weekend review

Unemployment is funemployment. CBS's partnership with the Turnerplex of cable channels to broadcast the Dance couldn't have come at a better time for me. I've always wanted a job that would allow me to watch the first round of the tournament from noon to midnight; failing that, the next best thing is not having a job while waiting for grad school. So if you thought I was a little content-light these four days, blame the best basketball weekend of the year.

We might not have had a dog in the fight, but that doesn't mean there's no hoops news to be had:

- With Sidney Lowe and Paul Hewitt fired from their respective employers, ACC coaching figures to improve next season. One expects NC State won't be stupid enough this time around to hire a guy who went 79-228 in the League just because he's an alum. Naturally, Richmond's Chris Mooney and VCU's Shaka Smart have only not been hired somewhere else yet because they happen to still be technically eligible for the national title. Because it's how things go for UVA, expect both instate coaching hotshots to be ACC rivals about 24 hours after their eventual elimination. Maybe we can get Utah to hire one of them instead.

- How incredibly fitting that Jeff Allen fouled out of his final collegiate game. I will truly miss this guy. Comedic gold, every time. Gimme one more salute, for old times' sake.


There ya go.

- Speaking of comedic gold, I wish just once I could hear Charles Barkley and Bobby Knight call a UVA game. Barkley's not for everyone; there are a lot of people who think he's too much of a marblemouth. Well, he is a marblemouth, but how many analysts do we need telling us very seriously that such-and-such a team needs to defend better or else they might lose? Barkley doesn't act like Mr. Serious Man all the time.

- You're aware that the administration passed on the CBI; here, it sounds like confirmation that they could have had a spot if they'd wanted it. If they didn't go this year, when the freshmen could have used any game experience they got and the seniors had to go out with the memory of Miami in their minds, I'm guessing they never ever will. Dunno about you but in the future I'm going to just assume the CBI is never an option.

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In sports we play good, the lax team beat Ohio State, which makes me feel warm and fuzzy. OSU is something of a threat this year to make the tournament - more so than I had them figured for before the season anyway - so the win should be a strong one when it comes time to seed teams in the tournament. See below for current bracketology, which has the Buckeyes seeded 7th.

Even more encouraging was Ryan Benincasa's 14-for-19 faceoff performance. I think this is evolving into a situation where there still might not be a truly 100% reliable performer at the X (Chris LaPierre looked like he might provide a spark there but then went 1-for-5 against OSU) but there might be a hot hand for the day. I guess we just hope we find that hot hand early in the game. It should be noted that OSU isn't an especially good or bad faceoff team themselves - they're just enh.

There still aren't as many assists as I'd like to see, though. Again just 50%. This isn't a problem against the OSUs of the world, and probably won't be one against Hopkins either, but the ACC schedule will test the offense's ability to score against coherent defenses.

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The standings don't show it, but they will: UVA is now the ACC's baseball team to beat. A 2-1 series win over FSU puts them at 5-1. Miami and Georgia Tech are 6-0 but they've both been feasting on the dregs. It's UVA's turn, with Miserable Maryland coming to town and then a road series against VT. Poly was a hot team last year to make some noise, but everyone who could swing a stick or throw a ball graduated and they're back to where they're thoroughly unlikely to make the ACC tournament.

Of course, play that FSU series again and any number of outcomes could result. Three extra-inning games and three one-run margins. You probably won't see a series that close anywhere in the country for the rest of the year. FSU had better keep playing that well all season because I expect a 1 or a 2 seed in the ACC tournament and they'd better not be on our side of the pool. This should make for a pretty excellent championship rematch. GT is a threat to mess that up, but I think it's been well-established for now who the top teams are. FSU barely even dropped in the rankings, but the consensus now in all five polls is that Florida-Vanderbilt-Virginia is the 1-2-3 combo.

It shouldn't be glossed over that Danny Hultzen is now UVA's all-time strikeouts leader. 12 on Friday (and no walks) gives him 62 for the season and 292 for his career, two more than Seth Greisinger. Danny's got a great chance to top the single-season record of 146 before the regular season even ends.

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Been a long time since I took a whack at the recruiting board, so here goes. Also, don't forget the map.

- Removed ATH Germone Hopper, LB Timothy Cole, and LB Devon Johnson from red, who don't seem too interested. At some point the red section becomes full of names who are there just for the sake of having a red section, but for now even that section has realistic names in it. Actually, Johnson may return at some point, but he's committed to Marshall, and there ain't room for everyone in this town. There's adding to be done and someone's gotta go and it might as well be the guy who's given a verbal elsewhere.

- Added CB Terrell Burt, ATH Der'Woun Greene, WR Desmond Frye, and TE Joshua Parris to green.

- Added DT Roderick Chungong, LB Noor Davis, and LB Kaiwan Lewis to yellow.

- Moved LB Trey Edmunds from yellow to green.

- Moved QB Brendan Nosovitch from green to yellow.

- Moved LB Quanzell Lambert from red to yellow.

- Moved RB I'Tavius Mathers and OL Greg Pyke from yellow to red.

- Moved ATH Devin Fuller (whose recruitment has exploded since I last checked in) from green to red.

Tis the season for a huge recruiting board. I'm semi-arbitrarily drawing the line there; no more additions without corresponding subtractions.

lacrosse bracketology

Don't tell me it's too early to do this. Lunardi is gonna do a 2012 hoops bracketology the moment the current tournament ends. I can do what I want.

How this works: Here are the selection criteria. Six conferences have autobids: the America East, CAA, ECAC, Ivy, MAAC, and Patriot. The Big East gets theirs next year (not that the eventual champ will need it) and the NEC is a brand-new conference so I think 2013. Honestly, this is kinda just plug-and-chug with the numbers that the NCAA, but it takes some fiddling to get the geography right, and some guesswork as to which numbers they'll like better when there are deadlocks.

Also keep in mind that this isn't a prediction, it's an if-today scenario. And, autobids are handed out based on who has the best record so far, or in case of a tie, highest RPI. So:


Yes, the "first four out" section (or as I like to call it: Hokieland) is loaded with ranked heavyweights. That's why bracketology is not a prediction. If I had to pick the biggest surprise of the four it'd probably be 6-1 Maryland, their RPI weighed down by a truly assy non-conference schedule. My committee of one frowns upon loading their schedule with lightweights like Detroit and Bellarmine. MCLA teams (club lacrosse for the uninitiated) beat Detroit and Bellarmine. Like many teams, the toughest is yet to come for Maryland, but it's not a stretch to say they could be left out if they can't get at least one signature win in ACC play (and they already lost to Duke) or against the Hop. That's why it's called a bubble. Still, UMass and Hofstra can't be complacent.

I'm'a do this every Sunday, because it's fun.

series preview: Florida State

Date/Time: March 18-20; 6:00, 1:00, 1:00

TV: none

History against the Noles: 13-42

Last matchup: UVA series win, 2-1 (5-0, 9-8, 8-9); 3/12-3/14, 2010; Tallahassee

Last game: UVA 7, JMU 3 (3/16); UF 5, FSU 4 (3/15)

Last weekend: UVA 3-0 over Clemson; FSU 3-0 over BC

National rankings:

Baseball America: UVA #7; FSU #6
Collegiate Baseball: UVA #6; FSU #4
NCBWA: UVA #5; FSU #4
Perfect Game: UVA #4; FSU #3
Coaches: UVA #5; FSU #4

Opposing blogs: Tomahawk Nation, Scalp 'Em

Thanks to scheduling gurus who I'm sure are very smart people, the two ACC divisional favorites will play each other in March. You'd think it would make a lot better TV if this was in, say, early May, but that's OK, it's not on TV. I'm sorry for getting sarcasm all over your keyboard.

Anyway, no matter who you ask, it's a top-ten matchup, and to most, it's a top five. Even with Florida visiting LSU, it's the only series this weekend with two top-five teams, and with FSU's ace Sean Gilmartin going against super-ace Danny Hultzen on Friday, you can totally see why the ACC wouldn't think it's worth it to find a way to get this on TV.

Florida State is one of the country's top teams partly because they're Florida State. They're hard to figure, though. They swept Boston College - one of the conference's bottom-dwellers - but had a hard time with it. Then they took Florida to extra innings. The big matchup, of course, is Hultzen vs. Gilmartin. Gilmartin's stats are outstanding, but nothing like Hultzen's. The series could well hinge on Friday's game.

On Saturday, we'll send out Tyler Wilson against the underachieving Brian Busch. Busch was a better pitcher last year, but even if he returns to last year's form on Saturday, Wilson is the better hurler. This year, opposing hitters are batting .343 against, Busch, so Saturday's game is the likeliest for a UVA win. Sunday, Cody Winiarski goes against the semi-surprising Scott Sitz.

FSU's bats, frankly, are better than ours at this point, but not overwhelmingly so. Hultzen vs. Gilmartin is the exciting pitching matchup, but our pitching vs. their hitting is really what will decide the series. FSU's pitching is good, but not so incredible that the UVA batters won't be able to push runs across the plate relatively consistently.

I like how this sets up. As long as Danny Hultzen is in our corner it's nigh-impossible to conceive of losing a game that he starts. Saturday looks good too. When it comes to Sunday, the game should either be a rubber match or with a UVA sweep on the line, because of all possible outcomes, losing on both Friday and Saturday seems the least likely. It's the home conference opener and the team should be fired up for it. FSU is ranked higher no matter where you look, but after this weekend, I think that changes.

the recruit: Dominique Terrell

Name: Dominique Terrell
Position: WR
Hometown: Manassas
School: Osbourn
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 175

ESPN: 80; four stars; #19 ATH; US #122
Rivals: 5.8; four stars; #11 ATH; VA #5; US #204
Scout: four stars; #23 CB

Other offers: Auburn, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, UCLA, Texas Tech, Maryland, Vanderbilt, others

Finally, the end of the line. Dominique Terrell, by virtue of scheduling a noon-ish announcement on signing day instead of a 9 AM one like Darius Jennings, became the final piece of the 2011 recruiting puzzle. We started with a wide receiver - Adrian Gamble, who committed before his junior year - and finished with one.

Actually, Terrell probably isn't strictly a "wide receiver." "Athlete" is usually a phrase assigned by recruiting services too lazy to figure out whether a kid will play defense or offense in college - or he's being recruited as both by a roughly equal number of schools - but here, it's appropriate. Terrell will start off in the slot, but he probably won't be limited there. He's very similar to Darius Jennings, right down to the "quicker than fast" observations. But Terrell is the better passer, meaning he's the more likely to end up playing a little wildcat. Not that he's ever likely to throw, but he might be a threat to, a la Vic Hall.

Terrell was halfway to Virginia Tech in the summer and early fall, and not feeling UVA to the extent that I actually dropped him from the recruiting board. Oops. He then charged right back upwards, after something happened between him and the Hokies to essentially cut VT out of the picture entirely. Lord only knows what that was. You'll probably hear a Hokie claim it was academics - backed up somewhat by his SAT scores not being quite up to par by Signing Day - but Terrell has the requisite Stanford, Vandy, and Duke offers so the academic reasons are 98% bunk. (Being too dumb for Virginia Tech but not for Stanford does not compute.)

My guess? It was probably that Tech told him "you'll play defense and like it." Terrell's finalists - UVA, WVU, and Miami - all recruited him for offense.

Owing to the need to upgrade the pure talent level on the field, Terrell will likely play right away. The Lions - NFL version - had a peanut-sized return specialist named Stefan Logan this year, who proved nigh-impossible to tackle. When he showed what kind of damage he could do in the open field, he started being used in the slot. When running backs became scarce and Logan continued to be a reliable yardage guy, he got a shot there, too, and could often be found on the receiving end of an end-around or even a reverse. Terrell's progression will probably look like that, though over the course of more than just one season. This is a player you use wherever you can. If the coaches are smart, they'll use him like Stefan Logan, and not pigeonhole him into one role only. Bill Lazor doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to stubbornly stick with what works whether or not it actually does, so Terrell should have every opportunity to develop into an all-around shit-not-that-guy-again kind of multiple threat. Those who're still pissed off that Vic Hall didn't play offense til his senior year will probably love it the most.

baseball preview, part 2

I guess it's a little late-ish for a preview since the baseball team is already 3-0 in ACC play, but whatever. Besides a few rocky innings here and there - none of which happened on Friday - the pitching staff acquitted itself very well thank you in the first weekend of the ACC season, and not against a schlub opponent either. It doesn't get easier this weekend with FSU on the docket.

The batting lineup, though, isn't what we're used to. The hitting is feeling the effects of losing a few key players. But it's warming up and scoring runs, which is the thing. Brian O'Connor is still juggling the order and the positions, which will probably continue most of the year; there isn't quite as much quality as in the past but there's a ton of quantity. Plenty of players who could easily be regulars.

You know I like to go position-by-position, so why don't I just do that?

Catcher

The duties behind the plate have been split pretty evenly so far between John Hicks and Kenny Swab; they probably will be all year. Both are hitting too well for a day off. Hicks especially. He's been the team's second-best hitter after Robo-Danny Hultzen. When he's not catching he's usually at first base; Swab plays first as well, sometimes, but is as likely to show up in right field.

Hicks and Swab are mainstays in the middle of the lineup. Hicks looks like he's settling into the coveted third spot and Swab is sort of nominally sixth, but can float around depending on who else is starting.

Infield

This has been a transient lineup so far, but the infield has been mostly immune to that. Keith Werman is cemented in at second base and Steven Proscia at third. Both should be hitting better than they have, frankly, especially Werman. Werm was a .414 hitter last year, and his BA is less than half of what it was. It may be that defenses are figuring him out, or it may be that the new bat is turning his singles into easy ground balls - Werman has all the power of a grasshopper - but regardless, he's dropped from leadoff to 8th or 9th in the order.

Even so, he's the starting second baseman, because his glove is irreplaceable. Just too good in the field to remove. Proscia's not bad himself, and his hitting isn't that far off last year's pace. He hit the first home run of the season on Sunday to stake UVA to a lead it wouldn't relinquish, and he'll continue to hit square in the middle of the order - often cleanup.

Stephen Bruno started the season as the regular shortstop, but he hasn't played since an injury in the first week of the year. Chris Taylor moved from the outfield and is doing a great job of making it really hard to figure out what to do when Bruno returns. Taylor's hitting has been exemplary (good enough to work his way up to batting leadoff) - regardless of Bruno's status, Taylor will have a spot in the lineup, and his defense has been solid if not amazing.

First base is where Hicks or Swab end up when they're not catching; on days when Hicks catches and Swab is in the outfield, Jared King and Cyber-Danny get their shot here. Danny is Danny; King is truly making it hard to keep him out of the lineup with nine hits in 20 at-bats. He may push for extra time as the season goes on, and we'll probably see less of Danny at first so he can stay fresh for his pitching duties.

Outfield

It's awfully fluid out there, but slowly settling. Nominally, you have John Barr in left field, Reed Gragnani in center (for now), and David Coleman in right. When the season started, Barr was in center and Coleman in left, but that changed after the ECU series. Taylor moved from right to shortstop after the Auburn tournament, and Swab played right field against ECU, except for Sunday when - guess who - Danny Hultzen started there.

For now, O'Connor seems to have settled on Barr, Gragnani, and Coleman, but Coleman still gets bumped in favor of Swab every so often; this is when you'll see King at first. The offensive production from the outfield is less than amazing, though. Coleman and Gragnani are hitting OK so far, not great; Barr has started off slowly. In the Sunday game against Clemson the trio occupied the 7-8-9 section of the order.

I wouldn't count on this being permanent. Swab will continue to see time in right field, and when Bruno returns there'll be further juggling to be done. It may even be Bruno and not Taylor that gets inserted into the outfield. The arms and fielding abilities of the outfielders remain under evaluation. And freshman Mitchell Shifflett remains a dark horse to get some time as the season goes on as well.

DH

Primarily the bailiwick of Danny the Droid, who happens to be the team's best hitter as well as pitcher. At times there is no DH; Hultzen simply bats for himself when he's pitching. As long as he's mashing the ball he can't be taken out of the lineup; he's simply hitting too well. When Hultzen isn't DHing or hitting for himself, Ryan Levine is the usual replacement. Levine's a sophomore that's come out of almost nowhere - he didn't play at all last year.

Overall, this is a lineup that graduated most of its home-run power (Gosselin, Parker, Grovatt) and had the rest pretty much surgically removed by the new college bats. In other words, it's Brian O'Connor's ultimate dream. BOC loves carousel ball, stealing bases, bunting, the hit-and-run. It's sometimes derided as "small ball" but it isn't really, because that would more correctly describe teams that try to manufacture a run here and a run there with sacrifices, squeeze plays, sac flies, and runner advancement. BOC prefers to flood the box score with hits, hits, and hits, steal whenever he can, and use bunts and the hit-and-run to keep the defense off balance rather than try and squeeze a single run out of an inning. He likes the big inning, he just does it without home runs.

So far the team has attempted about three-and-a-half times as many steals as the opposition (and it should be noticed that the catchers are doing a great job of cutting down base-stealers, and the pitchers are cleaning up after themselves with pickoffs.) There are no specialists. Everybody runs.

As I've said, the hitting is down from previous seasons, but not far enough to keep UVA from being a serious CWS contender. Probably everyone looks "down" thanks to the new bats, and those bats give us a big advantage this year; as a team that's never really depended on the home run to begin with, the lack of them doesn't take away one of our weapons. The lineup isn't awesome, but it's good enough.

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Last word on Tony Bennett and Utah and I do mean last. He's not going, never was, and you can believe either Craig Littlepage and TheSabre or semi-delusional Utah fans. You'n'me know how this goes. A name shows up one time in print and no amount of debunking will make that go away until the actual coach is hired. Bennett's failure to show up in Salt Lake City on the day he was said to be there is not enough. Littlepage's denial won't be enough, either, at least not for Utah fans, but it should be all the proof you need. I mean, if you were originally willing to believe Bennett would be willing to take on yet another rebuilding job for a team with lesser facilities, fewer resources, and in a lesser recruiting base, headed to a four-bid league after miserably underachieving in a three-bid one. Oh, and they can't pay him as much. I'll personally guarantee you that Tony Bennett does not get hired at Utah and then let Mike Scott do my talking, and I promise, not a peep more.

weekend review

Eventful weekend. Always is. Good news, too. Except for the tournament selection show. We got snubbed again. Totally ridiculous. If 16-15 doesn't get you in the tournament, then it's time to expand to 96. Or 128. Whatever it takes. Got my hopes up and everything. To assuage our hurt feelings, let's have our yearly laugh at Seth Greenberg, the whiniest bitch alive:

"Just disappointed. You almost wonder if someone in that room has their own agenda and that agenda doesn’t include Virginia Tech. Just plain and simple. I totally wonder it, if someone in that room has an agenda."

Probably not, but could you blame the committee for submitting the bracket and then starting their traditional when-does-Greenberg-flip-out pool? Hard to see how anyone could have an agenda against such a likable guy.

"I guess they even brought up our non-conference schedule. Kansas State, Purdue, Oklahoma State, UNLV, Penn State, St. Bonaventure that was supposed to be big and Mississippi State that was projected to win the SEC."

You don't get to take credit for the games you lost, you dumb fuck. You gotta love taking credit for beating teams that were supposed to be good but in fact sucked. (I don't know who said St. Bonaventure was supposed to be any good, but whatever.)

"They didn’t beat an Oklahoma State. They didn’t beat a Penn State. They didn’t beat a Mississippi State. We chose to go on the road to Kansas State."

And also chose to lose by 16. I think the committee noticed. God I love that VT isn't in the tournament because of UVA. Twist the knife a little.

Not that there aren't Hokies with perspective and a sense of humor. The comment section here is what you want. You'll know what you're looking for when you see it.

Now for the boring stuff, like all those wins our baseball team piled up this weekend.

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Actually, first lacrosse and Cornell. I did say we needed to shut down Rob Pannell, and not doing so made a closer game out of what didn't have to be. That and the hibernating offense. If the game of lacrosse hinged entirely on individual players making plays, UVA would destroy everything in sight. Defenses are smarter than that, though. I'm going to slap myself for saying this, but this lacrosse team reminds me of a way more talented version of VT basketball. A guy gets the ball and he tries to make an individual play for a goal. If he decides he can't, he passes it to someone else who tries again. And so on. Passing isn't used to set up an offense, it's used so that different players can try for a highlight. I'm not saying the team is selfish, even though it sounds like I am; I'm saying the offense is individualized and stagnant. I wish there were more motion without the ball. If we didn't have phenomenal athletes we'd be 3-3.

Fortunately, the defense is coming together well and Adam Ghitelman continues his frankly outstanding play in net. Ghitelman saved 13 of 21 SOG, bringing his SV% up to .590. Good stuff. Excellent stuff.

The team also won a majority of faceoffs and was actually 12 of 17 in the first three quarters, but I'll wait for that to happen more than once before I call it a trend and get excited about it. Still, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

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Even better than the lacrosse result is the baseball result. Three wins for the price of one! Debate exists as to whether Clemson - the victim of the sweep - deserves the top-5 rating they've been given (I lean toward not really) but it doesn't matter. They are a likely tournament team, and the sweep was on the road. The bats were alive; Steven Proscia picked a perfect time to hit the first home run of the season, to give UVA a lead in the Sunday contest and went 6-for-12 on the weekend.

Danny Hultzen had 14 strikeouts on Friday. 14, in 6 2/3 innings. Sheesh. He started this season eighth on the UVA career list with 230; he's now second with 50 more on the season and will pass Seth Greisinger's record of 290 either next Friday or the week after. That record is a goner. But there'll be a Danny Hultzen K Watch in this space anyway, as Hultzen takes aim at Tim Burcham's single-season record of 146. If he keeps racking them up at the pace he is now, he'll beat that easily. He has a shot at 200. Hell, he has a shot at making his 2011 season be good enough for a top-ten career, which would require 214. ACC competition makes it a longshot, but we're gonna find out week-by-week just how long it is.

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Football spring practice begins this week, which is pretty cool, I guess. Don't forget about the roadshow: a practice in Hampton this coming Saturday and in Alexandria the week after. Especially don't forget about them if you happen to be a big-time recruit, OK?

To commemorate, the depth chart has been updated. Spring practice is when I push the graduating seniors off the edge of the map and bump the freshmen into the picture. Keep in mind the only freshmen actually in camp are David Watford and Daquan Romero. Here are the changes, most of which are per the Sabre's press conference tweets:

- Linebackers are shuffled big time. They didn't list Ausar Walcott as a starter like he used to be, presumably because he's suspended so hard for being a punk in Harrisonburg. Nominally, for now, your starters are Aaron Taliaferro, Steve Greer, and Laroy Reynolds, with the backups being Tucker Windle, Henry Coley, and.... Daquan Romero? Though the comment about Romero being "behind" Reynolds might easily have meant "more than one space behind," at least we now know where exactly Romero is ticketed.

- Players who aren't participating fully are in purple. Was gonna make them red but red means out for the season and I didn't want to scare you.

- Miles Gooch is now a WR. Big surprise.

- A few additions: Former academic casualties Billy Cuffee and Buddy Ruff have worked their way back onto the team, but not in a scholarship status.

- And a few subtractions: Academic casualty Torrey Mack, injury casualty Aaron Van Kuiken, and one that I don't think I ever saw mentioned anywhere: Jared Detrick. It's totally possible I spaced out and missed the latter. But he's not on the roster at the moment, so subtracted he is, along with backup punter Logan Spangler, who's also not on the roster. Let's hope Jimmy Howell has a healthy senior season because he's the only one left.

By my count, the team is now three over the scholarship limit of 85. Hmm, there were three players arrested in Harrisonburg. I'd be sweating it out if I were them.

I do really wish, by the way, that Kris Burd were participating in spring drills, which he's not. Not because he needs it, but because there aren't that many veteran receivers in camp, and the quarterbacks will really need consistency from their receivers as they battle for position.

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That would be the end, but I feel compelled to address the wackiness emanating from Utah. Somebody out there got the idea that Tony Bennett was reaching out to Utah expressing interest in their now-vacant coaching job. (Kind of like Jeff Capel was angling so hard to get the UVA job in order to get back to the ACC. Hint - no he wasn't.) I wouldn't bother, because this is dumb, but it's out there so what the hell.

Streaking the Lawn does a pretty good job of laying out why this is a stupid rumor, but they're a little too equivocal for my taste. How about this: There's no fucking way Tony Bennett ends up in fucking Utah, and their fans are delusional as fuck for thinking it's possible. Even Washington State fans think it's nucking futs. I wish I could find where this originated, but supposedly Bennett was even in Utah today. Pretty damn hard to do when you have a radio show all day, which he didn't exactly skip.

This must have been what UVA fans sounded like two years ago. I hope we weren't as ludicrously uninformed as the guy who's never heard of Dulles Airport, but regardless. Remember "Rick Barnes was spotted at a 7/11"? Remember when we were totally, definitely hiring Tubby Smith? Now I know how Minnesota fans felt, except not really because the UVA job is a step up from Minnesota by virtue of being in the ACC and in better recruiting grounds. Among other reasons.

So. Dear UVA fans: Stop worrying, because Tony Bennett isn't going to Utah. Dear Utah fans: Hands off our coach, who isn't going to Utah, and yes he'd be a home-run hire but that's what we thought Tubby Smith was going to be and we didn't get Tubby Smith, we got a guy none of us had ever heard of and two years in he's someone else's wishful thinking already. You'll find your prince, just not in Charlottesville.

game preview: Cornell

Date/Time: Sat., March 12; 1:30

TV: ESPNUVA

History against the Big Red: 6-3

Last matchup: UVA 12, Cornell 4; 3/13/10; Ithaca

Last game: UVA 14, Vermont 6 (3/8); Cornell 14, Canisius 7 (3/9)

Opposing blogs: none

I'm going to deviate from the usual format a little bit because first I want to talk Syracuse a bit. A disappointing game. By itself, the result wasn't too bad. Sooner or later you're gonna lose one of those, and there's no shame in a 2-point loss to the top-ranked team in the regular season, even if top-ranked is what you're trying to be.

Still, I think this team has problems that, if they don't get fixed, will guarantee that this group of seniors leaves without a national championship. Faceoffs is number one. Of course it is. The faceoff men rebounded after the first quarter to make it look a little bit even, but, guh. The typical Syracuse run in the first quarter happened just as I'd feared because we lost like the first five or six faceoffs in a row. On Tuesday the team handled Vermont OK, but only won 43% of faceoffs. Against Vermont. Which, granted, has a slightly-above 50% win rate on the season, but their competition is such as Colgate and Air Force and I'm not impressed. If this doesn't get fixed this team isn't winning any tournament.

Offense is problematic too. Defense actually seems passable. The offense doesn't look like a championship offense. It's like a Ferrari that's down a cylinder or two. Tons upon tons of potential that isn't being used. Lots of goals being scored, but too much of it is individual effort. Over half the goals scored this season are unassisted. That's just unsustainable. In years past it's been between 35-40%. 2007 was the worst year in recent memory - a first-round loss in the tournament, three regular-season losses (if the ACC tournament is regular season), and just no domination in our wins - and the unassisted-goals rate was 41%. The championship season of 2006: 31.5% This year, as I said: over 50%.

There are too many good players on this team for that not to change, but if it doesn't, quality teams are going to run over us.

Now. Cornell. Recent Final Four runs notwithstanding, this is typically a team that lurks just outside lacrosse's elite, a threat to knock someone off but usually more of a quality-win machine for Syracuse, Hopkins, and the ACC. If anything, they're a little down this year with a loss to Army and uninspiring wins over Hobart and Canisius and a decent one over terrible Binghamton.

The thing about Cornell is you must take away junior attackman Rob Pannell. Pannell has more than half the team's assists, as well as nine goals in four games. There's no limit to the scoring he can do if you let him, but if he's frustrated I just don't see where their offense is coming from. Last year he had Ryan Hurley, a combo that made Cornell's offense pretty good, but his partner in crime graduated and nobody's really seized the vacancy. This would look like a chance to give the faceoff numbers a tiny boost, as Cornell is also below 50% here, but their primary two guys are a nudge above even, which means they'll probably each go 8-for-12.

That shouldn't matter, though. Cornell's goalie, A.J. Fiore, is in his second year of starting in net and hasn't started off well. And their starting defense is ever so young - all sophomores, two of them also in their second year of starting and one in his first. UVA's wily veterans on offense should be able to find plenty of ways to put the ball in the net. As long as Pannell is shut down - more than doable, as our defense has been relatively stout - this game should be a good national-TV bounceback from last week.

the return of mephistopheles

There's no good reason a team with a bunch of almost-nobodies should finish the ACC season one win shy of .500 and then get a first-round win in the ACC tournament to boot, so the basketball gods decided to do something about it. Or Basketball Satan. I don't know what other reason there could be for a 50-second sequence in which the easiest tasks become impossible and the impossible shots find only nylon and a game that would be won 999,999 times out of 1,000,000 is lost. Tony Bennett has this team overachieving ahead of schedule, and verily this angers the medieval sensibilities of the basketball gods, and draws their wrath. Their sanity is restored by insane happenings.

Poor Sammy Zeglinski. Our very own Faust could do miraculous things with the shot clock under five and staring down a double-team; in this situation, Zeglinski was money, all year, every time. Then Mephistopheles returned to earth with under a minute to play against Miami and claimed his price, and Zeglinski could do nothing but helplessly fumble the ball out of bounds. Zeglinski's miracle touch was given to Miami's shooters instead.

So that wasn't even remotely fun, but in the big picture - or even the medium-sized picture - it means nothing. Hopefully there's still a CBI in the future, if for no other reason than to make sure the image of Mu Farrakhan and Zeglinski fighting over a rebound that neither one gets isn't the last one of the season.

game preview: Miami

Date/Time: Thu., March 10; 12:00

TV: Raycom, ESPN3

History against the Canes: 4-8

Last matchup: Miami 70, UVA 68; 2/5/11; Coral Gables

Last game: UVA 74, Md. 60 (3/5); GT 66, Miami 57 (3/6)

Opposing blogs: seriously, you wouldn't even know there's an ACC Tournament if all you read was Miami blogs.

KenPom:

National: UVA #94; Miami #64
Offense: UVA #126; Miami #36
Defense: UVA #74; Miami #106

Tournament time, and raise your hand if you thought UVA would be the 8th seed with a 7-9 record before the season. Those of you in the media, put your hands down, I see you there. No, my hand's not up either. After three straight (competitive) losses, this team finished the season legitimately on fire - 4-1 in the last five - leaving a trail of bad-loss marks in their wake. Ha. No tournament for you, Maryland.

HOW WE CAN WIN

- No big games for anyone. Miami gets very balanced scoring- sort of. It's more like, on any given night just about anyone on their roster is capable of going off. Reggie Johnson, Malcolm Grant, Rion Brown - they've all had their turn playing the star. Against UVA in February it was Adrian Thomas. Miami's losses - even those where they top 70 points - usually occur when nobody steps up to have a big night. The key number seems to be 18 points; keep everyone under 18 points and that's likely to end in a UVA win. It requires very disciplined defense, of course, and double-teams in the post to nullify the size advantage Miami has with Johnson.

- Get ahead early. A repeat from last time. Yeah, "get ahead early" is exactly what happened, not to mention "get ahead late," and it technically didn't work. Well, it damn well should've. It will this time. Once again, Miami might not be in the best frame of mind, coming off a loss to a team that shouldn't have beaten them. But this one's really not about Miami, it's about UVA, which is riding a wave of confidence right now. They've forgotten they're supposed to be this lousy bottom-feeder. Keep the confidence going and it'll just build on itself.

HOW WE CAN LOSE

- Foul. Lost in the disappointment over the 9-for-22 free throw shooting was Miami's excellent performance on their end at 17/22. This is a solid free throw team, and the free throws resulting from fouling three-point shooters were the stake through the heart. Miami can score many different ways, and giving them and-1 chances or getting them into the bonus only exacerbates the problem. Don't foul on defense.

- Poor guard play. It took one of Mu Farrakhan's best nights to get as close as we did to winning last time, as well as en fuego three-point shooting from Joe Harris and Sammy Zeglinski. I think UVA can survive a mediocre night from outside, but not a bad one. We ain't getting no 15 points from Assane Sene against this team.

HOW THE GAME WILL GO

I wanted this one, because I wanted another shot at Miami. So you can blame me if it doesn't go well. I don't think that'll be the case. UVA is playing with confidence and maybe even a mission; Miami is just sort of playing. The crowd should be in our favor; there'll certainly be a larger contingent of UVA fans than Miami fans, and Miami never wins the hearts of neutral observers. With a friendly crowd and the confidence gained from beating Maryland at Maryland, I'll offer up a little confidence of my own. I never do this unless asked, but here goes anyway: 70-62, UVA.

baseball preview, part 1

In case you haven't noticed - understandable if for some reason this is your only lifeline to UVA sports - there's once again a pretty good baseball team playing at Davenport Field this year. Pitching is by far its strong suit, which will take you a long way, for sure. The team is 12-1 with the lone loss coming in a 2-1 series win against East Carolina. They're ranked as high as 6th and as low as 11th (college baseball has tons of polls) by virtue of three weeks' worth of strong showings, including a total dismantling of SEC semi-power Auburn.

All this without hitting a single home run.

It's a slightly new era in college baseball; metal bats continue to be used, but they're deader than they used to be. This probably bodes well for UVA, at least this year; Brian O'Connor has eschewed power hitting in his recruiting in favor of pitching pitching pitching and guys who can hit for really high averages. Making it harder to hit home runs gives UVA a little bit of an edge since that's not what the offense depends on.

Today we'll have a look at the pitching, and later this week, the position players.

Starters

Unlike last year when the Sunday starter was up for grabs a little bit at the beginning of the year, this year the weekend starters are engraved in marble. They are:

- Friday - Danny Hultzen. Hultzen is the guy Charlie Sheen wishes he was. Sheen was misquoted in his rantings; what he meant to say was, he has tiger blood and Hultzen DNA. Hultzen has a real chance to win every variation of national player of the year award there is, and will certainly be drafted with one of the top ten - maybe top five - picks in the MLB draft ths June. Even though he's leading the team in OPS and batting average and is second in RBI, his hitting duties will probably lighten up a little as the stretch run gets hot. Hultzen's pitching is what makes him valuable - he carries an 0.87 ERA so far and has struck out 36 in just over 20 innings. Yes. Almost two strikeouts per inning.

He did walk a batter once this season, though. So he has been known to throw the occasional pitch out of the strike zone. Still - it's not likely UVA will lose any of his starts this year, until maybe the postseason. To make matters worse for opposing lineups, Hultzen is a southpaw.

- Saturday - Tyler Wilson. Wilson has made a smooth transition from long relief. His 23-to-5 K/BB ratio would look pretty awesome if not for Hultzen's 36-to-1. Aw hell....it's still pretty awesome. Wilson's move out of the pen has created a few question marks in long relief, but so far the team has been able to handle it.

- Sunday - Cody Winiarski. A little bit of a soft-tosser, the start to this season has been tremendously encouraging as Winiarski has been striking out more hitters than last year. He and Wilson have started the year with ERAs under 2, and they share a .206 opponents' BA. A tough, four-run first inning against ECU was enough to tag Cody with the only loss of the season, but outside of that one inning he hasn't allowed a single run, and he's averaged 6+ innings in his three starts. Winiarski's hot start is the most encouraging sign of the whole season; if this kind of pitching holds up, UVA will have easily the best weekend rotation in the ACC.

- Weekdays - Will Roberts and Kyle Crockett. Crockett was probably the most-hyped recruit of the freshman class that actually made it to the season (Justin Nicolino signed with the Blue Jays and Tyler Skulina transferred before the season began.) Crockett won a few awards and such as a high school pitcher and had the added advantage of being from Virginia. UVA fans love a Virginian. But Crockett will spend most of his time in the bullpen and probably only get starts when the weekday schedule includes two games, such as in a couple weeks against Towson. Roberts is the main weekday starter. A junior, Roberts hasn't quite been able to pitch his way into the weekend rotation, but will probably be needed there next year. He's good enough for some emergency innings against ACC competition, if needed, and should be able to rack up the wins one by one pitching against the JMUs and Towsons of the world.

Bullpen

This looked like a question mark before the year began, with Wilson moving to the rotation, but events since then have solidified the outlook. The pen got hit by graduation - especially at closer where Kevin Arico was unbelievably dependable in 2010.

The new closer is sophomore Branden Kline, who had an excellent freshman season, especially late as the fourth starter in tournament play. Kline has yet to allow a run and has five saves already. There will be no problems here.

Whit Mayberry had a tough start to the season, but he's settled down nicely. Mayberry has starter's endurance and will probably be the primary long reliever this year. Kyle Crockett is the first lefty out of the pen and he's pitching well, too. Left-handed pitching out of the pen is much more readily available than it's been in the past - Crockett can provide a couple innings, if needed, and then there's Scott Silverstein. Silverstein's history of arm trouble is longer than O.J.'s rap sheet; multiple shoulder surgeries have kept him off the mound until this year. He made his first pitching appearance for UVA a little over a week ago. He's not gonna be rushed back, but he gives us a situational lefty.

Justin Thompson is another guy we'll see plenty of, though he's more likely to be primarily a weekday reliever. And the freshman class brought a lot of arms that we've already seen a little of and will get a few innings here and there - guys like Ryan Ashooh and Austin Young.

No doubt, pitching is where this team will draw its success from. As you'll see a little later, the batting lineup isn't quite the murderers' row it's been in the past, but given the choice between OK hitting and awesome pitching, or the opposite, I'll take the awesome pitching every time. The new bats should help this staff - not that they need much help - to keep their numbers down. Except for their strikeouts. Strikeouts will be up; Danny Hultzen is rapidly climbing the all-time list at UVA. I'm very confident in calling this the best rotation in the ACC, and if the bullpen continues to pitch the way they started the season, they'll be able to claim the same crown.