Cavs shake Caribbean nightmare
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
December 29, 2006

No palm trees in sight. No Caribbean music or warm gentle breezes off the Atlantic.

The tropics of Puerto Rico, which seemed to lull Virginia’s basketball team to sleep for three days during last week’s San Juan Shootout, was all in the Cavaliers’ past. Instead, it was home sweet home on Thursday night when UVa got back to business in a 91-70 explosion over visiting American University.

Plagued by a lack of defensive intensity and offensive cohesion in back-to-back losses against Appalachian State and Utah in San Juan, the Cavs appeared to be back on track in both departments in spoiling former UVa coach Jeff Jones’ homecoming.

Coach Dave Leitao, who was clearly embarrassed by his team’s defensive woes in Puerto Rico, was somewhat satisfied with the effort he received against the visiting Eagles, at least for one half. Virginia held AU to 19 points in the first half, the lowest output by a Cavalier opponent in two years.

While the Eagles assembled a 51-point second half and converted 56.7 percent of their shots in doing so, it didn’t detract from what Leitao attempted to accomplish.

“I think in the short time that I’ve been here, that was about as good a 20 minutes of defense as you can play,” said Leitao of the first half. “I thought we really took them out of their rhythm and, as a result, only shot 24 percent.”

American hit only 7 of 29 field-goal attempts during that half, and only 1 of 12 from 3-point range. But the second half was a more-than-subtle reminder of what the team experienced just before Christmas in the Caribbean.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do because we did let up the intensity and gave them [51] points, which is part of what got us into the trouble that we were in over the last week,” said Leitao, who realizes this is a work in progress.

For three long days in Puerto Rico, Leitao blamed all of his team’s shortcomings on its inability to play good defense.

Even though UVa’s offense was nothing to write home about, Leitao wouldn’t even talk about that phase of the game. All the troubles traced back to defense, which he hoped to correct once he returned home and went back to the drawing board on the fundamental side of the game.

“It starts with intensity,” Leitao said after watching his team improve to 8-3. “It almost looked comical at times. It wasn’t funny. We had three guys banging into each other. When one guy switched, another didn’t. Two guards were guarding a guy without the ball and leaving the guy with the ball open. Those are fundamental errors that get corrected Day 1, and we were making them very consistently for three games. Our corrections had much more to do from the neck up.”

Jones, who coached the Cavaliers for eight seasons during the 1990s, said that his team caught Virginia at the wrong time.

“I can’t imagine that basketball team losing two games the way they did down in Puerto Rico,” said Jones, who received a warm welcome from the 13,126 fans on hand.

Jason Williford, a former UVa player who is now an assistant for Jones at AU, put together the scouting report on the Cavaliers and alerted Jones that, in his opinion, Virginia would try to deliver the knockout punch early.

Give Williford a gold star for his prediction. While the Cavs struggled offensively in Puerto Rico, that wasn’t the case on home soil, particularly for star point guard Sean Singletary.

The Caribbean trip had been a nightmare for Singletary, who suffered through an inexplicable three days of horrible shooting. Collectively, he connected on only 8 of 36 shots over that three-game stretch, and just 1 of 11 from Bonusphere.

Singletary nearly beat those statistics in the first half Thursday night when he scored 13 of UVa’s first 17 points, including 13 consecutive points. Needing just 24 coming into the game to become a 1,000-point scorer for his career, Singletary lit up the scoreboard for 33, two shy of his career high.

He was 9 of 16 for the night, including 5 of 9 from beyond the arc as he and backcourt mate J.R. Reynolds combined for 59 points, the most the tandem had ever posted together.

Clearly, this was not the same group of Wahoos who lost their way last week. Reynolds, who surpassed the 20-point mark (26) for the 17th time in the senior’s career (and did it this time without the benefit of a 3-pointer), is still scratching his head over the San Juan journey.

It was as if imposters had switched into Virginia uniforms for three days, then did a quick change for last night’s performance in John Paul Jones Arena, where the Cavaliers are 7-0 this season.

“I still can’t figure it out,” said Reynolds of the Bermuda Triangle effect on Virginia’s basketball team. “It was a different Virginia team and I can’t explain it.

“It’s something I want to turn the page on and just learn from it. We can’t let it happen again. It was more of a mental thing, but it’s going to take time to get back in the groove and play team defense.”

The competition only gets tougher from this point onward as the likes of Gonzaga, Stanford, North Carolina, Boston College, Maryland and Wake Forest loom directly in Virginia’s upcoming path.

That doesn’t leave Leitao a lot of time to get his team right from “the neck up” as he mentioned. There aren’t any more free lunches in sight.

 

Cavs gets slap-happy in win over American
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
December 30, 2006

Virginia basketball fans probably didn’t like it, but their team took a page out of Duke’s psych-yourself-up manual during its 91-70 win over American on Thursday night.

On several defensive sequences, UVa players slapped the floor.

“It’s a quick reminder about what we’re trying to do - a reminder to get in your stance, a quick show of uniformity and togetherness,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, “and hopefully it means something.

“We did it more in the first half than we did in the second. It’s something we have to continue to do - not just slap the floor, but the mindset that comes from that - to be better for longer.”

Virginia had one of its better defensive efforts of the year against American. The Cavs held the Eagles to just 40-percent shooting and allowed only five 3-pointers - a stark contrast from the debacle in Puerto Rico in which they allowed Appalachian State and Utah to shoot a combined 58 percent from the field, including 51 percent from 3-point range.

Duke is the school that is most associated with the floor slap. If Virginia can play better defense than it did in Puerto Rico, UVa fans will probably learn to live with the maneuver.

Tucker making strides

In the San Juan Shootout, Jamil Tucker was the invisible man. The freshman played just 30 minutes in three games and scored only six points.

But against American, Tucker had one of his best games of the season, scoring a career-high nine points.

“He’s a first-year guy that’s a work in progress,” Leitao said. “I think the delicate thing about those is that their mistakes are always magnified more in their own mind than in reality.

“When they don’t do things right, they’re quick to get down on themselves and don’t have the kind of minutes to prove themselves as some of the older guys.”

Although Tucker, just like every other player, didn’t play well in Puerto Rico, he has made strides in the last month.

“He looked more comfortable the last few days in practice, defensively, and he looked more comfortable all the way around [against American],” Leitao said.

Return of the fist pumps

Another player who is hoping to find his groove is sophomore Lars Mikalauskas. The 6-foot-8 Lithuanian has been a shell of himself this season because of ankle injuries sustained in the preseason.

Against American, Mikalauskas had one sequence that harkened back to memories from last season. He connected on a 3-point play, then started pumping his fists wildly, to the fans’ delight.

Mikalauskas finished with five points, including a surprising 3-for-3 performance at the free-throw line.

Raking it in

Virginia was 27 for 28 (96.4 percent) from the free-throw line against American - the best “non-perfect” performance in school history. The previous best “non-perfect” game was a 24-for-25 effort (96 percent) against Marquette in 1988.

Tat getting closer?

Leitao sounded optimistic that the team would be getting Solomon Tat back sooner than expected. The freshman has played in just one game this season due to a groin injury.

Tat didn’t make the trip to San Juan last week so that he could concentrate on his rehab.

Leitao can’t wait to have the Nigerian back.

“He’s a high energy guy that sparks other people - so it’s not just him, but the other people that he affects positively on the team,” Leitao said.

“We’re hoping that things go well and he can be back as soon as possible. We’re going to try and defy time, like we did with Will [Harris] and see if we can get him back quicker.”

 

Cavs' injury bug bites Pettinella
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Ryan Pettinella, a starter in seven of his first 10 games after transferring to Virginia, is expected to be sidelined three or four weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery Friday.

Pettinella, a 6-foot-9, 238-pound junior, was injured in the opening minutes of UVa's 59-52 victory over Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the seventh-place game of the San Juan Shootout on Dec. 21.

The kneecap in Pettinella's left knee became dislocated, then popped back into place, but not before cartilage was loosened. An arthroscope was needed to remove the loose cartilage.

Pettinella, who was averaging 5.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 14.9 minutes per game, is the third UVa player to have surgery since October. Bone spurs were removed from one of Will Harris' feet and Tunji Soroye had an operation to repair a sports hernia.

A fourth player, freshman Solomon Tat, suffered a groin injury in the preseason but played Nov. 12 in UVa's opener against Arizona. Doctors subsequently prescribed rest as the best method of treatment and Tat has not been in uniform the past six weeks.

"I think we'll be a better team when we get Solomon back," coach Dave Leitao said. "He was -- is -- a high, high energy guy and that sparks other people. It's not just him. It's the people he affects positively on the team."

With Pettinella out, the 6-11, 245-pound Soroye got his second start of the season and played 12 minutes in Thursday's 91-70 win against American University. Soroye did not score from the field but made all four of his free-throw attempts, making him 7-for-7 from the line for the year.

Jason Cain's streak of 34 consecutive starts was snapped, although he did play 15 minutes, an upgrade on his four-minute appearance against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez.

Harris, a 6-6 swingman, got his first start and had a game-high seven rebounds in 24 minutes.

Milestone

Junior guard Sean Singletary scored more points (33) against American than he scored in three games (32) in Puerto Rico. In the process, he went over the 1,000-point mark for his career and now stands at 1,009.

A 26-point night by Singletary's backcourt mate, J.R. Reynolds, put Reynolds at 1,272. He has moved up from 37th on UVa's all-time scoring list at the beginning of the year to 23rd and needs 15 points to pass Cory Alexander, who was in attendance Thursday for the return of his former coach, Jeff Jones, now the coach at American.

Reynolds averaged 20 points in the past four games after averaging 13.8 in the first seven. He also has converted 32 of his past 37 free throws (86.5 percent) after hitting 19 of his first 30. Singletary has taken over the ACC lead at 94.1 percent (80 for 85).

Home vs. road

In two seasons under Leitao, Virginia is 18-3 at home, 2-12 on the road and 3-3 at neutral sites, with Division II Puerto Rico-Mayaguez representing one of those neutral-site wins.

"It's a mental thing," Reynolds said. "People keep telling you, 'You haven't won on the road, you haven't won on the road.' Until we black that out and start to focus on playing together as a team, it's going to be tough for us to win on the road. We've got to keep taking care of our home and steal two or three road games."
 

Challenge for Taylor, Lalich not all that imposing
Best offensive-line prospect is anybody’s guess
By Doug Doughty

There haven’t been many years when I’ve felt comfortable with The Roanoke Times’ annual ranking of the state’s top football prospects, and this year was no exception.

Two days before publication, I awakened with the gnawing feeling that I hadn’t done due diligence on Matoaca running back Patrick Mills and wondering how I could have found a spot for accomplished Salem High School quarterback Mark Hanabury.

By then, it was too late. The top five players had to be picked by Dec. 18, in time for sports editor Jeff Gilbert to come up with the photos, and the rest of the list was finalized by Dec. 22 – a few days earlier than usual, owing to Christmas falling on a Monday, weekend staffing, early deadlines, etc.

If I could make one change to the list, I’d look long and hard at moving Osbourn quarterback Brandon Hogan into the top five. Hogan, the Group AAA player of the year, was 18th on The Roanoke Times preseason list and moved up to eighth by Christmas.

If I were reasonably certain that Hogan would meet NCAA eligibility guidelines and be at West Virginia next season, I would put him no lower than No. 4 and possibly move him ahead of No. 3 Cris Hill, a defensive back from Highland Springs.

Hogan is listed at 6 feet, which is short for a Division I-A quarterback, and I’d be interested to see if he’s that tall. But Marques Hagans was a pretty good college quarterback at 5-10, and Hogan’s ability to pass and run the football fits well into the WVU scheme.

There’s no knock intended at Hill, but, if you’re Virginia Tech, who would you take: running back Branden Ore, rated as the No. 7 prospect in the state in 2003, or defensive back Macho Harris, rated No. 1 in 2004? Harris starts for the nation’s No. 1-ranked defense, but you’d have to take Ore because there’s more opportunity for a running back to make an impact.

(You’d certainly take Ore over reserve Hokies’ defensive back Kent Hicks, rated No. 5 – ahead of Ore – in the same 2004 Roanoke Times list. That was the same class in which Virginia-bound Robinson High School linebacker Olu Hall was No. 1, ahead of Eddie Royal, Chris Long and Sean Glennon. Three years later, Hall still hasn’t lettered).

The point was made last week that Tyrod Taylor and Peter Lalich were the first pair of quarterbacks to be ranked 1-2 in the state and a switch involving Hogan would have made it 1-2-3. Comparisons were inevitable to the 1997-98 recruiting class in which Ronald Curry and Michael Vick were Nos. 1 and 3.

That duo had considerable star power, but you could have had better college careers than Curry and Vick had. Vick was third in the Heisman Trophy balloting following his redshirt freshman season in 1999 and was the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft following the 2000 season, but he played only two years.

It might surprise some people to read how similar Michael Vick’s two-year passing totals (3,074 yards; 20 touchdown passes) were to those of his younger brother Marcus (2,868; 19 TD passes). Marcus, also a two-year player for the Hokies, had the better passing percentage (59.8 to 56.5).

Other state products to pass for more yardage than the Vicks during their Tech careers were Bryan Randall (6,394); Maurice DeShazo (5,720) and Mark Cox (3,526). Certainly, you’d have to figure in Tech’s 22-2 record during Michael Vick’s two seasons as starting quarterback, but did the older Vick have a better college career than Bryan Randall? The individual statistics wouldn’t support that.

Curry finished his college career as the all-time leading passer at North Carolina, but Carolina has not been known for its quarterbacks and Curry’s career passing total (4,987) has since been dwarfed by Darian Durant’s 8,755.

An unofficial list of the top state quarterbacks based on their total-offense numbers at the Division I-A level would include Virginia’s Shawn Moore (7,897); Randall (7,816); DeShazo (6,105); Hagans (5,779); Virginia’s Aaron Brooks (5,665); Duke’s Mike Dunn (5,140), and Michael Vick (4,276).

Of course, Bethel High School of Hampton once had a quarterback who went on to college and pro stardom, but that was in basketball. Who knows where Allen Iverson would have rated if he had stuck to football? The gauntlet has been extended for Taylor and Lalich.

UNDER NO SCENARIO would Cris Hill have dropped out of the top five, but Christchurch safety J’Courtney Williams and Varina safety Davon Morgan owed their lofty postseason rankings to the absence of compelling arguments on behalf of their competitors.

Questions about level and competition have been raised about Williams, while Morgan, who also played quarterback, missed most of the season with a knee injury, although he did return for the last four games. Once more, a decision was needed by Dec. 18 and I couldn’t decide who should replace them, so I kept the status quo from the preseason list.

Culpeper linebacker and fellow UVa recruit Terence Fells-Danzer was a consideration to replace Williams, and Clover Hill offensive lineman Blake DeChristopher could have taken Morgan’s place, but DeChristopher did not make first-team All-Central Region.

Tech has taken commitments from four offensive linemen and could get a fifth, Maurice Hampton from Phoebus High School in Hampton. Of that group, Alvarez and Hampton were first-team All-Group AAA selections at tackle, Jaymes Brooks of Denbigh was a second-team choice at guard and Khalil Latif was a second-team choice at tackle.

It’s hard to say DeChristopher was the best of the bunch, based on the postseason all-star teams, but that’s where most analysts had him, based on his visits. Offensive linemen aren’t the easiest college prospects to evaluate, but there should be some keepers in that bunch.

ZIRKLE BLAKEY of Virginia Preps reports that two Roanoke Times’ Top 100 prospects have made commitments, first-team All-Group AA running back Phillip Thaxton from Grafton (Delaware) and first-team All-Group A offensive tackle Toney White from Manassas Park (Liberty).

Thaxton was 39th on the list and White was 58th.
 

Leaving with no regrets
After 10 years in the National Football League, Tiki Barber will play his last regular-season game tonight.
BY MELINDA WALDROP
247-4634
December 30, 2006

ASHBURN -- Tiki Barber has no doubt that he'll make a trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day.

"I'll be up there on that stage introducing my brother, and that'll be worth it," he said.

University of Virginia products Tiki and Ronde Barber have been twin staples in the NFL for a decade. Four-time Pro Bowler Ronde is in his 10th season as a cornerback for Tampa Bay, while Tiki, in his 10th year with the New York Giants, has developed into one of the NFL's top running backs. His 1,428 rushing yards this season are fourth in the league, and his 2007 Pro Bowl selection was his third straight.

With 10,215 career yards, Barber would have been a lock to make it to Canton on his own merits with a few more 1,000-yard seasons. But he's not planning to stick around that long.

Barber will retire after this season. His Giants (7-8) probably need to beat the Redskins (5-10) tonight to extend his career into the playoffs.

But as the end of his football days draws closer, Barber is far from melancholy.

"I'm so excited to get involved in the next level of my life," he said.

With his cheekbones and charisma, Barber already is well on his way to a broadcasting career as co-host of the morning news show "FOX & Friends" - watched by, among others, Redskins coach Joe Gibbs. More details about his post-football career will come within a week, Barber said.

When Barber's plans to retire became public in October, fans and the media were puzzled and, in some cases, outraged. Barber was labeled as selfish, and some pundits traced the Giants' losing skid - they've lost six of their last seven games to fall from 6-2 and in first place in the NFC East into a fight for a wildcard berth - to Barber's announcement.

"I understand (the criticism)," Barber said. "It's a dream that I'm living. It's the greatest job in America, and how could I want to walk away from it? ... We live in a culture where sports is paramount in a lot of people's lives, and there's a lack of understanding about (athletes) on a personal level. They see us on Sunday afternoons, but they don't see us Monday through Saturday when my body is broken down and I can barely walk and I can't play with my kids (sons A.J. and Chason)."

But on the field, Barber hardly seems broken down.

Barber had just one 1,000-yard season from 1997, his rookie season, until 2001 because he was used primarily as a third-down specialist. But after an increased commitment to strength training paid off in a 1,387-yard performance in 2002, Barber has consistently put up big numbers, culminating in a career-high 1,860 yards last year.

So why walk away now, when there's obviously a lot left in the tank?

"My position takes major pounding, and eventually you walk off cliffs," Barber said. "It's not like you go from 1,500 to 1,200 to 1,000 yards. You go from 1,500 to 400, and all of a sudden you're washed up. ... It's better to leave a year too early than a year too late, and I think I'm doing that."

Barber's departure can't come soon enough for Gibbs. In the Giants' 19-3 victory against Washington on Oct. 8, Barber rushed for 123 yards. In an October 2005 meeting, Barber bulldozed the Redskins for 206 yards and a touchdown en route to a 36-0 shellacking. Even in a losing effort last Christmas Eve, Barber combined for 165 rushing and receiving yards and scored a TD.

"That guy has haunted us," Gibbs said. "I'd like to see him doing something else in the future."

Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said Barber's versatility is his strongest suit.

"(He's) deceptively fast and quick, and more powerful than a lot of people would give him credit for," Williams said. "He's a tackle-breaker, along with the fact that he can run away from you."

Barber's counterpart, Washington running back Ladell Betts, will break a Redskins record if he notches his sixth straight 100-yard game today. But even as he focuses on his own job, Betts has taken note of Barber's career - and how it's ending.

"Many guys in this league don't get that opportunity," Betts said. "Most of us get forced out. So whenever you have an opportunity to leave on your own terms, that says something about you as a player."

And - perhaps more importantly to Barber - as a person.

"This game chews up players and spits them out and tells them when they're done," Barber said.

"Whether it's injury or your talent wanes, whatever it may be, you get kicked out of this league. And in some ways, it's part of an ego play on my part to be able to walk away when I want to and go out on my own terms and set my own path. I'm excited for that."

Barber, Ready to Drift Off, Insists Redskins Will Be in Focus
By JOHN BRANCH
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Dec. 28 — When Tiki Barber’s plans to retire at the end of the season became public in mid-October, concerns that the news could become a distraction evaporated quickly.

The Giants had just beaten the Falcons in Atlanta and, after the news broke, they defeated three teams in a row to extend their winning streak to five games. Barber, the running back scampering eagerly toward a career in television news, averaged 22 carries and 110 rushing yards in the four games after his plans were revealed.

But in the past six games, he has averaged 19 carries and 76 yards. And in the desperate search for scapegoats and answers to the team’s dramatic fall — once 6-2, the Giants are 7-8 — the focus, as usual, has turned to Barber, long a fan favorite.

Call it Barber backlash; the best-known face of the Giants has become a convenient and accessible face of their downfall.

On a conference call Wednesday with reporters who cover the Washington Redskins, the team that plays host to the Giants on Saturday night, Barber was asked whether he had lost his passion for football.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “Because on Sunday afternoons I am as competitive and as passionate a person as there comes.”

But, Barber added, “During the week, I am sitting in a meeting, and instead of being solely focused on the Washington Redskins, I will be thinking about other things.”

That type of bare admission, combined with an active nonfootball schedule and Barber’s ever-expanding man-about-town persona, have fostered a debate about his role in the team’s struggles.

His approval rating among Giants fans appears to have slipped in concert with the team’s record. If increasing numbers of callers to radio talk shows and posters on fan Web sites do not see Barber as the primary reason the Giants are struggling, they seem to view him as an overexposed symptom of the team’s woes.

There is no evidence that Barber’s outside interests have anything to do with the Giants losing games. Yet Barber has been thrust atop a pile of accumulating reasons for the downfall. The pile includes such more likely culprits as injuries (coinciding with the start of the collapse), the inconsistent play of the quarterback, a suddenly porous run defense and the lingering effects of a blown 21-point fourth-quarter lead to the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 26.

Coach Tom Coughlin, told Thursday of Barber’s “thinking about other things” comment, said he was surprised. But when Barber’s lagging statistics in the second half of the season were mentioned, Coughlin quickly rose to Barber’s defense.

“This is the first time I’ve heard this, but he comes to work, spends the quality time in the meeting room; his coaches are very pleased with how he prepares himself,” Coughlin said. “He goes out and plays the game as hard as he can and I have no reason to believe otherwise.”

On Saturday, Barber may play his final N.F.L. game, a game the Giants probably have to win to make the playoffs. After his last full-scale practice Thursday, Barber emerged from a meeting room and was quickly surrounded by the news media in the concourse of Giants Stadium.

Though Barber is not the type to harbor nostalgia about the end of his career, he was peppered with questions about his emotions. He is caught in an awkward position — a man who admittedly is more excited about his next job than his current one, but who carries much of his staggering team’s postseason hopes.

“I love this game, but I also have great excitement about what I’m going to do next,” Barber said. “It’s a steppingstone in my life, and I’m excited to have one more chance in the regular season.”

He was also asked whether his daydreaming was evidence that he had checked out of his football career.

“If I play like I’m checked out, then I’m checked out — I don’t think I ever have,” he said, adding that he had long been a meeting-room daydreamer, dating from when Sean Payton, now head coach of the Saints, was a Giants assistant, from 1999-2002.

“He used to get on me because he used to think I was bored in meetings,” Barber said of Payton. “It’s just my approach. It’s how I prepare. I’m lucky because I get things quickly, and I’m looking for things to think about.”

Fans of the Giants are thinking about reasons why their team has folded. And the made-for-TV Barber, typically front and center, provides the easiest bull’s-eye, no matter how off target it may be.

EXTRA POINTS

Tight end Jeremy Shockey (ankle) did not practice again Thursday and Coach Tom Coughlin said a decision about whether he would play in Saturday’s game will likely to be made an hour and a half before kickoff. ...Offensive lineman Rich Seubert (shin) did not practice and remained doubtful.