Rebounding is an asset for UVa men
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
December 24, 2005

From one of the very first days of practice in October when coach Dave Leitao ran a boxing-out drill that looked more like a rugby scrum, one thing was clear about the University of Virginia basketball team: If nothing else, the Cavaliers were going to be good rebounders.
"Coach's whole aura about him is defense, energy and rebounding," said Cavs big man Jason Cain, following the team's 98-59 walloping of Loyola (Md.) on Friday night. "Those are his three key things."

Through eight games, the Cavs' defense and energy has - at times - enraged Leitao. He has criticized the team repeatedly for not putting forth a full 40 minutes of sustained effort and intensity.

However, Leitao has been pleased with the way his players have hit the glass.

"Rebounding is something we all take pride in and talk about every single day," said Leitao, prior to the Loyola game. "I think it's the one thing they've taken a step forward in thus far."

The Cavs (4-4), who play UMBC in Richmond on Wednesday night, have out-rebounded seven of their eight opponents this season. Friday night, they won the battle of the boards, 51-32.

For the season, the Cavs have outrebounded opponents 337-252, a margin of over 10 per game, ranking them 12th among NCAA Division I schools.

Part of their prowess stems from having more chances on the offensive end. Heading into the Loyola game, the Cavs were shooting just .406 from the field. But, conversely, the Cavs had held opponents to an identical .406 shooting percentage. [Loyola shot just 37 percent against the Cavs.]

The stingy defense has resulted in more defensive rebounding chances that the Cavs have gobbled up.

Cain has led the board brigade. Averaging eight per game, he has been the Cavs' top rebounder in the last five games. Against Loyola, he had a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with 15 points. It was his third double-double of the season.

"Sixteen rebounds is a lot," said Leitao, after the game. "For him, we have to get him consistent, because as soon as I thought that maybe we had something here, you all asked me about the back-to-back double-doubles. Then he didn't give us close to that at Gonzaga."

Cain had two points and seven rebounds in the 80-69 loss to the Zags.

The Cavs' board work has been a team effort. Tunji Soroye, who is averaging six rebounds, had a team-leading eight in wins over Liberty and Richmond. Freshman Laurynas Mikalauskas had six to tie Soroye for the lead against Arizona.

The Cavs' guards and forwards have also contributed to the effort. Against Loyola, Sean Singletary had a season-low four points, but chipped in with five boards. J.R. Reynolds, who scored a season-high 25 points to snap out of his slump, had four rebounds.

Adrian Joseph had his best game of the year, going 5 of 8 from 3-point range en route to 24 points, but still remembered to hit the glass, notching four boards.

"Rebounding," Joseph said, "is something I'm trying to focus on this year."

As are all his teammates.

DUNKS: Cav big man Tunji Soroye came off the bench for the first time this season, as Leitao started Jason Cain and Laurynas Mikalauskas together for the first time. Soroye fouled out in just 11 minutes of action. Mikalauskas had 10 points - his highest output since the season-opener at Liberty [14].

Cavs guard Billy Campbell suffered back spasms during the game. "We have to give him some time for those muscles to calm down," Leitao said.

With T.J. Bannister still out with his sports hernia injury, J.R. Reynolds continues to man minutes at the point to spell Sean Singletary. "It's a big adjustment because you have to get yourself involved and the other players involved," he said. "It's a learning process. The more I play, the more comfortable and relaxed I am with it."

 

Jokes aside, Cavs' Best is primed for Music Bowl
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
December 26, 2005

Keith Holt has been giving Ryan Best a hard time for a couple of weeks now.
That itself is quite odd, considering that Holt plays football at Temple University and Best plays at Virginia. When the two schools met in November, UVa easily won, 51-3.

The playful banter between best friends who blocked each other quite a bit in the head-to-head contest has a lot less to do with Temple's lopsided loss, but rather the school's ability to land Al Golden as its head coach.

In addition to being Virginia's defensive coordinator since 2000, Golden spent this season coaching the secondary - a place that saw Best shoot up the depth chart.

When Golden was named Temple's new skipper earlier this month, Holt wasted little time before he called Best.

"He said 'Ah, we got your coach,'" the UVa safety laughed. "He started teasing me."

Best will have little time to think about Golden or Holt this week. He will be feverishly preparing for Friday's showdown with Minnesota (7-4) in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn.

With sophomore safety Nate Lyles (neck) sidelined indefinitely and junior captain Tony Franklin being held out of action by coach Al Groh for at least one game, Best will be called upon to play more - just like he was as the season progressed.

When preseason practice started in August, Best was merely a walk-on who had walked away from a full scholarship to play soccer at UVa.

One regular season, 193 plays, 10 games and 14 tackles later, Best is a full-fledged member of the UVa football team.

The improvements he has made since making his first tackle against Maryland are a little mind-boggling to the New Jersey native who thrives in UVa's nickel package.

"At safety, I think I am a lot better," Best admitted. "I actually understand what to do and the calls that we make. I still have things to improve on, but from the beginning of the year [till now], I definitely think I have gotten a lot better."

Best has also gotten a lot more recognition.

Earlier this month, Best was honored by the Atlantic Coast Conference as the recipient of the Brian Piccolo Award, something that has been given by the league since 1972 to a player whose courage epitomizes that of Piccolo.

In 1964, Piccolo led the nation in rushing at Wake Forest and played professionally for the Chicago Bears before he was stricken with cancer.

Best battled cancer as well - he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease last February - and had malignant cervical lymph nodes removed before undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

When the news of the honor hit Best, he had his nose in the books in a study hall session.

"Coach Groh came up to me and said 'Congratulations,'" Best recounted. "I looked at him a little funny and he said 'You don't know do you? You won the Piccolo Award.'"

Forgive Best for not knowing much about the Piccolo Award.

"I didn't really know what it was at the time," he said, "but I thanked coach."

Earlier in the season, Groh praised Best for the way he battled through the adversity.

"He was a great inspiration to the players and coaches," Groh said. "It took a tremendous amount of courage on his part, and certainly confirmed to everybody what his resolve was to be a part of this."

Since receiving the honor, Best received information from his parents and talked in depth with UVa assistant coach Anthony Poindexter about the Piccolo Award.

And perhaps even more important than the award itself, Best got a "positive" follow-up appointment with his oncologist earlier this month.

"I had a check-up a couple of weeks ago and everything still looks good," Best said.

The 5-foot-11, 205-pound safety said he was a little nervous after a two-and-half hour procedure that included his second PET scan in six months.

"Once you get the results and they tell you everything is fine and that nothing is showing up, that's always a relief," Best said.

OFF TO A FAST START: Virginia's players and coaches got their first practice in Tennessee out of the way at Vanderbilt University on Monday night.

So how did the two-hour session go?

"It was good and it was real up-tempo," UVa defensive end Chris Long said Monday night. "It was real fast because we are practicing on the field turf."

So what about the mood of the team?

"We are real upbeat compared to Boise," Long said, referring to the Cavaliers' trip to the MPC Computers Bowl last year in Idaho. "For one, it is probably a little bit warmer ... and we are just really excited to play Minnesota because we know how good of a team they are."

The players were allowed to make their own accommodations for arriving in Nashville. Some flew. Others drove.

Since he made the drive, an eight-hour venture from Charlottesville, Long said he would recommend it to any Cavalier fan weighing a last-minute decision.

"I would definitely tell them that it is not too bad of a ride," Long said. "Just switch up drivers."

So what about the city?

Long said "Nash-Vegas" was an accurate nickname.

NEWS & NOTES: Virginia will practice today from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The team will also go to the Wildhorse Saloon tonight at 7 p.m. for the "official welcome party." ? In Friday's game, Minnesota will wear its visiting uniforms, while UVa will wear its home jerseys. ? Minnesota arrived Monday and will practice today for the first time in Nashville. All of the Golden Gopher practices will be held at Goodpasture High School. ? UVa is currently a four-point underdog.

 

Defensive coaches on same page
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- When Al Groh lost four of his assistant coaches, three on the defensive side of the ball, he had the luxury of turning Music City Bowl preparations over to a former NFL defensive coordinator -- himself.

Rather than divide his attention between coaching, recruiting and hiring a new staff, Groh, also a former NFL head coach, stepped in as defensive coordinator.

He's also serving as position coach for the secondary, inside linebackers and outside linebackers. First-year line coach Levern Belin is the only 2005 defensive assistant who has not taken another job.

"There seems to be a real compatibility -- maybe the best compatibility that we've had -- between our secondary coach and our linebacker coach," said Groh jokingly.

"They seem to do everything exactly the way the defensive coordinator wants it done, which is very pleasing to the head coach."

Groh actually lost five assistant coaches if you count two-year graduate assistant Chad Wilt.

Defensive coordinator Al Golden left to become the head coach at Temple, outside-linebackers coach Danny Rocco is the new head coach at Liberty and inside-linebackers coach Mark D'Onofrio will be Golden's defensive coordinator at Temple.

Wilt, who previously assisted Golden with the UVa backs, took a full-time position under Rocco at Liberty. He will be on the Cavaliers' sideline Friday in Nashville, Tenn., as will Rocco and D'Onofrio, who rejoined UVa's team when a recruiting "dead" period began Dec. 19.

"Mark is handling all of the special teams, which he has [for the past two seasons]" Groh said. "Of the coaches who have moved onward, really, for this game, he would have been the most difficult to replace.

"What we've asked [D'Onofrio and Rocco] to major in is to catch up on the study of Minnesota. While the gameplan has been made and we're dealing with it quite easily in terms of getting it in, we needed a few more sets of eyes looking at Minnesota."

Offensive coordinator Ron Prince, who left to become the head coach at Kansas State, also coached the Cavaliers' offensive line. Because of Prince's coordinator's duties, however, UVa graduate assistant Bill Polin was responsible for drawing blocking schemes during the regular season.

Groh hasn't said who will replace Prince as principal play-caller, although receivers coach John Garrett is a strong possibility. Groh will make the defensive calls.

"It's different," senior nose tackle Kwakou Robinson said. "It's different from Golden. There's more teaching, more explaining. With Golden, it was like, 'Correct it on your own.' Groh's like, 'Here's what I want you to do.'

"I've never heard him talk this much in any practice. He's in every meeting, watching film with us. He's talking to us during every period, telling us how we need to take on blocks, how we need to come up and play the force better."

Parham mulling

Fourth-year junior Kai Parham has made so much progress academically that he could have graduated this semester. His football improvement has been equally striking and now Parham has a decision to make.

Parham, a first-team All-ACC selection, has made a formal request to an NFL advisory committee that provides feedback for underclassmen on the draft selection process.

"Right now, I'm just trying to focus on this game," Parham said. "Do I have a decision to make? That's a tough question. I guess. I don't know."

Parham expects to enter the ministry in some fashion, even if he returns to school to get an MBA or PhD. The decision about next year could come down to "where the Lord needs me," he said.

Odds 'n' ends

Virginia had sold 4,977 tickets to the bowl by the end of business Friday and is expecting to take close to 7,000 fans, counting staff and employees for whom the school bought 1,500 tickets. It does not count tickets purchased by UVa fans through the bowl. ... Groh said that he has used bowl practices to take a look at 6-foot-6, 294-pound Zak Stair at center. Stair, a redshirt freshman, played in nine games this year as a reserve offensive tackle. UVa loses its starting center, fifth-year senior Brian Barthelmes. ... Sophomore Jamal Jackson will make his first start at the safety spot vacated when Groh decided not to take co-captain Tony Franklin after his arrest on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession. Walk-on Ben Parziale from Jefferson Forest could see action as a backup at safety.

 

NOSE DROP
Robinson came to U.Va. with promise, but senior defender is still trying to prove himself
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 27, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE Of Kwakou Robinson, much was expected at the University of Virginia. A Parade All-American as a senior at Poly Prep in Brooklyn, N.Y., Robinson arrived at U.Va. in 2002 and, because of an injury to Chris Canty, immediately became a starter.

By the time Robinson became an upperclassman, he'd rank among the premier defensive linemen in the ACC, if not the nation. That prediction seemed reasonable at the time, but Robinson never has approached stardom as a Cavalier.

Heading into his final college game, the 6-4, 331-pound nose tackle has modest career stats: 17 starts, 111 tackles, one sack.

If Robinson had been able to redshirt in 2002, might things have gone differently for him? He declined last week to speculate.

"I try not to look back at the past like that," he said last week. "I try not to have any regrets."

Robinson was the Gatorade player of the year in New York as a 12th-grader and attracted scholarship offers from such schools as Miami (Fla.), Ohio State, Southern Cal, Notre Dame and Penn State. He assumed, as did many others, that he'd have similar success in college.

"I guess when you're young, you just think about it, 'Oh, I'm a Parade All-American, I'm good,'" Robinson said.

At Virginia, he found that it "doesn't really matter what you've done. It's what you're going to do, and I don't think I really understood that till this year."

Robinson, an end in U.Va.'s 3-4 defense his first three seasons, moved inside to nose tackle this year, joining Keenan Carter and Ron Darden at that spot. Robinson started the first four games before losing his job to Darden in early October.

With four games remaining, however, severe headaches ended Darden's regular season. That left Robinson and Carter at nose tackle. But Carter suffered an ankle sprain Nov. 12 against Georgia Tech -- a game for which Robinson was suspended -- and missed the rest of the regular season.

So much for the "rotation" at nose tackle. Robinson played 58 snaps versus Virginia Tech on Nov. 19 and 48 against Miami at the Orange Bowl a week later, totaling 10 tackles.

The game against the Hurricanes especially "was fun," Robinson said. "Yeah, I was tired, but I just kept looking at [defensive end Brennan] Schmidt, kept looking at [Chris] Long, and we were all tired . . . So when you think about that aspect -- OK, everybody's tired -- there's really nothing for me to . . . moan about. Let's just go out and play ball."

Darden unexpectedly rejoined the team this month, and Carter is back at practice, too, so depth at nose tackle shouldn't be a concern for U.Va. (6-5) in the Music City Bowl on Friday afternoon. What the Cavaliers need against Minnesota (7-4) is production from that position. Robinson believes he can help slow the Golden Gophers' vaunted running game.

"With the reps I get now, I feel a lot more confident in my game," he said. "I feel a lot more confident in going out on the field and just letting it go, where in the past I was worrying about getting in . . . I feel like I just came into my own this season."

At long last, he said, "I guess something did click, and I knew I was running out of time."

Robinson, who hopes to play in the NFL, hasn't achieved his goals at Virginia, he said, but "I think I've actually shown a couple people, turned a couple heads [this season]."

Robinson's profile at U.Va. has dropped steadily during his career. When he made headlines this season, it was because he was one of four Cavaliers suspended last month for an unspecified "violation of team policy." A week later, Robinson was re-instated.

"I definitely had something to prove to my teammates . . . and I told them that before the Virginia Tech game," Robinson said. "I told them that I wouldn't let them down anymore, that I would prove myself once again, and I feel like I'm still trying to prove myself today."