Virginia men's hoops ready for new-look Wolfpack
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
December 3, 2006

Having gone through last season with a pretty bare cupboard - only eight scholarship players - one would think that Virginia coach Dave Leitao might have a little empathy for first-year N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe.

Lowe lost Cedric Simmons, his best player, to the NBA. Then, his top big man, Andrew Brackman, decided to quit basketball in order to focus on his baseball career.

Lowe also had two recruits, who had signed on to play for former coach Herb Sendek, bail out on him.

Surely, Leitao would have some compassion for a member of his coaching brethren?

Forget about it.

“They’re 5-0, so he’s not suffering that much,” Leitao said. “I’d like for him to feel for me. They’re undefeated and we’re not.”

Today, Leitao’s and Lowe’s teams square off at John Paul Jones Arena in the ACC opener for both squads.

UVa (4-1) is coming off a tough loss to Purdue in the ACC/Big 10 Challenge, while the Wolfpack beat Michigan.

N.C. State will most likely be without senior guard Engin Atsur, who has a hamstring injury.

The Wolfpack, who won last year’s meeting, were predicted by the media to finish last in the ACC. So far, they haven’t looked like a cellar dweller.

“For the last umpteenth years they’ve been in a specific system,” Leitao said, referring to Sendek’s motion offense. “A lot of that has changed with the new leadership. What Sidney has done is get [contributions from] a lot of the guys who didn’t get a lot of playing time - [Ben] McCauley, [Brandon] Costner and even a guy like [Bryan] Nieman. They play with a heckuva lot of confidence, play well together. There’s no panic in what they do.

“They play the game with the same mentality that comes directly from a coach that has played.”

Leitao’s team could probably learn a thing or two from Lowe’s squad about taking better care of the ball.

“They only have 62 turnovers in five games, which is remarkable,” Leitao said, “particularly when you have a new coach and a new team that, for all intents and purposes, should be finding itself.

“It’s easy to see he’s done a remarkable job in such a short period of time to get these guys playing at that level.”

Lowe, who previously coached in the NBA, was the starting point guard on N.C. State’s 1983 championship team. He had no previous college head-coaching experience before returning to his alma mater to replace Sendek, who reportedly became fed up with the fan base’s expectations and bolted for Arizona State.

Lowe said he has no problems with the pressure-cooker atmosphere that exists in Raleigh.

“There’s always pressure,” he said. “Some you put on yourself and some because you’re a coach in the ACC.

“I think we’re so blessed to be able to do what we do - coach a game that we love and played … this is wonderful for me.”

Lowe was impressed with what Leitao was able to do in his first season.

“We talked a little bit down at the coaches meeting,” Lowe said. “As you can see, he has certainly improved his ball club and continues to improve his ball club - just based on some of the kids he’s got committed and is signing there. He is certainly putting together his program the way he wants it.”

Lowe said he has tried to keep things as simple as possible since coming aboard, particularly on defense. He said he is expecting a physical game.

“They’re very active and bump you - bump you hard,” Lowe said. “You’ve got to take it to them.”

For Leitao, today’s game - one the team is expected to win - is probably the biggest of his brief tenure. Last year, he was pretty much playing with house money.

“It’s important because you have 16 of these, and you have to win more than your fair share,” Leitao said. “It’s important because you have to win home games, and it’s also important because we’re coming off of a loss. When you put those three things together, it makes Sunday afternoon a big day for us.”

Dunks …

N.C. State leads the all-time series, 78-51. ... Tunji Soroye, who made his season debut against Purdue after missing the first four games with a sports hernia injury, is still a ways from being in game shape. “He obviously looked winded,” Leitao said. “I don’t know if he was quite there and quite ready for the amount of minutes that I ended up giving him. [His] timing and having his basketball legs under him needs some improvement. He was enough of a presence in there with his length that I thought at that moment for guarding [Carl] Landry that was our best option at the time.” … Leitao said he was still unable to comment on Mike Scott, a 6-foot-9 forward at Hargrave Military Academy who has reportedly signed with Virginia. “The paperwork is here, but I haven’t seen it,” Leitao said. “Until I see it with my own eyes, I don’t want to talk out of turn.” ... The doors to the John Paul Jones Arena will open 90 minutes before tip-off for today's game. The doors to the arena will open at 2 p.m. with the game scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. Previously the doors to the arena opened one hour before tip-off. The change in policy provides fans interested in arriving earlier more time to familiarize themselves with the arena, visit the various concession stands throughout the facility and visit the Cavalier Team Shop in the main lobby before settling in their seats for pregame activities. It also provides additional time for fans to walk through the Wally Walker Virginia Basketball Hall of Fame, located in the lower concourse opposite the main lobby, when it's completed in the near future.

 

Leitao, Cavs try to snap skid in ACC openers
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
December 3, 2006

When Dave Leitao reaches for a significant milestone in his head coaching career this afternoon, he hopes that the ACC season-opener doesn’t become a millstone as it has for a couple of his predecessors.

Leitao will be going for his 100th victory as a head coach when Virginia plays host to conference rival N.C. State at 3:30 p.m. However, the only number the Cavs’ coach will be concerned with is attempting to go 1-0 in the ACC. Winning the opener would be a jump start in league play that past UVa coaches haven’t enjoyed for a long time.

Some rough starts

Virginia has started the last 11 seasons 0-1 in the ACC. The last time a UVa team won its conference opener was Jan. 4, 1995, at Florida State, when then-coach Jeff Jones’ Cavs went 25-9 (12-4 in the ACC).

N.C. State comes to John Paul Jones Arena with a 5-0 record for new coach Sidney Lowe, but this will be the Wolfpack’s first road trip of the season, and they’ll likely be without the services of star guard Engin Atsur, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Time to bounce back

For Leitao, getting back on the winning track after a close loss at Purdue in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge is what he will be striving for, as well as getting his team back in sync after it suffered numerous breakdowns Wednesday night.

Winning at home is always most important because road victories are hard to come by, particularly in the ACC. While Leitao, in his second year at UVa, may not be cognizant of the program’s decade-plus-one drought in league openers, he realizes how badly his team needs to win.

“I don’t look at it from a historical perspective, but rather a day-to-day perspective,” Leitao said of UVa’s track record. “You have to win your fair share, win your home games and win coming off a loss.”

While N.C. State will likely carbon copy Purdue’s game plan, which emphasized containing Virginia’s backcourt, particularly speedy point guard Sean Singletary, Leitao will attempt to get production from other resources.

Outside of Singletary and swingman Mamadi Diane, the Cavaliers were rather impotent offensively against the Boilermakers. That shouldn’t be the case today because, for whatever reason, the Cavs play much better at home.

Home is where the heart is

Leitao seemed perturbed that there’s a perception his teams can’t win on the road, even though the Cavs have won only twice in 14 trips under his direction. That’s no slap at Leitao, particularly considering that he took over a team last year that was shy on depth and talent.

“The reality of it is, there are only very few teams that do well on the road,” the coach said.

“The expectation is to win every game, but you understand you have to get better to win with any level of consistency on the road.

“I’d like somebody to let it be known about everybody’s road record, football, NBA, whatever, there’s a high percentage of home wins,” said Leitao. “Why is that? You go to the two things I’ve said before.”

Leitao believes a team either has to have superior talent to consistently win on the road or to be extremely mature. At this point, UVa can’t boast either.

“Look at the ACC or any conference and the most talented team in the league probably has the most road wins,” said Leitao. “The most experienced is one of the reasons.”

A quick examination of ACC coaches records will substantiate Leitao’s claim.

Only three of the 12 ACC head coaches have winning records on the road (in conference play). Not surprisingly, two of those are Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski. Al Skinner, whose Boston College team has played only one season in the league and was pretty good last season, was the other.

On the other hand, none of the 12 have losing records at home in ACC play.

That should weigh in Leitao’s favor today when the Cavaliers host a Wolfpack team that is vastly different in style than recent squads under former coach Herb Sendek. Gone is the deliberate, Princeton-esque offense in favor of a more up-tempo operation.

“I don’t know if it’s harder to learn, but we have different sets that we run and you have to know where to be at all times,” said Lowe, who was a star guard for the Wolfpack in the 1980s. “It’s nothing complex. We don’t have a lot of plays, but it’s different than what [his players] were running and they’ve done a good job of picking it up.”

With Atsur’s status questionable, though, Lowe has had to shrink his offensive sets. The new coach also doesn’t have the luxury of a lot of bodies to throw on the court, which also should weigh heavily in Virginia’s favor.

If the Cavaliers have an abundance of anything, it’s depth. Leitao has a dozen players he can go to, while Lowe only had six players he could call on after Atsur strained his hamstring last Monday night.

While it’s much too early to tag today’s clash as a “must win” situation, it is an extremely important game for the Cavaliers because it’s a home game, it’s a conference game, it’s a game coming off a loss, and could set up the Cavs for quite a nice run before they play another ACC game the second week of January.

 

Fischer, Louisa win with Groh in the house
By Sean McLernon / smclernon@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
December 3, 2006

MINERAL - Al Groh could have been at home watching the ACC Championship game. Instead he decided to take the 40-minute drive from Charlottesville to watch Louisa County football in person.

The Virginia coach had heard of Louisa’s success and recent run through the playoffs, and, with some free time on his hands following Virginia’s season-ending loss to Virginia Tech, Groh trekked to Mineral to catch a glimpse of the Lions.

“I’m interested in following great championship football,” Groh said. “We know [Louisa coach] Mark [Fischer] well and are very respectful of what he has done. He spoke at our clinic last year and I know how he’s built the program up in such a short period of time.”

Fischer said Groh called him earlier this week to ask if he could watch the Lions play, and the Louisa coach encouraged him to come to Saturday’s Division 4 state semifinal.

“He’s always been real good to me,” Fischer said of Groh. “He’s helped me out in a lot of situations with questions and ideas. He’s always been extremely fair to me, and if he wants to come to one of my games, I’m flattered.”

Groh, who was an assistant coach at Albemarle in 1967, said he enjoyed watching the action and was impressed with Louisa’s ability to hang on late in the contest.

“It was a fun game to watch,” Groh said. “It was a real gutty finish and Louisa did what good teams have to do. Whatever they had to face, they were able to step up to it and make the plays.”

Groh said he came to the game purely as a fan, and Fischer confirmed that Virginia was not actively recruiting any of the Lions’ players.

“He just said he was coming to watch the football game,” Fischer said. “He wasn’t looking at anyone. They haven’t pursued anybody on our team.”

Fischer paused for a second before he added, with a smile: “Maybe he’s looking at me?”
 

Cavs plowed over by Bruins
By Drew Hansen / dhansen@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
December 3, 2006

ST. LOUIS - All UCLA forward David Estrada needed was a couple slick moves to get Virginia against the ropes.

The freshman walk-on scored a pair of second-half goals in a 67-second span, and exclamation points from Chance Myers and Michael Stephens sent Virginia’s season to a crashing halt in a 4-0 semifinal-loss at the College Cup.

On a chilly Saturday afternoon with ice and snow lining the pitch, fourth-seeded Virginia threatened early before the defense broke down and the team got rattled in front of 6,314 fans at Hermann Stadium on the Saint Louis University campus.

“Scoring two quick goals like that really made us chase the game,” said Virginia coach George Gelnovatch. “[That] got us a little bit funky because that hasn’t happened to us throughout the season.”

Estrada ran through a pack of Virginia defenders for the eighth-seeded Bruins’ first goal on a give-and-go from Kyle Nakazawa on the right side in the 64th minute. It appeared as though UVa defender Bakary Soumare had an opportunity to stop Estrada, but the speedy freshman maneuvered his way through the crowd and snuck the ball past keeper Ryan Burke.

A little more than a minute later, Estrada shook Soumare again on the endline on the left flank and his shot appeared to be denied by Burke. The Virginia senior got just the tip of his fingers on the flicked ball, but it slowly trickled away and rolled across the line for a 2-0 Bruin advantage.

“I thought he took them both pretty well,” Burke said of Estrada’s two goals. “I thought we might have done better to clear the first one, but he got loose. But give him credit because there was really only one play he could have gone with it and he flicked it over pretty well.

“The second goal was a great piece of skill down the side.”

Down two goals, Virginia (17-4-1) was forced to take drastic measures to build an attack. Gelnovatch took a back off the field, added a midfielder and sent most of the defense forward to leave Virginia prone to counterattacks.

The Bruins (14-5-4) made the Cavaliers pay, getting goals from Myers (84th minute) and Stephens (89th minute) with little effort.

“The last two goals, you’re taking chances, you’re pulling a back off the field, you’re trying to catch up,” Gelnovatch said. “When you start chasing the game like that against a good team, that’s when you give up No. 3 and 4. I felt like it would be a one-goal game, but they got two quick ones and the thing opened up pretty quick.”

Saturday was the first time since a 4-1 loss to Clemson last season that Virginia had surrendered four goals. All four were scored by freshmen for the Bruins.

During a break in play in the 83rd minute, midfielder Nico Colaluca was jawing with Bruin defender Mike Zaher. After a remark from Zaher, the UVa midfielder turned and slapped Zaher across the face. The referee calmly ran over and flashed a red card to end Colaluca’s day.

“You’re trying to create chances, push the ball forward and then Nico [Colaluca] gets frustrated and does something stupid, and now you’re playing a man down,” Gelnovatch said.

Colaluca, who was not made available for comment after the game, did all he could to spark an attack. He made several impressive runs down the field but couldn’t find a free forward for much of the afternoon.

Virginia’s best chances came in the first five minutes.

A steal in transition from Soumare sent the Cavaliers on a counterattack in the 4th minute. Soumare played the ball forward to Yannick Reyering, who slipped it through the Bruins’ line to Adam Cristman.

In a one-on-one situation, Cristman didn’t get on top of the ball and blasted his 14-yard shot over the crossbar.

A minute later, UVa midfielder Jonathan Villanueva found himself racing down the left flank all by himself. A quick cross from the midfielder put UCLA keeper Eric Reed out of position. Reyering collected the ball on the far side of the goal and appeared to have an open look. The Bruins’ defense closed quickly and defender Brad Rusin fended off Reyering’s shot with his face.

The 6-foot-4 Rusin did a phenomenal job bottling up Reyering, the Cavs’ leading scorer.

“He was flat-out great today,” said UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo. “He took Reyering out of the game completely. … He was dominant in the air and when Reyering turned and tackled, he didn’t give him any space. That was a big reason why we defended the way we did today.”

Cristman didn’t have much luck either. The senior forward was knocked around most of the day and never really got a good foot on the ball.

“Our game plan was trying to get to Yannick and to try and get some balls more central and kind of over the top if we can,” Cristman said. “I don’t think we got as many of those to work out, and the UCLA defense is very good and did a good job of swarming everything in the middle of the field.

“[Colaluca] and [Villanueva] were doing the best they could to get by them and try to get crosses. Once again, I think UCLA dealt with that really well. They’re a great team.”

UCLA advances to play UC Santa Barbara in an all-West Coast final today. The unseeded Gauchos topped No. 2 Wake Forest in a 4-3 shootout after a 0-0, double-overtime tie in the day’s second game.

The final is scheduled for 3 p.m. and will air live on ESPN2.

 

And a walk-on shall lead them
By Drew Hansen / dhansen@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
December 3, 2006

ST. LOUIS - The UCLA men’s soccer team entered the 2006 season with the top recruiting class in the country. There were 11 players total, and the class was going to reload a program that had been decimated by the departure of players pursuing careers in professional soccer.

But in the Bruins’ 4-0 win over Virginia on Saturday, it was the play of walk-on freshman David Estrada - who was not among UCLA’s high-profile 11, despite scoring 66 goals his senior year of high school - that carried the Bruins into the College Cup final.

The 5-foot-7 freshman dazzled the crowd at Hermann Stadium with his quick feet, ankle-breaking moves and exceptional ball control. The native of Salinas, Calif., netted two goals at the start of the second half that broke the game open and sent Virginia into panic mode.

“I was very emotional,” Estrada said of the thrill of scoring twice. “I can’t even describe it. It was a dream come true. My family’s support was just going through my head with them watching me on TV and what they were thinking. They are very proud of me, and with those two goals I just got overwhelmed.”

Estrada has been a big reason why UCLA has transformed itself from the early season struggles, which included a 1-0 loss to Virginia at Klockner Stadium on Sept. 4, along with a 4-1 loss to Maryland and a 1-1 tie with Cal State Northridge.

Coach Jorge Salcedo shuffled the starting lineup and stuck Estrada up front. The freshman has gone on to lead the Bruins in scoring, netting 10 goals prior to Saturday.

“After we lost to Virginia, there was a good family friend in Virginia that came to say hello to us at the airport, and I told her that if we win the next two games against New Mexico and Oakland, that we’d get to the Final Four,” Salcedo said. “I just had a very strong feeling about this team and its ability to win games. And it just came together in the playoffs.”

In short, the Bruins’ younger players have played beyond their years, and the team has found its stride. Sophomore midfielder Sal Zizzo stepped up and became the playmaker the team needed, scoring five goals in the Bruins’ previous three games. Jason Leopoldo slid back into the midfield after starting the season as a forward and has become more effective. Estrada got his wheels going with Kyle Nakazawa up front, and the Bruins have reeled off five straight wins against quality competition.

“We have grown up very fast in the playoffs,” Zizzo said. “We have grown up very quick and our young players are playing like upperclassmen.”

Virginia forward Adam Cristman noticed a big change from the UCLA team he played in September.

“I think they’re a young team, for sure,” Cristman said. “My first year we were a young team too. It was a very similar situation where, by the postseason, your freshmen and sophomores aren’t young anymore. You’re well-seasoned. You’ve played a lot of good teams. I think that’s certainly the case for them.”

The Bruins have beaten three of the ACC’s top teams in succession in the NCAA Tournament - and with flare. The Bruins posted three goals apiece in wins over No. 9 Clemson and No. 1 Duke before netting four against No. 4 UVa.

UCLA won’t get another shot at the ACC after No. 2 Wake Forest fell to unseeded UC Santa Barbara in a shootout in Saturday’s second semifinal. Both teams from sunny California get one more game in the frozen tundra St. Louis has become this past week - and with little turnaround.

The teams don’t even get to rest their legs for a day.

“It definitely brings back feelings of club soccer tournaments,” Zizzo laughed.

 

Cavs stuck in ACC starting block
Leitao, U.Va. looks to snap decade-long jinx in conference openers
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 3, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Only one of them has occurred on his watch, so the 11 straight losses are not something over which Dave Leitao obsesses.

"I don't look at it from a historical perspective," Leitao, the University of Virginia's second-year men's basketball coach, said Friday.

The fact remains, though, that U.Va. hasn't won an ACC opener since Jan. 4, 1995, when its coach was Jeff Jones.

Since then, under Jones and then Pete Gillen and, now, Leitao, the Cavaliers have opened conference play against a variety of foes in arenas ranging from University Hall to Cameron Indoor Stadium to Lawrence Joel Coliseum to the RBC Center. They've come away from each game with the same ACC record: 0-1.

The Wahoos' next chance to end that streak comes today at the new John Paul Jones Arena, where they are 4-0. In the conference opener for both teams, 25th-ranked U.Va. (4-1) hosts N.C. State (5-0) at 3:30 p.m.

"It's important because you've got 16 of these [ACC games], and you've got to win more than your fair share," Leitao said. "It's also important because you've got to win your home games, and it's important because we're coming off a loss. When you put those three things together, it makes Sunday afternoon a big game."

In the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Virginia lost 61-59 at Purdue on a last-second shot Wednesday night. N.C. State fared better against its Big Ten foe, beating Michigan 74-67 in Raleigh on Monday night.

In that win over the Wolverines, however, senior point guard Engin Atsur suffered a hamstring injury, and he's expected to miss today's game. That's a problem for first-year coach Sidney Lowe, whose seven-man rotation is down to six.

In his first season at U.Va., Leitao faced similar depth problems, but he declined Friday to offer condolences to Lowe and the Wolfpack.

"They're 5-0. He's not suffering that much," Leitao said with a chuckle. "I'd like for him to feel for me. They're undefeated. We're not."

Even with Atsur, who has played in 100 consecutive games for N.C. State, Lowe would worry about stopping U.Va.'s all-ACC point guard, junior Sean Singletary. Without Atsur, the Pack's challenge grows. Singletary is averaging 17.8 points, 6.6 assists and 4.8 rebounds, and his mental toughness is as rare as his physical talent.

"His intestinal fortitude, you don't see it but once or twice in a coaching career," Leitao said.

Lowe, a former Wolfpack guard, said: "We're going to have to make sure that we're ready as a team and play good team defense, because a player like that, with that kind of speed and quickness, is hard to stop individually."

Insurmountable obstacles probably await State, which was picked to finish last in the 12-team ACC. So far, though, Lowe's touch has been perfect.

"They play with a heck of a lot of confidence, they play well together, there's no panic in what they do," Leitao said. "They play the game with a mentality that comes directly from a coach that is pleasing to see. It's easy to see he's done a remarkable job in such a short time."

 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 2, 2006

LATE ADDITION: Virginia men's basketball coach Dave Leitao's class for 2007-08 now includes a big man to go with guards Jeff Jones, Sam Zeglinski and Mustapha Farrakhan, whose signings were recently announced.

Before the early signing period ended last month, 6-8, 215-pound forward Mike Scott succeeded in securing the blessing of his father, who had wanted him to consider schools outside this state. The Scotts signed the necessary paperwork before the deadline passed and recently returned the letter of intent to Virginia.

A graduate of Chesapeake's Deep Creek High, Scott is enrolled in Hargrave Military Academy's postgraduate program. His classmates at Hargrave include two football players from Deep Creek - defensive back Ras-I Dowling and offensive tackle Billy Cuffee - who have committed to U.Va. for 2007.

Scott signed with Temple in November 2005 but was later released from his letter of intent after John Chaney retired as the Owls' coach. Scott should bolster a U.Va. frontcourt that will lose its best offensive threat - 6-10 Jason Cain - after this season.

"This kid can score the basketball," Hargrave coach Kevin Keatts said of Scott, who can play both forward positions.

"He's a skilled forward. He can shoot out to the [3-point line], but he can also score inside and rebound."

BREAKOUT GAME: As a freshman, swingman Mamadi Diane scored in double figures in only one road game: a Dec. 4, 2005, loss at Georgia Tech in which he missed 11 of 16 shots from the floor. His lowest point came in a late-season loss at North Carolina, where he missed all 11 of his field-goal attempts.

So when Diane averaged 16.3 points in Virginia's first four games this season, Leitao and others reserved judgment. All of those games were at John Paul Jones Arena; the fifth would be at Purdue's Mackey Arena.

"It was as much a test for him as it was for us, because we all knew he hadn't played well on the road last year," Leitao said yesterday.

Diane, a 6-5 sophomore from Potomac, Md., passed that test in impressive fashion Wednesday night. The Cavaliers lost 61-59 to the Boilermakers, but Diane made 7 of 11 shots from the floor, including 3 for 6 from beyond the arc, and added three assists and three steals to go with his 17 points.

For the season, Diane is averaging 16.4 points - he ranks ninth among ACC players - and 3.6 rebounds. He's shooting 65.1 percent from the floor, 54.2 percent from 3-point range and 92.9 percent from the line.

"I've been on him, and he's been working hard, and more than working hard, he's been working consistent," Leitao said.

"Fortunately for us, and fortunately for him, his consistency and his effort on a day-to-day basis has been paying off. . . . He's averaging more points, he's averaging more minutes, he's more involved in the game, he's more emotional, and that's what happens when guys come into programs and work their tail off. Sooner or later, they get better."

GROWING PAINS: In his second season at U.Va., Leitao still is trying to impress his philosophy on a team that includes only two seniors.

"Anybody in here have children?" he asked reporters after the game at Purdue. "You have children that don't turn the light off in their room. And you keep saying, 'Turn the light off, turn the light off,' and you go upstairs and the lights are on. How do you account for that?

"It's hard until they finally get it, and that's the same thing with young guys in basketball. The way you overcome it is either you're so talented that it doesn't matter nearly as much, or you're so mature that you can focus in. And we're not a team [that is] real good at both of those yet, and so we have to try to continue to get on them and teach them and have them understand and learn that someone's [got to] shut the light off."

SWITCHING AROUND? At his end-of-season news conference Tuesday, football coach Al Groh indicated he's considering position changes for several players.

Candidates include inside linebacker Rashawn Jackson, who might move to fullback, and outside linebacker Aaron Clark, who probably will end up on the offensive or defensive line, depending on how much weight he adds to his 6-5 frame.

Clark was listed at 254 pounds this season, when he saw little action as a second-team linebacker. He played as a true freshman in 2005, so U.Va. could redshirt him in 2007 while he bulks up, and he would have two years of eligibility remaining.

Virginia's starters at outside linebacker this season - Jermaine Dias and Clint Sintim - are expected back in '07, and depth at that position would come from Denzell Burrell, John-Kevin Dolce and, if he's cleared academically, Olu Hall.

As a redshirt freshman this season, Jackson played fullback in U.Va.'s goal-line offense. He began his U.Va. career as a running back but switched to linebacker midway through the 2005 season. Jackson averaged 10.3 yards per carry as a senior at St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City, N.J. - Jeff White
 

Cavs try to shake 1st-game jitters
Virginia has lost its last 11 ACC openers and most of those were not even close contests.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

The temptation with Virginia's men's basketball team -- indeed, with most of UVa's athletic programs -- is to assume that the Cavaliers will win all of their home games and lose all of their road games.

You couldn't prove that by Virginia's performance in ACC openers.

Since the 1994-95 season, the Cavaliers have lost 11 straight ACC openers, including six at home, where 25th-ranked UVa will entertain unbeaten North Carolina State today at 3:30 p.m.

Maybe Virginia's new 15,219-seat John Paul Jones Arena will change the Cavs' luck.

"I don't look at it from a historical perspective," said second-year coach Dave Leitao, whose first UVa team dropped its ACC opener at Georgia Tech, 63-54, but went 6-2 in ACC home games.

Often, during the streak of ACC-opening losses, the Cavaliers have been the underdog.

Today, they will be favored against a Wolfpack team picked to finish last in the ACC.

N.C. State was a two-point underdog at home Monday in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, but held off Michigan 74-67 despite the loss of senior point guard Engin Atsur to a pulled hamstring after six minutes.

First-year Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe on Friday described Atsur's status as day-to-day, "but we're not going to rush him back," he said.

"If you come back too soon, it might feel good, but you might re-injure it. It could be a week, it could be two weeks, it could be three weeks."

In Atsur's absence, Lowe turned to 6-foot-7, 212-pound junior Gavin Grant at point guard. That would create a height mismatch for 6-foot UVa point guard Sean Singletary, but Singletary would have the edge in quickness.

Singletary had 21 points Wednesday in a 61-59 loss at Purdue. Since Leitao's arrival, the Cavaliers are 2-12 on the road and 15-3 at home, including a 93-90 victory over then-No. 10 Arizona in the season opener.

In a Friday teleconference, Leitao scoffed at the notion that the Cavaliers might be operating under the assumption that they're supposed to win at home.

"When we get to practice today, I don't think overconfidence is something we'll suffer from," he said.
 

N.C. State may be thin on paper, but on court the 'Pack is unbeaten
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© December 2, 2006

It would seem that if anyone could relate to what Sidney Lowe is facing at N.C. State, it would be Virginia's Dave Leitao.

Like Leitao last season, Lowe inherited a paper-thin roster ill-equipped for the rigors of a long ACC basketball season.

Leitao had eight scholarship players last year.

Lowe has nine this year, after awarding a scholarship to former walk-on Bryan Nieman. One of those players won't be eligible until next semester. Another has played one minute this season.

But with the Wolfpack visiting Virginia on Sunday in the ACC opener for both teams, Leitao was in no mood Friday to offer sympathy to his coaching counterpart.

"I'd like him to feel for me," Leitao said. "They're undefeated. We're not."

Not after a 61-59 loss to Purdue on Wednesday that left the Cavaliers 4-1. It was Virginia's eighth straight loss on the road, dating to last January and not counting neutral-site games.

U.Va. won't play in a hostile gym again until Jan. 10 at North Carolina. The Cavaliers play five games at the John Paul Jones Arena and three in the San Juan Shootout before that.

With nagging injuries to several players, Leitao has had depth problems of his own but nothing compared to what Lowe is dealing with. What had been a seven-man rotation is down to six with the loss of point guard Engin Atsur, who'll miss Sunday's game with a pulled hamstring.

Atsur left Monday's game against Michigan barely six minutes in, and forward Gavin Grant filled in at the point. The Wolfpack (5-0) switched to a 2-3 zone defense to help camouflage its lack of depth.

"After Engin left, the guys actually picked it up a little bit," Lowe said.

Whether N.C. State can keep it up is the big question. The 6-foot-7 Grant is hardly a natural point guard. Virginia's strength, meanwhile, is its backcourt. Guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds combine for 32.6 points per game.

Again, Leitao is not exactly feeling Lowe's pain. He pointed out that the Wolfpack is averaging 12 turnovers a game, second-fewest in the conference.

"He's done a remarkable job in short period of time," Leitao said of Lowe.

Elsewhere in the ACC, North Carolina's Triangle is the place to be today, with North Carolina playing host to Kentucky at noon, and Duke playing host to Georgetown at 7 p.m.

The Hoyas knocked off a No. 1-ranked Duke team last January, ending the Blue Devils' 17-game winning streak. North Carolina is coming off a win over Ohio State - ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll - in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

On Sunday, Virginia Tech travels to Washington to meet George Washington in the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center. Georgia Tech and Miami open conference play in Coral Gables, Fla.

 

U.Va. decision on Groh won't change much
Dave Fairbank
December 2 2006

Some folks are reading the tea leaves over the University of Virginia football factory decision not to add another year to coach Al Groh's contract.

Big deal or not? Mild rebuke or major dis? Shot across the bow or no-confidence vote?

It appears to be a fairly straightforward business move: Virginia chose to overpay Chairman Al for the next four years and not the next five.

Not to condemn Groh's paycheck or his ability to make money. After all, this is still America, where folks can make tidy sums walking rich people's dogs and a couple of twenty-somethings can turn a simple video sharing Web site, YouTube, into a billion-dollar company.

It's worth noting that Groh didn't create all of this contract hooha following a 5-7 season that generated considerably more hoo than ha.

That distinction rests with his employers, particularly Virginia president "Checkbook John" Casteen, who signed off on the deal that makes Groh one of college football's highest-paid coaches.

By writing a lengthy contract with riders and rollovers for championship-level dollars, U.Va. officials framed the terms of the debate, set expectations and engaged folks both inside and out of the Realm of the Crossed Sabres.

As public relations goes, it's genius. The big contract and accompanying expectations guarantee that every move on and off the field becomes part of the news cycle.

On the flip side, remember how well Virginia's last protracted, big-dollar contract worked out, which Casteen and Co., seem to have conveniently ignored.

Basketball coach Pete Gillen practically collapsed under the weight of the 10-year, $9-million deal that ended with the university forking over $2 million to cover the final six years of a relationship that went south in a hurry.

Like Gillen, Groh didn't demand top dollar. Their agents secured it from an administration with stars in its eyes. Unlike Gillen, Groh and his flinty persona appear better suited to hold up to the scrutiny, if not the p.r. schmoozing.

And Groh's take - almost $1.8 million this year with annual increases to $2.17 million in 2010 - invites a lot of scrutiny.

As does his record. His teams are 42-33 overall and 25-23 versus ACC competition. Only Wake Forest's Jim Grobe and Duke's Ted Roof have lower winning percentages among the coaches still employed in the league, and Grobe's Deacons play for a title today.

All that said, Virginia's decision not to extend Groh's contract beyond 2010 has negligible impact. Barring meltdown on either end, he will roam the sidelines for four more years, ample time to determine if he can elevate the program to where he and the school want.

Virginia still has the option to lengthen his deal after each of the next three seasons, which conceivably could keep him in Charlottesville through 2013.

Groh doesn't figure to see the potential end of the deal. He turns 63 next summer and while he still has as much energy as some people half his age, it's more likely he'll walk away before 70, as long as he knows he's leaving his alma mater's program in better shape than he found it.

Some within the fan base are concerned that the decision not to extend will hurt recruiting, that the next class and particularly the successive one will have no assurance that Groh will be there to coach them their entire careers.

Granted, coaching continuity is an undervalued factor in college football, especially at a program with championship aspirations in a league with others who routinely tread the championship path.

But regime change is inevitable. Take the ACC. Removing Bobby Bowden and Frank Beamer from the equation, since their longevity at their respective schools is wildly unusual and skews the numbers, Groh is right at the average tenure of an ACC head coach.

Groh just completed his sixth season. Minus Bowden and Beamer, the remaining 10 head coaches averaged 6.4 years at their schools, and three of them were gone at season's end.

The Virginia-Groh marriage is secure for now. But check back. This time next year we'll do it all over again.