Lengthy Break Almost Over for Bennett's Team
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 12/17/2009
Dec. 17, 2009
2:28 p.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- In November, the UVa men's basketball team played seven games in a span of 18 days.

The Cavaliers have played once this month.

That was on Dec. 7, when UVa lost 68-67 at Auburn. Classes ended at Virginia the next day, and students began studying for final exams, which conclude Friday.

UVa's next game is Saturday night against UNC Wilmington at John Paul Jones Arena.

Tony Bennett spent six seasons at Washington State, the final three as head coach, before coming to Virginia last spring.

At WSU, the basketball team broke for final exams, too, but only for about a week.

"Certainly there's challenges [with UVa's schedule]," Bennett said Thursday afternoon, "because you're not playing, and we have a heck of a team coming in here on Saturday.

"It's an interesting schedule we have. We've played so many games in a short amount of time, and then [there is] a monster break like we had. But it's necessary when you're at a school like Virginia. The way they put the finals, the length of it, that's the way it goes."

The good news, Bennett said, is that the break between games means "you really can get to work on practicing. Now, sometimes [the players'] minds are in different places, but we've tried to use it to really work hard and get some quality practice time and work on some things that we haven't been able to address when games were upon us ... So you just try to find the positive in it and go to work."

UVa has been practicing hard for two days in a row, Bennett said, and then taking a day off. And then repeating the process.

"Hopefully it helps them physically and, most importantly, gives them the time to study hard and prepare for their exams," Bennett said.

Virginia (4-4) plays its next five games at JPJ. New Jersey Institute of Technology comes to town on Monday night, Hampton on Wednesday night, UAB on Dec. 30 and Texas-Pan American on Jan. 5.

UVa's ACC opener is Jan. 9 at N.C. State.

The Cavaliers' most talented big man, 6-8 junior Mike Scott, hasn't practiced since suffering a high-ankle sprain Dec. 5. Scott's status for the UNCW game remains uncertain.

"It's kind of day to day," Bennett said. "There's been certainly a nice amount of time to rehab and recover. Time heals and, as they say, therapy amuses. But I think he's getting good therapy, and he's certainly doing the things he needs to do to strengthen it.

"I just don't know. He's progressing, I know that. So that's positive. We were hoping we'd probably be a little further along, but we're not going to rush it, that's for sure."

-- Jeff White

 

Cavs try to adjust following big layoff
By Norm Wood | 247-4642
December 18, 2009

As close as Virginia's men's basketball team has come to pulling out a few games and changing the complexion of its nonconference season, it's a good thing first-year coach Tony Bennett is a patient man.

While guards Sylven Landesberg and Sammy Zeglinski seemingly have taken to Bennett's presence without much trouble, it's hard to say how the frontcourt is adjusting, since so many of the big men haven't been available for periods of time.

U.Va. (4-4) has experienced some agonizing losses, including a 68-67 loss Dec. 7 at Auburn in the Cavaliers' last time on the floor. Auburn's Brendon Knox won the game via a tip-in with 1.4 seconds left.

U.Va. will resume its season Saturday at home against UNC Wilmington in the Cavaliers' first game since coming off the Dec. 9-18 exam and reading break.

"It's necessary when you're at a school like Virginia," Bennett said regarding the lengthy study-related layoff from games. "That's just the way it goes, but you really can get to work on practicing. Now, sometimes their minds are in different places, but we've tried to use it to really work hard, get some quality practice time and work on some things we haven't been able to address when games were upon us every two or three or every few days."

Three of U.Va.'s losses have come by five points or fewer, which equals the number of losses by five points or fewer Bennett endured all of last season — his last of three seasons as Washington State's coach.

Center Assane Sene still is getting back into shape after missing the first three games due to a suspension. Forward Jamil Tucker is practicing, but hasn't played yet after taking an undetermined leave of absence for the first 2 1/2 weeks of the season. Forward Mike Scott, who is second on the team with 13.1 points per game and leads with 9.3 rebounds per game, missed the Auburn game due to a high ankle sprain from which he's still recovering.

"It's been tough," said Landesberg, who is leading U.Va. with 16.9 points per game, but who had just three of his 20 points against Auburn in the second half. "We've got people playing out of position. We've got a few inconsistent areas, but it's just something you've got to deal with. Things happen during the season and you've got to be able to play through them. …We're still learning."

Zeglinski has adjusted to the learning curve better than most of U.Va.'s players. He's averaging 10.9 points per game while shooting 49 percent from 3-point range (20 of 41). He's also sporting a decent 1.4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Considering Bennett's background as a point guard, which included four years at Wisconsin from 1988-92 and three years in the National Basketball Association with the Charlotte Hornets, Zeglinski appreciates the fact Bennett speaks a similar guard-oriented language.

"I feel a pretty good connection with him," Zeglinski said. "I feel like we're always on the same page. I really just want to be an extension of him when I'm on the floor, and just look to him for answers."

Jontel Evans, a freshman from Bethel High, also has made a positive impact. Though he's averaging just 1.3 points per game, his defensive prowess off the bench has caught Bennett's eye.

"He has the ability to lock on to the ball," Bennett said. "He got into the lane a few times (against Auburn). With a first-year guy, I just want him to keep giving us lifts and, when called upon, be ready."

One of U.Va.'s biggest challenges continues to be adjusting to Bennett's unique defensive style, which Zeglinski said requires players to guard the ball more than individual players, and shut down passing lanes to prevent easy scores in the lane. Against U.Va., opposing teams are shooting 43.7 percent, which is 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and 39.2 percent from 3-point range, last in the ACC.

"You look at your personnel and you adjust," Bennett said. "With Mike Scott being out, that changes how it goes with different personnel at times. We've played four perimeter guys on the floor. We've had different lineups, and certainly the competition is going to keep stepping up. … We'll continue to add some things and take out some things."

Cavaliers’ frontcourt still in flux
By Whitey Reid
Published: December 18, 2009
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Mike Scott is day-to-day, Jamil Tucker is still a no-go and Assane Sene is showing some signs of life.

Those were the biggest things to come out of Virginia coach Tony Bennett’s teleconference on Thursday afternoon.

Bennett, whose 4-4 squad hosts UNC-Wilmington (4-6) on Saturday night, said the high ankle sprain that caused Scott to miss the team’s last game at Auburn is slowly getting better. However, the team’s best rebounder’s status for Saturday remains iffy.

“As they say, therapy amuses, time heals,” Bennett said. “He’s progressing — I know that. That’s positive. We were hoping he would be a little further along, but we’re not going to rush it, that’s for sure.”

Tucker’s situation is a little more curious. The 6-foot-9 forward, who took a personal leave of absence from the team just before the start of the season only to return after Thanksgiving, continues to practice. However, he still hasn’t played in any games, and isn’t likely to play on Saturday, according to Bennett.

“We’re waiting on a couple of things,” Bennett said, “but as of right now, probably not.”

Without the duo in the lineup, Bennett hopes to get more production out of sophomore Assane Sene. Coming into the season, it was widely assumed that the 7-footer would be one of the team’s most important players. However, Sene was suspended for three games, then missed some practice time with an ankle injury of his own.

After an impressive season debut against Oral Roberts, the Senegal native disappeared in the team’s next three games, which included a DNP against Penn State.

Against Auburn, without Scott in the rotation, Sene played a season-high 20 minutes. He finished with two points, three rebounds and three blocks.

Bennett said he has liked what he has seen out of Sene in practice recently.

“He’s continuing to come,” Bennett said. “He had the suspension and then the sprained ankle, so that cost him.

“Obviously Jerome [Meyinsse] has played well and Will [Sherrill] has done some good things. It’s just a matter of fighting and competing, and trying to establish himself. I think there is a lot of parity on this team, so hopefully if Assane will continue to improve and work, he’ll carve out more opportunities.”
 

White: Bittersweet Day for UVa Lacrosse Family
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 12/17/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It seemed only fitting that the ceremony at which the late Michael Colley was honored took place not more than a long fly ball from Camden Yards in Baltimore.
Lacrosse and football were not Colley's only athletic passions. He fervently followed the Orioles in good seasons and, more often of late, in bad.
The U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association held its annual convention last week, and Colley posthumously received the Doyle Smith Sports Information/Media Award.
The audience at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor included Colley's mother, Bert, his former colleague and boss Rich Murray, and UVa men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia.
Colley, who worked for 18 years in UVa's athletics media relations department, died of a heart attack July 11 in Virginia Beach. He was 46, and his passing stunned the lacrosse community.
In Baltimore, accepting the Doyle Smith Award on Colley's behalf was his close friend Myron Ripley, whose remarks can be read here.
"Myron gave a very touching speech," Starsia said.
Smith, who died in 2004, was a legendary figure in the UVa athletics department and the lacrosse world, as well as a friend and mentor to Colley.
Ripley, a fixture in the Charlottesville lacrosse community as a coach and a statistician, also was a protégé of Smith.
The USILA presents the Doyle Smith Award each year to a person who has contributed significantly to the coverage and promotion of the sport.
At the same luncheon, UVa lacrosse player Max Pomper received the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association's second annual Boston Market Humanitarian Award.
Pomper was unable to attend, so Starsia accepted on his behalf.
"I was very touched by the fact that the lacrosse community, the coaches and institutions, chose to honor Max and Mike the way they did," Starsia said.
Pomper, a senior from Long Island, N.Y., launched a fundraiser this year -- a flag-football tournament called "Remembering Will Barrow" -- to benefit HELP, UVa's student-run crisis hotline.
Barrow, who was a standout defensive midfielder for UVa, took his life in November 2008.
Two of Pomper's teammates, Mikey Thompson and Kyle Menendez, also deserve special recognition for their roles in ensuring that the inaugural tournament came off as planned Nov. 7.
"Sometimes with these community-service projects, all well-intentioned, you've got to drag players in kicking and screaming," Starsia said.
Not this time.
"This truly was a student-run event," Starsia said. "It was a great event, and we're really glad that somebody was able to make some good come out of such a senseless loss."
After the luncheon, several college coaches, including Syracuse's John Desko, Johns Hopkins' Dave Pietramala and UMBC's Don Zimmerman, sought out Colley's mother to tell her how much her son had meant to their sport.
"It meant a lot to her," Ripley said.
That touched Starsia, too. So did the actions of Princeton's Jerry Price, a nominee for the Doyle Smith Award.
Price withdrew his name from consideration, "because he wanted Mike to get the award. Everybody pulled together and did the right thing," Starsia said.
"One of the things I've always enjoyed about our sport is that it's still a very close community. Everybody sort of does know everybody else, and frankly I think people were shocked by what happened to Mike."
After his passing, the Virginia Athletics Foundation started a fund in Colley's memory. Nearly $14,000 has been raised, and the VAF is still accepting gifts.
A specific use for donations has not been determined, but money raised will support men's lacrosse at UVa.
Donations may be sent to: Michael Colley Memorial Fund, c/o Virginia Athletics Foundation, P.O. Box 400833, Charlottesville, VA, 22904.
For information, call (434) 982-5555 or (800) 626-8723.

 

UVa Insider, The Column - Doug Doughty | Roanoke Times

When it became apparent to Ed Reynolds that his oldest son was going to be recruited, he laid out three criteria that should be considered in the selection of a college.

“Number one, you’ve got to go to a great academic university because you’re a 3.9-4.0 student and football could end in one injury,” said Ed Sr., a former Virginia defensive end who spent 10 seasons in the National Football League.

“Second, you want a good football coach who’s going to be there for a while, who’s committed to the program and the program is committed to him.

“And, you want [a school] that’s got a really good quarterback. With a really good quarterback, you’re going to have an opportunity to win.”

Virginia was the first school to make a scholarship offer to Reynolds’ son, Ed II, but the Cavaliers subsequently pulled that offer when two other safety prospects committed before he was ready to commit.

Think that criteria No. 2 might have influenced his thinking?

If Reynolds had committed at the time that Virginia wanted an answer, he would not be playing for the head coach who had recruited him. Al Groh was fired Nov. 29 and replaced as UVa head coach by Mike London.

London visited Woodberry Forest earlier this week and advised him that UVa had a scholarship waiting for him.

“He called me,” Ed Sr. said. “We were visiting [North] Carolina and he said, ‘Ed, the first thing I want to do is come meet your son,’ this past Monday. He said, ‘I want to reinstate his scholarship.’ He said, ‘I know it may be too late, but I feel like he’s owed it because I feel that was a big mistake.’

“I thought that showed a tremendous amount of class. [Ed II] has a tremendous amount of respect for coach London. One of his teammates, the running back [Kendall Gaskins], went to Richmond on a scholarship last year.

“Coach London had heard about Ed because the player had said, ‘The kid you’ve got to watch who’s by far the best player on the team [is Reynolds] but you won’t have a shot at getting him here at Richmond.’ “

Ed II currently has scholarship offers from North Carolina, Duke, Stanford, North Carolina State and Virginia.

Ed Sr. works for the United Football League and is based in Jacksonville, Fla., but previously was an administrator for the National Football League. He returned periodically to Charlottesville, which is where he met London, an assistant on Groh’s first staff in 2001.

“You’ve got to go back there and walk the Lawn,” Ed Sr. said. “We drink the Kool-Aid in Charlottesville. That’s Mr. Jefferson’s University.

“When [London] went to Houston for a year when the Texans drafted Mario Williams, they offered to keep him, even though they were firing the staff. I offered to help him and he said, ‘Ed, the pros aren’t my thing. I think I’m going back to Virginia.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s good.’ “

London returned as defensive coordinator under Groh, who had coached the elder Reynolds in the NFL.

“I liked Al,” Ed Sr. said. “Al’s a friend. My only issue sometimes with Al is, he ran the program like he was still in the pros.

“When you have to deal with the alumni and the type of issues you’ve got at the college level, you’ve got to grip and grin more.

“George [Welsh] got the state back pretty much and what he couldn’t get went to Tech. Between [Frank] Beamer and George Welsh, the state of Virginia was locked down. Over the stretch of his time, Groh just lost the state.

“When a decision had to be made, I think they made the right decision. I think Mike London’s a great hire.”

Ed Reynolds II has been described as a “face-of-the-program” type of the player. A Prep League player who met the same description was former Collegiate quarterback Russell Wilson, who did not get an offer from Groh and became a first-team All-ACC choice for N.C. State.

“The rap on Woodberry when I got here was, it’s a great school but you won’t get to play college football if you go there,” Woodberry coach Clint Alexander said. “I think what you’re seeing now is, it’s possible to be polished on both ends.”

Woodberry defensive end Aramide Olaniyan has committed to UCLA and defensive end Duke Mosby is lined up for Wake Forest. Virginia had gone back and forth on Olaniyan, who also talked to London on Monday.

“I think Aramide’s a done deal [with UCLA],” Alexander said, “but he was certainly excited to meet coach London. They both loved him.

“It’s funny for me that Al never made it out, and Al was great to us when we came in there. He was very open to letting us come watch practice and those kinds of things, but he never made it to Woodberry. And, London already has been here.

“I think Ed’s thinking about it. It’s just late. It’s sad because it’s late in the process.”

Alexander said he could not have been more impressed with the two assistants that Groh sent to Woodberry, Anthony Poindexter and Wayne Lineburg. London retained Poindexter but didn’t reappoint Lineburg, who is close to an agreement to serve as offensive coordinator under new Richmond head coach Latrell Scott, the UVa receivers coach in 2009.

“I don’t know why they aren’t keeping coach Lineburg,” Alexander said. “He’s one of the best guys I’ve worked with.”

Alexander wouldn’t mind having some players at UVa and thinks the Cavaliers have their eyes on 6-foot-4, 272-pound Jason Creeden, a junior offensive lineman who was in UVa’s camp this summer.

And you get the idea that big Ed wouldn’t mind the sight of Ed II in orange and blue.

“I told him not to commit early,” said Ed. Sr., a Henry County product. “Even though I live and die with the Cavaliers, I said, ‘It’s not based on what I think.’ “

The Cavaliers said they pulled the offer because they had commitments from two other safeties, but Ed Sr. isn’t even sure that safety is Ed Jr.’s position. He could be an offensive player or he could grow into an outside linebacker.

“I think his decision will be coming sooner rather than later,” said Ed Sr., who has three younger sons, all of them athletes. “I think’s something he will do some time after the first year, but he’s a very mature 17-year-old.

“Once he makes his decision, there won’t be any second-guessing, looking back or playing with people.”

UVa freshman McCall learns on the fly
By Jay Jenkins
Published: December 18, 2009
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Given the depth in the class and the star power landed with All-American point guard China Crosby, there was little buzz attached to the commitment of little-known forward Telia McCall.

Virginia women’s basketball coach Debbie Ryan felt differently, adamantly insisting that the versatile player could, in fact, be the eventual gem in the program-changing class.

There have been moments this season as the 19th-ranked Cavaliers raced out to a 7-2 start that McCall has showcased those talents.

Just nine games into her career, McCall has also encountered her fair share of learning experiences, something that will continue on Sunday in a road game at Georgia.

The good and the bad were evident on Dec. 6 in a two-point loss to James Madison. In 20 minutes of action, McCall scored nine points, grabbed six rebounds and played intense defense.

But the 6-foot-1 Marietta, Ga., native missed a pair of 3-pointers as she tried to force shots in the tight contest.

“I thought she made some great decisions and some rookie mistakes, but you’re going to get that,” Ryan said. “I had to play her — I couldn’t find anyone else that was really lively enough to be able to switch everything.

“I could trust her against the guard out there. I had to play her and that’s why.”

Landing McCall, who is averaging 4.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, was tricky. The Cavaliers, in fact, were not even on the radar.

“At first I didn’t even know about Virginia,” McCall said. “I started looking into Virginia and I really liked their facility, and I really liked the teammates. I really fell in love with the team. I said during my unofficial visit that, ‘I gotta come here.’”

It helped that the collection of would-be freshmen that verbally committed were able to spend time together.

“We all bonded really well,” McCall said. “We were a special group and we all liked different things, but it worked well together.”

While those five, called the “Fab Five” by one of the player’s parents, have a career waiting and time to develop, they may not play with a better guard than Monica Wright.

That puts added pressure on the rookies to perform beyond their years and progress has been made in recent practices, McCall said.

“I definitely think we can start playing better and playing better as a team. Right now, in games, I don’t see us playing to our full potential,” she said. “Some people step up and some people don’t. I feel like once we start playing as a team and start playing to our full potential that we will actually start playing better.

“Everybody is trying to fill out their role and see where they fit.”