Excited about the Duke-U.Va. matchup but tired of basketball?Look no further than Memorial Gym Saturday night at 7, when the Cavaliers welcome the Blue Devils in the second of two conference wrestling matches for Virginia. The Cavaliers (8-5, 1-0 ACC) also face North Carolina State earlier in the day, at 1 p.m., in a pivotal ACC matchup that will have repercussions leading into the ACC tournament.

Forget Watson and Billet, the Saturday night match features such Virginia athletes as senior heavyweight Josh Etu (21-5, 10-2 ACC) and senior Bob Seidel (20-9, 6-4). Also, two wrestlers ranked in the top 20, Virginia’s Tim Foley and N.C. State’s Scott Garren, will be competing.

“This weekend is real big, because it gives us a shot to win the ACC regular season title,” Seidel said. “That’s a big confidence builder going into the ACC tournament.”

N.C. State is a dangerous opponent. Even though they have a mediocre 5-8 overall record, the Wolfpack have been ravaged by injury and were not able to wrestle to their full potential.

The real challenge of the N.C. State match will be the battle of the middle-weights. Red-hot 157-pounder Tim Foley (31-7, 11-1) may face undefeated Scott Garren (11-0, 6-0) of the Wolfpack. Foley is ranked 16th nationally and Garren is 14th. Also wrestling for the Cavaliers will be sophomores Paul Bjorlo (17-15, 5-7) at 149 and Will Durkee (24-11, 7-4) at 165.

“N.C. State is a team that has been a tough go for us these last several years,” coach Lenny Bernstein said, now in his tenth season at Virginia.

The team, however, is confident in their ability to smite the Wolfpack. Virginia defeated North Carolina at the end of January and has not looked back, losing only once since. North Carolina defeated N.C. State earlier this year.

“We feel like we should be going into this match with a lot of confidence,” Bernstein said. “It doesn’t always work out that way in wrestling because you have individual matchups that make a lot of difference.”

Leading the strong Wolfpack are 125-pounder George Cintron (14-5, 11-2), 149-pounder Jake Giamoni (13-8, 8-5), and 165-pounder Dustin Kawa (16-3, 12-1). Giamoni is the defending ACC champion. He has won 12 straight matches.

“If we beat N.C. State, then we’ve beaten two of the top teams in the conference this year,” Bernstein said.

After the N.C. State meet, Virginia will have to find the energy to compete again, this time against Duke.

“Duke’s no slouch this year either,” Bernstein said. “They beat Maryland this past week.”

Duke has won three straight dual meets and nine of its last ten.The Blue Devils boast such talent as Tommy Hoang (12-4, 11-2), Michael Mitchell (27-9, 14-2) and Tom Cass (18-7, 13-3). Mitchell is 13th all time in wins at Duke with 61 career wins. Hoang earned ACC Wrestler of the Week honors last week and is on an 11-meet winning streak.

“Their 125-pounder [Hoang] is pretty tough,” Bernstein said. “He’s qualified for nationals twice, and beat a guy who was ranked fourth at a time.”

Bernstein stressed the importance of these matches. N.C. State always is an ACC contender, and Duke has many strong wrestlers hoping to continue their winning ways.

“These two are real big, and if we come away with two wins, then we’re sort of the unofficial ACC team champions,” Bernstein said. “And it should give us a lot of confidence going into the ACC tournament.”

With strong middle-weight play and continued determination to excellence, the Cavaliers have a great opportunity to defeat two strong ACC rivals and put themselves atop the regular season standings. A strong showing Saturday would put a Virginia lock on ACC domination.

In a see-saw game where both teams held double-digit leads, sophomore forward Cherrise Graham hit four straight free throws to give Virginia a 58-54 win over N.C. State last night at U-Hall.

The Cavaliers (11-12, 5-7 ACC) were unable to convert any field goals in the last five minutes and let a 13-point second half lead dwindle to one with 1:20 remaining.

Graham drew a foul on a layup attempt with 1:09 left and drained both shots to give the Cavaliers a three-point lead. The Wolfpack (10-13, 5-7), who were outscored by Virginia 17-8 down the stretch, went 2-of-4 from the line in the last minute and a half en route to their fifth loss in their last six contests.

“We had a 13-point lead and we squandered it,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “We were really stagnant offensively over the last couple minutes. I was a little disappointed in that, but I was real proud of this team because a month ago we would have lost this game. Now we are learning to withstand adversity when a team comes back on us.”

Despite shooting only 32.7 percent from the field and falling behind by 15 points midway through the first half, the Cavaliers hung on for their sixth straight home win and improved to 5-3 in their last eight ACC games.

After falling into a 25-10 hole, the Cavaliers implemented a rigorous full court press and answered back with a 17-2 run to tie the score at 27.

“In the first part of the game we just weren’t playing good defense,” Ryan said. “I thought the half court defense was much better and the full court pressure really bothered them.”

Sophomore forward Brandi Teamer led Virginia with 15 points and nine rebounds. Teamer, who came off the bench just as the Cavaliers began their comeback, scored five straight points during the stretch.

“I couldn’t see N.C. State beating us on our home court,” Teamer said. “I asked [Ryan] to put me back in and I tried to provide as much energy and do everything I could to get everybody energized. Everybody did a good job at following my lead.”

The Cavaliers went ahead on sophomore LaTonya Blue’s free throws with 47 seconds left in the first half and went into the locker room holding their first lead of the game.

Graham scored 10 of her 13 points in the second half and went 7-for-9 from the line. Graham is the ACC’s third best free throw shooter, making 81 percent from the line on the season.

Center Kayal Chones scored six points in the last 10 minutes of the game to help ignite the Wolfpack comeback. It was forward Carisse Moody, however — NC State’s leading scorer with 16 points — who missed 2-of-4 from the line in the last minute.

The Cavaliers outrebounded the Wolfpack 38 to 34 and went to the line 10 more times than N.C. State, converting 20 free throws to the Wolfpack’s 11.

In the last meeting between the two squads in January, the Cavaliers lost by one point in a similarly low scoring affair, 50-49. This is third time Virginia defeated an ACC opponent at home after having lost to them on the road earlier in the season. The other two wins both came last week against Wake Forest and Clemson.

Virginia travels to Georgia Tech this Saturday to face a Yellow Jacket squad the Cavaliers defeated at U-Hall in January. Virginia has lost 10 straight road games and is 0-6 away from home against conference opponents.

The Cavaliers then travel to Maryland Thursday night before returning home against FSU.

The Cavaliers show great flashes. They play as well as any team in the conference at times. That was evident last night in Virginia’s 58-54 win over NC State. They didn’t start the game well, they didn’t even end the game well, but for 18 minutes in the middle of the game the Cavaliers were unstoppable. Luckily for the Cavaliers, their 28-point swing in the middle of the game — from being down 15 to taking a 13-point lead — was just enough to keep the Cavaliers ahead at the end. It was these 18 minutes and 28 points that show all the promise of this disappointing sub-.500 Virginia squad.

Virginia has the talent, skill and coaching to take them deep into the NCAA tournament. So why does Virginia have a losing record, and why are their chances of even making the NCAA tournament so slim? Mental lapses. Turnovers, not boxing out, not playing scrappy defense on and off the ball. Simply put: they make too many mistakes.

The good news is that nothing is wrong with the program. No coaching or personnel changes are necessary. Virginia can win with everybody they’ve got. To top off the good news, the Cavaliers are young. Their three leading scorers on the season are all sophomores. The Cavaliers also have a talented transfer who has been sitting out this year in junior Kate Kreager and are only losing two seniors — neither of whom start or receive very many minutes. They have one of the best coaches in the nation to learn from, and will be an excellent team in the next few years.

So what’s the bad news? This team isn’t there yet. There’s no hope for the Cavaliers fulfilling the preseason hopes of going deep into Debbie Ryan’s 20th consecutive NCAA tournament. Unfortunately for Virginia, it was the defense and shooting of its older members that sparked the 28-point swing in those 18 minutes of play. Senior Karen Jaeger played more intense defense than the Cavaliers have played in months. Senior Liz Sahin scored seven points and had three assists, a rebound and no turnovers in nine first half minutes.

The play of these two players at the end of the half exemplifies what Virginia needs to learn to do in order to win.

Jaeger’s energetic, stifling defense only resulted in one steal for her, but it forced the Wolfpack into taking panicked, desperate shots. The difference between teams like Duke and North Carolina and teams like Virginia has been this type of stifling defense, which forces bad shots and creates turnovers. The saying “defense wins championships” became famous for a reason — because it’s true.

Sahin also played well in an area the Cavaliers will need to improve on in the future. Her seven points and three assists were excellent examples of taking good shots and moving the ball well, but it was her zero turnovers that really were key for a Virginia team that regularly surrenders 20-plus turnovers in their losses. In their road losses to Duke and North Carolina, Virginia totaled 48 turnovers and were out rebounded by a margin of 11. Taking care of the ball and making good decisions will help turn those losses into wins.

Hopefully the younger players can learn from their departing seniors and carry those lessons with them into next season. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, the upcoming ACC tournament does not provide enough time for change — these are not problems that can be corrected overnight. The learning still must begin now, and if it does, Jaeger and Sahin’s legacy as seniors in this game might mesh with the incredible talent of Virginia’s younger players and produce a team that can go deep into the NCAA tournament.

For Virginia students, tomorrow night’s 9 o’clock game against Duke is the most anticipated of the year.

For the Cavaliers, the game represents an opportunity to bounce back from a disappointing loss at UNC and stay perfect at U-Hall.

Virginia (14-8, 5-5 ACC) has beaten Duke (16-3, 6-3) at home each of the last two seasons, upsetting the then-third ranked Blue Devil squad last year, 87-84, by going on a 17-0 run late in the second half.

Earlier this season, then top-ranked Duke beat Virginia, 104-93, at home behind 34 points from Duke freshman guard J.J. Redick. Redick made 9-of-13 shots from the field, including five three-pointers and 11-of-11 free throws to set a new Duke freshman scoring record. Senior forward Dahntay Jones added 23 points as well.

Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor in what was a very physical game, but the Blue Devils went 37-of-40 from the free throw line, allowing them to pull away. Four Cavaliers scored in double figures, led by senior forward Travis Watson’s 26 points.

“It was a weird game,” Duke guard Chris Duhon said afterward. “There were a lot of fouls. We couldn’t stop them, and they couldn’t stop us. It was just one of those games where everything was just going right for both teams. We did a great job of just holding them off and making the most plays to be victorious.”

Virginia is coming off an 81-67 loss in Chapel Hill. The Cavaliers fell behind early, as the Heels scored the game’s first 10 points and jumped out to a 34-15 lead. Virginia rallied back to tie the game at 47, but UNC responded with an 18-5 run that sealed the game. The Cavaliers committed 21 turnovers and shot just 38 percent from the floor.

“Our kids fought back down nine at the half, and we tied it and then we went through another bad stretch where we had turnovers,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “Our turnovers I thought beat us. 21 turnovers that led to I thought three or four or five easy baskets. You can’t win that way.”

Junior guard Todd Billet led Virginia with 16 points, and Watson, despite 3-of-11 shooting, added 13 points and 15 rebounds.

UNC freshmen Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants both had 21 to lead the Heels, who shot 51 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the arc.

Coming into the game, Virginia was perhaps the ACC’s hottest team, having won four of its last five.

“We got out, pressured them and made them turn the ball over a lot,” McCants said. “We capitalized on the turnovers that they had and came out and blew them out.”

Duke is coming off a 94-80 double overtime loss at Wake Forest last night in a closely officiated game in which there were 64 fouls and eight players disqualified with five apiece. Duke shot only 31 percent from the floor — an uncharacteristically low number for the sharpshooting Blue Devils.

Virginia’s game with Duke will be televised nationally on ESPN.

This Saturday, a minority bone marrow registration and blood drive will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Cage in Onesty Hall. Virginia men’s basketball player Todd Billet has organized the event in the hopes of raising awareness about donating bone marrow and blood to those in need.

“The program was started by Sunit Jariwala at Rutgers,” Billet said. “The program is about spreading awareness and educating the community.”

The drive focuses on minority groups because of the lack of registered donors.

Darden Business student Nirav Desai, a minority himself, also has played a role in raising public awareness of the situation affecting minorities. Desai has a close tie to someone who is affected by a disease that requires a bone marrow transfusion.

“If you’re a minority, its very difficult to find a bone marrow match,” Desai said.

Desai met Billet through a common bone marrow organization and the two have been working together to gather support since in conjunction with Virginia Blood Services and the University Health System.

“I heard Todd was heading up this drive with U.Va. athletics and was interested,” Desai said.

This drive is confined not only to the University, but has become a nation-wide event.

“The drive has spread to many other universities across the country,” Billet said.

Both Billet and Desai are very enthusiastic about the drive and hope to bring in as many donations as possible.

“Everyone’s been great helping out and spreading the word,” Billet said.

Anyone between the ages of 18 and 60, and in good health, is welcome to donate. A finger-prick is the only thing required to draw a few drops of blood, which then will be put into a database of potential donors.

Billet and his teammates are expected to make an appearance at the event following their pregame shootaround.

For more information, please contact Todd Billet or Virginia Blood Services.

In the wake of Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation before the United Nations Security Council, many local and University groups have voiced publicly their criticisms of possible U.S. action against Iraq.

Wednesday, more than a week after the City Council declared Charlottesville a “City of Peace,” the University Democrats overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning the Bush administration’s stance on Iraq.

“The President hasn’t made his case for the war,” University Democrats President Ian Amelkin said. Iraqi President Saddam Hussien “has weapons of mass destruction but this does not warrant a preemptive strike.”

Amelkin also pointed to the war opposition from traditional key United States allies as further validation that a preemptive strike is the wrong course of action.

The resolution also urged continuing diplomatic efforts, Iraqi compliance with U.N. resolutions and Baghdad’s cooperation with weapons inspectors.

Sue Chase, a board member for the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, said the Center’s opposition to the potential war chiefly is rooted in humanitarian concerns.

“A war would be extremely devastating to civilians in Iraq and cause way more damage than has already occurred,” Chase said. She said that over 5,000 Iraqi children have died since the United Nations first began imposing sanctions on the country in the early 1990s.

Chase also cautioned that a U.S.-led action in the Middle East would inflame already brewing anti-American sentiments — endangering U.S. citizens both at home and abroad.

“If the President really wants to protect U.S. citizens, he needs to stop the war, not start a war,” Chase said.

Military action against Iraq also would violate the U.N. Charter, according to Chase.

College Republicans President Ben Beliles, however, said opposition groups are wrong in writing off what he said he feels is a strong case for the war and excusing Hussien’s disregard for the international community.

Since Iraq continually has violated U.N. resolutions calling for the dismantling of its weapons of mass destruction, the country has effectively forfeited its fate to the international community, Beliles said.

Addressing the humanitarian concerns expressed by opposition groups, Beliles said they are “blown out of proportion.” The real enemy of the Iraqi people, he said, is Hussien, who has committed gross human rights abuses against his countrymen.

“Innocent people do die in war, which is unfortunate” but war still is the proper course of action, Beliles said.

Jessica Forman, a co-founder of the Anti-War Coalition at U.Va., disagreed. Any rationalizations for armed action are unjustifiable, and international disputes never should be solved through war, she said.

The Center and the Anti-War Coalition at U.Va. will co-sponsor an anti-war march to the downtown mall this Saturday. The march, coinciding with similar protests in cities across the country, will begin in front of the Rotunda at 2:30 p.m. and proceed down Main Street.

The FBI warned in a congressional statement Feb. 11 that colleges and universities could be targeted in a terrorist attack.

FBI Spokesperson Paul Bresson said universities, like supermarkets and shopping malls, are considered “soft targets” — places where attacks seem less likely than at high profile monuments and government buildings. Security is lower at these locations, so the FBI has expressed concern that terrorists might try to target them.

The location of an attack “is not necessarily the U.S. Capitol building; it’s not the symbolization of something that represents America on its face,” Bresson said. Soft targets are an “everyday slice of Americana.”

The FBI has no specific evidence that universities are being targeted, he added. Officials based the warning on the nature of overseas terrorist attacks in recent months.

“The types of recent, smaller-scale operations al-Qaeda has directed and aided against a wide array of Western targets — such as in Mombassa, Bali and Kuwait and against the French oil tanker off Yemen — could readily be reproduced in the U.S.,” said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III in his statement.

Although colleges and universities are named as “soft targets,” terrorists have made no direct threats against them, Bresson said.

“There’s no intelligence to date to suggest that any attack against a university or college is imminent or even likely,” he added.

University officials said they are responding to the FBI’s statement and the Feb. 7 heightened terrorist alert with increased security.

“We have ratcheted up our security efforts to a greater scale,” University Deputy Police Chief Michael Coleman said. He added that students should expect increased visibility of officers and more frequent bag checks on Grounds.

The University, in partnership with Charlottesville and Albemarle County, established a regional response plan long before Sept. 11, 2001, to deal with any type of disaster. Officials role-play an emergency situation once a year.

“We do have a plan in place and our students are our number one concern,” University Spokeswoman Carol Wood said.

Many area police officers are trained to respond to terrorism as well.

“One of the things that’s unique about this region is that, as far as we know, we are the only university that is part of a regional plan,” Coleman said. “We are one of the best-prepared areas in the United States.”

Coleman and Wood encouraged students to stay alert and informed.

“We are asking people to take this seriously and to be on alert and to be aware,” Wood said. “If you heighten awareness it helps people discover problems.”

Coleman added students should watch out for “suspicious circumstances or things that don’t look right to you.”

The University posted an emergency and critical incident Web site Wednesday that will continue to be updated with information on crises, from a terrorist attack to a situation similar to when cars in the Venable neighborhood were covered in soot last month.

Officials currently are not proposing that individuals take specific measures to prepare for an emergency, but they do advise considering Red Cross recommendations such as deciding on a contact point outside of Charlottesville and stockpiling emergency supplies.

“Do what seems smart, what seems appropriate, what seems right for those of us living here in Charlottesville,” Wood said.

Forty-seven students received one of the University’s highest honors yesterday — an invitation to live on the Lawn for the 2003-2004 academic year.

The Lawn Selection Committee narrowed these 47 acceptances down from 245 applications.

Selected students received an e-mail yesterday and also will receive notification by mail. Students have until Feb. 21 to accept or decline the offer.

Committee Chair Jasmine Yoon said the group looks for “a combination of academic achievement, extracurricular activities and contribution to the University and community at large” in choosing the residents.

The Committee consists of a “mix of 15 students chosen from a lottery and 20 members representing various organizations around Grounds,” Yoon said.

Third-year Commerce student Shweta Agarwal apparently matched the committee’s criteria, receiving one of the 47 e-mails yesterday.

“I want to live on the Lawn because it seems like a great environment to live in,” she said. “The community and activities there would provide me with an enjoyable fourth year.”

Third-year Engineering student Andrew Breton also received his acceptance today. He participates in the Baha’i Association, the Academical Village People and the governing board of Brown College.

“I also look forward to living with the other members of the Lawn community,” Breton said.

Not all students accept their invitations to live on the Lawn.

“There are usually two or three people per year who don’t accept,” Asst. Director of Accommodations Cole Spencer said. “We have a waiting list of 10 people in order of who to pick next if someone doesn’t accept.”

One reason a student might decline to accept one of the 47 regular Lawn room is if they are offered one of the seven endowed rooms. Endowed rooms include those for the Honor Committee and Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

“I applied to be a senior resident… I’m debating between the two and am not sure if I will accept it,” third-year Engineering student Shan Wu said after receiving her acceptance notification.

Fourth-year College student Pat English, a current Lawn resident, reflected on his experience after living on the Lawn for over a semester.

“The people who enjoy living on the Lawn the most are those who truly try to get to know the people around them and build a community,” English said.

As part of Charlottesville’s Comprehensive Plan, new zoning regulations may allow for high-rise student housing to be built near the Rotunda.

The areas under consideration are along Jefferson Park Avenue and down 14th and 15th Streets in the Venable Neighborhood. These regions currently are designated for single-family housing, but new zoning guidelines would allow for high-density structures to be built there.

City Planning Commission Chair Kevin O’Halloran said the proposed zoning ordinance would allow for more students to live closer to Grounds.

“We’re creating incentives for denser development in areas immediately adjacent to the University,” he said.

Current regulations allow for 10 story buildings to be built in these areas, but only with a special use permit. The proposed zoning guidelines would allow seven story structures to be built in certain areas without special authorization. Other areas would be limited to five story buildings.

“In drafting the ordinance, we were careful to consider topography,” O’Halloran said. “It won’t be possible to build seven stories in all areas.”

With the addition of high-density housing, Student Council Housing Committee Chair John Bailey said he sees many potential problems for residents.

“This concerns me on a number of levels,” he said. “There needs to be an adequate infrastructure including pipes, trash disposal and parking.”

Although the zoning changes are targeted toward areas with large student populations, there are concerns that students have not been involved in the decision making process. Bailey said he wasn’t informed of the proposed changes until this week.

“This is moving too fast, with too little thought and with no student input,” he said.

Bailey said he blames the University, in part, for not taking a more proactive role in student housing.

Leonard W. Sandridge, University executive vice president and chief operating officer, addressed Bailey’s concern.

“The city’s proposal has been a matter of public information,” he said. “I do not know how many students have chosen to become involved in the discussions regarding the city’s zoning proposal.”

The City Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Mar. 26 to evaluate the drafted zoning ordinance, which includes new regulations for the entire city. It will then be presented to City Council for approval in June.

The new zoning ordinance also would allow for commercial space on the first floor of properties.

“By encouraging mixed-use, we hope to create commercial corridors similar to the Downtown Mall,” O’Halloran said.

Book festival to incorporate new features

Next month’s ninth annual Virginia Festival of the Book will have some new features this year, including a larger focus on crime and science fiction novels, according to event organizers.

Among other changes, publishing day will be free of charge and open to the public, and aspiring authors will have a chance to enter unpublished manuscripts in the Great American Novel Contest.

Crime novelist John Grisham, an Albemarle County resident, and author Earl Hamner Jr., a Nelson County native, are scheduled to appear alongside keynote speaker and author Lee Smith.

Other authors scheduled to speak include poets Nikki Giovanni and Rita Dove.

DNA frees man after 20-year imprisonment

A DNA test exculpated a Suffolk man who had served more than 20 years of five life sentences for the rape and sodomy of a Norfolk woman.

Julius E. Ruffin, 49, left the Southampton Correctional Center in Capron after the DNA test, obtained under a new state law, implicated someone else in the assault.

The rape victim identified Ruffin as her attacker, according to Gordon Zedd, Ruffin’s lawyer.

Ruffin’s first two trials ended in hung juries but after his third trial he was convicted and given five life sentences.

After several unsuccessful attempts to gain DNA testing, a state law passed in 2001 allowed Ruffin to win testing, Zedd said.

Ruffin’s case demonstrates the flaws of eyewitness identification, the primary cause of wrongful convictions.

Ruffin is the seventh Virginian cleared by DNA testing and the 124th in the country.