Cavaliers hit the road
This year's Virginia team hopes to leave the 'can't-win-on-the- road' label behind when it travels to Loyola Marymount. Virginia at Loyola Marymount Today 10 p.m. Records: UVa 6-0; Loyola Marymount 6-2.
By Doug Doughty

In the past, nonconference road games against mid-major opponents have spelled trouble for the Virginia men's basketball team.

"The key words there are 'in the past,'" junior center Elton Brown said Tuesday night after the Cavaliers' ran their record to 6-0 with a 90-80 victory over James Madison.

That was the fifth home game for the Cavaliers, whose only road "trip" involved a 55-mile drive to Lexington for a Dec.5 game with VMI.

The Cavaliers left Charlottesville on Wednesday for a real trip, a 2,200-mile jaunt to Los Angeles, where tonight they will face a Loyola Marymount team off to its best start (6-2) in eight years.

"It's not like a Disney trip [where] the senior class goes to see SpongeBob," UVa coach Pete Gillen said.

To get an idea for the pitfalls it faces, Virginia can look back to Feb.26, when it lost at Ohio University 78-72 in a game that raised similar questions from a scheduling standpoint.

Loyola Marymount was not coach Pete Gillen's first choice when he originally contemplated a holiday visit to California, but the ACC balked at UVa's plan to play either Stanford or California in the Pete Newell Challenge.

"Our league got in and said, 'You better get a return game,'" Gillen said. "I said, 'Why?' It got all political. Wake Forest was supposed to go out, too. It was supposed to be a doubleheader.

"The league got upset with us. They said, 'We're not getting an inventory back. We don't get a TV game back.' They didn't prohibit us from playing but they gave us a scolding. The Pac-10 would get a lot out of two ACC teams going out there and getting beaten, without a return game."

When the ACC approved expansion from nine to 12 teams for the 2004-2005 season, that increased the inventory of TV games, but, by then, UVa already had scheduled the game with Loyola-Marymount.

One of the attractions of a trip to California was that it enabled two Californians, Nick Vander Laan and Jermaine Harper, a chance to play in their home state.

That would have been a nice gesture, but Vander Laan and Harper subsequently transferred, Vander Laan to NAIA power Concordia and Harper to Fullerton State.

"It's still a nice trip," said Gillen, whose Cavaliers will get a return visit from Loyola Marymount next year.

Eventually, Virginia would have been tested on the road - inside the conference or out. The Cavaliers were 12-3 at home last year and 2-11 away from home, not counting games at neutral sites.

"It's a new year, the team has a new identity [and] new personnel," said UVa point guard Todd Billet, who had 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and no turnovers against JMU. "We have to wait and see if we deserve that [can't-win-on-the-road] label.

"At the same time, if we're going to be successful at all this year, we have to able to win a game like this. We can't have excuses. We just have to go out there and perform."

 

Latest developments raise more questions at safety
What's up between UVa and Maryland?
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays

It was easy to look at Virginia’s prospective 2004 football roster and see where the Cavaliers were facing some problems at safety.

That was before coach Al Groh confirmed that Jay Dorsey would miss the Continental Tire Bowl for "personal reasons" and before Jermaine "Jay" Hardy said he would require surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Hardy will be available for the Tire Bowl and presumably will start opposite Jamaine Winborne, but Winborne, who began the season at cornerback, is a senior.

Questions surround next year’s safety unit:

1) Can Hardy rehabilitate his reconstructed knee in time for the opening game?

2) Will Willie Davis, who suffered a frightening neck injury in the second game of this season, ever play again?

3) Will Dorsey return -- or will he be invited to return -- for a fifth year?

The answer to any or all three of those questions could be “yes.” If it isn't, the Cavaliers will need somebody to step up from a group that includes redshirt freshman Lance Evans, redshirt freshman Kenneth Tynes and true freshman Robbie Catterton.

Evans came off the bench when Hardy took a knee to the helmet against Virginia Tech, but it wasn't long before Evans was replaced by Dorsey. Fortunately for the Cavaliers, Hardy was able to return after two series.

Hardy said this week that he was still telling Winborne where he needed to be at season’s end "and I haven't been the position that long myself,” he admitted.

Hardy said none of the UVa safeties knows as much about the position as Dorsey, which would make sense, considering Dorsey has been there for four years.

Dorsey has a fifth year of eligibility at his disposal and was not introduced with his parents on senior day, usually an indication that he plans to return or that he will be invited back.

(Reserve offensive lineman Mark Farrington was the only fourth-year junior who was introduced with his parents, not counting walk-ons like David DeLaureal and John Thompson, who received scholarships later in their careers).

Groh uses the term "personal reasons" as a catch-all. When Salem's Dennis Hardy was declared academically ineligible after the first game of the 2002 season, Groh chalked it up to "personal reasons," and he did the same when Tynes missed the first month of this season.

(Media gadfly Jeff White reminds me that there have been "issues" involving Dorsey in the past. Dorsey was listed ahead of Davis after the spring; then, after Davis won the job in the fall, Dorsey briefly dropped completely off the two-deep.)

Of the three above-raised questions, the most likely "yes" would be for Hardy's return. The biggest mystery surrounds Davis. Hardy, otherwise forthcoming, said he hoped Davis could return but had no idea whether that would be realistic. He said Davis hasn't been around the team.

When last seen, Davis was getting beaten for a 99-yard touchdown pass against South Carolina, but he has size, speed and, before his injury, a hitter's mentality. If he ever returns, that would be a huge bonus.

GIVEN THE CAVALIERS' needs at safety, it was a surprise that Maryland-bound safety Kent Hicks from Culpeper didn't give them more consideration, but the Terps seem to have Virginia's number in recruiting these days.

I'm getting vibes that suggest a growing animosity between the two staffs, fueled by a confrontation between Groh and Terps assistant James Franklin on the field before the UVa-Maryland game at Byrd Stadium.

Maryland signed two players last year who previously had signed with Virginia, Robert Armstrong and Robert Jenkins. The Cavaliers couldn't get Jenkins into school either out of high school or junior college, but Armstrong was believed UVa-bound after spending the fall of 2002 at Fork Union Military Academy.

Armstrong became disenchanted when the Cavaliers agreed to let another 2002 signee, Ahmad Brooks, enroll at midyear after spending a semester at Hargrave Military Academy. UVa wouldn't let Armstrong enroll at midyear, so he bolted from Fork Union -- against Fork Union policy -- and enrolled at Maryland.

More recently, the Cavaliers were considered the leader for Northern Durham (N.C.) linebacker Chase Bullock before he suddenly canceled a recruiting visit to UVa and committed to Maryland after a trip to College Park.

GROH SAID THIS WEEK that ACC expansion and a change in football scheduling has sent the Cavaliers looking for a 2004 opponent. Virginia Tech, previously a non-conference opponent, now counts as one of UVa's eight conference games.

Virginia will play Syracuse and Akron at home next year and is offering prospective opponents a home game in 2004 in exchange for a visit to Charlottesville in 2005. Groh said he would not be in favor of scheduling a second Mid-American Conference opponent.

 

Virginia heads for California, Loyola Marymount
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 18, 2003

The flashing danger signs probably greeted Virginia coach Pete Gillen as soon as he boarded the plane to sunny Southern California.

When it faces Loyola Marymount tonight, Virginia will be playing its first road game of the season outside the Commonwealth. Considering the team’s first road trip of the season was barely outside of Albemarle County - a 78-56 victory at VMI on Dec. 5 - flying 3,000 miles to play in an opponent’s gym will be a new chore for this Virginia team. Add in that this game was supposed to be a homecoming for two California natives - Nick Vander Laan and Jermaine Harper - both of whom are no longer with the program and that LMU is 6-2 on the season combines for all the ingredients of an upset. The circumstances all point to one of those what-did-they-get-themselves into situations.

“It’s a tough game. It’s a very difficult game. They are one of the better teams we have played so far. … We’re going to have to earn it,” Gillen said.

Gillen is hoping for a better reception than his last visit to the tiny catholic school that is located just outside the perimeter of the Los Angeles International Airport.

“We went there a couple of years ago when I was at Providence and before the game the officials asked us what conference we were in. Hopefully, they’ll know what league we are in this time,” Gillen quipped.

The game is part of a two-year series with LMU. The Lions will come to U-Hall next season. Of course, the impetus for this specific game was for Harper and Vander Laan to play close to home. Yet, both players already got closer to home via transfers. Harper is now at Cal State-Fullerton while Vander Laan is at Division II Concordia College.

The game certainly appears as Virginia’s biggest test before entering ACC play on Dec. 28 against N.C. State. The Cavaliers will host Coastal Carolina on Monday but the combination of a road game, a road game in California and the fact that UVa has not been the best of road teams in recent memory should be enough for some pause.

“It’s a new year and the team has a new identity, new personnel and new leadership. … Right now, we have to focus on the game and play one-game seasons. We’re going 3,000 miles across the country and playing a team, though they are not in a power conference, is still a very good basketball team,” said senior guard Todd Billet. “From that perspective, it will be a tough game. Of course, we are going to face adversity all year in the ACC and we have to win games like this.”

When junior forward Elton Brown was approached about this game and Virginia’s road woes of the past, Brown said, “You said it. That was the past. That’s not this team.”

Loyola Marymount is a school that was once very prominent in the college basketball lexicon. They’re run it up-and-down, score and score quickly pace was their trademark in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Lions, under coach Paul Westhead, cracked the top 25 during that time as it feature such players as Bo Kimble and the late Hank Gathers. The Lions even reached the NCAA tournaments West Region final in 1990 in what was an emotional run after the death of Gathers just weeks before.

While most of the Cavaliers aren’t cognizant of that history, a few are.

“I definitely remember that they played quick and scored a lot. That’s what I most remember and Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers. That’s what I most remember,” Billet said.

Of course, those teams’ games are kept alive by modern television.

“I don’t remember too much about them but there games are on ESPN Classic a lot,” said junior Devin Smith.
 

Miller staying put at UVa for another year
By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
December 18, 2003
 

Judging by his accomplishments, it appears Heath Miller doesn’t have much more to prove in college football. Just a sophomore, he has established himself as perhaps the premier receiving tight end in ACC history. He has developed into an outstanding blocker. He’s tall, strong, fast, coachable and humble.

All of which has led to rumors that Miller might pass up his final two seasons of eligibility at Virginia and turn pro. College players can enter the NFL draft three years after graduating from high school, so Miller, who graduated from Honaker High in 2001 and redshirted his first year at UVa, would be eligible in 2004.

Asked about his plans this week, however, Miller squashed that speculation.

“It really hasn’t crossed my mind. It’s not a big decision I have to make,” he said. “I’ll definitely be back. There are a lot of things I still need to improve.”

His improvement already has been remarkable. A quarterback in high school, Miller switched to tight end and spent a year learning the position. Then, in 2002, he became a freshman All-American. He scored a touchdown in the first five games of his career and finished with 33 catches for 327 yards and nine TDs.

This season Miller has become the focal point of Virginia’s passing attack. Going into the Dec. 27 Continental Tire Bowl against Pittsburgh, he already has set single-season ACC records for receptions (66) and receiving yards (751) by a tight end. Nationally, only Texas Tech’s Mickey Peters (70 catches, 895 yards) has been more prolific at his position.

Before last month, no Virginia tight end had produced a 100-yard receiving game in 12 years. Miller caught six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown against Georgia Tech, then followed that with a 13-catch, 145-yard day against Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers (7-5) won both games to wrap up a bowl berth.

After gaining weight and strength, the 6-foot-5, 254-pound Miller also has improved as a blocker and was the only Virginia player named to the All-ACC first team.

“He’s had an unbelievable year,” said quarterback Matt Schaub, though Miller won’t use such superlatives in describing his own play.

“I think I’ve improved,” he said. “I didn’t really set any specific goals for myself, but I feel like I’ve had a productive year.”

Two other Cavaliers - junior guard Elton Brown and junior defensive end Chris Canty - also are eligible for the NFL draft and may have a difficult decision to make. The 6-6, 333-pound Brown and the 6-7, 280-pound Canty are impressive physical specimens who are coming off strong seasons.

Brown won the Jacobs Award as the conference’s top blocker, while Canty leads all ACC linemen with 95 tackles. Each was voted onto the All-ACC second team.

Both players have said they intend to stay for their senior seasons, though Brown wasn’t definitive when asked about the topic this week.

“To be in this position, it’s always going to enter your head,” he said. “Right now, I’m not really thinking about that. I’m just thinking about going to Charlotte and winning the game.”

UVa coach Al Groh said the same thing when asked about the NFL prospects of Miller, Brown and Canty. “It’s not a topic of discussion right now,” he said. “All we’re talking about is playing Pittsburgh.”

Brown said he met with Groh recently and discussed his future.

“Coach called me into his office and we had a little talk. It made a lot of sense,” Brown said. “Like I said, it’s crossed my mind. No decision has been made. More than likely - actually, I’m going to be back next year. What I think, I’ll be back next year.”
 

College Football 2003: And the winners are ...
December 19, 2003
By Doug Mittler
SportsTicker College Football Editor

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) - There are no shortage of awards in college football, a list about as long as the number of legal issues involving Maurice Clarett in the past year.

Everyone knows the Heisman Trophy, but even big college football fans have trouble with the difference among the Outland, Lombardi and Nagurski Awards. And what about the Unitas, O'Brien and Doak Walker Awards?

So in the spirit of the postseason honors glut, SportsTicker presents it second annual awards lists for the 2003 season.

THE CRASH AND BURN AWARD: The Bowl Championship Series. Have Louisiana State and Oklahoma, the second and third-ranked teams in the country, play for the alleged national title in New Orleans and make sure No. 1 Southern California is thousands of miles away.

BEST GAME OF THE SEASON: Florida State 38, Florida 34. The see-saw battle ends with a long touchdown pass from Chris Rix to P.K. Sam. After Sam catches the pass, a security guard's dog lunges at the receiver and needs to be restrained.

BEST GAME OF THE SEASON II: California 34, USC 31 (3OT). It nearly cost the Trojans a shot at the national title and was the biggest football event in Berkeley since a tuba player was trampled 21 years ago.

WORST GAME OF THE SEASON: Oklahoma 77, Texas A&M 0. Sooners coach Bob Stoops is criticized for running up the score even though he lifted quarterback Jason White and used scout team players in the fourth quarter.

THE FOUL BALL AWARD: Auburn president William Walker. Walker joins fat-cat booster Bobby Lowder to meet with Bobby Petrino to discuss employment with the first-year Louisville coach, even though Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville was not fired. Word leaks out, Walker apologizes, Tuberville decides to stay and gets a contract extension.

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jason White. The Oklahoma quarterback overcame a pair of serious knee injuries to win the Heisman Trophy and lead the Sooners to the cusp of a national title. Honorable mention goes to Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker, who overcame substance abuse to lead the Spartans to an 8-4 record.

THE FAILED MISSION AWARD: Dismissed Army interim coach John Mumford, who closed out the first 0-13 season by a team in college history. "There's a good team out there in those kids," Mumford said. "I couldn't get it out of them."

BIGGEST COLLAPSE AWARD: Congratulations Virginia Tech, this honor is yours for the second straight year. The Hokies were 8-0 and in the national title chase in 2002 before losing four of their last five. This year, Frank Beamer's boys were 6-0 and dropped four of their last six. Enjoy the Insight Bowl.

 

ACC bowl game ticket sales

N.C. STATE (TANGERINE BOWL, MONDAY): 12,500 allotted, about 5,000 sold

VIRGINIA (CONTINENTAL TIRE, DEC. 27): 12,500 allotted, 22,859 sold*

MARYLAND (GATOR, JAN. 1): 12,750 allotted, about 14,000 sold*

FLORIDA STATE (ORANGE, JAN. 1): 15,000 allotted, 15,000 sold

CLEMSON (PEACH, JAN. 2): 20,000 allotted, 20,000 sold; Clemson was unable to fill requests for an additional 14,000 tickets

GEORGIA TECH (HUMANITARIAN, JAN. 3): 3,000 allotted, 2,200 sold

*Extra tickets obtained from the bowl

N.C. STATE, FLORIDA STATE, VIRGINIA, CLEMSON, GEORGIA TECH AND MARYLAND TICKET OFFICES



 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 19, 2003

LA-LA LAND: When the game was scheduled, the Virginia men's basketball team included two Californians - guard Jermaine Harper and center Nick Vander Laan - and coach Pete Gillen wanted to let them play in their home state.

Harper and Vander Laan have since transferred, but the game will be played as scheduled tonight in Los Angeles, where U.Va. (6-0) visits Loyola Marymount (6-2).

The Lions aren't as formidable as in the days of Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, but this should be a significant test for a U.Va. team that has played only one road game.

"We're going to have to earn it," Gillen said.

Virginia's struggles on the road during Gillen's tenure have been well documented. Still, senior point guard Todd Billet said, this is a new season.

"Each team has a new identity, with new personnel, new leadership," Billet said. "Everything's new, so I think we have to wait and see. You have to give us a chance to perform and to see if this year is [different]."

The Cavaliers' first road game was in Lexington, where they beat Virginia Military Institute 78-56 on Dec. 5. The crowd at Cameron Hall included numerous U.Va. fans. That won't be the case tonight at Gersten Pavilion.

"You're going 3,000 miles across the country," Billet said. "It's going to be a tough game, but at the same time, we're going to face adversity all year in the ACC. If we're going to be successful at all this year, we have to be able to win a game like this on the road in an adverse situation where we're traveling across the country. We can't have excuses. We're just got to go out there and perform."

NO GO: Jason Clark did not travel with the team to California. The 6-8 235-pound junior hopes to rejoin the Cavaliers this month, but a ruling on his eligibility apparently hadn't been made by the time the team left Wednesday for the West Coast.

Clark, who started 15 games last season, was academically ineligible the first semester, which ended early this week. U.Va. plays host to Coastal Carolina on Monday night, then opens ACC play Dec. 28 at N.C. State.

SKEPTICAL: Virginia may be unbeaten, but at least one computer isn't impressed. In the Sagarin ratings released after Wednesday's games, the Cavaliers were No. 75.

U.Va.'s schedule was rated the 319th weakest of the 326 teams in Division I. Other prominent teams that received poor strength-of-schedule marks included Tennessee (324th), Georgetown (322nd), Pittsburgh (315th), N.C. State (314th) and Texas (312th).

INDOOR/OUTDOOR: U.Va. freshman Vince Redd, a scholarship football player who's redshirting this season, will begin practicing with Gillen's team after next weekend's Continental Tire Bowl.

The 6-6 Redd, an outside linebacker, weighed about 275 pounds when he reported for training camp in August. He's closer now to 243, his listed weight in the U.Va. football media guide.

"He's getting a little bit firmer," said Cavaliers coach Al Groh. "I think there's a little way to go yet, but he's just a big man."

Redd, 18, was an all-state basketball player at Elizabethton High in Tennessee last season. As a junior, he finished fourth in the state in the shot put.

In football, Redd and classmate Jermaine Dias are expected to challenge veteran Dennis Haley for Raymond Mann's spot at linebacker next season. Mann is a senior.

TAKE A SEAT: Sophomore forward Derrick Byars has started every game for Virginia and is averaging 26.5 minutes, the third-most on the team. He played only 10 minutes in the second half Tuesday night, however, and remained on the bench as James Madison mounted an inspired comeback.

Byars had eight points and three steals against the Dukes, all in the first half.

"Derrick's a tremendous player, but I wasn't happy with his aggressiveness, his defense, his tenacity," Gillen said. "The first half he was better, I don't know if he got down on himself or what."

Byars is averaging 11.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals. He's shooting 54.3 percent from the floor and has hit 9 of 18 attempts from 3-point range.

PRIME-TIME PLAYERS: The Tire Bowl will feature two of the nation's premier tight ends: Virginia sophomore Heath Miller and Pittsburgh senior Kris Wilson.

"I know it's a priority position with us," Groh said. "If a guy wants to be a tight end, then this is a good place for him to be, as is Pittsburgh. If a guy wants to be an eligible tackle, there are a lot of other places he can go."

Miller, a first-team all-ACC selection, has 66 catches for 751 yards and five touchdowns this season. Wilson made the all-Big East second team (Miami's Kellen Winslow earned first-team recognition). He has fewer receptions (42) for fewer yards (589) than Miller but has caught nine TD passes.

U.Va. (7-5) and Pitt (8-4) meet Dec. 27 in Charlotte, N.C. Game time is 11 a.m. - Jeff White