Kentucky, a storied program, but this was our best win of the season," said Gillen. "This was by far our best win."

Durbin learning as Cavaliers' coach-in-training
By JOHN GALINKSY / Daily Progress staff writer
Dec 22, 2002

Brad Durbin knows it is unlikely - highly, highly unlikely - that he will play in the Continental Tire Bowl. After all, the 23-year-old senior has played in just one game during his Virginia career. Unless the game with West Virginia turns into a blowout and UVa coach Al Groh decides to clear his bench, Durbin is certain to stay on the sideline and watch.

But that's just fine with the little-used tailback, who hopes to spend many more Saturdays (or Fridays or Sundays) on the sideline during football games. Not as a player or spectator, but as a coach.

"I've learned a lot about football and a lot about coaching while I've been here," Durbin said. "It's been a great learning experience. I'm sure I can use that knowledge wherever I go."

Durbin would like to go to a high school or college team as an assistant next year. He doesn't have anything lined up right now, nor does he have actual coaching experience.

But as Groh said, this season has been like a "non-credit graduate course in football" for the native of Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.

"He wants to be a coach and the best way to become a coach is to watch closely what other coaches do," Groh said.

Which is just what Durbin has done the past two years. He joined the team as a recruited walk-on in 1998 but quit after re-injuring his left knee.

When Groh arrived last year, however, Durbin decided to try out again that spring. He made the roster and has been a contributing member of the scout team ever since.

Durbin certainly looks out of place in the UVa locker room. At 5-foot-8 and 172 pounds, he is smaller than some of the trainers and equipment managers. Physically, he isn't nearly as gifted as the team's other tailbacks, so he is buried on the depth chart.

But don't call him Rudy, the scrub who fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing for Notre Dame. Durbin excelled in football, soccer and track in high school. He says he believes he could have earned a football scholarship had he not blown out his left knee as a junior.

"To be honest, all my life, I've always been the best athlete," he said. "When I was playing soccer as a kid, I was always six or seven years above my age level. I've always had confidence in myself as an athlete."

Durbin was an All-Bay League and All-California Interscholastic Federation player in football and soccer.

As a senior, he was the leading scorer for both teams. He kicked a 49-yard field goal in high school and even received a brief tryout at kicker earlier this year when the Cavaliers were struggling at the position.

"He's a very respected player on the team," said Groh, who put Durbin on scholarship this year. "He's got a nice little sense of how to run the ball, and he gives 100 percent effort every minute of every practice."

Durbin was rewarded for his efforts in his final home game against Maryland on Nov. 23. During the week, Groh promised him playing time on special teams.

He saw action on four punt returns.

But that wasn't all. With Virginia putting the finishing touches on a 48-13 rout, Groh put him in the game at tailback near the Terrapin goal line. Durbin carried twice for six yards, then returned to the bench just before freshman Michael Johnson's 5-yard touchdown run.

"It was pretty exciting to get in and run the ball. If I had scored, it would have been even better, but that's OK," he said, smiling. "It was like the culmination of everything I worked for. My whole family was watching. I was just happy to get in."

"I was ecstatic that he finally got to play," said safety Alex Seals, another player who joined the Cavaliers as a recruited walk-on in 1998. "He's worked so hard and to see him get in the game, especially on senior day, was awesome."

Durbin graduated from UVa last May with a degree in philosophy, but he said he stuck around for another football season for two reasons - he loves to compete, and he wanted to learn how to be a coach.

Being around Groh and his staff, he said, has taught him more than he ever imagined.

"This coaching staff really knows what it takes to win at the college level," Durbin said. "It's more than X's and O's. It's more than recruiting. It's also knowing how to create a positive atmosphere on a team. It's knowing how to create good chemistry.

"It's four or five different elements, and I think these coaches really know how to do all of those things really well."

Crowd taunts Billet; team leans on him

Ex-Rutgers guard Todd Billet helps UVa overcome the absence of Travis Watson with 22 points.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - For three hours, Todd Billet had listened to the taunts and slurs of a Rutgers basketball crowd with little memory of their good times together.

With 13.8 seconds left, Billet had the final say Saturday night.

Facing an arm-waving, obscenity-chanting Rutgers student section, Billet hit the go-ahead free throws as Virginia rallied for a 61-57 victory at sold-out Louis Brown Athletic Center.

"A couple students yelling in the background ... I can't let that bother me," said Billet, who must have meant a couple thousand. "You've just got to block that out. I've been through too much, sitting out a year."

Billet, who transferred to UVa from Rutgers after the 2000-01 season, finished with a game-high 22 points and helped the Cavaliers overcome the absence of preseason first-team All-ACC selection Travis Watson, out with a sprained ankle.

"We come in here without Travis and I don't know how many times out of 10 we would win," UVa coach Pete Gillen said. "This team was 15-1 here during the regular season last year."

Virginia (6-2) led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but Rutgers (5-3) took advantage of 14 UVa turnovers to trim the deficit to 33-24 at the break. Nick Vander Laan, starting in Watson's place, was responsible for five of the first-half turnovers.

The Cavaliers finished with 24 turnovers, including seven by Vander Laan, but somehow were able to stay within sight of the Scarlet Knights despite getting one field goal over an 11:54 span of the second half.

Rutgers had taken a 48-44 lead before Billet ended the Cavaliers' drought with 6:23 remaining on a 3-pointer from the right wing.

"I thought that was the key shot of the game," Rutgers coach Gary Waters said. "The difference was, they hit their free throws down the stretch and we didn't hit ours."

The Scarlet Knights shot 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from the free-throw line. For most of the game, the Cavaliers were worse. UVa was 4-of-11 from the line before making its last 11 free throws.

Virginia was 8-for-8 from the line in the final 39.6 seconds. Keith Jenifer had six points in the final 3:06, including a go-ahead baseline jumper that broke a 51-51 tie with 1:16 left.

Jenifer and Jason Clark played at Hargrave Military Academy with Rutgers sophomore Ricky Fields, who hit a 3-pointer from close to 25 feet that made it 57-57 with 19.3 seconds left.

"Knowing Ricky the way I do, we could have expected to hear about this for a while if we had lost," said Clark, who finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots in the fourth start of his two-year career.

After Shields' tying 3-pointer, Waters instructed his players to double-team Billet, but the Scarlet Knights mistakenly double-teamed Clark after he received the inbounds pass.

Clark fed Billet, who appeared to slip before a foul was whistled on Rutgers' Mike Sherrod.

Waters felt that Shields was fouled on his a drive to the basket after Billet's free throws, but there was no call as Brown held his ground.

Clark grabbed the rebound and made two free throws with 4.1 seconds left.

As Brown walked to the free-throw line, Billet jumped into his arms and gave him a bear hug, one of his few shows of emotion on a night when his older brother and Rutgers alumnus, Geoff, turned his head and did not watch his brother's fateful free throws.

"This is just what I happened to be doing tonight," Billet said. "To say it was all about me, that's being selfish. I wouldn't call it a storybook ending."

Backs share background
West Virginia's Avon Cobourne set many standards for Wali Lundy to shoot for at Holy Cross.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Gator Bowl or Continental Tire Bowl? It didn't matter to Tom Maderia, whose only preference was a matchup involving Virginia and West Virginia.
Maderia should be easy to identify Dec.28 at the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. He'll be standing next to the 11-year-old holding up the sign, "Holy Cross running backs rock. Go Wali. Go Avon."

Maderia and his son, T.J., won't be wearing Virginia or West Virginia regalia. They'll be wearing Holy Cross colors, representing the Delran, N.J., parochial school that is the alma mater for both starting tailbacks, the Mountaineers' Avon Cobourne and Virginia's Wali Lundy.

"As soon as I heard the pairing," Lundy said, "it's the first thing that popped into my mind, 'Avon's on that team.' I know that people will turn it into a duel. I'm used to that."

Cobourne, 23, and Lundy, 19, did not play together at Holy Cross, located close to Philadelphia in southern New Jersey. They were not in school together, although Lundy has known about Cobourne for years.

"When I started to hear about the school records, they were all records that Avon held," Lundy said. "When I was first being recruited, I went down to West Virginia for junior day. I've run into him a lot."

Unlike Cobourne, a Cherry Hill, N.J., resident who was at Holy Cross for four years, Lundy transferred to Holy Cross after beginning his career at Florence (N.J.) High School. He was living with his grandmother, who had gone to live with a daughter in Willingboro, N.J., a five-minute drive from Holy Cross.

Lundy's life story is full of heartbreak. He was 5 when his father, Brian, died of a stroke in 1988. His mother died three years later from pneumonia following a fight against cancer. Lundy and his three brothers were raised by their grandmother, Etta Davis, whose husband died in the summer of 2000.

When Lundy transferred, Holy Cross already had an established tailback, Vernon Davis, now at Villanova. Consequently, Maderia placed Lundy at wide receiver, where he caught 50 passes for more than 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior.

"I knew he had been moved to running back, and our assistant coach who recruits that area knew he had been moved to running back," Virginia coach Al Groh said, "but, when he was on our recruiting board last year, there were coaches on our staff who still thought he was a wide receiver."

Lundy put his receiving experience to good use this year, when he had 53 receptions for 359 yards and two touchdowns. Lundy ranked eighth in the ACC in receptions, seventh in rushing yardage (699) and sixth in all-purpose yardage (1,431).

"An interesting part of the story is that Avon also played wide receiver for a year, when he was a sophomore," Maderia said. "There are some similarities - they're both excellent competitors and the best of kids - but physically they're very different."

Cobourne is 5-foot-9 ("at best," Maderia said) and 203 pounds. Reporters have wondered if Lundy is as big as his listed 6-1 and 212 pounds, but he is considerably taller than Cobourne.

Tennessee was among the schools that backed off Cobourne, who missed most of his senior year at Holy Cross after suffering a torn anterior cruciate. When he suited up for the Mountaineers as a redshirt freshman in 1999, he had not played in nearly three years.

"If Avon would have had a senior year, he would've been as highly recruited - or more highly recruited - than Wali," Maderia said. "Everybody in America wanted Avon after his junior year. When he blew out that knee, a lot of people backed off."

Lundy, who set a Holy Cross record when he rushed for 2,030 yards as a senior, has some distance to cover before he can match Cobourne's college career. Cobourne, the all-time leading rusher in West Virginia and Big East history, has rushed for 5,003 yards (counting bowl statistics).

To this point, Cobourne has been more of a big-play threat than Lundy, who had one run for more than 20 yards all season, a 31-yarder against Akron. Lundy's longest pass reception went for 34 yards, although he did throw a 38-yard touchdown pass against Wake Forest.

"I don't think I really showed how fast I am this year," said Lundy, the only one of Virginia's four tailbacks who didn't miss any time because of injury. "I think there is a perception that I'm not that fast, but I'm fast. I've got speed. I just want a chance to show it."

Maderia said he watches Lundy and Cobourne whenever they are on television and thinks Lundy needed time to make an adjustment to the speed of the game. Although Cobourne rushed for 1,139 yards in 1999, it came after a redshirt season spent watching previous WVU record-holder Amos Zereoue.

"I had another kid, Brian Bennett, who signed with Pitt last year," Maderia said. "I sat him and Wali down this summer and said, 'Hey, look guys. Prepare yourselves to be redshirted. It's not the worst thing in the world.' Next thing I know, Wali's cousin tells me, 'Wali's starting this weekend.'"

Maderia has some knowledge of the college game, having spent three years at West Virginia as a graduate assistant. Another former Holy Cross player, Ken Sandor, starts at right offensive guard for WVU, but Maderia and son won't be playing any favorites Saturday.

"I'll be sitting wherever my tickets put me," Maderia said, "and rooting for the guy who's carrying the ball."

ROANOKE TIMES ALL-STATE COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Schaub, Pile head squad

UVa's Matt Schaub gets the nod over Tech's Lee Suggs for Division I Offensive Player of the Year.

By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Willie Pile has had a very good season. No surprise there.

Matt Schaub has had a great season. Now, that is a surprise.

Pile, a senior free safety for Virginia Tech, is The Roanoke Times' state Division I Defensive Player of the Year, as selected by The Roanoke Times sportswriters who cover college football.

Schaub, a junior quarterback for Virginia, edged Tech running back Lee Suggs for Division I Offensive Player of the Year. Schaub wasn't a full-time starter last fall and lost his job again early this season, but he wound up leading UVa to a tie for second place in the ACC.

"Every time we step out on the football field, we always have something to prove, whether it's to ourselves or to the other team," Schaub said this week. "We want to be able to go out and prove that we can play at a high level."

Virginia State junior quarterback Kevin Jones is the Division II and III Offensive Player of the Year. Bridgewater junior middle linebacker Jermaine Taylor is the Division II and III Defensive Player of the Year.

Pile has recorded 96 tackles and four interceptions for the No.21 Hokies (9-4), who will face Air Force in the San Francisco Bowl on New Year's Eve. Pile, an All-Big East second-team pick, returned an interception 96 yards for a touchdown in the regular-season finale at Miami.

Pile said his work habits changed dramatically after the 1999 season, when he saw little action as a redshirt freshman.

"You have a choice to be here and just be happy to be part of the team, or you have the choice to try to make a difference on the team," Pile said. "My desire to want to be a part of something special and be a difference-maker is what changed" his career.

Pile began studying more after being challenged by ex-Hokie Torrian Gray when Gray returned to Tech for a visit.

"He said, 'Do you want to be one of the best to play here? You could, but it's a matter of getting out there and learning. Learning so well that you can teach somebody else the position, and learning to watch film so well that you know exactly what the d-line and linebackers are doing in front of you,'" Pile said.

Pile became a three-year starter whose 14 career interceptions rank third in Tech and Big East history.

Schaub, who ranks ninth in Division I-A in passing efficiency, has completed 68.7 percent of his 396 passes for a school-record 2,794 yards and 27 TDs with seven interceptions. He was voted the ACC player of the year. He will lead the 8-5 Cavaliers against West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl on Dec.28.

"I'm definitely a lot better than I was last year," he said. "I just improved that much more with my game-management skills, being able to make quick decisions with the football and getting the ball out on time to the most open receiver. I think it's a big step for a young quarterback to make, the game management."

Schaub shared the quarterback job with Bryson Spinner last year. This year, he lost his starting job to Marques Hagans after a season-opening loss to Colorado State. Schaub regained the starting role with a good relief effort against Florida State and solidified his hold on it by leading UVa to a win over South Carolina in the third game.

"I never at any point lost confidence," Schaub said. "It was just a matter of getting ready for the next opponent and preparing that much better and being ready the next time I went in."

Taylor was named a Division III first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association and by the sports information directors who choose the Hewlett Packard All-America team. He recorded 87 1/2 tackles, 3 1/2 sacks and two interceptions, helping Bridgewater (11-1) reach the Division III quarterfinals.

Taylor, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference player of the year, runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds.

"He's a guy with Division I sprint speed playing Division III football," BC coach Mike Clark said. "I'm not talking about Division I linebacker speed; he's got Division I skill speed. He's run below 10.8 in the 100 meters. ... You put speed with a little bit of intelligence and put good people in front of him and that's a good formula to make a linebacker an All-American."

Jones, who led Virginia State to a 7-3 mark, was chosen the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association offensive player of the year. He completed 53 percent of his 249 passes for a league-best 1,893 yards and 12 TDs with seven interceptions. He also led the league in total offense.

Happy return for Billet
He scores 22 points, hits game-winning free throws
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 22, 2002

VIRGINIA 61 RUTGERS 57
INSIDE: Wake Forest defeats St. John's to remain unbeaten. ACC roundup, Page C9.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers student section, merciless toward Todd Billet all night, booed him one last time as he walked off the court after exchanging hugs and handshakes with his former teammates.

Billet didn't mind. He'd helped Virginia capture a stirring 61-57 victory last night over the team for which he'd started as a freshman and sophomore.

"I didn't hear anything," said Billet, who high-fived a friend at the edge of the student section before heading to the Cavaliers' locker room.

In a chaotic setting, Billet stayed remarkably calm most of the night. He scored 14 points before intermission to help U.Va. build a nine-point halftime lead, and with 13.8 seconds left and the score 57-57, Billet went to the line for two foul shots.

Directly behind the basket were the Rutgers students, many of whom wore T-shirts with an unflattering phrase directed at Billet. The Louis Brown Athletic Center seemed to shake with their screams.

Pressure? What pressure? Billet made both free throws to put the Cavaliers (6-2) ahead to stay.

"It was almost a storybook ending," U.Va. coach Pete Gillen said.

Rutgers (5-3) had one last chance. Guard Ricky Shields drove for a shot against 6-9, 270-pound Elton Brown, who stood his ground. Scarlet Knights coach Gary Waters screamed for a foul on Brown, but the officials didn't oblige. Jason Clark, a 6-8, 235-pound sophomore, grabbed the rebound for Virginia and immediately was fouled.

Clark's two free throws with 4.1 seconds left made it 61-57 and sealed the Wahoos' third straight victory.

"It wasn't X's and O's," Gillen said. "We just played with great character. We didn't always play great, but we played hard."

This ranks among Virginia's most improbable wins in five seasons under Gillen. Playing for the third time in five nights, U.Va. had a season-high 24 turnovers, shot 27.3 percent from the floor in the second half and got only three points from sophomore forward Devin Smith, one of its biggest weapons. Freshman forward Derrick Byars, who scored 20 points Thursday night against Gardner-Webb, had one. Moreover, the Cavaliers played without their best big man, 6-8, 255-pound Travis Watson, who hurt his ankle Thursday.

Somehow, though, U.Va. found a way to win. Billet scored a game-high 22 points, oft-maligned point guard Keith Jenifer contributed six points in the final 3:06, and Clark, starting for Watson, totaled 12 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots. Jenifer, a 6-3 sophomore, also pulled down a career-best nine rebounds, and 6-10 Nick Vander Laan grabbed a career-best 11.

"This was by far the best win" of the season, said Gillen, whose team beat Kentucky in the Maui Invitational.

A year ago at University Hall, with Billet sitting out as a transfer, U.Va. had erased a nine-point deficit in the second half and beaten the Knights 76-68.

"They had a lot of emotional crusades to pick from," Gillen said. "They were convinced they were going to beat us by 30. But we were fortunate. We were like fog. We floated in and floated out."

The Cavaliers scored on their final five possessions to silence the sellout crowd of 8,021 in an arena where the Scarlet Knights had won 18 of their previous 20 games.

Rutgers appeared to have taken control when reserve forward Sean Axani scored the final two of his career-high 13 points. That gave the Knights a 48-44 lead with 6:46 left. At the other end, though, Billet launched a 3-pointer that rolled out and then in to make it 48-47. After a Rutgers air ball, Billet assisted Brown on a layup that made it 49-48 with 5:42 left.

The Scarlet Knights rallied for a 51-49 lead, but Jenifer tied the game with two free throws at the 3:06 mark. The score hadn't changed when Jenifer, an erratic shooter, pulled up along the left baseline for a 10-footer. It went in with 1:16 remaining.

"He made a great shot," Gillen said. "He might make some bad decisions, but he's not afraid."

After Brown's two free throws made it 55-51, Rutgers guard Jerome Coleman, who'd missed his first eight 3-point attempts, drained an NBA-length trey with 31.2 seconds left. Jenifer answered with two free throws, but Shields' 3-pointer - even longer than Coleman's - tied the game with 19.8 seconds left.

Waters wanted Billet double-teamed on the ensuing inbounds plays, but a lapse by a Rutgers defender let the ball end up in Billet's hands. He made the Knights pay for their mistake.

BIG-GAME PRESSURE'S WHAT MAKES TIKI TICK ber 22, 2002 --

INDIANAPOLIS - This is not the time today for sweaty palms, not the time for choked throats.

This is the time for Giants.

Giants play big, and live to be Giants for at least one more week.

"I love the pressure," Tiki Barber said. "I love playing in games that actually mean . . . I don't want to say life or death 'cause it's not that dire, but life or football death. I love that.

"You look for challenges in your life. I look at some people who do stuff that they hate, and it's mundane and it's routine, and I don't understand how you can enjoy that. The reason I love football so much is because it's always something different."

These are the Sundays that separate the Giants from the boys.

They will have only themselves to blame if they fall short of the playoffs, because of all those Sundays when they were boys instead of Giants. But there is no time today for regret, no time to watch the scoreboard and cheer the Bengals and Lions. There is time only for 8-6 Big Blue to beat up and slow down Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, for Kerry Collins to get Pro Bowl first alternate Barber, Amani Toomer and Pro Bowl TE Jeremy Shockey into the end zone early and often, and beat the Colts, and give themselves one last week and one last chance.

Sudden Death Sunday.

"We have to have a playoff mentality, without a doubt," Barber said.

And what is a playoff mentality?

"It's an urgency on every play," Barber said. "It's not . . . 'OK, I just made a good play, all right, let me relax for a minute, let someone else do it.' You have to be mentally geared to make a big play EVERY play. And it's tough to do. Every play means something."

Barber will arrive at the RCA Dome at 10 a.m. He will head for the equipment room for solitude. "I'll either read a book, or just relax," Barber said.

He'll don his No. 21, get taped, stretch, and head out with his teammates for pregame warmups. Now it is 20 minutes before kickoff. "I'll go back in the equipment room, put a towel over my head, and just think, clear the thoughts out of head, and focus on making big plays," Barber said. "I don't see anyone in that whole period. Next time I see people is when Coach Fassel brings us up, and we break. When I'm walking out, my focus is already on the game."

For some, the transformation into Gladiator takes on a fire-breathing rage. That isn't Barber's disposition as he marches towards the tunnel. "Calm," he said. "I'm not a hooray guy, hip-hop, yelling and getting excited, I don't do that. I get introspective."

He never prepares for the violence that awaits him. "It just kinda happens to me," he says. "When you get hit for the first time, it kinda snaps you into focus. But I prepare not to get hit. I tell myself before every series that I'm gonna go in, 'Do something special. Do something special. Make something special happen.' And it helps. I'm not a guy who thinks that being excited is gonna make me a better player. There's often times when I get [ticked] off on the sideline and I feel like it takes away from . . . so I try to calm myself at all times, and find a mental picture. It allows me to find those cutback lanes."

He characterizes himself as a dynamic slasher. "I'll make a drastic cut across the entire defense just trying to make a play," Barber said. "Sometimes it works out, sometimes I get nailed. I try to think faster and faster than my opponent."

He doesn't fear failure. "I know failure is inevitable; there's no way you can prevent it," Barber said. "I don't think I fear it; it's another one of those challenges for me. You get prepared to do great things in anything that you do, and ultimately, it's not gonna happen. That's what I prepare for, is how am I gonna rise when something bad happens?"

Giants rise. The book he'll be reading in the calm before his storm?

"Undaunted Courage."

Bowl game is playoffs for Groh
Mike Cherry <mikecherry@dailymail.com>
Daily Mail sportswriter

Saturday December 21, 2002; 09:16 AM

The Continental Tire Bowl might not be the Super Bowl to Al Groh, but it is just a weekend or two away from it.

"This has the feel of being in the playoffs," Groh said this week. "There is a lot of interest in the game. A sell-out crowd. These are two legitimate bowl teams, not two teams that are 6-6."

The University of Virginia's second-year coach, Groh and his unranked Cavaliers (8-5) are meeting tonight in Charlotte, N.C., to begin same-city preparations for the Dec. 28 Continental matchup with No. 15 West Virginia University (9-3). The game, to be played in sold-out Ericsson Stadium, begins at 11 a.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.

Players from both teams will attend Sunday afternoon's Bears-Panthers NFL game at Ericsson. Both then begin practicing in Charlotte Monday. WVU will conduct workouts at Charlotte Catholic High School, Virginia at Charlotte Country Day School.

Although the 58-year-old Groh has not been a head coach in a college bowl game, he has been part of the ultimate bowl. He was on Bill Parcells' New York Giant staff from 1989-91 and was linebacker coach when the Giants won Super Bowl XXV. In 1996, Groh was also the linebacker coach at New England when it lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI.

Previous college postseason experience came for Groh when he was an assistant at North Carolina (1974, 1976, 1977) and South Carolina (1988).

Groh said his experience with helping prepare a Super Bowl team -- they usually have an open weekend between the conference title games and the Super Bowl -- will help with the Cavaliers.

"One (college) team will practice 17 days," Groh said. "What they're trying to do is have spring practice. ... We want our players to be prepared, refreshed and ready."

Virginia practiced five days before breaking in the middle of this week.

The Cavaliers are one of I-A's youngest teams. Groh's recruiting class last winter was considered one of the country's strongest. Only 29 lettermen returned from his first Virginia team that was 5-7 in 2001. There are 43 freshmen on the roster, including 14 true freshmen who played this season. True freshmen, excluding kickers, have accounted for 44 starts.

"I think momentum is a good choice of words," Groh said of his team. "Last year's (recruiting) class gave us credibility. One, lots of good players are coming here. Two, it's starting to show on the field."

A sign of Virginia's improvement is its ability to recover. The Cavaliers have been outscored 206-114 in first halves, but are up 240-120 following intermission. Virginia rules the fourth quarter, 137-74.

"I can't say we've unearthed one," said Groh when asked for a reason for the discrepancies between halves.

Mike Groh, Al's son, coaches wide receivers for Virginia. The 31-year-old is a former Cavalier quarterback who started in 1994 and 1995. Mike Groh led Virginia in 1995 to a regular-season upset of second-ranked Florida State. He also coached with the Jets when his father was head coach in 2000.

Coaching Camelot caving in on Bowdens
The Bowden name doesn't mean what it used to mean
MIKE BIANCHI
Orlando Sentinel

There was a time not so long ago when the mere mention of their name evoked thoughts of coaching genes and genius.

The Bowdens.

They were the first family of X's and O's. They were the Kennedys of college football. There was the patriarchal father and three sons bred for success. But, like the Kennedys, something has gone wrong in coaching Camelot.

Shots are being fired from the Grassy 'Nole.

"Me, my father and my brother are all being criticized," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said. "I feel bad for my mother."

After consecutive four-loss seasons, there is circumstantial evidence that the patriarchal Bobby Bowden has lost a step. His program is rife with controversy. One quarterback has been kicked off the team in an alleged check-forgery scheme. Another has been suspended from the Sugar Bowl for missing at least one final exam.

Now come the two words that scare college coaches and administrators most: gambling probe. Published reports say police are investigating charges of gambling within the FSU football program.

"We'll have no comment on this matter," FSU Athletics Director Pete Rose said.

That's a joke, but the Bowdens aren't really in the mood for jokes this holiday season. It's not like it was a few years ago when Christmas at the Bowden homestead meant stockings being stuffed with national titles and multimillion-dollar job offers. Remember?

Bobby's program was the most consistently dominant in all of college football. Terry was the hot young gun at Auburn -- the first coach in Division I-A history to lead his team to an undefeated record in his first season. Tommy was on Terry's staff and would go on to become coach at Tulane, where he led the Green Wave to an 11-0 regular season in 1998. And after his father named him FSU's offensive coordinator two years ago, Jeff was destined to become the next head-coaching chromosome to fall from the family tree.

So what happened? Somewhere along the line, the Bowden Boys became the Smothers Brothers. Terry is out of coaching and serves as a TV commentator. Clemson fans are grumbling about Tommy after consecutive five-loss seasons and holiday trips to the Humanitarian and Tangerine bowls. Jeff has become college football's poster-child for nepotism.

One of the first questions Bobby was asked at a high-school coaching clinic last week was, "What's it like having your son as the offensive coordinator?"

Deadpanned Bobby: "Which week? Ask me that after our last game (a victory against Florida) and I would have said, `Great.' Ask me about it the game before that (loss to N.C. State) and I would have said, `He's mama's boy.' "

The other Bowden son, Steve, recently was named in a lawsuit filed over an alleged financial scam that cost investors millions of dollars. According to court records, the investor who lost the most was none other than Bobby Bowden, who sank $1.5 million into his son's failed venture.

Poor Bobby. Not only are his sons' poor decisions (Jeff's play-calling in the Miami game was atrocious) costing him big games, they're costing him big money, too.

"All coaches get second-guessed and criticized at one time or another," Tommy says. "It just so happens that we all happen to be from one family."

Just like the Kennedys.

Or is it the Osbournes?

Home Not Too Sweet for Billet, but a Win Is
Virginia 61, Rutgers 57
By Steve Argeris
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, December 22, 2002; Page D09

PISCATAWAY, N.J., Dec. 21 -- Midway through the first half, the public address announcer announced Virginia junior Todd Billet as "coming back into the game for Rutgers," but the crowd knew better.

Roundly booed whenever he touched the ball, an impassioned 22-point performance from Billet led the Cavaliers to a 61-57 victory over the Scarlet Knights, his former team, at sold-out Louis Brown Athletic Center.

"I'm so tired right now I can't enjoy it," Billet said. "Maybe tomorrow. I'm just so glad we came out with a win. I'm going to be home for the next four days, so I would've heard it from everyone if we had lost."

Billet, who grew up in nearby Middletown and transferred from Rutgers following the 2000-01 season, played most of the second half in foul trouble as the Cavaliers (6-2) were unable to cling to a 33-24 halftime lead.

Rutgers (5-3) tied the game at 57 on a three-pointer by sophomore Ricky Shields (Parkdale High) with 20 seconds left. Billet then drove the left side and was fouled with 14 seconds left, sinking both free throws.

"I just said, 'I hope to God he makes it,' " Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. "It was a little bit of a storybook ending for him, it's great for him to have that."

Shields (14 points) then missed a runner, almost drawing a blocking foul on Elton Brown. Cavaliers sophomore Jason Clark sealed the game with a pair of free throws with four seconds left.

The notorious Rutgers student section came equipped with anti-Billet T-shirts and banners, and he was jeered from the moment he led the pregame layup line onto the court. They went unacknowledged by Billet.

"That's their job," Billet said. "My job was to play the game."

Billet responded with 12 points in the first 11 minutes as the Cavaliers raced to a 13-point lead. Billet had a hand in every basket of an 8-0 run that gave the Cavaliers their initial lead, hitting a three-pointer, then setting up a Devin Smith three-pointer and tossing an alley-oop to Clark.

"He made some big plays," Rutgers Coach Gary Waters said.

Clark had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks. Point guard Keith Jenifer had 9 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, and his five turnovers were more than acceptable against the Scarlet Knights' pressure in Gillen's eyes.

"Keith played great," Gillen said. "He was like Davey Crockett at the Alamo. They were coming at him from all directions."

Billet picked up his fourth foul with 16 minutes 39 seconds remaining, but sat on the bench for just two minutes as the Cavaliers had no one else consistently able to score. The team's mainstay, senior forward Travis Watson, was unable to play due to a right ankle sprain suffered against Gardner-Webb on Thursday night. Still, the Cavaliers held a 52-36 rebounding edge, which countered their 24 turnovers.

Immediately after Billet's fourth foul, Rutgers guard Calvin Wooten hit a three-pointer that cut Virginia's lead to 38-35. The Cavaliers held the Scarlet Knights without a field goal for the next six minutes, but were unable to capitalize, missing 10 of 11 shots at one point.

The Cavaliers fell behind 48-44 with eight minutes left, after junior backup forward Sean Axani scored seven of his career-high 13 points in two minutes to rally the Scarlet Knights. The Cavaliers responded, with a Billet three-pointer and an Elton Brown layup, retaking the lead with 5:30 left.

The Billet three-pointer, launched with the shot clock winding down, bounced off the rim twice before falling.

"That was the biggest shot of the game," Waters said. "It killed us."