Love him or hate him, there's just no getting away from Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen. After a less than inspiring start to the conference season, the job security of the besieged Brooklynite has overshadowed many of the real issues surrounding the Virginia men's basketball team. The play of many key Cavaliers has been overlooked in all of the constant "fire Gillen" banter. Squabbling over Gillen's future in the middle of this very young conference season accomplishes nothing.All that it does is cast a cloud over the program and divert attention away from the student-athletes that play the game.
Last Sunday against the Seminoles, those critics who were looking at stopwatches, waiting to complain about how quickly Gillen will call his first timeout, missed out on arguably the greatest game of freshman guard J.R. Reynolds' young career. While a stat line of eight points, five assists and one steal is good in and of itself, it doesn't do justice to his performance. Matched up against Seminole standout Tim Pickett, he held the senior guard to just nine points on 3-for-16 shooting. Furthermore the freshman played with poise and drive that some of the team's veterans could learn from.
"J.R. has played great," Gillen said. "He's a tough guy, and he's willing to do whatever you need him to do on the court. He's strong for a freshman, and has played well for us this season."
Also overlooked has been the play of fellow freshman Donte Minter. The 6'7" forward has provided a post presence to a Virginia team with a gaping hole in the middle. In his first career start, Minter pulled down seven rebounds and swatted four shots, numbers that Cavalier fans only dream of junior Elton Brown putting up.
"Donte, he's going to be a good player in this league," junior forward Jason Clark said. "He plays both ends very well, he boards and does everything that you need."
The return of Clark has been overshadowed by the question of whether or not Gillen should be allowed to pace the Cavalier sidelines. In his return to the starting lineup, Clark reminded his teammates what exactly it means to play defense. Grabbing nine boards, rejecting two shots and altering several more, the forward exhibits athleticism and intensity that the Cavaliers sorely need.
It is no surprise that on a very deep team, Reynolds, Minter and Clark logged 30, 24, and 34 minutes respectively against Florida State. The seemingly unheralded performance of these players was instrumental in Virginia earning its first conference win.
It's still January, and with 12 games remaining, the conference season is very much salvageable. Even though the ACC is so talented that it's scary, writing off the season at this point is an insult to those who wear a Virginia uniform.
Yet it is obvious that Virginia is a flawed basketball team. They boast a post player with the attitude and the aggressiveness of a toddler, a cocky over-dribbling freshman who is learning the phrase "put up or shut up" the hard way and a small forward whose confidence is decreasing by the millisecond.
There is no way to get around the fact that the Cavaliers have their work cut out for them this season. Hopefully we can all get back to talking about the type of work that must take place on the hardwood instead of the type of work Gillen will be doing next year.
Whether or not Gillen is the man for the job is irrelevant at this point. The Cavalier players need to figure out how to win games, not read the paper to see if their coach still has a job. Virginia will have a chance to prove what type of team they're capable of being tonight when Clemson comes to Charlottesville. Hopefully, tonight at University Hall will be a basketball game between the Tigers and the Cavaliers and not another audition for Pete Gillen to save his job.
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