White: Reunion with Mentor Looms for Sanchez
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 12/29/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- He's now considered a branch of another coaching tree, having worked for Dick Bennett at Washington State and, since 2006, for Bennett's son, Tony, at WSU and the University of Virginia.
Before he hooked up with the Bennetts, however, Ron Sanchez studied under Mike Davis at Indiana University. And that adds another storyline to UVa's next men's basketball game.
"He's an amazing guy," Davis said of Sanchez. "It's going to be kind of strange playing against him on Wednesday night."
Davis is in his fourth season as head coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, which visits John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday. The Cavaliers (6-4) host the 24th-ranked Blazers (11-1) at 7 p.m.
This won't be the first time Sanchez and Davis have sat on opposing benches. Sanchez was a Washington State assistant on Nov. 10, 2006, when the Cougars, in Tony Bennett's debut as a head coach, beat UAB 71-60 in a tournament at Milwaukee, Wis.
Bennett left WSU last spring to come to UVa, and Sanchez followed him east. UAB already was on the Wahoos' 2009-10 schedule when the new staff arrived in Charlottesville.
"I have not talked to Mike about this game," Sanchez, 36, said Monday. "It's kind of hard to do. I've definitely talked to him, a couple of weeks ago, not about this game in particular, but just about things in general."
Sanchez was associate head coach at SUNY Delhi, a junior-college program in New York, when he was introduced to Davis during the 2000-01 season. At the time, Sanchez was dating Tara Jones, an Indiana women's basketball player who's now his wife.
She asked Davis, the men's coach at IU, if her boyfriend could come to Bloomington and observe a couple of practices, and "he was extremely welcoming to me," Sanchez recalled.
"There was no plan for anything to happen for me at Indiana at the time I showed up. I did that a few more times after that, because he was pretty kind with his time, and we kind of hit it off from the beginning."
Davis didn't have an assistant's slot open on his staff, but he offered Sanchez a position as a volunteer assistant. Basketball would not provide a paycheck for Sanchez at IU, but his academic expenses would be covered as he pursued a master's degree in athletic administration/sports management.
And so he left his home state and moved to the Midwest in 2001. In Sanchez's first season with the Hoosiers, they advanced to the NCAA title game.
Of his role on the team, Sanchez said, "I was never on the floor. I was more like a fly on the wall. I just observed. I did a lot of work in the mornings, a lot of film stuff. Just the grunt work, to be honest with you.
"At the time they didn't have a video coordinator. They didn't have positions like that. They pretty much had their staff, they had their trainer and then they had an administrative assistant, so there was room for anyone who wanted to come in and really work, to work. So that was pretty much what I did."
Davis said: "A lot of times when young coaches come in, you gotta give them direction every day. But with Ron, I never had to worry about him. He just was one of those guys that came in there and worked his butt off and stayed out of the way, but yet still he was always a part of what everybody was doing.
"Not only did he help me, but he helped everyone in the building. After about, I guess, three or four months everybody in the building knew him as this great guy who would help everybody. And to me, it's hard to find a person like that. It's hard to find somebody that wants you to be successful and wants everything to be right for you more than himself. He's a total team player."
Sanchez, who earned his master's in 2002, spent two seasons at Indiana. The IU women's coach then was Kathi Bennett. In 2003, her father, Dick, came out of retirement to take over the moribund program at Washington State, and she recommended that he consider Sanchez for a position on his staff.
"I guess she maybe saw something in me and said, 'Hey, maybe somebody can give this kid a chance. He'd be OK,'" Sanchez said. "I'm really thankful. She was pretty much my agent in that whole situation with Washington State and her father. I guess I was in right place at the right time."
In Pullman, Wash., Sanchez served as the Cougars' coordinator of basketball operations for three seasons.
"When I got the phone call from Dick Bennett with the job offer at Washington State, I was sitting with Mike in New Orleans at the Final Four," Sanchez recalled, "and Mike's words to me were, 'If you ever have an opportunity to work for someone like that, you will benefit from it the rest of your college coaching career, so I really encourage you to go work for Dick Bennett.'"
Davis called the Bennetts a "great family" and said Sanchez made a wise move.
"He had a chance to work with a legend and be a part of that tree," Davis said.
Sanchez hasn't forgotten how Davis helped him break into major-college basketball or the lessons he learned from Davis and John Treloar, then the Hoosiers' associate head coach.
"My relationship with Mike was phenomenal," Sanchez said. "Mike treated me like I was part of that family from the beginning. I can't say a single negative word about his kindness, about his approach, about his mentoring.
"Mike opened up, obviously, a tremendous door for me at a storied program like Indiana University. There's nothing like walking into Assembly Hall and seeing those banners and knowing what was accomplished there.
"And not only that, for me to have an opportunity to experience a Final Four, and NCAA tournaments and things like that, was obviously incredibly important for me as a young coach. The preparation that goes into it and the work ethic that came with the Indiana program, and just being a part of that culture as a whole, has been a tremendous influence for me."
 

Home > Sports> College> College Basketball
Cavs still experimenting with lineup
By Michael Phillips
Published: December 30, 2009
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Before the season, Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said that starting spots were up for grabs, and he'd wait and see which players stepped up.

As the nonconference portion of the schedule winds down, some of those spots remain undecided.

The Cavaliers have started nine different players this season, and while some of that is due to injuries, Bennett has a good amount of flexibility when filling out his lineup card each night.

Tonight, against the University of Alabama at Birmingham, there may be a brand new pairing - Assane Sene and Mike Scott.

Sene, the team's only true center, missed the first part of the season while suspended, then was held out because of an ankle injury. By the time he returned, Scott was limping through an ankle sprain of his own.

The two have yet to start a game together. This will be Scott's first game in more than a month, so his playing time for tonight is still up in the air.

"We had three prep days for UAB, and he's been involved in all three," Bennett said yesterday. "He's certainly not full strength, but he lasted the majority of practice all three days."

Sene's return has eaten into Jerome Meyinsee's playing time. The senior forward has played 18.4 minutes per game this season.

Bennett said he's been impressed with Meyinsee's work ethic in practices, even after the return of the other two big men.

"The great thing about 'Rome is that, whatever his role is, he embraces it," the coach said. "He's just hungry to help this team get better."

Meyinsee will continue to see action at forward, especially in light of last week's news that Jamil Tucker had been dismissed from the team for academic reasons.

Bennett said that he will talk with Tucker after the holiday break to discuss his long-term options, and try to "come up with a plan most beneficial to him in the future."

At guard, it appears that two of the starting spots have been locked up by Sylven Landesberg and Sammy Zeglinski, at least for the foreseeable future.

The third spot has rotated between Mustapha Farrakhan, Jeff Jones and Calvin Baker, with freshman Jontel Evans also getting some playing time.

Baker has come along slowly since missing most of fall practice for knee surgery. He got the starting nod against NJIT, and is projected to start tonight.

"I like his vocal leadership and experience," Bennett said of Baker. "We'll look at our strengths and what we need, and see how guys are playing at that time."

Regardless of which lineup takes the floor tonight, the Cavs are in for a challenge - the Blazers cracked the AP poll this week at No. 24, a nod to an impressive early-season run that has established the team as one of the best in Conference USA.

Game rescheduled: Virginia announced during the holiday break that the game against UNC Wilmington - previously snowed out - has been rescheduled for Jan. 18. A time has not been announced. The original game was scheduled for television, but Comcast SportsNet has not announced plans for the rescheduled game.

UVa’s Scott to make timely return
By Whitey Reid
Published: December 30, 2009
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The television show “The Office” just wouldn’t be the same without Michael Scott.
The same has been true for the Virginia men’s basketball team since losing its Mike Scott to a high ankle sprain in the first week of December.
Tonight, UVa will have its top
rebounder and second-leading scorer back in the lineup when it hosts UAB.
“When he’s full strength, he provides a scoring threat and he offensive rebounds at a high level,” said Virginia coach Tony Bennett. “You have to account for him on the offensive end, and he can go up and get some rebounds that a lot of other guys can’t — with his strength and athleticism.
“As our second-leading scorer, he’s a point of emphasis for the opposing team.”
Scott, most likely, will have some rust to shed, but better to do that now, before ACC play begins.
Scott has been able to make it through most of the last three practices, but still isn’t at full strength, according to Bennett.
The good news is that Scott’s injury isn’t nearly as severe as the ankle sprain he suffered his freshman season.
“Percentage-wise, it’s hard to say where he’s at,” Bennett said. “My hope is that as you compete or the adrenaline gets flowing as you get into games, that you can unleash a little more and go full blast.
“I know he’s not at full blast and I know he has to try and protect it a little bit. A good sign is it hasn’t gone backward since he started practicing, which is what I think you look for.”
Really, Scott’s return couldn’t be coming at a better time. After cupcake opponents the last two games in the form of the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Hampton, UAB should provide a much stiffer challenge.
The Blazers (11-1), ranked No. 24 in the AP poll, have posted wins over Georgia, Butler and Cincinnati and are riding a 10-game winning streak. They will be Virginia’s first ranked opponent this season.
“They really handled Cincinnati,” Bennett said. “They really took it to them, and their last win over Butler was impressive.
“They’re playing very well.”
UAB, coached by former Indiana coach Mike Davis, is led by 6-foot-6 guard Elijah Millsap, who is averaging 15.4 points and 9.8 rebounds. Last season, the Blazers went 22-12, losing to Notre Dame in the first round of the NIT.
“It’s a team of completeness,” Bennett said. “Their 4s and 5s can put it on the floor and shoot it, and their guards are very complete and athletic.
“They’re defending and making it very hard for people to score. They have looked very impressive. I think it will be a very good test.”
Dunks
Tonight’s game is the only game for Virginia this season against a Conference USA opponent. It is the first game ever for the Cavaliers against a team from C-USA. ... This will be just the second meeting between the schools. UAB won the only previous meeting, 68-66, upsetting a Ralph Sampson-led UVa squad in the Sweet 16 of the 1982 NCAA Tournament in Birmingham. ... Bennett on the UNC-Wilmington game being rescheduled for Jan. 18, right in the middle of ACC play. “I think I’m glad we get to play them,” he said, with a laugh. “I guess I’ll answer that after we get done playing them.”
 

Directors' Cup Update
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 12/29/2009
Dec. 29, 2009
12:38 p.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- In the latest standings for Division I, UVa is second behind 15-time winner Stanford in the Directors' Cup competition, which reflects schools' performances in NCAA championships.

Stanford leads with 345 points. Virginia (337), North Carolina (283), Villanova (282) and UCLA (276) round out the top five.

In each of the first two fall standings, UVa held first place. But Stanford collected 64 points for women's volleyball, a sport in which Virginia did not reach the NCAA tournament, to take over the lead.

The final fall standings will be released Jan. 13, and they will reflect points received by schools that compete in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision. UVa won't earn any points for football.

A year ago, UVa was in 11th place coming out of the fall. The Wahoos finished eighth overall in 2008-09.

-- Jeff White

 

Virginia Advances Seven to Finals at Southern Scuffle
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 12/29/2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The 18th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers sit in fifth place after the first day of the Southern Scuffle, hosted by UNC-Greensboro. The Cavaliers compiled 41 points, just .5 points behind No. 20 Edinboro and one point behind No. 13 Indiana. Fifth-ranked Minnesota leads all schools with 50 points.
At 125, Ross Gitomer and Matthew Snyder both advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will face a pair of top-five opponents tomorrow. Snyder, who pinned Bakersfield's Frank Lomas in the third round, will take on top-ranked Troy Nickerson from Cornell. Gitomer, who notched a major decision over Eric Chandler from UNCG, faces No. 5 Eric Morrill from Edinboro.
At 141, Derek Valenti advanced to the quarterfinals, recording a fall in both of his first two bouts before a decision to get to the quarters. His opponent will be 12th-ranked Elijah Nacita from Bakersfield.
Kellon Balum notched a pin in the first round before recording a major decision in the second round, advancing to the round of 16 where he fell to Richard Gayseki of Liberty.
Pat Riley advanced to a bout against No. 3 Matt Moley from Bloomsburg in the quarterfinals of the 159 class after a major decision in the first round and a tie-breaker victory in the round of 16. No. 16 Dan Gonsor was upset in the round of 16 and notched a 16-0 technical fall to advance to the consolation quarters tomorrow.
Michael Chaires won his first round before falling 2-0 in a close match to No. 10 Chris Brown of Old Dominion. He then won a pair of bouts in the consolations, advancing to the pre-quarterfinals where he will take on Tom Timothy of Penn.
At 174, Chris Henrich recorded a pin and a decision to advance to the quarterfinals where he faces Jacob Ison from Ohio. Stephen Doty won his first match in a fall before losing to top-ranked Mack Lewnes of Cornell.
Mike Salopek advanced to the quarterfinals at 184 where he will take on No. 16 Steve Bosak of Cornell. Jon Fausey is still alive in the consolation quarterfinals; where he will face Hunter Collins from Michigan, who Salopek defeated 8-1 in the round of 32.
10th-ranked Brent Jones was upset in the first round but has battled back to advance to the consolation pre-quarterfinals with a fall in the round of 32.
Jack Danikowicz won his first round in a decision before falling in a major to No. 6 Nathan Everhart of Indiana. He will face Peter Sturgeon from the host Spartans in the consolation pre-quarterfinals tomorrow.
 

No. 21 Virginia Wins Marriott Cavalier Classic With 63-54 Win Over Liberty
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 12/29/2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Marriott Cavalier Classic Most Valuable Player Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.) scored 19 points and tied a school-record with 10 steals to lead the Virginia women's basketball team to the tournament title with a 63-54 win over in-state foe Liberty Tuesday night.

The senior guard moved into a tie for second place on Virginia's all-time scoring list, and now has 2,058 points for her career. Heather Burge (1990-93) finished her career with 2,058 points, while UVa's all-time leading scorer Dawn Staley (1989-1992) scored 2,135 points over 131 games as a Cavalier.

Wright is now 78 points away from breaking Staley's scoring record. She was joined on the all-tournament team by China Crosby (New York, N.Y.), Virginia's freshman point guard who finished with nine points, four assists and two steals vs. the Flames.

Virginia (9-3) won its sixth-consecutive Cavalier Classic title and has now won 21 of the 24 Cavalier Classic team titles since the tournament began in 1976.

Liberty (7-3) was previously unbeaten in John Paul Jones Arena, having defeated the Cavaliers in 2006 and Cornell in the first game of the tournament on Monday (Dec. 28).

Virginia was able to improve its all-time record against the Flames to 7-2, however, with a strong team effort and a late second-half run that put the game away.

Telia McCall (Marietta, Ga.) finished with a career-high 14 points, and scored nine in the second half.

The Cavaliers led, 33-29, at halftime but Liberty began the second stanza on a 12-4 run that made the score 41-37 in the Flames' favor at the 14:40 mark. Ariana Moorer (Woodbridge, Va.) hit a key 3-pointer and Wright followed up with a jumpshot to give the Cavs back the lead, 42-41, with 12:55 left in the game.

After trading baskets, Virginia eventually took the lead for good on a jumper by McCall that made the score 44-43 with 10:35 left in the game. From there, Virginia used a 7-2 run to take a six-point lead on two free throws by McCall that made the score 51-45 with 8:09 left.

Liberty never got closer than that six-point margin down the stretch and the Cavaliers won by a final score of 63-54.

Simone Egwu (Odenton, Md.) had six points and three points for Virginia, while Chelsea Shine (Wayne, Pa.) added five points and four rebounds.

Wright's 10 steals tied the school record, set by both Donna Holt (Jan. 28, 1986 vs. Maryland) and Dawn Staley (Nov. 20, 1991 vs. Temple).

All-tournament team member Avery Warley led Liberty with 12 points and eight boards.

In the consolation game of the Marriott Cavalier Classic, Samford defeated Cornell, 62-46.

Virginia will ring in 2010 in Boulder, Colo., where it takes on Colorado on Jan. 2. The game begins at 3:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) and will be televised live by Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain.

2009 Marriott Cavalier Classic All-Tournament Team
Name, School
Allie Fedorowicz, Cornell
Emily London, Samford
Avey Warley, Liberty
China Crosby, Virginia
Monica Wright, Virginia*
*Most Valuable Player