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(04/22/09 6:24am)
RICHMOND, Va. — Baseball coach Brian O’Connor had envisioned many roles for junior Matt Packer this season. Midweek starter likely was not one of them.On the heels of his fourth loss of the season Saturday as a reliever against Boston College, though, Packer toed the mound for his first start of the year Tuesday against VCU in Virginia’s only true road contest of its non-conference schedule this season. He started the game with a three-pitch strikeout and never looked back, throwing five shutout innings as Virginia cruised to a 8-1 victory at The Diamond.“I’ve felt for a couple of weeks quite honestly that we needed to change things up for [Packer],” O’Connor said. “I just felt at some point we needed to find the time to change his role so he could go out and have a little success, and he did [last night].”The reigning ERA title winner for Virginia, Packer started the season as the backbone of an inexperienced bullpen in the closer role. Going into Tuesday’s game, however, his ERA had ballooned to 5.47 and all four of his losses had come during ACC play.Packer held the Rams, though, to two hits and one walk while striking out six. Through the first 4 1/3 innings, the only hit allowed by Packer was on a play that could have easily been an out; on a groundball up the middle in the third, junior shortstop Tyler Cannon’s throw on the run pulled freshman first baseman John Hicks off the bag.It was the first win for Packer since March 17 against Marshall, and his first win as the starting pitcher since May 15, 2008 against Radford.“It helps my confidence, because my last few outings I’ve had a hard time,” Packer said. “It really feels good to pitch the way I know I can.”Out of the bullpen, the difference for Packer, O’Connor has said, was often one bad pitch that broke the game open. In last night’s start, however, Packer appeared relaxed, kept pitch counts lower, and stayed out of jams.“The difference is, when you’re pitching at the end of the game, or when it’s even in the seventh inning, it’s so tight, and every pitch can determine ... whether you win and lose the ballgame,” O’Connor said. “I think the kid handles pressure fine, but it’s a very fine line. When you start or when you’re in long relief, you’ve got a little more margin for error.”Packer said in general that “no one knows” the answer to why he had struggled of late, but did offer a couple potential explanations.“My changeup’s been a little faster than it has in the past and guys’ have been hitting that,” Packer said. “I’ve been walking guys, and I haven’t been getting ahead in the count. I get in a position where I have to throw a strike, and hitters know that.”Now, with three conference series remaining on Virginia’s schedule, the question is where Packer will factor into the pitching staff as the Cavaliers prepare for the postseason. Packer is no stranger to the starting pitching role; he spent the early part of his freshman season as the Saturday starter. With his struggles out of the bullpen coinciding with the emergence of sophomore Kevin Arico at closer, one possibility is for Packer to return to the niche of midweek starter he occupied at the beginning of his career.“It depends on what happens this weekend whether or not he might start next Tuesday against Liberty,” O’Connor said. “I know he’s not going to be available for [this] Friday and Saturday, but after that we’ll just see what our needs are.”Packer, though, was not the only Cavalier to bounce back from a difficult weekend in Boston. With the bases loaded in the third inning, freshman third baseman Steven Proscia smoked a towering 400-plus foot shot that cleared the left-centerfield wall and the telephone poles behind it, giving Virginia a 5-0 lead. It was the fifth bomb of the season for five-hole hitter Proscia and Virginia’s third grand slam of the season.After a 2-for-13, six-strikeout performance in the three-game series against Boston College, the pop off Proscia’s bat also was music to the ears of O’Connor.“It was absolutely a no-doubter,” O’Connor said. “It was a 2-0 count, and he sat fastball, and he got it.”A compilation of VCU pitchers, however, did manage to keep the Cavaliers quiet for much of the evening. None of the five VCU pitchers Tuesday threw more than two innings, and after Proscia’s grand slam, the Rams shut out Virginia through the next four innings.“Fortunately we got that [grand slam], because other than that we didn’t score a lot of runs,” O’Connor said.The Cavaliers return to Davenport Field for the prospect of their first full game in Charlottesville since April 8, after both midweek games at home last week were cancelled.Notes:Virginia’s previous trip to The Diamond was eerily similar to the one last night. The Cavaliers defeated the Rams by an identical score of 8-1 in Richmond on April 10, 2007. In both games, now-junior Phillip Deane was the starting pitcher and took the loss ... Following Matt Packer on the mound for Virginia was senior Robert Poutier (1 2/3 innings pitched, two hits, one run) and junior Neal Davis (2 1/3 innings pitched, one hit, no runs) ... Davis earned his first save of the year and the third of his career ... After going 1-for-12 with 10 strikeouts over the weekend, sophomore Jarrett Parker went 1-for-5 with no strikeouts while hitting seventh ... The Cavaliers improved to 54-6 against in-state opponents since the current coaching staff arrived in 2004.
(04/21/09 5:28am)
Prior to Virginia’s series against Boston College, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said that, unlike in past years, his team had yet to hit its peak. And, after blowing a one-run lead in the eighth inning to fall 9-6 to Boston College on the road Saturday, the Cavaliers still clearly have work to do.As Virginia takes on Virginia Commonwealth tonight with just more than a month left in the season, however, the pieces appear to be falling into place. The blown Saturday loss was sandwiched between two wins for the Cavaliers’ first series victory on the road since their opening ACC series win against Wake Forest.“I think each weekend we play, we figure something else out,” sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt said.The last two weekend series revealed perhaps the most to O’Connor about his team. From the week prior to the Georgia Tech series to this point in the season, Virginia’s Sunday starting pitcher, closer and leadoff hitter all have been new faces.Perhaps the most surprising move was putting sophomore pitcher Robert Morey in the Sunday starting role. The Sunday starter has been a revolving door all season; junior Neal Davis, freshman Will Roberts and sophomore Tyler Wilson all made appearances in that slot prior to Morey.Morey’s first start against Georgia Tech may well have come merely because of a unique circumstance. After the Friday series opener against the Yellow Jackets was postponed in the fourth inning to continue Saturday, O’Connor was forced to use Wilson, the previous weekend’s Sunday starter, on the mound following the delay. Thus, O’Connor turned to Morey, and he responded by allowing two runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings against the No. 8 Yellow Jackets.Morey then turned in the best start from a Cavalier starting pitcher all season Sunday against the Eagles, throwing 7 2/3 shutout innings and striking out 12.“All throughout the week [leading up to Georgia Tech], I got some good work in with [pitching coach Karl Kuhn],” Morey said. “Everything was just working for me.”Less surprising was the move of sophomore Kevin Arico to closer; the reason for the move, however, was quite unexpected. O’Connor had suggested all year that the closer to start the year, junior Matt Packer, may be moved into the starting rotation if one of the more inexperienced bullpen pitchers developed into a viable option. After pitching through several clutch situations early in the year — including back-to-back saves in non-conference play — Arico was certainly an option.What took Packer out of the closing role, however, was poor performance. After posting a nation-best 1.14 ERA last season, his mark has jumped to 5.47 this season. Packer bottomed out in his last outing, as he was the losing pitcher Saturday, giving four runs on three hits and two walks in the eighth for his fourth loss of the year.Arico, though, has performed well thus far, posting a 2.95 ERA and converting all four of his save opportunities, including two in ACC play.Nevertheless, the struggles for Packer are an issue for Virginia.“He keeps battling, things just aren’t going his way right now,” O’Connor said. “At some point the game will come around to him. It’s unfortunate but it is what it is.”Also an issue is the slumping sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker. After starting off the year on a tear, hitting more than .400 most of the season and posting a team-high 11 homeruns through game two of the Georgia Tech series, Parker has just two hits and has struck out 14 times in his last 17 at-bats.Consequently, like Packer, O’Connor’s hand was forced into a change. He started right-handed Phil Gosselin in the leadoff spot against a left-handed Boston College starting pitcher Saturday, and switch-hitting junior Tyler Cannon against a right-handed starter Sunday.As for whether Parker will return to the leadoff role if he can emerge from his funk, O’Connor said he will continue to evaluate that as the season moves along.“He’s a talented player,” O’Connor said. “Everybody has a tough streak like the one he’s having.”The good news for the ever-evolving Cavaliers is that their schedule lightens up as the season winds down. The squad finishes with two home ACC series against unranked N.C. State and Duke, and will end the season with a road series against Virginia Tech, the last-place team in the Coastal Division.Tonight, though, Virginia must head to Richmond to contend with a VCU team that has been competitive in previous matchups. Though the Cavaliers have won each of the teams’ last three battles, two of those wins came by two runs or less.The Rams are coming off a weekend series with their only other ranked opponent thus far, No. 27 George Mason. VCU lost the series at the Diamond in Richmond but took one game from the Patriots, holding George Mason scoreless during the final five innings of a 4-3 victory in Friday’s opener. The Rams are 7-5 this season at the picturesque Diamond, which was the home of the Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A affiliate Richmond Braves for 46 years until they moved to Gwinnett, Ga. in the fall of 2008.“It’s a chance to play at the Diamond,” O’Connor said. “I know we’ll have a lot of fans there.”With O’Connor shuffling his players around, it is also a chance for the young Virginia team to continue to adapt as the postseason nears.“We’re a young team, and that’s not an excuse at all,” Grovatt said. “I think as the season goes on, we mature as players and as people, just because you learn from your mistakes. I think that definitely has shown so far this year.”
(04/20/09 5:26am)
Two weeks ago, sophomore pitcher Robert Morey’s role in ACC play was as a seldom-used middle reliever.The past two weekends, however, Morey has been the Sunday starter, and yesterday against Boston College he threw the best game No. 13 Virginia has seen from its starting pitching staff this season. Morey struck out 12 Eagles in 7 2/3 shutout innings to lift Virginia to a 2-0 win and to its first series victory on the road since its conference season opener against Wake Forest. The Cavaliers also triumphed 8-3 in Friday’s opener against Boston College, but fell 9-6 Saturday.“This is a huge series win on the road,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “I think at the end of the year [Boston College will] be one of the top eight teams in this league ... This gives us some space [in the Coastal Division].”The shutout in the game three clincher was the first in ACC play for Virginia since April 29, 2007 against Maryland. After Morey left with two outs in the eighth having thrown 109 pitches, sophomore reliever Kevin Arico delivered a four-out save, his fourth of the year.Morey had his fastball, curveball and slider in full force, as he did not allow a hit until a two-out single in the fourth. Through the first 2 1/3 innings, the Eagles only managed to put the ball in play once, on a sacrifice bunt following a leadoff walk in the first inning. Morey went on to strike out the next six batters.“[Morey] was right there with all of his pitches,” sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt said. “That’s what we needed today.”Freshman Danny Hultzen, meanwhile, was the hero in Virginia’s victory Friday. With the score knotted at one and two runners aboard for the Cavaliers in the fourth, Hultzen clubbed a breaking ball at his knees well beyond the 366-foot mark of the right-centerfield wall for the first home run of his career and his first extra-base hit in ACC play.That was the first of two bombs Hultzen knocked this weekend, as he hit an eerily similar three-run homer to right-centerfield on a low-and-inside fastball in the first inning of Saturday’s losing effort.“Low and in is my favorite pitch,” Hultzen said. “The past couple days, [I got] two of them and I was able to capitalize.”Hultzen also made his usual Friday start on the mound. Though he did not have his best command, consistently going deep into counts, he ground through 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits.Hultzen left the fourth with Virginia leading 4-2 but in a jam, as Boston College put runners on second and third with one out with its best hitter, junior catcher Tony Sanchez, ready to bat. Sophomore pitcher Tyler Wilson replaced Hultzen, though, and sent Sanchez — who entered the series hitting .387 with 12 home runs, both team highs — back to the dugout on three consecutive fastballs. Wilson’s third heater screamed over the outside corner at Sanchez’s knees, as the Boston College hitter’s bat remained firmly on his shoulder.Wilson then grounded out sophomore cleanup hitter Mickey Wiswall to end the threat.“Coach Oak [O’Connor] came in and said, ‘Make your pitches against this guy,’” Wilson said. “‘We’re going to get these guys right here, come in, score some runs and win this ball game.’”The sophomore went on to finish off one of the best outings of his career, throwing the final 4 2/3 innings, while allowing one run on three hits to secure the game-one victory.“I thought [Wilson’s] fastball was good today,” O’Connor said, “and at the end of the game, he was not going to be denied, and that was great to see.”The Cavalier bullpen was not so fortunate Saturday, as junior relief pitcher Matt Packer struggled on the mound.Packer entered with two outs and a 5-5 score in the seventh, and induced a groundout to retire the side. After Virginia took the lead with a run in the top of the eighth, however, Packer was pummeled in the bottom half of the inning for four runs on three hits and two walks. The Cavaliers were shut out in the ninth to complete the Eagles’ lone victory of the series.The loss dropped Packer, the national 2008 ERA leader, to 1-4 and inflated his 2009 ERA to 5.47. The defeat also added to a disturbing statistic for the Cavalier bullpen — in all seven losses and one tie in ACC play, the Virginia starting pitcher left the game with either a lead or a tie score.“[The players] keep coming back after difficult losses,” O’Connor said. “It’s human instinct to [get frustrated], but I know they have a lot of confidence in their teammates ... It just so happens that we have a chance to win every ball game, and most teams can’t say that. We have, and so [a tough loss] does frustrate you.”Virginia will hit the road again Tuesday night for a matchup against VCU at the Diamond in Richmond.Notes:Sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker had one of his toughest series in a Virginia uniform, going 1-for-12 with one walk and 10 strikeouts this weekend, including 0-for-5 with five strikeouts Friday. After Friday’s dismal performance, O’Connor moved Parker out of the leadoff spot for the first time all season — he hit seventh Saturday and ninth Sunday ... Parker’s one hit, though, was a big one, as he stroked an RBI-double in the seventh for Virginia’s second and final run. “He showed us what he’s made of,” O’Connor said ... O’Connor put sophomore Phil Gosselin in the leadoff spot Saturday and junior Tyler Cannon in that role Sunday. O’Connor said he likes the right-handed Gosselin to lead off against left-handed pitchers and the switch-hitting Cannon to lead off against right-handers ... Sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt reached base in seven of his 13 trips to the plate during the series, going 4-for-10 with three walks ... Senior starting pitcher Andrew Carraway went 6 1/3 innings in Saturday’s loss, giving up five runs on nine hits and one hit batter.
(04/17/09 5:30am)
“If you’re trying to be phony or selling them something that’s not there, it doesn’t work.”New Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett used these words to describe the conversations he had with 2009 recruits Tristan Spurlock and Jontel Evans, both of whom recently told Bennett that they would honor their commitments to attend Virginia.Bennett may as well have been talking about the interview I conducted with him Wednesday morning. In the sports writing business, you get plenty of interviews that can be described as “phony.” Bennett’s, though, was not one of them.But his personality is not all I like about him. In the two weeks since he arrived at Virginia, there is nothing to complain about regarding his progress. First, he successfully convinced both Spurlock and Evans to come here, after they had reportedly signed last fall because of their relationships with former coach Dave Leitao and former assistant coach Bill Courtney. The Daily Progress, however, reported March 17 that it was “a virtual certainty” that Spurlock would decommit.And now, it appears that Bennett has hit the nail on the head after filling up his own staff of assistants with the recruiting ties that he lacks. Head assistant coach Ritchie McKay left Liberty to come here. Regardless of whether this had anything to do with the transfer of Seth Curry, Stephen Curry’s younger brother, from Liberty to Duke, McKay is a winning hire. He’s got head coaching experience and goes back with Bennett nearly to his college days. Most importantly, he has recruiting ties to Virginia.The same recruiting aspect goes for assistant coach Jason Williford, a Virginia basketball alum who was previously an assistant coach at American University. Even assistant coach Ron Sanchez, who was on Bennett’s staff at Washington State, offers recruiting help. He played four years and coached one at the State University of New York College at Oneonta in addition to coaching two years at Delhi College (N.Y.), and Bennett is hopeful that he can network in the recruiting hotbed that is New York.In sum, so far, so good. Here is part two of the exclusive interview with Bennett, a continuation of part one, published in yesterday’s issue of The Cavalier Daily:Q: If a student came up to you and said, “What are you about as a coach?” what would be your response?“I’ve been a part of rebuilding programs, which I think is very valuable. We’ve had to start and develop a system, we had to find a way to become successful over time in the program in the Big 10 conference [at Wisconsin], also in the Pac-10 Conference [at Washington State]. That’s what I’m about: trying to build programs that’ll reach success, be a part of touching something very special.“I’m real competitive — that’s something that I guess at an early age has been in me. When there’s a challenge to compete against the best and be among the best and trying to be in there, that really motivates me. Also, I want to be a part of a program that not only does things right but that also stands for the right things. That’s so important. The image that your team projects, the relationship as a coach you have with your players, making an impact on young men, so that hopefully with basketball, after basketball there’s a difference from the time spent in your program.”Q: Have you had a chance to walk around Grounds and meet some of the students?“I walked around a little bit. Right now I’m buried in work and all that — players recruiting, returning phone calls, getting caught up that way — but the little bit I’ve driven around campus and been around, it just gets better and better. It’s absolutely beautiful, and there’s such good vibe and a good feel to it, and as the weather starts to turn nice, it’s a great time to be here. I definitely want to do that.“When I got here, I met with the Student Council. I met with them and talked, really enjoyed that.”Q: How have you gone about building relationships with the players currently on the team?“You just have to say, ‘This is who I am,’ and over time they’ll get to know you. I’ve really appreciated how hard they’ve worked in the limited workouts [we’ve had], and I think that they’re coming in with an open mind, and they seem like good young men, but I think it’s important for them to get to know the staff as well. You’re going to be together. I know they use it a lot, calling it ‘family,’ but you are, it’s your second family, because you’re together so much, and you go through so many emotions together — the elation in victory, the dejection when you lose, the highs and lows. You’d better have good relationships and a strong bond that way, and hopefully that will continue to grow.“They’ve for the [previous] two or three weeks been without a coach, and there’s been so much uncertainty: Who’s coming in? What are we going to do? They were sort of in a state of limbo, but right now there’s sort of a finality to that, and now we can move on.”Q: How do you like your new staff of assistant coaches?“That speaks volumes about the University of Virginia for Ritchie McKay, who’s been a head coach at a number of different places — New Mexico, Colorado State, Portland State, and Liberty. Having been a head coach for that many years, to want to come and be a part of something here, to leave Liberty and a good situation they had, because he’s excited about this team. I have a relationship that goes way back. He’s developed some ties in this area, and I think a guy with head coaching experience is always valuable. Ron Sanchez, who’s been with me six years with Washington State, has some New York ties, but one of the most loyal, servant-minded guys I’ve been around in terms of, [he] just wants to do what’s best for the program and serve the program. He’s been part of a turnaround, and has a great way with kids. I’ve had guys that are very relational, and he’s real good, real passionate about it. And, he knows me, and that’s important. He knows the kind of players I want, he knows what I’m about, there’s some familiarity there, so having him is a tremendous asset, and he’s a young go-getter — I say young, to you he’s old [laughs].“And then to have Jason Williford, who’s from Richmond, played [at Virginia] as part of three NCAA Tournament teams, the Elite Eight, and won an NIT Championship in his time here. An assistant coach at Boston University, an assistant coach at American University — two excellent academic institutions — so understanding the right guys to recruit, great relationships with the people of U.Va., the alumni, and also the ties with the AAU coaches, the high school coaches, the D.C. area, so we can hit the ground running and really tap into those contacts.“Having Brad Soucie [as the director of] basketball operations, who also played the game, was in the business world, coaching — there are so many facets of the daily operations that go on, that you need people who are so well-organized, have a mind for the game, and who are generally willing to do whatever it takes.”Q: What is your background with Ritchie McKay?“His brother played for the Green Bay Packers. He was a receiver — his brother actually played for the national championship with the Washington Huskie football team, and I had just come back from my first year in the NBA, and we just met each other and got to know each other. Ritchie — he followed my dad’s career — and my father was kind of a mentor to him in terms of the basketball. So we just developed a relationship way back then — this is the early ‘90s. And then I followed his career, he followed mine. It’s funny, we both went overseas; he went and played in New Zealand professionally after his college days, and I was over there after my NBA days as a player and coach, so we had some common ground. I coached in the Pac-10, and we had a good relationship over the years.”Q: How’s your family settling in?“Because they’re not here. I won’t get to see them — they don’t get here until late May. They’re back in Washington State, in Pullman. We just sold our house, which is good news.“I have an 8 year-old daughter and a 6 year-old son, so they’re in kindergarten and second grade, so they’ll probably finish up. My wife will come up here at the end of April, soon, and look for a house, and hopefully we’ll find one and bring the kids out here.“Right now, you’re so busy, it’s a lot of late nights that you’ve gotta get some things established. But it’ll be great to see them. That’s another reason why Virginia — it’s a good place for family, and that matters to me so much, to be able to raise your kids in a good place and enjoy that part of it. This is the complete package in terms of the things you’re looking for.”
(04/16/09 5:49am)
Yesterday morning, while I was in the midst of an exclusive interview with newly appointed Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett in his office at the John Paul Jones Arena, his cell phone rang from his desk a few feet away. As Bennett continued talking about the status of his 2009 recruiting class, he hopped out of his chair to turn his phone off. Picking up the phone, he casually glanced to see who was calling.“Wally Walker,” Bennett said. Walker was an all-time great Virginia basketball player, scoring 1,849 career points while leading the Cavaliers to their only ACC Tournament championship. Walker’s number 41 is retired, and he has an area of John Paul Jones Arena, the Wally Walker Virginia Basketball Hall of Fame, named after him. “You can use this to make you feel good,” Bennett smiled. “I’m ignoring this call for you.”In the half-hour or so I spent in Bennett’s office yesterday morning, he was witty, insightful and genuinely interested in the life and work of an amateur reporter. He asked me what the best pizza place was around town; I told him Christian’s. He told me he had been to Littlejohn’s and ordered a Philly Chicken (“Woooo! That was good!” he said.) He didn’t just ask me if I was aspiring to be a sportswriter; he asked me what the University offered in terms of journalism. (Answer: next to nothing.) After most every question I asked during the interview, Bennett ended by asking, “Was that OK? Was that what you were looking for?”The mere fact that Bennett was willing to meet with me was in itself extremely thoughtful. During the two weeks removed from his welcoming press conference, with numerous other tasks on his plate, Bennett has spoken with very few publications. With The CavalieBDaily going out of production at the end of next week before the summer hits, though, Bennett and media relations officials were gracious enough to make the interview happen.So, my initial impressions of Tony Bennett? Classy, young, excited, down-to-earth and ultra-competitive. Of course, as he put it, “People right now are so friendly — I guess I’ve never lost a game yet.” Nevertheless, he sure seems like a standup guy.But enough of my thoughts. In the first of a two-part column, here are some tidbits from my interview with Bennett.Q: How did you get 2009 recruits Tristan Spurlock and Jontel Evans to honor their commitments to come to Virginia?“I think first of all, the University of Virginia spoke loud and clear to them ... That didn’t change, that was a constant and that certainly worked in our favor.“But kids are perceptive; you just have to be genuine with them and real. If you’re trying to be phony or selling them something that’s not there, it doesn’t work. I just said, ‘Hey, I never saw you play in person. I’ve watched some tape, I’ve talked to a lot of people. This is what I’m excited about from what I hear, from what I see on tape. Here are the ways I think you can be used in this program. There’s a need here — everyone tells you, we want him, we want him, but there’s a need here. Hopefully you’re still consider us because we want you here.“But you also tell them, I’m going to hold open hands. I’m not going to force you. This is your decision, you have to make a decision based on the new information — a new staff in place, a new head coach, but everything else is the same, and try to be real with them and not try to pull one over their eyes. That to me doesn’t get you very far in this business.”Q: You’ve said you want to be flexible in adjusting to the ACC style of basketball. What offensive principles do you want to carry over from Washington State?“Soundness with the basketball — not being loose with it, turning it over — and trying to get great shots every time down the floor. That’s good offense, whether you run NBA sets, motion, flex, package stuff. That’s what I want to carry with me. The difference between my dad’s teams and when I coached at Washington State were that I ran some more NBA sets, I’d use more pick-and-roll stuff. At times, we’d try to get out and go more, just depending on the situation. Here, you have to have a system. First and foremost, that starts, again, with good decision-making and being sound. It’ll come with that — I think we’ll definitely have some sets and I think at times we’ll use some motion concepts.“Assessing what you have — trying to give these guys some structure but also some freedom to play because you can’t be robots. Certainly you’ve got to be able to play in the half-court offensively and be tough and sound; at times, you have to be patient but you also have to be able to get out in the open court and go when the opportunities present themselves. Whatever you do, there has to be a large degree of value in the basketball.”Q: What are your initial impressions on differences between the Pac-10 and the Big 10?“The ACC seems certainly physical, certainly terrific athletes, but it does seem to be at times more free-flowing, to get out and get up and down. At times you’re going to have to play that way, at times you’re going to have to go, but you also have to look and just say, ‘OK, can we continue to go up and down against North Carolina?’ Opportunistically you have to look for those situations, but at times you’re going to have to be sound and patient and tight about it. Everybody knows that.“But as far the leagues — as far as Herb Sendek [the former head coach at N.C. State] who’s now in the Pac-10, and Jonny Dawkins [the head coach at Stanford and former assistant coach at Duke], I’ve asked them — not since I’ve taken this job — but I’ve said, ‘What’s the difference between the Pac-10 and the ACC?’ and Herb said, ‘You know, it just depends on the year.’ ... I think year in and year out, this is the best league in America.“Talking to some people, going on the road in this league is tough. I know every game will be a battle in any major league, but here specifically and on the road with the arenas and the excitement for it, and the packed houses.”Q: What are some differences between you and your father in your coaching philosophies?“My experience of having played in the NBA and having been an offensive-minded player — because I’ve played in the NBA and played in the Pan-Am games with USA basketball, because I’ve been under different coaches — just having those experiences has also shaped my philosophy, no question. You have to learn wherever you’re at. I’ve just taken some things from other coaches, my playing experiences, coaching experiences and added those. As far as [my father], he’s certainly had a huge influence, and if I can become half as good a coach as he is, I’ll be so successful because he’s so successful — just ask people around.”[Editor’s note: Part two of the Q&A will be published in tomorrow’s issue of The Cavalier Daily. In the second part, Bennett discusses his recent assistant coach hirings, how he has related to players so far, what his family has been doing recently and what coaching ideals he brings to Virginia.]
(04/15/09 5:51am)
To this point in the season, there has been a degree of frustration for a very young Virginia baseball team. In a three-game series against Georgia Tech in Atlanta, the Cavaliers suffered their fifth ACC loss by a single run Friday and had Sunday’s game end in a 4-4 tie because of time constraints.As Virginia (28-7-1, 9-6-1 ACC) prepares to take on Radford (15-14) tonight, however, both coach Brian O’Connor and his players like where they stand. The Cavaliers have suffered through games decided in the final innings more often than they have triumphed. On the other hand, the fact that the Cavaliers, who were picked fourth in the Coastal Division preseason, are in every game suggests that Virginia is worthy of being called an elite team nationally.Unlike in past years, the best may be yet to come, O’Connor said.“The exciting thing for me is that I feel like my team hasn’t peaked yet, and maybe in previous years we’ve peaked too early,” O’Connor said. “The good thing about these games is we’re in all of them with a chance to win. Once we figure out how to win ‘em consistently, we have a chance to be a really special team.”The general pattern has been that Virginia has failed to come out on top in the final innings. In six conference games in which the score has been tied or within a one-run margin going into the eighth inning, Virginia is 2-4-1, with the two wins coming against Maryland and Wake Forest, the bottom two teams in the Atlantic Division.Part of these late-inning woes can be attributed to junior closer Matt Packer’s struggles. As Virginia’s middle-inning stopper last year, Packer posted a nation-best 1.14 ERA, and entered this spring as the leader of a young, inexperienced bullpen. This season, Packer’s ERA has ballooned to 4.24, and on several occasions he has entered with runners on base in key situations but failed to secure the big out to pull Virginia out of a jam.Packer’s most recent difficulties came against Georgia Tech. The junior entered Friday with Virginia in a 6-4 lead, but allowed three runs on six hits to earn his third loss of the season. Packer made another appearance Sunday with two outs and a runner on third with Virginia in a 3-1 lead, but the first batter he faced hit an RBI-single, and Packer was immediately removed.O’Connor has suggested moving Packer into the starting rotation, particularly with the emergence of sophomore closer Kevin Arico as a viable option at closer; Arico has three saves on the year. Throughout Packer’s slump, though, O’Connor has shown confidence that Packer will rebound, and he did not change his stance after Sunday. “I really feel like Matt is a pitch or two away,” O’Connor said. “I know this: for us to be a championship team, Matt Packer — whether it’s at the front of the game, or in the middle of the game, or at the end of the game — is going to need to pitch good baseball for us to have a chance to win a championship.”On the other hand, the Cavaliers have been able to mount some impressive late-inning rallies, most notably in Saturday’s game against the Yellow Jackets. Down 10-5 going into the ninth inning, Virginia put the first five runners on base and ultimately scored six runs in the inning to take the lead, with little-used freshman infielder Keith Werman knocking in the go-ahead run. After Arico threw a scoreless ninth, Virginia found the most unlikely of victories.“I can’t say there are very many times that I’ve been a part of something like that,” O’Connor said. “The thing that was special to watch for me was how each individual player stepped up there and was not going to let his team down. That was great to see.”After yesterday’s scheduled game with Coastal Carolina was canceled in advance of forecast inclement weather, Virginia now has the rare opportunity for a rematch against a non-conference opponent tonight. The Cavaliers defeated Radford 12-2 March 31 in Salem, Va., spurred on by a season-best nine-run second inning.Radford, however, has shown that it is capable of at least hanging with a ranked opponent. The Highlanders took Coastal Carolina to extra innings Friday, though they eventually fell 3-2 in the 10th.What is more, O’Connor admitted that a little bit of luck contributed to the Cavaliers’ big second inning in the teams’ last matchup.“That rarely ever happens — every guy comes to the plate and hits the ball hard and it finds a hole and you score nine runs in an inning,” O’Connor said. “That probably won’t happen the rest of the year. It’s just important that we play good, sound fundamental baseball.”O’Connor said freshman pitcher Will Roberts will make his fifth start of the year tonight and his second against a non-conference opponent. Roberts has posted a 3.75 ERA this season; his best outing came in his only other midweek start against William & Mary Feb. 24, when he threw five scoreless innings and allowed just three hits in an 11-1 victory. O’Connor also noted that several other pitchers will need work against Radford after Tuesday’s cancellation.Radford’s starter, meanwhile, has not yet been determined. The Highlander pitcher who had the most success against Virginia in the teams’ first meeting was senior Josh Hammonds, who followed the Cavaliers’ nine-run burst with six scoreless innings of work before he ran out of steam, allowing two runs in the ninth. It would appear that Hammonds is available for another extended appearance if needed, having thrown just two-thirds of an inning during the weekend series against Coastal Carolina.After each contest that Virginia has lost or won in startling fashion, O’Connor has said his young team returns the next game with the same bounce in its step — which is why sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt said nothing will change against Radford. With one month left in the season, Grovatt noted that he has no complaints.“Coaches have told me before, if you’re winning two-thirds of your games in the game of baseball, that’s considered almost impossible to do,” Grovatt said. “If you win two out of three games, you’re winning every series; that’s outstanding. We’re way above that winning percentage right now. That’s where you want to be, and if we take care of business that’s where we’ll stay.”
(04/14/09 5:38am)
Overcoming adversity has been a theme for the Virginia women’s tennis team. Last week was no different.After going through what senior Amanda Rales described as “some team things” in the days leading up to the weekend, the Cavaliers put their problems behind them to play some of their best tennis in the last two regular season matches. Seniors Maggie Yahner and Rales set the example in their final matches at Snyder Tennis Center, going 4-0 each in singles and teaming to go 2-0 in doubles on the weekend. The two helped No. 29 Virginia defeat No. 37 Wake Forest Saturday and unranked N.C. State Sunday, both by a 5-2 margin.Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau altered the bottom of the singles lineup during Virginia’s final two matches of the regular season. After playing freshmen Claire Bartlett and Karoline Steiro at the bottom two singles slots the previous three matches, Guilbeau slid Yahner and sophomore Neela Vaez into those positions. Guilbeau also bumped Bartlett out of the doubles lineup for the first time since Feb. 21 against Richmond.“Without sounding like a parent or mom or something like that, I’m really, really proud of the six people who were out there,” Rales said. “You could say that maybe it wasn’t the strongest lineup that we’ve had, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”When asked about where the lineup stands moving forward, Guilbeau said, “The team sometimes comes to the coach and shares the important decisions. As a coach, I’m going to do what the team tells me if it’s unanimous.”The modifications appeared to benefit Virginia; Yahner and Vaez responded by going 3-1 in singles, and Virginia won all six doubles matches during the weekend. Guilbeau would not comment on whether the team came to him specifically about the lineup change for the two matches but did offer the following explanation.“We’re always basing things on what’s best for the team and what the team wants,” Guilbeau said. “The thing I want to state is that this team is showing the greatest level of determination that it’s shown all year.”That determination was encapsulated by Rales and Yahner, who were honored in a senior day ceremony before Sunday’s match. After handily winning her singles match Saturday 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, Rales finished her career at Snyder with an emotional, comeback victory in straight sets. Down a break at 5-3 in the first and 4-3 in the second to N.C. State junior Daria Petrovic, Rales battled back in both sets to win the final match of the afternoon 7-5, 7-6 (7-2).“That sums up everything — her career, what she’s meant to the team,” Guilbeau said. “For Amanda’s [win] to be so hard-fought and so well-earned is exactly what this is all about.”Yahner also had a comeback in her own right. For most of the season, Guilbeau had limited Yahner — formerly a staple in the singles lineup — to doubles play as she recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery that she underwent last spring. The past weekend, however, Guilbeau penciled Yahner into the singles slate for the first time since Virginia’s match against TCU Jan. 24, and she responded with two straight-set victories, including a dominant 6-1, 6-0 victory Sunday against N.C. State and a more tightly contested 7-5, 6-1 win Saturday.“Mark [Guilbeau] was like, ‘I’m really happy for you that you pulled [Saturday’s] match out,’ and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m really happy for me, too,’” Yahner said. “I didn’t even think I was going to play singles again and I’m glad I got the opportunity and was able to pull through.”Freshman Emily Fraser also had a successful weekend, first with a convincing upset of Wake Forest No. 55 junior Sasha Kulikova 6-3, 6-1 Saturday. Fraser then lost her Sunday match to N.C. State No. 104 sophomore Lenka Hojckova 6-1, 7-5. Down 5-1 in the second, Fraser rallied to win four consecutive games to even the score at five-all before running out of gas.“Emily has shown some serious toughness, especially for a first-year kid,” Guilbeau said. “Even the matches that she hasn’t won, it does seem like wins. I hope she keeps believing that, because she’s doing enough good things in there that it basically is as good as a win.”At No. 4 singles, freshman Lindsey Hardenbergh, a Cavalier Daily staff writer, also managed to pull out a win but dropped her match Saturday. Vaez and junior No. 88 Jennifer Stevens each went 1-1 in singles; Vaez dropped her Saturday match at No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-3 before she was swapped with Yahner to No. 6 singles Sunday, where she took an easy 6-0, 6-2 victory. Stevens won a three-setter Saturday 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 before dropping a 10-point tiebreak and thus the match Sunday, 7-5, 4-6, 10-4.Virginia resumes play as the seven-seed at the ACC Tournament in Cary, N.C. The Cavaliers’ first-round opponent will be No. 10-seed Boston College.
(04/09/09 5:00am)
For fans that streamed in a few minutes late to Davenport Field last night, they likely were stunned to see a “5” on the scoreboard for the Stony Brook baseball team against Virginia in the first inning.With a Virginia offense that averaged 9.5 runs per game going into the evening, however, fans also likely felt comfortable that the Cavalier bullpen could hold off the Seawolves and allow the offense to bring the team back.But last night simply was not the Cavaliers’ night. Though the bullpen did its job for the most part, untimely hitting, fielding and baserunning errors contributed to Virginia’s first nonconference loss of the season, as the Seawolves defeated the Cavaliers 6-2 at Davenport Field.“This game came down to our lack of playing good, fundamental baseball,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “You give [Stony Brook] all the credit in the world — they did a nice job, and they beat us in our own ballpark.”It was junior Jeff Lorick who put Virginia in the early five-run hole in his fifth consecutive midweek start of the season. Lorick has had trouble with his command in spots all season and came into the evening with a 4.13 ERA in six midweek starts; yesterday certainly was his weakest performance of the season. After retiring the first two batters to start the game, Stony Brook batted through the rest of its lineup with two outs in the first, scoring five runs before O’Connor pulled Lorick for sophomore pitcher Shane Halley. With runners on first and second, Halley grounded out Stony Brook’s leadoff hitter, freshman catcher Pat Cantwell, to retire the side and finally end the damage.Lorick “got the first two guys out, and looked very comfortable and pitched well,” O’Connor said. “It’s tough to come back when you fall behind 5-0 in the first inning.”Virginia did take a chunk out of the deficit with two runs in the fourth off Stony Brook sophomore starting pitcher Evan Stecko-Haley. Freshman designated hitter Danny Hultzen led off with a triple over the head of senior centerfielder Michael Tansey, and sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt was hit by a pitch, giving the Cavaliers first and third with no outs. Freshman third baseman Steven Proscia scored Hultzen on a sacrifice fly, and junior catcher Franco Valdes followed with a shot to the right center-field gap to score Grovatt from first.Sensing an opportunity to steal a win from Virginia, Stony Brook coach Matt Senk then sent some of his best pitchers to the hill to keep the Cavaliers at bay. The four pitchers Senk sent out after the fourth inning included the team’s leaders in ERA who made at least two appearances this season. That list included freshman Nick Tropeano, the Seawolves’ Saturday starter.All told, Stony Brook held the Cavaliers scoreless after Stecko-Haley was removed.The four pitchers “all had pretty good arms and knew how to pitch,” O’Connor said. “When you have a deficit, that’s tough to come back from.”Junior John Bivens gave Virginia some hope when he led off the eighth with a pinch-hit single. On the first pitch to the next batter, however, Bivens took off on a ball in the dirt and was easily gunned down by Cantwell.“John knows in that situation, when you’re down four runs, you can’t do that — the ball’s got to go to the backstop,” O’Connor said. “He did a nice job of getting a hit to lead off the inning. We’ve just gotta be better at baserunning at that period — you can’t just give up free outs.”Bivens’ baserunning error loomed large as the inning continued. With two outs in the inning, both sophomore center fielder Jarrett Parker and sophomore second baseman Phil Gosselin walked. With runners on first and second and two outs though — rather than the bases loaded and one out if Bivens had stayed put at first — Hultzen grounded out weakly to second to end the inning.“It is [a big error],” O’Connor said, “but that play wasn’t one that cost us this ballgame. What cost us this game was you fall behind 5-0 in the first inning.”The Cavaliers also threatened in the sixth, putting runners on second and third with two outs, but Valdes flied to deep center field to put another zero on the board.“We got hits throughout the game,” Valdes said. “We just couldn’t get them all together in one inning like how we usually do.”The Cavaliers were also not especially sharp in the field, making two errors and several other mistakes that led to runs. A miscommunication between Parker and Coleman on a fly ball to left centerfield led to a two-RBI double for the final two runs of the first.Then, to begin the sixth, back-to-back blunders resulted in the Seawolves’ final run of the evening. First, Stony Brook sophomore second baseman Chad Marshall knocked a routine groundball back to Virginia junior Neal Davis on the mound, but it resulted in an infield single as freshman first baseman Jared King slipped on the grass and could not get back to cover the bag. Davis then attempted to pick Marshall off first base, but King could not handle the throw, moving Marshall to second. Sophomore designated hitter Nick Thode then shot a groundball down the first base line to score Marshall.On the bright side for Virginia, both Halley and sophomore pitcher Justin Thompson — the younger brother of Jacob Thompson, a 2008 graduate and a first-team All-American in 2007 — had outstanding outings. Halley threw 3 1/3 no-hit innings behind Lorick; then, after Davis gave up a run in 1 1/3 innings of work, Thompson entered and allowed one run on no hits in two innings of work.Another sophomore pitcher, Robert Morey, threw four shutout innings and allowed two hits in the Cavaliers’ 8-0 win Tuesday against Stony Brook.“I think these two games [against Stony Brook] served us well,” O’Connor said. “Obviously I would’ve liked to have won both of them ... I’m liking what we saw in the middle of the week from a pitching standpoint as far as our depth goes.”
(04/02/09 6:18am)
My first encounter with Tony Bennett was not a pleasant one, but I won’t hold it against him.At a news conference held for the newly appointed men’s basketball coach, the floor was opened to questions from attending media. Feeling bold, I waved my hand and was recognized. So, with athletic director Craig Littlepage sitting on one side and with President John Casteen III on the other, with Al Groh, Howie Long and Debbie Ryan among the hundred or so people in attendance, with still more media calling in via conference call, and with live streaming video on virginiasports.com to the general public, I introduced myself as the reporter from the student paper. Then, I asked the following question.“In what you’ve seen of Virginia and meeting with the team,” I said, “Do you get a sense of what maybe went wrong the last couple of years and what needs to change?” The first line of Bennett’s response: “No. That wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on.”Oh boy.“Sometimes when you don’t have success, the coaching staff works extra hard,” Bennett continued. “But [they had] a tremendous year three years ago to share for an ACC title. But I couldn’t say that. Hopefully there’s some valuable experience that’s been gained in the last couple of years.”And so begins my relationship with the new coach. I am now the student reporter who was snide enough to throw a hardball at what was, for all intents and purposes, the new coach’s welcoming party to Charlottesville; Bennett even said the press conference was “like a wedding day.”To be fair, that was not my intent. I simply was trying to ask the question that every fan wants to know the answer to: What is your plan for turning this program around? Instead, he took it as, how do you plan on cleaning up the mess left that Dave Leitao left? And, after thanking Leitao and his staff for “all their hard work,” as he put it, that was not a question he was interested in answering. Fair enough.But enough about my personal experience. There were many other questions — none of them from me, mind you — to which either the new coach or Littlepage had an answer at the ready. Here are some of the more revealing tidbits that I picked up.1. “The No. 1 pick” Before Bennett took the floor, both Casteen and Littlepage made opening remarks. Most of it was the expected exchange of niceties; Casteen and Littlepage played up the coach as the right man for the job, talked about how they wanted a guy who understood the true concept of the student-athlete and the teacher-coach, and how Bennett was that guy. Then, as Littlepage wrapped up by introducing Bennett, he said the following:“I’d like to introduce my pick — the No. 1 pick — and the future of Virginia basketball, the 2007 National Associated Press Coach of the Year, Mr. Tony Bennett.” The No. 1 pick. Does that really mean what we think it means? Did Littlepage look at Tubby Smith — who was thought to be a prime candidate nearly from the moment Leitao resigned — and say, nah, let’s go with the 39-year-old from Washington State? The way he spoke about the process of searching for a new coach, it sure seems likely. “An extensive list of candidates — coaches — was created,” Littlepage said. “That list ranged from coaches who are household names, coaches who have won championships — both conference championships and national championships — and it also included coaches who were somewhat lesser-known but are outstanding coaches nonetheless.” Littlepage went on to say that he spoke with current and former coaches, administrators, people familiar with the University, the state, the ACC and with college basketball in general. And through that research and based on the attributes he was looking for, he landed on Bennett. As if Bennett didn’t have enough pressure in trying to turn around a struggling team in arguably the toughest conference in America, now he has to prove that he can do it better than Tubby.2. Flexibility Much has been made on Bennett’s coaching style in the past — namely, his offense. At both Washington State and Wisconsin, where he was either a head coach or an assistant beneath his father, Dick Bennett, his teams played reputably slower, deliberate offensive styles. In three years as the head coach of Washington State, Tony Bennett’s teams scored less than 67 points per game each season, including 59.2 per game last year. Now, Bennett heads to the high-octane ACC, where no team averaged less than 68 points per game last year and where the top four teams in the conference averaged more than 77. Clearly, Bennett needs to be flexible, and he quickly dispelled rumors that he is set in his ways or even that his offense is as deliberate as it’s made out to be. “I think sometimes in the past, our style’s been considered real slow-down — there will be opportunities to run,” Bennett said. “There will be opportunities to get out and go, as long as you’re sound or you’re tough.” Then, Littlepage — the former men’s basketball coach at both Pennsylvania and Rutgers — jumped in to defend his new coach’s style. “When you play defense the way that coach Bennett’s teams play defense, you’re forcing your opponent to take longer to take shots,” Littlepage said. “It’s not always that the person that plays the strong defense is playing a more deliberate style of play. Your play on defense forces the other team’s offense to take longer than it normally does to get shots off.” And it is defense, Bennett said, that has to be addressed first. He wants a team that plays with passion and toughness. Of course, that’s what we all heard when Leitao — also an up-and-coming coach at the time — was hired four years ago. But that doesn’t mean it can’t work this time. And as for his offense ... We’ll see, and so will Bennett. “I don’t have a clear picture of how we’re [going to] play on the offensive end,” Bennett said. 3. Tristan and Jontel The biggest question for next year is whether Virginia’s 2009 recruiting class, Tristan Spurlock and Jontel Evans, will remain on board with Bennett at the helm. In particular doubt is Spurlock — The Daily Progress reported March 16 that it was a “virtual certainty” that Spurlock would decommit, noting that Leitao and his former head assistant, Bill Courtney, were the primary reasons Spurlock had committed to Virginia in the first place. Since then, little has come of what Spurlock will do; the only solace that Cavalier fans could take is that Landesberg told reporters that he would do his very best to get Spurlock and Evans to honor their commitments. Now, what will the new head coach do? One thing he by now has already done — he said yesterday that he would be visiting one of the recruits that night, though he didn’t specify who. The other, he said, he would visit “later.”“First of all, they have to honor their commitment,” Bennett said. “I’ll just be real with them ... My deal is to try and be competitive and win.” To be competitive and win, keeping both players — particularly Spurlock — certainly is a top priority. 3. “Three or four years” Although Wahoos may hope for an immediate turnaround, Bennett wasn’t making any promises. He noted that both he and Littlepage understand that it takes some time to build a program. “It’s going to take three or four years to get your system, to get your players,” Bennett said, “then the expectations are there to really compete at a high level.” Fans may point out, but what about Washington State? In his first year with the Cougars in 2006-07, Bennett led his team to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament; in his second year, they went to the Sweet Sixteen. Each year, the Cougars won a school-record 26 wins.But what fans must remember is that Bennett inherited the program from his father, running what was at the very least a very similar system. He didn’t have to come across the East Coast, to a conference with an entirely different character, to a team that he had never met. The change at Washington State wasn’t just in-house, but in the family. “The guy before me was a good coach,” Bennett said with a smile. “It was challenging, but I think what we had was kids that had been through the system and were upperclassmen when I took over.”On the other hand, last season, during which Washington State went 17-16, is equally impressive. Loaded with a roster of nine freshman, the Cougars went 8-10 in the Pac-10, including a sweep of a home-and-home with Arizona State and a win at UCLA late in the season. Not too shabby.The final evaluation? Overall, a first impression of a classy, excited coach with the willingness to adapt. Perhaps he should not have specified that it could take “three or four years” to turn the program around — Leitao, after all, left after just four.From reading various articles that cite numerous experts, however, Bennett seems to have a bright future; he has even been called a “young Coach K.” And as much as people hate on Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski in this neck of the woods, a Coach K in Charlottesville doesn’t sound too bad.
(03/30/09 5:57am)
For the Virginia baseball team, next year was going to be the year. With merely a few of the team’s best players draft-eligible after this season, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor had the ingredients for a team that could finally get to a Super Regional of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the program’s history.This year? It was supposed to be, as the phrase goes, a rebuilding year. Get the freshmen infielders some experience. Figure out who can be relied on to start on the mound during weekend matches. Solidify a young bullpen.From the perspective of a fan, it all sounded well and good. To senior pitcher Andrew Carraway, however, “rebuilding year” didn’t exactly roll off the tongue.“If you come into your senior season and it really is a rebuilding year,” Carraway said, “then you’re gonna be disappointed.”It has been far from a rebuilding year, though. Picked fourth in the Coastal Division to start the season, the Cavs went 19-0 for the best start in the nation. This past weekend, Virginia paid a visit to the preseason national No. 1 North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Though the Cavs lost two games in heartbreaking fashion to lose the series, they emerged with a win Saturday thanks in large part to seven innings of brilliant work from Carraway: one earned run on three hits and one walk.This was a team that supposedly wasn’t going to be able to compete with North Carolina coming into the season. The Tar Heels are stacked; many of the Cavs’ key cogs are fresh off their senior proms.The Tar Heels have “Dustin Ackley at first base who’s gonna be a first round pick; pitcher Alex White is gonna be a first round pick,” Carraway said. “You see these guys all over the paper.”And yet, the Cavaliers came into Chapel Hill against a Tar Heel team fired up by a series loss to Duke the weekend before, and snagged one win and competed their brains out in two losses. The Tar Heels needed a two-run eighth to pull out a 4-3 win Friday, and a hit batter with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to walk away with a 6-5 win Sunday.“We’re just as good as these teams we’re playing,” said sophomore Dan Grovatt, who hit a two-run blast in the top of the ninth Sunday to tie the game at 5-5 to allow for the bottom of the ninth. “We could very well be on the winning side of both of these [losses], and driving home with a sweep.”Alas, though, the Cavaliers boarded the team bus with disappointment on their faces — and, a critic might observe, the series with UNC continued a pattern that has revealed the Cavaliers’ youth. In conference play, Virginia has lost four games decided by two runs or less. The aforementioned young bullpen has been spotty. In each of the team’s four conference losses — two to North Carolina and two to Miami the previous weekend – Virginia’s opponent scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning or later.It is a pattern of falling short that even extends to Virginia’s past. Five times in O’Connor’s tenure, the Cavaliers have been to the Regional, twice as the host and No. 1 seed; and yet, Virginia has failed to advance to the Super Regional each time.The beauty of this year’s team, though, is that it is as resilient as any squad O’Connor has ever fielded. O’Connor as well as numerous players have said that this is the most tight-knit team they have been a part of at Virginia.And no one has been rewarded more by this cohesive group than Carraway.“On the field, off the field, it’s a group of guys that kind of sticks together,” Carraway said. “There are no cliques that pull teams apart sometimes.”Though Carraway isn’t the only senior, he is the team’s most valuable and most decorated. A Lawn resident, Carraway was used in middle relief during his freshman and sophomore seasons before being moved to the starting rotation on weekends last season. Each year he has suited up as a Cavalier, he has played an integral role.Now, Carraway is the only senior that makes regular contributions to a team dominated by underclassmen. Carraway even admitted that “it’s definitely a strange feeling.” “A couple of the freshmen actually found out the other day that I was 22,” Carraway said. “[Freshmen Danny] Hultzen and Will Roberts are 18 I guess, and so they thought that was really funny.”Each year he has suited up as a Cavalier, Carraway has stowed away his uniform for the off-season a little sooner than he had hoped. While many had written off this team as too inexperienced perhaps to even make the postseason, Carraway didn’t elect to return for a fourth year to follow the same dreary path as years past.“One of the main reasons that I wanted to play this season was because I’ve got some unfinished business — that we haven’t been to the College World Series, haven’t been to a Super Regional,” Carraway said. “I want to be on the team that does that.”Will Virginia finally get over that hump and make a Super Regional? Maybe, maybe not. But during Carraway’s final season, just being part of a team that has a shot is rewarding enough.“It’s awesome,” Carraway said. “To come out and absolutely just dominate teams the way we started out, and then not only that, but to be able to play in the close ones like this, it’s just a great feeling.”
(03/26/09 5:46am)
As an enormous ACC series approaches, it would be easy to put less emphasis on a midweek game against Towson.That is exactly what happened last season, as the Cavaliers dropped the second of a two-game, midweek series with the Tigers on a Wednesday night at Davenport Field.In another two-game set with Towson played Tuesday and Wednesday — with No. 6 North Carolina looming this weekend — Virginia had no such trouble. The No. 8 Cavaliers completed a sweep of the Tigers Wednesday night, as a five-run third inning propelled Virginia to a 7-5 victory.“I thought we played pretty well today,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “Towson threw some of their best starters out there in the back half of the game.”Toeing the mound to begin the game for the Tigers (12-12) was certainly not one of their best starters. Freshman Ben Winter is listed as an outfielder in the Tigers’ media guide, which also notes that he “could also contribute as a left-handed pitcher.” But Winter shut down Virginia (21-2, 5-2 ACC) for the first two innings, allowing just an infield single on a weak groundball in the first two frames.“Those crafty, soft-tossing lefthanders can sometimes tie you into knots,” O’Connor said.In the third inning, however, Virginia figured Winter out, as the team batted through the entire order in its five-run burst. The rally included a leadoff double from sophomore catcher Franco Valdes, a single up the middle for an RBI from sophomore right fielder David Coleman, RBI infield singles from sophomore second baseman Phil Gosselin and freshman designated hitter John Hicks, and finally, a line drive single to right to score another Virginia run before Winter was removed with two outs in the inning.But the Tigers would not go away easily, as hurlers sophomore Drew Permison, junior Wes Shifflett, junior Nate Curd and senior Josh Squatrito allowed just two runs, one of them earned, in the remaining 5 1/3 innings pitched.“Those pitchers are going to be like the ones we see this weekend [against North Carolina],” O’Connor said.With the aid of the bullpen, the Tigers continued to hang around and faced a 7-3 margin going into the ninth. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, Towson strung together two bloop singles and had another batter drive in a run on an error with Virginia junior closer Matt Packer on the mound, putting the tying run at the plate with one out. Packer fanned both sophomore second baseman Chris Wychock and sophomore designated hitter Spencer Patton, however, to close out the win.“You can’t blame Matt Packer for that ninth inning,” O’Connor said. “There’s no defense for that.”In more good news for Virginia, junior lefthander Neal Davis made his first appearance since March 4, after sitting out with tendonitis in his throwing arm. Davis, who posted a 1.58 ERA last year, was not yet back to his peak; he gave up a single and a double in a one-run eighth. O’Connor, however, could certainly use the return of his prized lefthander to a bullpen that was victimized Sunday against Miami; ahead by a run but with his bullpen nearly empty, O’Connor was forced to leave sophomore Tyler Wilson on the mound for a third inning in the eighth, and Miami responded with three runs to take the lead and ultimately the win.O’Connor also noted that Davis, who started the season as the Saturday starter, could return to the starting rotation as he continues to recooperate.“It was great to see Neal,” sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker said. “We have complete faith in him that he’ll come back and do a great job for us.”Junior Jeff Lorick made it through 4 2/3 innings in his fifth start of the year, giving up two earned runs on four hits and two walks. But Wilson was credited with the win, as his outing was the most effective — he went 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits — while Lorick fell one-third of an inning short of being the automatic winning pitcher.
(03/23/09 6:03am)
In 20 years of coaching and playing college baseball, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor had never seen a final out quite like the one that allowed Miami to inflict the first loss against Virginia this season.A final out made on a play at the plate on a passed-ball third strike turned out to be the pivotal moment of a bizarre but thrilling series, as the Cavaliers lost their first series of the season to the Hurricanes. After opening the series with a 9-4 victory Friday night, Virginia fell in Saturday’s game 4-3 and lost 7-5 Sunday in an eight-inning contest shortened because of the constraints of Miami’s traveling schedule.“I’ve never been in a game with a time limit like [the one Sunday], and the Saturday game ending with a passed-ball third strike,” freshman catcher John Hicks said. “They were some crazy endings.”In the bottom of the ninth in Saturday’s contest, the Cavaliers were down one run with the bases loaded and two outs and two strikes on sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt, as he stepped in the box against Miami’s closer, junior Kyle Bellamy. With an anxious crowd of 2,649 people looking on, Bellamy’s 2-2 delivery had Grovatt fooled. Grovatt’s swing came nowhere near Bellamy’s pitch, which dove into the dirt toward junior catcher Jason Hagerty, seemingly ending the contest.The action, however, was far from finished. The ball skipped past Hagerty and back to the cement wall behind the plate. Standing on third base was sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker, who immediately started running home as Hagerty chased the ball down. Hagerty slid to the ball and fired to Bellamy covering the plate, whose tag appeared to meet Parker’s ankle a split second after Parker’s right foot touched home — but home plate umpire Jacob Asher pumped his fist for the final out.An infuriated Parker jumped up and yelled in disbelief, and O’Connor raced out of the dugout to confront Asher about what appeared to be a blown call. Instead of an argument though, what O’Connor got instead was an explanation; Bellamy’s tag was in fact unnecessary. With Virginia runners at every base, the play was a force. As Bellamy received the throw with his right foot on home plate, the out was made before Parker’s sliding foot reached home.There was no controversy — only heartbreak and disbelief as Virginia suffered its first loss.“It was a tough way to lose your first game of the season,” O’Connor said, “but we are proud that we had a good 19-game stretch there to open up the season.”The bizarre finish to Saturday’s contest set up an enormous, deciding game the next day. Much to the disappointment of some players and fans, however, the game ended prematurely. Because Miami needed to catch an 8 p.m. flight out of Washington, D.C. last night, per ACC policy, an inning could not start after 3:30 p.m.So, as the scoreboard clock ticked past 3:30 in the bottom of the eighth with Miami leading 7-5, Virginia again had one chance for a comeback against Bellamy. In a replay of the night before, sophomore Dan Grovatt stood in with two outs and two runners in scoring position. But Bellamy struck out Grovatt swinging — and this time, Hagerty squeezed the ball into his glove for the final out.The strikeouts that ended games two and three were among seven this weekend for Grovatt. The slugger struggled, going 1-for-12 for the series from the plate and ending his 21-game hitting streak that dated back to last season.“Danny had a really tough weekend — he did not swing the bat like he’s capable of, and he knows that,” O’Connor said. “I know he’ll be right back and ready to go on Tuesday.”On the offensive side for Miami, it was a four-run seventh Saturday and a three-run eighth Sunday against waning Virginia pitchers that ultimately cost the Cavaliers the series. The score stood at 5-4 in Virginia’s favor Sunday to begin the eighth after the Cavaliers took their first lead in the seventh on a clutch, two-run RBI single by freshman first baseman Danny Hultzen.Because junior closer Matt Packer was unavailable because of his many innings logged throughout the week and because O’Connor’s second choice at closer, sophomore Kevin Arico, already had “one inning in him,” however, O’Connor sent sophomore Tyler Wilson to the mound in the Hurricanes’ half of the eighth inning. Wilson had already given up two runs in three innings of work, and proceeded to give up a leadoff walk and back-to-back RBI doubles.As it became clearer that there would be no ninth inning, O’Connor made the switch to Arico. Wilson’s teammate, though, did not fare much better; after a sacrifice bunt moved a runner on second to third, Arico gave up a line drive single, scoring Miami’s third run of the inning.“If I would’ve known for sure we would’ve only played eight innings, then I would’ve brought Kevin Arico in in the eighth inning,” O’Connor said. “You just don’t know how quick an inning’s [going to] happen.”Saturday, senior starting pitcher Andrew Carraway had two outs and the bases empty in the sixth, having thrown close to 100 pitches through six-plus innings while not allowing a hit after the first, in what O’Connor said was “one of Andrew’s better outings that I think he’s had in our uniform.” Miami, however, knocked back-to-back singles, and Carraway then walked the next batter to load the bases, signaling the end of the afternoon for the senior.“The walk to load the bases was a tough one,” O’Connor said. “I was hoping that he’d have them put the ball in play, and if they score the two runs, they score the two runs. But he didn’t make the pitch, and walked him, and created a pretty tough situation.”Needing a big out, O’Connor replaced Carraway with Packer, Virginia’s best closer and most experienced pitcher in clutch situations. The final out of the inning proved elusive even for Packer, however, as two 2-RBI singles with a walk in between gave Miami the 4-3 lead.Packer “will bounce back,” O’Connor said. “That’s what your closer needs to do. You’re [going to] be in tight ball games like that. You’re [going to] succeed a lot of the time, sometimes you’re not, especially against a good ball club like Miami.”For Virginia, both losses were marked by a quality uncharacteristic of the team to this point of the season: leaving runners in scoring position. The Cavaliers left 10 runners on base Saturday and 11 Sunday; they loaded the bases twice with no outs but were unable to cash in either time.“To beat a quality opponent in this league, that’s just not [going to] cut it,” O’Connor said.Virginia opened the series with Hultzen on the mound, who came off a 13-strikeout performance with one earned run allowed in seven innings against Florida State in his previous Friday start. The freshman was not as dominant against the Hurricanes, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and fanning six in six innings, but the typically aggressive Virginia offense helped him earn the win. The Cavaliers left just six runners on base while scoring seven runs, five of them earned, on the 2008 ACC Freshman of the year, Miami sophomore pitcher Chris Hernandez.Most significant of the runs was a two-run home run by the lefty Parker over the 377-foot mark in left field in the bottom of the third, knotting the game at three apiece. Parker, the team’s leadoff hitter, now leads the Cavaliers in home runs (4) and slugging percentage (.769).Though there were plenty of highlights from Virginia during the series — including the home run from Parker Friday and a three-RBI performance from sophomore Phil Gosselin Sunday — the efforts were mostly erased by just two bad innings.“We’ve gotten beat this weekend on two innings: the seventh inning [Saturday] and the eighth inning [Sunday],” O’Connor said. “Sometimes with two good teams, that’s what it comes down to.”
(03/19/09 5:40am)
With two outs, it seems that the Virginia offense can do no wrong.Scoring nine of its combined 16 runs with two men gone, the No. 7 Cavaliers picked up two wins in a midweek doubleheader yesterday, defeating Canisius 11-3 and Wagner 5-2 to remain the only undefeated team in the nation.With a series against No. 4 Miami looming this weekend, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor noted the temptation to overlook two lesser-known teams, particularly in a rare Wednesday doubleheader.“I’ve got kids who [have] got exams tomorrow and have papers due and things like that, and you come out here and you’re on this baseball field from 2:00 in the afternoon until 11:00 at night,” O’Connor said. “They’re entitled to maybe not have a high level of energy some days, but what’s important is you’ve got to find a way to win.”The various two-out rallies for Virginia (18-0, 4-0 ACC) included seven runs scored with two outs against Canisius and two against Wagner. The Cavs came up with particularly clutch two-out hits against Wagner — sophomore first baseman Phil Gosselin knotted the game at two apiece in the third with a line drive up the middle, and sophomore John Hicks lined a single to left-centerfield in the sixth to give Virginia a 3-2 advantage.The day before against Marshall, the Cavaliers scored all five of their runs with two outs in a 5-4 victory, continuing a trend that has persisted throughout the season.“Championships are won with two-out hits,” sophomore rightfielder Dan Grovatt said. “Pretty much every game we’ve had at least a couple big-two out hits.”With junior closer Matt Packer still unavailable after throwing three innings of relief Tuesday, sophomore Kevin Arico picked up his second save in two days and the second of his career against Wagner, earning the two biggest outs of the game in an eighth-inning jam. Arico entered with runners on first and second and no one out in the eighth, with Virginia leading 4-2. After a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners into scoring position, Arico fanned senior catcher Chris Drechsel and sophomore rightfielder Seth Boyd to end the inning.Just a little more than 24 hours earlier, Arico preserved a 5-4 lead with a little more than an inning of scoreless relief to earn his first career save.“I’ve always felt good about the poise Kevin Arico’s had since he’s arrived on campus,” O’Connor said. “That was important to see, because throughout the year, it gives you a little bit of flexibility.”In the bottom half of the eighth, freshman third baseman Steven Proscia made Virginia’s lead a little healthier, leading off with a solo shot to extend the lead to 5-2.In addition to Arico, Virginia also saw outstanding performances from freshmen pitchers Shane Halley and Sean Lucas. The two combined for more than three innings of scoreless relief, with both pitchers finding a big out each with a runner in scoring position. With the score knotted at two, Halley entered in the third with one out and a runner on second, and struck out his first batter and popped up the second to end the inning. Lucas then relieved Halley to begin the seventh with the score 4-2; with one out and a runner on third, Proscia fielded a groundball and gunned down the runner at home for the second out, and Lucas earned a 4-3 groundout to end the threat.Offensively, as if Virginia had not seen enough contributors to its 11.4 runs per game coming into the afternoon, its first two runs in the nightcap against Wagner were scored by two players with a combined 18 at-bats and two starts. Former Virginia football player sophomore John Bivens made his first start of the season at designated hitter and earned a walk in his first at-bat with one out in the second inning. He then stole second and advanced to third on Drechsel’s throwing error and scored on a sacrifice fly by junior catcher Franco Valdes, giving Virginia a 1-0 advantage.After Wagner responded with two runs in the top of the third, freshman Keith Werman, in his third start of the season at shortstop, led off the bottom half of the inning with a lined shot to left-centerfield. Werman moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker, took third on a passed ball and scored on Gosselin’s liner up the middle.“I think we’ve got depth this year on this team like we’ve never had in my six years here,” O’Connor said, adding, “The hardest job I have is deciding which nine guys you’re [going to] write into that lineup every day.”Virginia’s starter against Wagner, junior lefthander Jeff Lorick, struggled with his command in his third start of the season. Lorick gave up two earned runs, both in the top of the third inning which featured two walks, two hits and a wild pitch. The junior was relieved with one out in the third after throwing 65 pitches.Prior to the tight win against the Seahawks, Virginia survived several rallies by Canisius in a game that was closer than the eight-run margin would indicate. The Golden Griffins hung with the Cavaliers through the first half of the game, scoring three runs against senior starting pitcher Robert Poutier and trailed just 5-3 through four innings.“That team won 41 games last year and had the majority of their team returning,” O’Connor said. “The way they swung the bats offensively, you just never felt comfortable.”Backed by three-plus innings of scoreless relief by sophomore Tyler Wilson, however — including a strikeout and a fielder’s choice to end a bases-loaded threat in the sixth — the Virginia offense put away Canisius with three runs in its half of the fifth and a run each in the seventh and the eighth. Freshman Justin Thompson closed out the game in his third appearance of the season.Grovatt extended his hitting streak to 18 games this season and 20 dating back to last year, going 4-for-8 in the two games. The slugger went 3-for-4, stole two stolen bases and scored a career-high four runs against Canisius.The Cavaliers’ home series against Miami this weekend will be their first against two consecutive top-five opponents, as they then travel to Chapel Hill the following weekend for a series against North Carolina.
(03/18/09 5:18am)
“We’ve gotta grow through improvement — team-wise, individually, through recruiting. Through all those things, you get to the place that you need to be ... It’s happened already for us, and now it’s [going to] happen again.”These were the words of former Virginia men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao following one of his team’s numerous follies this season, a 79-54 loss against Duke Feb. 1. With Leitao’s resignation Monday — and with many reports revealing that he actually may have been fired — Athletics Director Craig Littlepage apparently did not think Leitao would be the one to make that happen.I don’t know about you, but I was shocked. With the way that Virginia had played toward the end of the year, taking three of its four conference wins after Valentine’s Day, I thought he had saved himself for at least another year. And, talent-wise this team frankly shouldn’t have won more than three or four games in the conference — and it won four. It was a lousy season, for sure, but in Leitao’s first season without Sean Singletary, I thought Littlepage would cut him a break.I was searching for answers, and Jerry Ratcliffe of The Daily Progress turned out to be the man with the answers I wanted. Ratcliffe has been covering both Virginia football and men’s basketball for the Progress since 1982, and is one of the most well-respected reporters not only in the Charlottesville area, but in the ACC.I would love to say that Jerry and I put our heads together and bounced some theories off each other, but, true to form, Jerry had all the answers. Unlike yours truly — the naïve student reporter — Ratcliffe was not surprised that Leitao is gone.“I think it all boils down to the perception that [Leitao] just didn’t fit what they were looking for,” Ratcliffe said. “I don’t think [the administration] had the confidence that he was ever going to take Virginia basketball to greater heights on a consistent basis.”So, based mostly on Jerry’s thoughts, here are some of the factors that contributed to Leitao’s getting fired.1. DemeanorIf Dave Leitao is a charming, patient person, you’d never know it from watching him coach. He mercilessly hollered not only at the team as a whole, but at individual players. A typical Leitao coaching sequence included pulling a player after making one simple mistake and yelling at him nose-to-nose on the bench while said player stared off into space.Certain players can handle this kind of abuse — but not all.“I think on the guys who were really tough, like Singletary and [Sylven] Landesberg, who grew up on the playgrounds and who weren’t intimidated by anything, I don’t think it bothered them a bit — they maybe even thrived upon it,” Ratcliffe said. “I think the other guys, the majority of them had a lot of problems with it. You can’t play basketball tense, and you can’t play basketball with one eye on the court and one eye looking towards the bench.”Perhaps that’s why sophomore Jeff Jones, a McDonald’s All-American nominee in high school, has instead found DNP next to his name after some games. Perhaps that contributed to senior Mamadi Diane’s awful senior season; Diane’s father Mori Diane told The Washington Post that Leitao had been “demeaning” toward his son, telling the Post that Leitao acted like “Mamadi did not exist.” Perhaps Leitao’s demeanor also contributed to the up-and-down seasons of Mustapha Farrakhan, Sammy Zeglinski and numerous others who fluctuated during their performances throughout the season.What’s more, Ratcliffe said Leitao’s attitude problems also could have put off alumni.“Some of the older players told me they just felt unwelcome being around the program,” Ratcliffe said. “There’s a lot of guys who live here who were [at U.Va.] as far back as in the 50s, and they just felt uncomfortable. They felt like they were not welcome around the program anymore, and a lot of ‘em decided not to be around the program anymore. I think that’s not a good thing.”2. ResultsVirginia had two bad years in a row, there is no denying that. Two years of five and four conference wins, at the very least, merits conversation about where the program is headed.But that’s just the beginning; Leitao’s method simply wasn’t working. The plan from the beginning was that Leitao would get his guys to be defensive-minded, that Leitao’s hardened coaching style would toughen them up. Instead, the Cavs have finished 10th or worse in field goal percentage defense the last two years and finished 11th in rebounding margin this past season.“The reason he was hired was on the premise that he was going to make Virginia a tough out every game,” Ratcliffe said. “The defense, rebounding and toughness was gonna be the foundation of his program, and that was rarely the case.”Littlepage TurnsThe one aspect that did surprise Ratcliffe is something I had heard, too — I thought Littlepage was a Dave Leitao fan. Despite Leitao’s demeanor, that was no mystery when he was hired.“I had heard that the athletic department was divided on whether or not to do it, and that Littlepage was the last road block that was in Leitao’s corner,” Ratcliffe said. “In that respect I’m a little surprised he changed his mind.”In the end, though, Littlepage obviously turned.“I’m not surprised he got fired,” Ratcliffe said.Dispelling mythsThose are the reasons why Leitao was fired. Now, here are some reasons you might think of — and, that admittedly, I considered — that probably don’t hold true.First, this probably had nothing to do with the football team’s similarly mediocre season. Littlepage issued a statement in February in which he assured fans that it was a priority to improve both teams, which would indicate that he felt the pressure to make a move in the revenue sports. Even if the football team had gone 10-2, however, Ratcliffe said Leitao’s fate likely would have been the same.“I think they came to the realization that things weren’t gonna change that dramatically in basketball — obviously they felt like that wasn’t the case in football,” Ratcliffe said. “I would agree with both those scenarios — I think that football is gonna turn around, I don’t think basketball was.”Then, there is the idea of a hypothetical “line” that Leitao didn’t hit. If Leitao had advanced a couple more rounds in the ACC Tournament, would he still be at Virginia? What if he had won six conference games this season instead of four? And what if one of those two extra wins was, say, against North Carolina at Chapel Hill? Would any of those scenarios have saved his job?Maybe — but not for long. It may have saved him for a year, Ratcliffe said, but whether it was this year or in the near future, Leitao had cemented his fate.“I imagine there’s probably a number that probably would have saved his job for a year, but I still think it was prolonging the inevitable,” Ratcliffe said. “It’s kind of like when [Leitao’s predecessor] Pete [Gillen] was in trouble his next to last year, and he won like three or four in a row and knocked out a couple ranked teams; they just couldn’t fire him then, it just wouldn’t have been right. But I think they realized they probably were gonna have to do it the following year, and I have a feeling that’s the same thing that would have happened here.”
(03/16/09 6:08am)
106-23.It may take a moment to process this score’s lopsidedness, but it is indeed the margin by which the undefeated No. 14 Virginia baseball team has outscored its opponents the last seven games. In the Cavaliers’ latest game against Florida State — the preseason No. 6-ranked team nationally and a perennial baseball powerhouse — the result also was familiar, as Virginia cruised to a 15-2 victory at Davenport Field Friday.“I don’t know what’s going on offensively — I can’t explain it,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “We’re just in one of those streaks right now where we’re just swinging the bats really, really [well] throughout our lineup.”The Cavaliers (15-0, 4-0 ACC) and the Seminoles (9-6, 1-3 ACC) were scheduled for a three-game series, but games two and three were cancelled because of wet field conditions.With Friday’s win and top-ranked Georgia’s first two losses of the season in a weekend series against Alabama, Virginia stands as the only undefeated team in the nation. After entering the season unranked and picked to finish fourth in the Coastal Division of the ACC, the No. 18 Cavaliers will surely climb still higher in this week’s poll, which comes out Tuesday.“We’re just trying to ride this as long as we can,” sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt said. “It’s a lot of fun.”Almost as impressive as the Cavaliers’ explosive offensive production has been the pitching of freshman Danny Hultzen, who improved to 4-0 on the season with his most impressive outing to date. Hultzen rarely let the Seminoles put the ball in play, allowing just one earned run on four hits and striking out 13 in seven innings of work. The 13 punchouts included 11 swinging, and seven consecutive strikeouts from one out in the first to two outs in the third.“When he has command of his off-speed pitches, and then can throw his fastball with the velocity he does and the command he does, that’s a special pitcher,” O’Connor said. “He’s not perfect, but he’s been pretty close to perfect this year up until this point.”Although Hultzen had thrown 98 pitches and held a 13-0 lead through six innings on a chilly evening at Davenport Field, O’Connor had Hultzen toeing the mound in the seventh. While Hultzen appeared to have enough energy left for another inning, O’Connor said, he also wanted to test the freshman’s stamina, who chose to attend Virginia after being drafted in the 10th round of the MLB draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.“There’s gonna be games that he’s gonna need to go 110 pitches,” O’Connor said. “I wanted to see what he still had left in the tank in the seventh inning, and he still had it.”Offensively, Virginia compiled 14 hits, as every ball the Cavaliers made contact with seemed to fall. Following a scoreless first inning, the Cavaliers made their first offensive surge against Florida State starting pitcher freshman Sean Gilmartin in the bottom of the second. With Virginia runners on second and third with one out, freshman catcher John Hicks popped what appeared to be a routine fly ball to shallow centerfield. With the Florida State infield in and sophomore centerfielder Tyler Holt playing deep in cavernous Davenport Field, however, the ball fell harmlessly in front of Holt, scoring one runner and moving the other to third.Hicks then moved to second after junior catcher Franco Valdes grounded into a fielder’s choice to score another run, and sophomore left fielder John Barr smacked a two-out line drive to right to score Hicks for the final run of the inning. The Cavaliers followed with 10 runs combined in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but it was the three-run second that was the springboard for the rest of the night.“Once we got through the lineup once and started to figure [Gilmartin] out a little bit, we were able to get a few knocks in and some scoring opportunities, and drive some guys home,” O’Connor said.The Cavaliers also managed to hit two homeruns — both two-run shots — as Grovatt hit his third of the year in the fifth inning and Hicks followed with his third of the season in the sixth.With the two long balls, the Cavaliers added to their vastly augmented power numbers. Virginia already has 17 homeruns this season, after knocking just 25 out of the park in last year’s 61-game season.What O’Connor is most pleased about, however, is that his team has remained eager to put runners on and advance them in any way possible, in what he has referred to as an “opportunistic offense.”“The thing I really like about our offensive ballclub is that we still haven’t lost what we do well too, and that’s steal bases and put pressure on the other team,” O’Connor said. “We need to continue to play that style of offense, and also knowing that we can also step up and hit a three-run homerun when we need to, too.”Gilmartin got his first loss of the season, giving up four earned runs on six hits in four-plus innings after entering the evening with a 3-0 record and a 2.31 ERA. Poor fielding didn’t help the Seminoles’ cause, as they committed five errors.“I think defensively, that’s very uncharacteristic of Florida State,” O’Connor said. “It being 35, 38 degrees might have something to do with it.”The lopsided loss to Virginia will not help Florida State in the national rankings, as the team continued one of the worst starts in program history. This is the second straight conference series loss for the Seminoles, who dropped two of three games to then-unranked Boston College in Tallahassee the previous weekend — their first opening ACC series loss in school history. These struggles also have occurred in the context of a dark time for Florida State athletics, as baseball was among 10 sports found to have committed academic violations, resulting in a four-year probationary period for the athletics department, according to a report released by the NCAA March 6.Virginia, meanwhile, will look to continue rolling against Marshall Tuesday and Canisius Wednesday at Davenport Field.
(03/16/09 6:07am)
They might not want to admit it, but for many members of the Virginia men’s basketball team, the end of this season and the prospect of starting another must be a relief.There are some obvious players for whom this may hold true. Freshman Sylven Landesberg has to be looking forward to getting a little more help next year. One would think sophomore Mustapha Farrakhan is looking for a fresh start after riding the bench for much of the year — again. Fellow sophomore Jeff Jones must be excited about a potential season in which he never has DNP next to his name. Senior Mamadi Diane finally got his 1,000 career points after riding the bench much of his final season, and he, along with senior Tunji Soroye, are probably ready to move on.You can, however, be guaranteed of this: No one is more ready to redeem himself and his team after the past season than junior Calvin Baker.As the Wahoo nation vented its frustrations about Virginia’s sometimes unbearable performances, Baker often was the focal point. While Virginia’s poor sequences were numerous all season, Baker’s were the most obvious and often the most puzzling. He was booed at home by fans and he was slammed on message boards. When Virginia coach Dave Leitao was criticized for overvaluing experience on a losing team, Baker’s name was among the first ones mentioned.I don’t agree with Leitao about everything, but when it comes to Baker, I absolutely take Leitao’s side. Baker’s game isn’t pretty, but the good outweighs the bad.First, let me recognize the bad. He does not have the ball-handling ability of an ACC point guard. His turnovers are not only numerous — 2.5 per game to be exact, including seven conference games with four turnovers or more — but also diverse. At any moment, he might step out of bounds or travel with no one around. He often tries to “thread the needle” with his passes, as the cliche goes, but the needle ends up stuck in the fabric seemingly as often as it makes it through. As his arm flies out to an absurd degree, he shoots sub-40 percent from the field and sub-30 percent from three-point range, which includes floaters in the lane and NBA-range threes that could end up hitting any part of the basket, backboard included. And, most painful of all to a guy like me who loves the pure point guard, he is too selfish in transition — rather than dishing to a teammate in a numbers-up situation, he just loves to pull up for a 12-15 foot jumper.In other words, he does a lot that just makes you go, ‘What is this guy thinking?’ — as a point guard, mind you.So why does he play? Because he has an upside, much of which isn’t measurable by numbers.His scoring isn’t terrific — he was third on the team at 8.4 points per game — and his shooting percentage doesn’t help. But, the way he scores cannot be undervalued. Other than Landesberg, he was the only Cavalier who could regularly get into the teeth of the defense — a quality desperately needed in Leitao’s offense, which relies heavily on dribble penetration.And yes, his 39.2 percent shooting is poor — but then again, the majority of guys on this team cannot brag that theirs was better. Four players who had at least four shots per game, in fact, had percentages worse than Baker — Farrakhan, Jones, Diane and freshman Sammy Zeglinski — all of whom also averaged fewer points. So despite the shooting percentage, the fact that Baker could get his team a bucket here and there was certainly a plus for the often scoring-starved Cavs.On defense, Baker was also up and down — but when it was up, it was way up. When Leitao went to man-to-man on defense, he often assigned Baker to D-up the opposing team’s best guard. In Virginia’s 62-55 loss to Miami, he played Jack McClinton — who is third in the ACC at 19.3 points per contest — nearly perfectly, holding him to 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting. Had McClinton missed one of his few open looks of the night — a three that put the Hurricanes up five with under a minute remaining — we might be talking about how Baker’s defense won the game.But Baker’s most important quality is one that is entirely intangible: passion. He doesn’t just leave all of his energy on the floor, but his heart and soul along with it. If Baker could leave a kidney in exchange for a win, he’d probably do that too.The only way to prove this point is by results. Through the first half of the ACC season, as Virginia was getting embarrassed both at home and on the road, Leitao claimed the problem was that his team wasn’t into the game. His Cavaliers needed energy and were lacking in passion, he cried. They needed to change how they approached the way they were playing. It sure sounded like a whole lot of coach-speak. A reaction I often heard was, “How about a few good players instead?”The player who most often preached Leitao’s sentiment, both on the court and in postgame interviews, was Baker; the thing about it, though, is it made him all the easier to criticize. How can a guy who hands the ball over in gift-wrapping to the opposing team turn around and get on his teammates for not playing hard enough?But with the manner in which Virginia began to pick up wins, Leitao and Baker proved the point. The turnaround began when he threw in a revamped starting lineup for the second half against Boston College, which included the seldom-used junior Solomon Tat at power forward and Baker at point. Talent-wise, it certainly wasn’t the best five Virginia had to offer; sophomore Mike Scott, for instance, found himself coming off the bench in subsequent games. But, as Leitao put it, “I wasn’t really interested in playing anybody who wasn’t [going to] play the game the right way.”With Baker as the emotional leader of this group, Virginia first started getting competitive, and then started winning. Leitao started essentially the same starting lineup for the remainder of the season, taking three of its four conference wins, and remaining competitive in nearly every game the rest of the way.The only exception was a blowout loss at Clemson March 3, a 75-57 defeat. And it was this blip against Clemson in Virginia’s overall positive trend to end the season that presented a microcosm of Baker’s value to the team.He first showed that knack for scoring, keeping his team in the game during the first half, hitting 5-of-7 field goals for 12 first-half points, including nine of Virginia’s first 11.Baker can create his own offense, but he is no offensive juggernaut, and he predictably did not match those first half numbers in the second. He went cold and his teammates continued to play poorly, as Clemson opened up the half with a 28-9 run.During that stretch, Baker was livid. After making a typically head-scratching turnover — he picked up his dribble at half-court and got tied up by a Clemson defender — he slammed the ball on the floor in frustration and got called for a technical foul. Oh, Calvin.Then, in an ensuing timeout, Baker went off. Though my media seat was across the gym from the Virginia huddle, Baker was obviously crucifying his teammates. His angry gestures had his arms flying in all directions as he yelled and screamed his frustrations.This happened after he cost his team possession and two free throws after a technical foul that followed a turnover — it sure seemed a bit hypocritical. Just Calvin being Calvin.But then, on senior day, Virginia rebounded with a win against Maryland and an emotional send-off for Diane.Perhaps that tongue-lashing, and even the technical foul, as humorous as it may have been, was exactly the spark that Virginia needed. Yes, the turnover and the free throws were costly. But his emotion and the passion in that sequence, though not quantifiable, more than made up for two points and possession. After the game, I asked him if he regretted the technical, and he said absolutely not, because his team needed something to get them fired up.That, in a nutshell, is Calvin Baker.“Calvin, through thick and thin, has been booed at home, doesn’t always play pretty for a guy who’s playing out of position, and turns it over more than a point guard should,” Leitao said. “But he plays the game with heart and spirit. That’s what we’re trying to get from everybody, every game. So, the things that he does not do, I sometimes live with, because what I’m looking for, he’s one of the guys that gives it to us.”So Wahoo fans, the next time you see Baker step out of bounds, or dribble off his foot, or pull up in the lane for a shot that hits nothing but backboard, hold your tongue. On a team filled with youth, if there is one guy players should look toward next year for fearless leadership and guidance about how to approach basketball the right way, they need look no further than Calvin Baker.
(03/12/09 5:46am)
The Virginia men’s swimming and diving team may not be the most recognized squad at the University, but it is inarguably one of the most dominant compared to the rest of the ACC.The Cavaliers’ conference opponents did not present challenges last week at the ACC Championships in College Park, Md. as the men’s team scored 832 points, easily topping runner-up Florida State’s 640.It was the 12th ACC title in school history for Virginia and the 10th in the last 11 years.The swimmers “wouldn’t be satisfied if they weren’t performing at this championship level,” Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. “It’s not per chance that we’re having success — I think it’s a byproduct of the team chemistry and the bond that the teams have for one another, and I think it’s a byproduct of a lot of dedicated, focused hard work.”While the team may have hoped for — even counted on — the victory, the margin of it exceeded Bernadino’s expectations.“That was a very large margin of victory by any standards,” Bernardino said. “We were prepared for it to be really close and we were prepared for it to come down to the final day.”Though Virginia led throughout the event, it did not break away from the field until Friday, the third day of the four-day meet. After entering Friday with a 56.5-point lead ahead of the Seminoles, the Cavaliers widened the margin to 139 by day’s end. Friday’s impressive showings included a conference record in the 400 medley relay, five of the top eight finishers in the 200 freestyle, four of the top eight in the 400 individual medley and three of the top five in the 100 butterfly.“For most of these last five or six years, it’s been the middle day that’s broken the meet open,” Bernardino said. “That’s been really surprising but really exciting to have such success on the middle day, especially since the races are shorter — it’s more sprint-focused.”The team may have performed its best on day three, but sophomore Matt McLean shone everyday; he won every event in which he participated. McLean’s individual accomplishments included first-place finishes and conference record times in the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle events. He also swam the anchor leg for the first-place finishing 400 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay events — the 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle and teams also finished in conference-record times.“It wasn’t just a good meet [for McLean] — it was a mammoth,” Bernardino said. “His performances were really landmark in terms of ACC swimming, and they’re definitely [going to] thrust him hopefully into the national limelight here these next couple of weeks.”Perhaps most impressively, the grueling 1650 freestyle on the final day of the meet was not McLean’s last event. After winning the 1650 in a conference record time of 14:35.12, McLean returned later in the day for the final race, the 400 freestyle relay. Though exhausted, McLean said, and though Virginia already clinched the ACC crown, McLean held off Florida State junior Andy Hodgson in the final leg as Virginia won the race by less than one second.“I was pretty tired [for the relay] — the [1650] takes it out of you pretty bad,” McLean said. “It can take you about a week to recover from a mile as far as how it depletes you.”McLean may have put forth an incredible effort, but Bernardino said the sophomore’s performance also was well-deserved.“He has an unreal sense of pace that most people could never dream of having,” Bernardino said. “He’ll swim a distance in practice, look up, and tell me his time within tenths of a second of what he did.”McLean and his teammates are now preparing for the NCAA Championships scheduled for March 26 to 28 in College Station, Texas. Bernardino said McLean will likely enter the NCAAs as a top seed in two events — and the team as a whole set a goal at the start of the season to finish in the top 10 at the NCAAs. With Virginia’s other preseason goal of winning the ACC Championships completed, it has every intention of accomplishing this second challenge.“If they continue to perform at the level they performed at the ACC Championship meet, then we’re [going to] make a run at [the top 10],” Bernardino said.McLean said he has his own goals of what he would like to accomplish, though he was shy about revealing them publicly. “I know up here what I’d like to accomplish,” McLean said, pointing to his head, “but I’m real big on processes. I always know I’ve put in the work, so I know if I do everything right, then everything will play out well.”
(03/10/09 5:24am)
Heading into senior forward Mamadi Diane’s final game at John Paul Jones Arena Saturday against Maryland, it was unlikely that there was a moment this season Diane could nostalgically remember.By the game’s end, though, Diane finally found himself a highlight. With the score tied at 61 and less than a minute remaining in regulation, freshman guard Sylven Landesberg drove the lane and hit Diane at the top of the key. The senior then drilled a three to put the Virginia men’s basketball team back in the lead. The bucket gave Diane 23 points for the night and 998 for his career, and lifted the Cavaliers to a 68-63 victory against the Terrapins.“I had already played [the shot] out in my mind,” Diane said. “It was just finishing it.”It was a momentous finish for Diane. Coming into the season as the co-captain and leading returning scorer, Diane put up just 4.5 points per contest before Saturday’s game. As the senior’s struggles continued throughout the season, his minutes dwindled to what likely was the low point of his career when he did not appear for four straight games in February. Until the benching, Diane appeared in every game during his Virginia career.“Being that I was never that player that played three minutes or didn’t play in the game, that’s why I think [this season] was more tough than anything,” Diane said. “I’ve just never given up.”Neither, apparently, did the entire Virginia team (10-17, 4-12 ACC), who came into the game hoping to prevent Maryland (18-12, 7-9 ACC) from securing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Because of the loss, the Terrapins likely will need a deep run in the ACC Tournament to get a shot at a bid.“The one thing about this group, for good or for bad, we can lose a game and come back in the gym the next day, and for the life of me I really couldn’t tell if we’d won the night before or not,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.Leitao noted that both Diane and fellow senior Tunji Soroye led by example with their hard work in practice, despite their struggles and limited playing time during the season. Both players were honored in a pregame ceremony and were given the opportunity to start.Diane’s 34 minutes, however, were not a guarantee.“I didn’t plan on playing [Diane] two minutes and taking him out,” Leitao said, “but in the rotations it was [going to] be based on how I do everything else — on who I feel was [going to] be the best group of five to give us a chance to win.”After Diane scored Virginia’s first points curling off a screen and converting a perimeter jumper just more than a minute into the game, Leitao said he knew there was something different.“His body language as he came off that screen [prior to the jumper], it was comfortable, it was confident,” Leitao said. “He was the one guy early who was more aggressive than the rest.”Diane’s early jumper was one of just four field goals Virginia would hit through the first 13:49, as Maryland jumped out to a 21-8 lead. But Virginia’s ensuing 18-6 run — which included seven more points from Diane — put the Cavaliers down a mere point going into halftime.Virginia rallied again after the break, as a 6-0 run courtesy of two Diane free throws and back-to-back jumpers from junior forward Jamil Tucker and Landesberg gave the Cavaliers a 37-31 lead.Both Virginia runs featured 3-2 zone play on defense. Though Maryland defeated the Cavalier zone in the two teams’ previous game in College Park Jan. 20 — an 84-78 Maryland victory — the zone frustrated the Terrapins for much of Saturday’s contest. Maryland knocked down just two of its first 18 three-point field goals.Maryland’s “flex offense, I thought gave us a little bit of trouble,” Leitao said. “We practiced against it for two days in preparation, but I felt more comfortable with the zone. I just didn’t know it was [going to] be for as long a period of time as it was.”Maryland broke out of its three-point funk almost in the nick of time, however, as the Terps made their next three three-point tries — two in a row from senior forward Dave Neal and one from junior guard Eric Hayes.With each three-pointer though, Virginia responded with a basket of its own. After Neal’s first three cut the lead to 54-52, junior guard Calvin Baker nailed one of his own from beyond the line as the shot clock winded down to push Virginia’s lead back to five. Landesberg answered Neal’s next three with two free throws, and Diane’s three gave Virginia its final lead after Hayes tied the score at 61.Prior to Diane’s late bucket, however, both teams had a chance to break the stalemate. At the 1:13 mark, Diane missed a runner from the foul line; during Maryland’s next possession, Neal found a seam in the Virginia zone, but his five-footer in the lane rimmed out with 58 seconds remaining.For Diane, however, it was not quite the storybook ending it could have been. Though he has another chance to find one more bucket and reach the 1,000-point milestone in the first round of the ACC Tournament against Boston College Thursday night, both he and his teammates would have loved to see Diane achieve the feat during his last home game. “Every time there was a timeout, my teammates would tell me, ‘Look, you’ve got 11 [points] left, you’ve got nine left, whatever,’” Diane said. “I could tell that they wanted it.”At game’s end, though, with reporters crowding around him from every angle, Diane was all smiles.“I don’t think they’ll be writing a movie about this or anything,” Diane joked, “but it’s definitely a great feeling.”Notes:Diane’s 23 points came on 7-of-12 shooting and led all scorers ... In attendance supporting Diane included his former coach at DeMatha, Mike Jones, his parents, great-uncle, brother, cousins and friends ... Freshman guard Sylven Landesberg also had a bounce-back night, putting up 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting after scoring a combined 13 points on 3-of-16 shooting in Virginia’s previous two losses to Clemson and Wake Forest ... Soroye played nine minutes and finished with one block, one rebound and a turnover ... Senior point guard Greivis Vasquez led Maryland with 21 points and added six assists ... With Sunday’s win, Virginia avoided the possibility of becoming the first Cavalier men’s basketball team since 1965 to win fewer than 10 games; in 1965, the Cavaliers went 9-16.
(02/26/09 6:49am)
I have covered men’s basketball for The Cavalier Daily the last two seasons. Last year, the women finished in the top 25 in the nation, while the men finished in the bottom three in the conference; this year looks like it will end about the same. And last year, two stories ran after the men’s games, while one story ran after the women’s; this year, again, is about the same. The difference in coverage sure seems unfair, doesn’t it?In a way, it is. But I am here to defend it.The main argument for why the men’s team should get more coverage than the women’s is obvious: More people care about the men’s team at this University than the women’s team, period. The attendance at John Paul Jones Arena clearly illustrates the point. Even this season, when fans have absolutely zero expectations of a postseason for the men, the attendance at men’s games is nearly triple that of the women’s games. You can be sure that many more people have heard of Sylven Landesberg than Monica Wright, and I would bet even money that the name recognition of Will Sherill versus Britny Edwards on the bench differs by a similar ratio.I am not narrow-minded enough, however, to suggest that the attention the general public pays to a sport is the only factor that should determine coverage. The media has a responsibility to cover what has the community buzzing. This relationship, however, can work in reverse. If the media gives sufficient attention to a sport, that attention will make that sport bigger. Just as I am sure that the writer of the opposing column today, Dan Stalcup, would not say that media coverage should be determined solely by win-loss records of the teams in question, I will not claim that public perception should entirely shape coverage. The media can have a degree of flexibility.Where Dan and I differ, I’m sure, is where we land on that spectrum; I tend to think that while media can generate talk, that relationship can only go so far. Consider the following analogy. A grocery store decides to market a new product — call it product A — while it does not market another product, though it is also on the shelves, product B. The store puts up a banner in front of the store raving about product A and stations employees inside handing out samples of product A. Product B, though still on the shelves at the store, is not promoted at all.The increased exposure of product A to the general public is obviously designed to increase sales of that product. What if, however, product A is broccoli and product B is Snickers? The store can hand out all the free broccoli they want; most people will still pay to eat candy. By a similar vein, The Cavalier Daily can give all the attention to the women’s basketball team it wants. But the large difference in the fan bases would only be diminished by a relatively small number.Then, I’m sure, Dan has another counterargument. He has likely said a winning team deserves to get covered more — to a degree. The women’s team, after all, works just as hard as the men’s team does, and if the women get the results, that ought to be rewarded.But this argument has no merit in and of itself. Teams don’t “deserve” coverage from unbiased media, and The Cavalier Daily — perhaps unbeknownst to some — is unbiased media. Once you start talking about a team deserving something because of all the hard work it puts in, you are no longer an unbiased journalist. You are a fan. This argument only has relevance in that, given two teams of equal stature, fans will prefer a winning team to a losing one. But that goes back to the difference in public perception, which clearly outweighs the effect of the contrast in win-loss records of the men’s and women’s basketball teams. The factor of why the public cares more about one team or another, so long as it carries no ethical dilemma, is irrelevant. All that matters is the end result.Clearly, I am not the only person with this opinion. The Daily Progress covers men’s versus women’s basketball in exactly the same manner that The Cavalier Daily does. Men’s basketball gets a column and a game story after games, while the women get just the game story. The Richmond Times-Dispatch, which covers the men’s team regularly, doesn’t send a writer to the women’s games; not even when they are at home.But, you say, this is The Cavalier Daily we’re talking about here! Surely student-writers should have some compassion for their peers of all sports, right?Wrong. The Cavalier Daily, like most student newspapers nationwide, is as independent of the subject matter it covers as any other professional newspaper. I would be lying if I said there weren’t Virginia fans among the Cavalier Daily staff. This is an inevitable byproduct of students covering the school they know and love.Other than a staff of students who are largely unpaid, however, The Cavalier Daily is no different than any other professional newspaper. Thus, in as much as possible, we should therefore act like one.
(02/23/09 6:51am)
With 17:29 remaining in the second half of the Virginia men’s basketball team’s Saturday contest against N.C. State, Virginia coach Dave Leitao went for a stroll.After calling a 30-second timeout, he walked from the bench all the way out past the top of the key, well beyond his huddled assistant coaches, thinking only what could have been murderous thoughts. After cutting an 18-point early first half deficit to four at halftime, Leitao’s starting five began the second half with four misses, five fouls and a turnover as the Wolfpack opened the lead up to nine.The same starting five Leitao had concocted four games ago for its energy and passion was, this time, sluggish and sloppy.Then, despite what I’m sure was a lovely conversation on the bench between Leitao and his players, the bleeding didn’t stop. By the 13:24 mark, the Pack extended its lead to 17. It was a sluggish start to the half that was not entirely unforeseen, Leitao said.“All the time that we spent getting down in the first half, or specifically coming back, I didn’t see a mindset change,” Leitao said. “Although we were coming back, I still thought there were some changes that we needed to make in order to forge ahead, and I thought that cost us in the second half.”Again, Virginia needed a lift. It got it from senior Mamadi Diane.At the beginning of the season, Diane was most likely thought of as the best candidate to provide Virginia with a scoring punch when the team needed it most. Coming into Saturday, however, even sophomore walk-on Will Sherrill seemed the better candidate to solve an offensive drought should one arise.Coming into the year, Diane was the leading returning scorer on a team busting with youth. He was a co-captain, and Leitao was once asked whether Diane could be a premier player in the ACC.In the four games prior to Saturday, however, it was Sherrill who had received more court time. Diane was listed as DNP for every game since the Cavs’ 76-61 loss at North Carolina; Sherrill had at least grabbed a few seconds of garbage time at the end of Virginia’s 75-61 win against Virginia Tech Wednesday.But, after appearing for five minutes in the first half and attempting nary a shot, Diane reentered with 9:40 remaining in the second half and his team trailing 52-37. With 8:20 left, he hit his first shot since Jan. 24: a difficult, driving reverse lay-up spun high off the glass — a shot he has made numerous times in his career.Perhaps a shot close to the rim within his comfort zone provided just the injection of confidence Diane needed; it was the first of four straight Virginia field goals courtesy of the team captain. On Diane’s only miss of the night, freshman Sylven Landesberg snared the rebound and fed the senior for a three. Diane drained it — his first made three-point shot since Jan. 6 against Brown.“It always helps to get easy baskets in the flow of the game,” Diane said. “I’ve just been working, shooting a lot.”Naturally, Diane was swarmed by reporters in front of his locker after the game, all of whom asked, in essence, many variations of the same question: Where have you been?Diane’s a pretty shy guy, and he continued to pack up his things as reporters hounded him with questions about his resurrection. But he did provide a little insight.“Basketball has always been fun for me — always been a dream, always been a passion and something I love,” Diane said. “So, it wasn’t hard for me to stay in the gym. That’s fun for me.”Is it a surprise that he continued to work hard? Absolutely not. Diane is, as the sportswriter cliche goes, “a great kid”; since he’s only got a year on me, I’ll just stick with calling him a good guy. He’s personable, thoughtful and — even through the worst slump of his college career — a leader.“One of the things I said to the team was to find some things that motivate them,” Diane said. “Whether it might be knocking a top team off the pedestal, or going out there and learning how to win for next year.”Diane’s motivation, most assuredly, was just that — teaching his teammates how to motivate themselves even in the toughest of times. Even if they’re not postseason-bound this year, it sure wouldn’t hurt for the younger guys to pick up a few wins and a few ounces of confidence heading into the 2009-10 campaign.For Diane, though, there’s more to the story. After putting up 11 points last night, he’s just 37 shy of 1,000 for his career. Putting that number in perspective, Sean Singletary had 2,002 for his career; having half as many of anything as Singletary won’t knock anyone off his or her feet, but it’s certainly nothing to sneeze at.“I’ve been thinking about that,” Diane said. “I’ve been so close [to a thousand points] all year.”A thousand points doesn’t make up for the lack of a postseason, however, which will almost certainly happen for the first time in Diane’s career. But it would give him something positive for which to remember his final season as a Cavalier. With four games left in the regular season and three at John Paul Jones Arena, that ought to give fans something to cheer about, too.