Virginia aims to bounce back
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 8, 2004

Ten days and three games ago, Virginia point guard Sean Singletary suggested that it was his goal and that of his team’s was to go undefeated this season.

Some within earshot scoffed. They weren’t belittling the precocious freshman for a boastful statement because quite frankly, it was not uttered in a boastful manner. Rather, they scoffed because they acknowledged the naivety of the young guard. His statement was well-placed and sincere but just not realistic in the college basketball world, a world in which Singletary learns something new every day.

Of course, there hasn’t been a men’s college basketball team to finish with a perfect undefeated mark in nearly 30 years. There almost assuredly won’t be one this season, either. Singletary and his teammates learned why Tuesday night in Hilton Coliseum in a foggy Ames, Iowa.

The No. 19 Cavaliers removed themselves - with more than a little help from Curtis Stinson and Iowa State - from the cast of the unbeatens with a 81-79 setback.

Virginia had ample shots at winning the game and could have saved their first loss for some other day, but it didn’t. Stinson saw to that with a

3-pointer with 18.6 seconds left and then the Cyclones held on as Singletary’s layup attempt at the buzzer bounded off the rim and attempts to tip it back in fell unrewarded.

The loss and even more in the way it arrived, visibly stung the Cavaliers.

Dejected. Angry. Frustrated. Any observer would have said those descriptions were apt as the Cavaliers walked off the Hilton Coliseum court.

Devin Smith, who scored a career-high 40 points and single handedly kept Virginia in the game, expressed the dismay on what was otherwise a banner night for the 6-foot-5 senior.

“I was just trying to win the game. None of that means anything since we came away with a loss,” Smith said.

The game had just about everything from great individual performances, to high-flying dunks, to two UVa 11-0 runs after facing double-digit deficits, to last-second shots. There were even a few on-court skirmishes to add just a tad more drama.

Iowa State’s Wayne Morgan said the game had the intensity of a NCAA Tournament contest.

“That was like a game being played in March, not the first week of December,” Morgan remarked.

Since it is December, the game’s placement in the season as a whole is very much on hold. Whether this was a down-to-the-wire contest between two NCAA caliber teams or a game between two good but flawed teams will only be answered in time.

Virginia senior Elton Brown seemed aware of that context in the game’s aftermath.

“They are a good team. I don’t think we played our best game. We were ahead by two with 25 seconds to go and we could have won. Sometimes that’s how it goes,” Brown said. “People may now question whether we are a good team. They were 17-1 here last season. There are no such things as moral victories but we lost by two against a team that plays well at home. I think that shows that we can play against anyone, anywhere.”

Brown deserves credit for not latching on the ubiquitous moral victory tag. Many coaches and players conceded there are no such things. But there are lesson and signs.

In Monday’s game, Virginia coach Pete Gillen said there were lessons his team could learn about late-game situations and handling itself on the road.

There were also valuable signs. The Cavaliers have the reputation of withering on the road of often shrinking in the moment when adversity arrives in a foreign arena.

That did not happen Monday, despite numerous chances for the same scenario to play out.

Virginia twice found itself down double digits but rallied each time and regained the lead.

In the not so distant past, 11-point deficits have turned to 22-point deficits for the Cavaliers on the road. There are countless examples but this time it went down to the last shot.

“I think that is something we can take out of this. We fought to the end. We came out and fought. We can take away that we have each other’s back and that we will fight to the end of the game,” Smith said.

Tech, UVa capture honors
The Roanoke Times
Staff and wire reports

League champion Virginia Tech and third-place Virginia each had seven players named to the 2004 Associated Press All-ACC football team announced Tuesday.

Virginia (8-3, 5-3) placed a league-high five players on the first team. The list included four offensive players - running back Alvin Pearman, tight end Heath Miller, guard Elton Brown and tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson - and linebacker Ahmad Brooks.

Brown, who earned the Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the league's top blocker for the second straight year, was the leading vote-getter with 196 points. The 6-foot-6, 338-pound senior was a first-team pick on 96 of the 100 ballots cast by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.

Miller, a junior, was a first-team selection for the second straight year.

Center Zac Yarbrough and linebacker Darryl Blackstock were UVa's second-team selections.

Quarterback Bryan Randall, defensive end Darryl Tapp, cornerback Jimmy Williams and place-kicker Brandon Pace were the first-team choices from Tech (10-2, 7-1), which captured the conference title in its inaugural season in the league.

Tech had three players named to the second team, including tight end Jeff King (Pulaski County High School), offensive tackle John Dunn and defensive lineman Jim Davis.

Florida State (8-3, 6-2), which finished second in the conference race, had a league-high eight players on the squad. Offensive tackle Alex Barron, defensive lineman Travis Johnson and defensive back Antonio Cromartie were FSU's first-teamers. Barron was named to the first team for the second straight year.

Miami, which joined Tech as an ACC newcomer this year, had six selections. Defensive back Antrel Rolle and specialist Devin Hester represented the Hurricanes on the first team.

Seminoles, Hokies, Cavs lead all-ACC team
By AARON BEARD : AP Sports Writer
Dec 7, 2004 : 1:38 pm ET

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Florida State didn't enjoy quite the same success this season as before the Atlantic Coast Conference expanded to 11 teams. But the Seminoles still had a healthy share of the 2004 all-conference team.

The Seminoles -- who had won all but one ACC title since joining the league in 1992 -- finished second this year, but still had a league-high eight selections to The Associated Press all-ACC team.

The Seminoles (8-3, 6-2) finished second to newcomer Virginia Tech, which along with Virginia had seven all-league picks to headline the team released Tuesday.

"With the way the conference race went this year, I suspect everyone realizes just how good the football has become in this league," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said.

The Seminoles had three first-team selections, including senior offensive tackle Alex Barron, a first-team pick from last year. Defensive lineman Travis Johnson and defensive back Antonio Cromartie were also first-team picks in voting by 100 members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.

The Seminoles had five second-team picks, including running back Leon Washington and wide receiver Chauncey Stovall.

The Hokies (10-2, 7-1) surely made themselves at home in their first year in a league they long wanted to join. Bryan Randall was the first-team quarterback, while defensive lineman Darryl Tapp, defensive back Jimmy Williams and place-kicker Brandon Pace were also first-team picks for the ACC champions.

Virginia (8-3, 5-3) led the way with five first-team picks: the conference's No. 2 rusher in Alvin Pearman (985 yards), tight end Heath Miller, offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, offensive guard Elton Brown, and linebacker Ahmad Brooks.

Miller is a two-time first-team pick, while Brown was the only player on every ballot. Brown, who earned the Jacobs blocking trophy as the league's top blocker for the second straight year, was the leading vote-getter with 196 points and was a first-team pick on 96 ballots.

Miami, the other ACC newcomer, had six selections, led by first-team defensive back Antrel Rolle and specialist Devin Hester, who returned four kicks for touchdowns.

Joining Pearman in the backfield for the first team was Wake Forest's Chris Barclay, who rushed for a league-best 1,010 yards. Clemson senior Airese Currie and Georgia Tech freshman Calvin Johnson were the wide receivers.

Joining Barron, Ferguson and Brown on the offensive line were Maryland guard C.J. Brooks and North Carolina center Jason Brown.

Rolle had 160 points to lead the first-team defense. He was joined in the secondary by Virginia Tech's Williams, Florida State's Cromartie and Georgia Tech's James Butler.

Maryland's D'Qwell Jackson and Clemson's Leroy Hill joined Brooks as first-team linebackers. Virginia Tech's Tapp, FSU's Johnson, Maryland's Shawne Merriman and North Carolina State's Mario Williams anchored the defensive line.

Wake Forest punter Ryan Plackemeier rounded out the team with his second straight first-team selection.

Brown leads ACC team rife with Cavaliers, Hokies
Lineman tops ballots; U.Va. places five on first team, Tech four
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Dec 8, 2004

The all-ACC first team for football includes five players from the University of Virginia and four from Virginia Tech, the conference champion.

One hundred ballots were cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association, and U.Va. offensive guard Elton Brown received the most points in the voting. Brown, a senior who yesterday repeated as winner of the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, received 196 of a possible 200 points.

Hokies on the first team are senior quarterback Bryan Randall, junior defensive end Darryl Tapp, junior cornerback Jimmy Williams and sophomore kicker Brandon Pace. Randall is also a leading candidate for the ACC's player-of-the-year award and the Dudley Award, which goes to the state's top player.

Joining Brown on the first team from U.Va. are junior tight end Heath Miller, junior offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, senior tailback Alvin Pearman and sophomore linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Miller is a repeat selection. Brown moves up from last year's second team.

This marks the first time since 1998 that U.Va. has had as many as five first-team selections.

Three Tech players were named to the all-ACC second team: junior tight end Jeff King, senior offensive tackle Jon Dunn and senior defensive lineman Jim Davis (Highland Springs High).

The second team also includes two Cavaliers: senior center Zac Yarbrough and junior linebacker Darryl Blackstock, who received 113 points in balloting, three fewer than Brooks.

Four Hokies received honorable mention: junior defensive tackle Jonathan Lewis (Varina High), senior defensive back Vincent Fuller, junior center Will Montgomery and junior offensive tackle Jimmy Martin. Senior nose tackle Andrew Hoffman of U.Va. also was a honorable-mention pick.

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Dec 8, 2004

BIG E: For the second straight season, University of Virginia offensive guard Elton Brown is the choice of ACC defensive coordinators as the conference's top blocker.

Brown, a 6-6, 338-pound senior who's renowned for his ability to pull, is the 10th player in ACC history to win the Jacobs Blocking Trophy twice. Two of the other repeat winners starred at U.Va. - Jim Dombrowski (1984 and '85) and Ray Roberts (1990 and '91).

Others from Virginia who received the trophy were Greg Shelly (1968), Dan Ryczek (1970), Mark Dixon (1993) and John St. Clair (1999).

A graduate of Hampton High, Brown never redshirted at U.Va. He moved up to the first team late in his freshman season and has started 38 games. Second-team all-ACC in 2003, he rose to the first team this season.

No. 18-ranked U.Va. (8-3), which plays Fresno State (8-3) in the Dec. 27 MPC Computers Bowl at Boise, Idaho, has allowed the fewest sacks of any ACC team this season and leads the conference in total offense.

SLOW PERIOD: Virginia's 19th-ranked men's basketball team opens ACC play Jan. 2 against sixth-ranked Wake Forest at University Hall. Between now and then, the Cavaliers will play only twice.

U.Va. (6-1) will entertain Southern Conference member Furman (3-3) tonight at U-Hall. Then, after breaking for final exams, Virginia will play host to Loyola Marymount on Dec. 23.

The Cavaliers usually play at least once between Christmas and New Year's Day, but their game at Providence had to be scheduled for Feb. 2.

Four non-league opponents remain on U.Va.'s schedule: Furman, Loyola Marymount, Western Kentucky (Jan. 5 at U-Hall) and Providence.

MILITARY AID: For various reasons, U.Va. isn't expecting many of its fans to attend the Dec. 27 MPC Computers Bowl. But Virginia fans who can't make it to Boise may purchase proxy tickets, the school announced.

These tickets will be donated to military personnel and their families at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Service personnel stationed at the Idaho Air Guard and National Guard bases in Boise also will receive tickets.

For more information, call U.Va.'s athletic ticket office at (800) 542-8821 or (434) 924-8821.

PAYING THEIR DUES: While many of their football teammates sprinted and performed agility drills for visiting college coaches, Olu Hall and Branden Albert chatted with U.Va. assistants Mike London, Ron Prince and Anthony Poindexter and relaxed Monday at Hargrave Military Academy's annual fall combine.

They don't need to impress anyone. Hall and Albert have accepted scholarship offers to U.Va. and plan to enroll there in the summer. Both signed with Virginia last winter but ended up in Hargrave's postgraduate program after failing to meet NCAA eligibility standards.

"It's really a blessing that I came here," said Hall, whom some recruiting analysts considered the state's No. 1 prospect last year. "I was angry at first, because who wants to come to a military school? But I think it's a real good advantage for me coming here, looking at [Cavaliers linebacker] Ahmad Brooks and seeing how he's playing. He came to Hargrave too. Now I can go in confident and be physically ready to play."

Albert, a huge presence at 6-7, 315 pounds, plays offensive tackle. He's a graduate of Glen Burnie High in Maryland. Hall, who's 6-4, 220 pounds, is making the transition from defensive end, his position at Robinson High, to outside linebacker, where he'll play in U.Va.'s 3-4 scheme.

"It's crazy," Hall said. "Linebacker, you're dealing with a lot of space. There's a lot of area to cover. It's a lot more fun, but it takes a lot more thinking. I found that out the hard way."

Albert said he's received A's and B's at Hargrave and has raised his SAT score by 120 points. He's close to qualifying, as is Hall. -Jeff White

Versatile sixth man excels in new role for maturing Cavs
Sophomore Gary Forbes pushed from starting lineup, provides much-needed spark, defensive intensity off bench for Virginia
Walker Freer, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

Every team needs a dynamic, do-whatever-it-takes player. For the Virginia men's basketball team, that player is Gary Forbes.

Since his arrival last year, Forbes has brought a jolt of energy to the Virginia program and has continued to provide intensity even though he has been relegated to a sixth-man role.

With freshman Sean Singletary and sophomore J.R. Reynolds starting at the guard positions, Forbes, a two-guard who started 17 games last season, has not started at all this year. Uncharacteristically, head coach Pete Gillen has kept the starting lineup intact through the first seven games this season, leaving Forbes as the first man off the bench.

In the past two games against Auburn and Iowa State, Forbes has posted almost identical stat lines -- five points, four rebounds, one assist against Auburn as compared to five points, three rebounds and three assists against Iowa State. While those are not the most impressive numbers, it is his defense and willingness to have a team-first mentality that escalates his play above other players.

"Whatever the team needs -- some days I may have 25, some days I may have zero, some days I may need to guard or rebound or whatever -- it doesn't matter, I'm versatile," Forbes said.

Monday night against Iowa State with the game knotted at 77 and only 30 seconds remaining, Forbes drove for a potential game-winning basket, giving Virginia a 79-77 lead. While the lead didn't hold, Forbes' clutch shot gave the Cavaliers a chance to win, which is all that he aims to do.

Besides knocking down key offensive baskets, Forbes is quick to point out his defensive advantages when stacking up against his ACC counterparts.

"I'm 6'6" and I have long arms, I'm quick, I'm a two guard," Forbes said. "I think that's a disadvantage for some of the other two guards in the league who are 6'3" or 6'2". I'm built, I'm 220 pounds and I'm a strong guard, which you don't really see in the ACC right now."

His physical play had a large role in Virginia's win over Auburn last week. With freshman Tiger guard Toney Douglas shredding the Cavalier defense, Forbes stepped up to the challenge and volunteered to guard Douglas in the second half. Although Douglas went on to score 33 points, Forbes slowed him down enough to give the Cavaliers a two-point victory.

"Win or lose, I love the fact that he had the courage to say 'I want to guard him,'" Gillen said. "He came in and I thought he slowed him down -- he didn't shut him out -- but I thought that was a big key to the game, locking that guy up."

Furman University, Virginia's next opponent, should act as the perfect cure for the Cavaliers' Midwest hangover. The Paladins will enter the game with a 3-3 record, although all three of their losses have come against Division I teams. Virginia and Furman share a common opponent in Auburn, who beat the Paladins 85-74 in mid-November. Besides traveling to Auburn, Furman also made the trip north to play in the Great Alaska Shootout, one of the premier early season invitationals, over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Instant Analysis - Kentucky vs. Tennessee &
Virginia Tech vs. Virginia
By Matthew Zemek | Tennessee 37 ... Kentucky 31
Virginia Tech 24 ... Virginia 20

There’s a clear theme that unites each of these two games: hooray for basketball season in Lexington and Charlottesville.

Just as the beginning of each season often reaffirms or destroys the reputations held by many of college football’s Division I-A teams, the end of each regular season—and the finality of decisive backyard battles—also reveals which programs have shed or retained preexisting tendencies, for better or worse. Therefore, after seeing Kentucky lose late to Tennessee for the 13 trillionth consecutive time, while Virginia squandered a cartload of chances at Virginia Tech, it’s clear that the Cats and Cavs haven’t really changed.

One can’t possibly overstress the need to make plays not in the first quarter, not with a multi-possession lead, but in the heart of crunch time. Kentucky led for roughly 55 minutes, but not in the last 38 seconds, and especially not when the Neyland Stadium scoreboard was filled with zeros. Playing well for 98 percent of the game doesn’t matter if that final two percent comes at the climax with the outcome hanging in the balance. It’s impressive that the Bluegrass Boys played hard for coach Rich Brooks, but when yet another moral victory—i.e., not a scoreboard victory—comes along, it’s hard to take any real meaning or value from it for the Kentucky program.

Lost in the heartbreak of Kentucky’s loss is the fact that a Tennessee team that’s beaten up yet trying to save the playbook for Auburn managed to pull through once again. When Tennessee does lose, the Vols play ugly and without much technical proficiency. Given the fact that Rick Clausen needs time to develop under center, one shouldn’t have been expecting any kind of masterpiece from the Vols’ offense. But as ugly as they can be—and that’s been the case on many occasions this season—the Vols never seem to choke, even though they come very close to doing so with remarkable consistency. Tennessee is the master of the high-wire act in college football, frequently nearing the precipice but never falling off. Saturday’s escape was an example, as the Cats and Vols both reaffirmed their reputations, to the detriment of Kentucky and the delight of Tennessee.

In Blacksburg, however, only one of two reputations was reaffirmed, and that reputation—a bad one—belonged to the Virginia Cavaliers.

Throughout the Al Groh era in the School That Jefferson Built, there have been many suspicions as to why the Hoos just haven’t been able to get over the hump and win the ACC despite the presence of a considerable amount of talent. Well, on Saturday against the Hokies, all of those suspicions were confirmed to varying degrees.

Some people think it’s Groh’s coaching and decision-making on offense that kills the Cavs. When you punt on 4th and 1 from the Hokie 34 in a scoreless tie as Groh did, that’s a perfect example of the kind of piss-poor coaching that has devastated Virginia in big games (in 2003, as a big underdog, Groh eschewed a 4th and 2 from the Florida State 39 in the second half of a close game against the Seminoles at home; the Cavs punted and never had another good chance to win the game).

Other people around the Virginia program say that the quarterbacking just isn’t there. Judging by the fact that his one touchdown pass was a lucky prayer on which Alvin Pearman bailed out his butt, the very unpolished Marques Hagans—who is getting horrible quarterback coaching and is not being served by those on Virginia’s offensive staff—is indeed part of the problem for the Cavs.

Still other people think that Virginia just lacks that elusive “it,” that intangible and untaught ability to simply know how to win. After seeing the Cavs’ ultra-talented defense let down—largely because of a flood of stupid 15-yard penalties—precisely when the Hoos had just gotten a lead (7-0 in the third quarter), one can’t deny the truth of that argument, either. On all fronts, Virginia proved to the whole nation why the Al Groh era has been such a loud, raging, ringing disappointment.

But before this thematic double-game analysis comes to a close, it should be noted that of these four teams—Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Virginia Tech—the Hokies are the one team that truly shattered a negative preexisting reputation. For this, Bryan Randall can’t possibly receive enough credit or praise.

It’s just been a fact of the matter that when the calendar turns to November, Randall has historically wilted under pressure. The later in the year, the worse Randall has performed, and especially in the big ACC or Big East-deciding games Randall has played in his collegiate career. And on Saturday, after a scoreless two and a half quarters, it looked as though Randall was on his way to reaffirming his negative label as a big-game bust.

But precisely when Virginia grabbed a 7-0 lead in the third quarter, Randall got going, showing the emergent poise, leadership and on-field presence that have made this Hokie team a decided overachiever. His two downfield touchdown throws to Josh Hyman revealed a smoothness and a dramatically improved thought process that stand in total contrast to the deer-in-the-headlights persona Randall acquired in past Novembers. On so many levels, Randall has grown as a football player and person in 2004, and that’s the reason why Tech, freed of much of its big-game baggage, can now stand with Miami on even terms heading into their ACC title fight next week.

So in the SEC and ACC, two games reaffirmed the reputations of three programs while shattering the label of a fourth program from Blacksburg. The more things change in college football—and as the regular season gets put to bed for the Cats and Cavs—the more things stay the same.