Brown lives up to hype
Cavs center has breakout game vs. Minnesota
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 4, 2003

Elton Brown finally did with actions what his words had for so long predicted.

Brown scored a game-high 26 points and snared six rebounds in Virginia’s 86-78 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night at University Hall.

Brown’s offseason included a leaner and stronger body and also a new attitude. Through the first three games, however, neither was overtly evident.

Brown’s play was inconsistent with a tad of impatience mixed in. Brown almost seemed too eager to prove things had changed.

On Wednesday, Brown displayed some nifty inside moves and a soft fadeaway jumper but also the patience to assert himself when necessary and not at every moment.

“He played with a lot of energy. He didn’t get frustrated when he didn’t get a call if he got fouled. He played like a man. He played big,” Gillen said. “I was hoping he would play well but he played better than I thought.”

Added Minnesota coach Dan Monson: “He’s a load in there. … He’s tough to handle in there.”

Brown, never one shy with his thoughts or emotions, did express a desire to perform better considering the opponent and the setting.

“I felt that in the first couple of games, I didn’t have the games that I usually play. This was a big-time team on ESPN2 and that’s when you have to go out and play. I told Coach, ‘You don’t have to worry, we’re going to win the game tonight,’” Brown said.

One key to Brown’s game against Minnesota was indeed patience. When he received the ball in the post, he made a conscious effort on occasions to look to kick it back out to the perimeter first. If that was not available, then Brown began a move to the basket.

“I can always pass. My last couple games, my hands haven’t been there. I’ve been fumbling the ball. I’ve been carrying a ball everywhere I went this week. Tonight, I was just getting back in the flow of the game,” said Brown, who had three assists in Wednesday’s game.

In what was perhaps the most surprising move of the evening, Brown had no I-told-you-sos after the game. He didn’t make any somewhat-expected claims about this is what he worked in the offseason for, etc.

“I’m just happy with the win. The personal accomplishments I had tonight really mean nothing to me. As long as we win, that’s what makes me happy,” Brown said. “The players who think about just themselves don’t make it that far.”

If getting Brown to play at a consistent level was on a Gillen checklist for the Minnesota game, it was perhaps the only one that got a check next to it. A few others would have received incomplete grades.

The Cavaliers were outrebounded for the third time in four games as the Gophers held a 51-40 advantage on the boards, including a 22-10 margin on the offensive glass. Those final numbers were only aided by the Cavaliers actually outrebounding Minnesota, 26-22, in the second half.

“The boards were a disaster again. We’re going to have to keep working on it. … We have to be more physical and aggressive. You can’t consistently win if you can’t rebound.

“Adolph Rupp, the great coach at Kentucky, said the team that controls the boards usually controls the game. That’s a big problem for us.”

The Cavaliers also struggled from behind the arc, making just six of 25 attempts. Gillen claimed that his team is “not a great 3-point shooting team” but logic would maintain that with personnel oriented more toward shooters and scorers than interior players, quality perimeter shooting has to be an ingredient for success.

“I think we need to shoot better certainly but we are getting a lot buckets in transition and off the break and they help make up for a night in which we shoot 6 of 25 from the arc,” said senior guard Todd Billet.
 

Stopping Fitzgerald a tough task
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
December 4, 2003

Scattershooting around the ACC, while working on the annual Gold List, a compilation of the state’s top 50 football prospects, due out in next week’s editions ...
When Virginia faces Pittsburgh in the Continental Tire Bowl, the Cavaliers will be going up against one of the top receivers in recent memory. Panthers’ sophomore Larry Fitzgerald, who is likely to be one of the top three or four finalists for this year’s Heisman, could be the best since Randy Moss.
Temple coach Bobby Wallace used a special defense with one extra defensive back just in order to try to stop Fitzgerald. Didn’t work that well. The Pitt wideout still had seven catches for 102 yards and two TDs.
“He is the best receiver I have seen in college football in 26 years that I have coached,” Wallace said. “I did not see Randy Moss in college, but I can not remember anyone even close to Fitzgerald. I have seen great players but he is a dominant player. And he’s just a sophomore.”
Virginia coach Al Groh said he will spend a lot of time watching video of Fitzgerald in the coming days of preparation.
“I think he’s probably one of the great receivers to ever play in college football,” Groh said. “Very few teams, including us, have ever had a player who can perform to that level.”

Containing Fitzgerald

Miami’s secondary held Fitzgerald in check last Saturday night by using a variety of double- and triple-teams to prevent him from breaking loose. The Pitt receiver was held to a season-low three catches for a season-low 26 yards. He did catch a TD pass for the 18th straight game, though.
Of course, the Hurricanes harassed Pitt QB Rod Rutherford all game long as they sacked him a whopping nine times and chased him from the pocket nearly every time he dropped back to throw.
Virginia offensive coordinator Ron Prince must be talking a lot to his offensive line about the possibilities to run the ball against the Panthers. Miami, West Virginia and Notre Dame all successfully ran the ball against Pitt, a defense that gave up 2,209 yards rushing this season.

Rumorville

Latest rumor around town is that Virginia is working hard to invite Kentucky to christen the Cavaliers’ new John Paul Jones Arena in 2006.
The Wildcats last came to Charlottesville to open University Hall in 1966 and romped to a 99-73 victory as Adolph Rupp directed UK to the win. Certainly it would be fitting to have Kentucky to make a return visit.
Ring my bell
UVa basketball coach Pete Gillen and Boston Red Sox third base coach Mike Cubbage will team up to give the local Salvation Army a boost next Tuesday (Dec. 9).
Gillen and Cubbage will be ringing the bell in hopes of filling up the Salvation Army kettle at the Barracks Road CVS from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The
goal for this year’s 13 kettle locations that are around Charlottesville is $91,000.
Gillen will also ring the kettle bell on Christmas Even from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the same location.

In demand.

Pittsburgh offensive coordinator J.D. Brookhart is a strong candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Akron. Brookhart said he has been contacted and is interested in the job.
“As an assistant, you always strive to become a head coach,” said the 39-year-old Pitt assistant. “I’m no different. I have to look at opportunities.”
Meanwhile, Florida State offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden isn’t saying much about his link to head coaching jobs at Cincinnati and Central Florida.

Short yardage.

Georgia Tech swingman Marvin Lewis said that the Yellow Jackets have used quickness to rise to No. 13 in the national rankings. ... “The people who think you have to be real big inside to win big in college are wrong,” Lewis said. “Quickness is just as important as size.” ...That was John Wooden’s belief, that quickness was the most important ingredient to a quality basketball team. ...In case you missed it, N.C. State quarterback Philip Rivers was named the ACC’s Player of the Year, the fourth quarterback in the last five years to win the award. ...Florida State defensive lineman Darnell Dockett was the league’s defensive player of the year, beating out Georgia Tech linebacker Keyaron Fox, and Tech QB Reggie Ball was the ACC’s rookie of the year. ...Final picks record: 49-23.
 

So far, big effort yields big rewards for Virginia
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© December 5, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE — They play hard, and that’s a start.

Some might say that’s also a change for the Virginia men’s basketball team, which improved to 4-0 Wednesday night and passed its first real test with an 86-78 win over Minnesota at University Hall.

It’s early, but one thing that has stood out in Virginia’s four games is a consistent effort, particularly on the defensive end, that hasn’t been seen in Charlottesville for a couple of seasons.

The Cavaliers play at VMI tonight, their last game before a 10-day break for exams.

Absent, at least so far, are the lapses that have plagued Pete Gillen’s teams during last year’s 16-16 finish and the 17-12 season before that.

“They try hard,” Gillen said Wednesday night. “They get along pretty well. They’re fun to coach.”

Since preseason, Gillen has been telling anyone who would listen that he likes his team, his mix of players, even if outsiders expect the Cavaliers to do next to nothing in the competitive ACC.

Wednesday night provided a glimpse of why.

Once again, the Cavaliers were pounded on the boards, giving up 22 offensive rebounds, and 51 overall, while grabbing just 40. Virginia’s top two shooters, Devin Smith and Todd Billet, combined to go 1 for 10 from 3-point range.

But Virginia never relented on defense, pressuring the Gophers into 18 turnovers and converting them into 17 points.

The Cavaliers looked frisky and athletic in transition and were able to pressure the ball even when they played zone. Their offense was a nice mix of inside scoring, transition baskets and timely perimeter shooting.

The defensive effort stood out, however.

Though Virginia could do nothing with Minnesota’s freshman powerhouse, 6-foot-9 Kris Humphries (32 points, 13 rebounds), the Cavaliers basically took the Gophers’ backcourt players out of the game.

“They just did a great job of getting us out of rhythm offensively,” Minnesota coach Dan Monson said.

Opposing coaches have not muttered those words often in recent years. But Virginia has held each of its four opponents to under 40 percent shooting, something they did just eight times in 32 games last season.

“Defense is our key,” Gillen said. “We have some weaknesses on our team. If we defend, we have a chance every game.”

Rebounding is Virginia’s most glaring weakness. The Cavaliers have been outrebounded in three games and merely broke even (39-39) against High Point.

In the first half Wednesday, Minnesota grabbed 29 rebounds to Virginia’s 14. The Gophers held a 9-1 advantage on the offensive boards.

Virginia did better in the second half, outrebounding Minnesota 26-22, as wing players Smith, Derrick Byars and Gary Forbes all chipped in.

Still, Gillen said rebounding is the team’s biggest concern.

“We can’t consistently win if we don’t rebound better,” he said.

Elton Brown, U.Va.’s biggest player, pledged to grab 10 a game this year. He’s averaging 4.8, and had just one rebound in the first half Wednesday. Gillen said a possible solution is to play the 6-9 Brown and 6-8 Donte Minter together.

Brown was valuable on the offensive end, however, scoring a career-high 26 points on a variety of post moves.

The inside scoring came in handy on a night when Virginia made just 6 of 25 3-point attempts. So did the aggressiveness of the 6-6 Forbes, who scored most of his 22 points on drives to the basket or in transition.

Forbes added nine rebounds and two steals and an enthusiasm that has been infectious — and was notably lacking last season.

“It’s a real close-knit group,” Billet said. “We want to do well for each other, and that’s important. We’ve got the depth to play hard, with guys rotating in and out so we can keep fresh legs on the court.”

Virginia used 10 players Wednesday, though freshmen T.J. Bannister and Jason Cain made only brief appearances.

So far, it’s been easy to for team to stay upbeat.

“A game face is a smile, if you ask me,” Brown said. “You’ve got to have fun out there.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re 4-0, and we’re happy.”
 

Against all odds
Carson Ward set the single-season rushing record at Giles and was in his second season as a walk-on at Virginia when he was the victim of an attack outside a fraternity house. His recovery from severe head trauma inspires those who know him best.
By Doug Doughty

In the two falls since his enrollment at Virginia, Carson Ward has gotten in the habit of calling his mother at odd hours in search of information about his beloved Giles High School Spartans.

That's what Mattie Ward was thinking Nov.1 when her phone rang at approximately 3 a.m.

"I knew it was Carson," she said, "looking for the score of the Giles game."

Instead, it was the middle-of-the-night call that all parents dread. One of Carson's roommates was at the other end of the phone, with the news that Carson had suffered a head injury in a confrontation outside a UVa fraternity and was at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

After taking scant time to pack, Mattie was in her car for the three-hour drive from Pearisburg to Charlottesville.

"I didn't know how bad it was until I got another call," she said. "By that time, I was somewhere around Lexington. I had to pull off the road. I became physically ill."

She lingered for barely a minute before pressing on. The call had come from a doctor, saying he needed her permission to operate "or else he might not make it," she wrote in a journal she has keeping since the early days of his convalescence.

It's not stretching the truth to say that Carson, who holds the Giles record for rushing yardage in a season, was in a fight for his life.

Two days after Carson was injured outside the Sigma Chi fraternity house, a police officer told a reporter that Ward was on a ventilator and that his prognosis "didn't look good."

There were no predictions that, one month later, Carson would be walking and talking and pleading with his mother to let him go home.

After his discharge from the UVa Medical Center on Nov.18, Carson was taken by ambulance to a rehab center "closer to his home." His mother does not want to be any more specific, out of consideration for her son's privacy and the fear that he may be deluged with unexpected calls.

He may be allowed to go home this weekend, but outpatient therapy will continue indefinitely. His mother, father and grandmother shared the cost of his final week at the rehabilitation center after being told it would not be covered by insurance.

"I haven't seen the first bill yet," said Mattie, who works at Giles High School, where she teaches students with moderate and severe disabilities. "I've been away from school a month already."

Before the Wards can sue for damages, criminal proceedings will take place against Kurt Rupprecht and John Selph, UVa students who were charged with malicious wounding after the incident outside the Sigma Chi house.

When police responded to a call for help, they arrived at 1:20 a.m. to find Ward lying unconscious on the pavement.

Mattie Ward has been told that her published comments cannot be used against her in court, but she is reserving her thoughts until a later day. She does allow that, while she was watching the Virginia-Virginia Tech game with her son from his hospital bed, she wondered if her son's assailants were in the crowd.

Carson talks about the incident, mostly based on what he has heard from others, and he is disturbed by newspaper accounts that suggested he had been in a fight.

"He mentioned repeatedly that he wants to come speak to the students at school," said Giles football coach Steve Ragsdale, who joined assistant coach Rusty Kelly in a visit to Carson on Nov.25. "He doesn't want students to be scared of going out at night, and he doesn't want them to be scared of going to UVa."

Carson is not doing interviews yet, but in a 45-minute chat he displayed the charm that has been his trademark and showed tremendous insight into the UVa football program, of which he has been a nonscholarship member for two seasons.

"Didn't surprise me when they ran that fake field goal against Tech," said Carson, whose older brother, Justin, is a senior at Tech. "We'd been practicing that play for 10 weeks."

Of quarterback Matt Schaub, he said: "He gave me his cellphone number and told me, 'If you ever need anything, just call.' That was last year, when I was a freshman, before I got hurt. I'd go around and tell people, 'Hey, I've got Matt Schaub's cellphone number.'"

It brought tears to his eyes when his teammates wore "CW" decals on their helmets for the final three regular-season games.

At first reluctant to be interviewed, Mattie Ward felt it was necessary to express her appreciation for all the support she has received - from the hundreds of friends and foes who have sent cards, to her son's former classmates who drove to Charlottesville and stayed with Carson or did her laundry.

"I can't tell you how fortunate we were to be just around the corner from a premier medical facility and have access to the neurological care Carson received," she said.

When he was admitted, Carson had a subdural hematoma - or bleeding on the brain - that required doctors to remove part of his skull. That piece of bone later was replaced during a surgical procedure known as cranialplasty.

"The day that I was there, it was 1 or 2 in the afternoon before I got to see him," she said. "His head was all bandaged, with tubes everywhere. I've watched him learn how to do everything again. The first time he could use the bathroom by himself, it was a magical moment."

There have been other magical moments, such as Carson's 20th birthday, observed Nov.27 at the rehab center. A large family contingent was on hand, including Carson's father, Glenn, who lives in Botetourt County and was in Charlottesville throughout that phase of his son's recovery.

"There were times when we were up 27 hours," Glenn Ward said. "You'd be at the hospital around the clock and then, when you went back to the hotel, you couldn't sleep. Just watching him struggle to hang on at first and even as he started to come around, it wasn't the Carson we knew."

Mattie Ward had worried that Carson might react to the large gathering on his birthday, which coincided with Thanksgiving, but Carson led the grace. That was another magical moment.

She worries that stories might concentrate too much on her, when Carson should be the focus. She has been given a handbook, "Living with Brain Injury," that lists five characteristics that are vital in a successful recovery: a fighter personality, youth, intelligence, self-control and strong family ties.

As for his intelligence, Carson had a 4.23 grade-point average at Giles and is contemplating economics and sociology as possible majors upon his return to UVa.

He said he wasn't sure if he will play football for the Cavaliers again, as if that might be a possibility.

"We know there's a long way to go," said his mother, stressing the value of faith. "Who knows how this will end up, but when it does, we hope to have a great story to tell. They tell us, after severe brain trauma, nobody is ever quite the same. I ask them, 'Can there be one who defeats all the odds?'"

 

Better crowds may be key to Gillen's future
Late surge couldn't help Curry make All-ACC
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays

My suspicions about the crowd for the Virginia-Virginia Tech football game proved unfounded, as did my fears about a favorable room rate at the Emmet Street Hampton Inn, so I'm ready to turn my attention to a fairly serious issue: the crowds at the UVa men's basketball games.
(The crowd at the UVa women's game against Virginia Tech was also pretty pitiful, but you can't go to one women's game a year and profess to be an expert on the subject.)

At least Virginia didn't try to bill its men's game with Minnesota as a sellout, but the announced attendance of 7,084 wasn't close to the number of people in the seats.

A group of writers who regularly staff UVa games, including Ed Miller of The Virginian Pilot and media gadfly Jeff White of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, agreed with me that there were closer to 5,500 people in the seats Wednesday night.

It was my contention that you could have taken all the people who attended Virginia's first three games -- with Mount St. Mary's, Virginia Tech and High Point -- and I'm not sure they would have filled all of the seats in 8,392-seat University Hall.

Is it safe to say, in Pete Gillen's sixth season as head coach, that the bloom is off the rose?

It's no wonder, after back-to-back 17-12 and 16-16 season, that the fans are taking a "show me" approach to a coach and program that has been to the NCAA Tournament only once since 1997.

That's not to say the excitement can't return. Anybody who watched the Cavaliers for the first time in an 86-78 victory over Minnesota should want to take a second look. There is a lot of individual ability on the team and, if Gillen can get it to mesh, this team might accomplish something.

The ACC-Big Ten Challenge offers one sobering thought. Based on the ACC's 7-2 record, the competition should be fierce once the Cavaliers get to league play.

I expected an unimpressive turnout for the UVa-Minnesota game, not necessarily because of any disenchantment with Gillen, but because of the timing. A 9:30 p.m. tipoff, five days before the start of first-semester exams, was a guarantee not to fill all of the student seats, but I've seen worse student turnouts.

There were gaping holes in the season-ticket sections on a night where poor weather threatened in areas west of Charlottesville, but I saw many of the regulars from the Roanoke Valley.

Capacity crowds at this time of year are rare, but continued crowd support will be essential for Gillen as the Cavaliers move toward the opening of the new John Paul Jones Arena. If the Cavaliers can't fill a 8,392-seat arena, how's it going to look when they have 10,000 empty seats in a 15,000-seat building?

IT'S INTERESTING to consider how things might have been different for two Virginia football players, senior cornerback Muffin Curry and offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, if the ACC had waited until the end of the regular season to select its all-conference team, which would have pushed the nominations back one week.

On the day that coach Al Groh sat down to give assistant sports information director Michael Colley his nominations, Nov. 14, the Cavaliers had just put on one of their most unimpressive displays of the season in a 27-17 loss at Maryland.

It might have been Curry's worst game in the past two seasons, most notably because he failed to provide run support and walked toward the pile on the play where Maryland's Josh Allen broke loose for an 80-yard touchdown run.

The Cavaliers also failed to run the ball with any consistency and Groh chose not to nominate Ferguson, a sophomore who twice had been named ACC offensive lineman of the week earlier in the season.

He also failed to nominate Curry, who intercepted passes late in each of the Cavaliers' final two regular-season games, impressive victories over bowl teams Georgia Tech (29-17) and Virginia Tech (35-21). In the process, Curry moved into the ACC lead for interceptions with six and that, by itself, would have elevated him to at least the second team if nominated.

Junior guard Elton Brown was the only UVa offensive lineman who was nominated, but somebody else must have been offering some pass protection for quarterback Matt Schaub, sacked just eight times in the 10 games he played. Voters are looking for any shred of a reason to pick an offensive lineman, and Ferguson's two earlier lineman-of-the-week selections might have been his ticket.

DID ANYBODY ELSE notice that Wali Lundy had four touchdowns against Virginia Tech? I gave him credit for three touchdowns in one of my stories and Jeff White admits he did the same until his copy desk caught the error.

The second four-touchdown game of Lundy's career left him with an ACC-high 13 touchdowns for the season. Throw in eight touchdowns for junior Alvin Pearman and the UVa tailbacks finished with 21 touchdowns.

There were occasions when Pearman and Lundy were on the field at the same time, but probably not 10 percent of the time. That makes their numbers even more impressive. In addition to the touchdowns, they combined to rush for close to 1,400 yards and catch 85 passes.
 

Cavs march to VMI happy but fatigued
Win a huge victory under its belt, U.Va. shoots for a 5-0 start
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 5, 2003
VIRGINIA AT VMI
TODAY: 7 p.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Fatigue followed the University of Virginia men's basketball team to Lexington.

The Cavaliers' game with Minnesota in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at University Hall ended shortly before midnight on Wednesday. That meant a quick turnaround for U.Va., which meets Virginia Military Institute (1-3) tonight at Cameron Hall.

"I told our players that we had two big games this week," said Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen, a former VMI assistant.

Virginia probably will drag at times against a VMI team looking to end a 22-game losing streak in this series. But if the Cavaliers' legs are weary, their spirits are high. Virginia improved to 4-0 by beating the Golden Gophers 86-78.

"It's a team from a comparable conference in terms of level of play," point guard Todd Billet said of Minnesota. "It's a good measuring stick early in the year. It was a real important game for us to take that next step and beat a big-conference team."

Virginia starts only one senior, Billet, and three freshmen - swingman Gary Forbes, guard J.R. Reynolds and post player Donte Minter - average at least 16 minutes per game. The 6-6 Forbes leads U.Va. in scoring and rebounding.

U.Va., plagued in recent years by defensive deficiencies, hasn't allowed an opponent to shoot better than 38 percent from the floor this season. None of the Wahoos' victims qualifies as a powerhouse, but Gillen is nonetheless pleased with his team's progress on defense.

Forbes, sophomore forward Derrick Byars (16 points, nine rebounds) and junior forward Devin Smith (team-high 10 rebounds) each had two steals Wednesday night. Virginia forced 18 turnovers and turned them into 17 points.

"Our defense was good," Gillen said.

Not so his team's rebounding. At halftime, the Gophers had 29 boards to the Cavaliers' 14. U.Va. fared better after the break and cut its deficit to 51-40 by game's end, but one stat stood out. Minnesota finished with 22 offensive rebounds (to 10 for U.Va.). On one possession early in the second half, the Gophers got five shots, the last a layup by 6-8, 225-pound Michael Bauer that pulled them to 44-38.

"I can't remember any team I've been associated with as a college assistant or head coach [giving up 22] offensive rebounds and winning," Gillen said, "so that's a big problem for us."

Billet said: "Those second shots kill you, because instead of [the opponent] shooting 55 times in the game, they're shooting 70 or 75 times. They're shooting a very low percentage but getting more attempts. If we can cut down those second attempts, and they're still shooting 39 percent, 38 percent from the field, that's going to be a huge difference."

This is only Virginia's third visit to Cameron Hall in the past 20 years and its first since Dec. 4, 2000. The Cavaliers beat Bart Bellairs' Keydets 89-70 that night.