You'd think having two college teams to root for would be the shit, with no qualms, no reservations. It is the shit, but it's trying sometimes; like when the scheduling wizards put their football games on at the same time. Having them battle for recruits actually isn't the can't-lose proposition that it sounds like. And I find myself constantly defending the one to the other's fans; it's amazing to listen to ACC fans thinking Big Ten football should be relegated to mid-major status and vice versa. Worst of all, neither one of my football teams has won their season-ending rivalry game since 2003. That's not just fucked up, it's fucked up twice.
Whatever; two teams is still twice the fun. Those of you without a second team will never know what Saturday was like. While Maryland was busy losing to Virginia after their football coach informed the crowd that Maryland does not lose to Virginia, Michigan dispatched Michigan State with rather more ease than I expected (though it wasn't exactly easy.) This is like winning a million bucks and then winning a million more and then not having to pay taxes on it. It's better than twice the fun. It's twice the fun and then a whole fun factory. And then - with Virginia Tech losing to Clemson and creating a popping sound you could hear in Katmandu - the competing factory across town burning to the ground. It's that damn fun. I may never experience such basketball nirvana again on a day that doesn't involve a bracket. Maryland and Michigan State - there are zero other teams I'd rather beat on a basketball court. That's as good as it gets.
So it's pretty sweet. So, do you remember the goal I set for this team way back when, and abandoned in the aftermath of an ugly loss to the worst team in the conference? Here they are: a winning record. 7-9 in the ACC - even in one of the worst ACCs in recent and not-recent history - is a frickin' hell of a thing to do when the best player on the team is unavailable for the whole thing. And it was sealed against a team I thought we matched up against badly. Badly, because they have a zillion really frontcourt options and we have Assane Sene and Will Sherrill. And then Maryland had to bring in dudes from places that can't even win the Eurovision contest in however many decades of trying let alone an Olympic bronze in basketball because what was a matchup nightmare in game one turned into domination in College Park. "Assane Sene, 15 points 5 rebounds" is something I can get used to. The guy is officially no longer someone that other coaches actively hope gets the ball in his hands. He is a Matchup Problem, one that requires Iceland to fix. If they can.
This team is rolling, and Miami awaits on Thursday. You may remember Miami from Why Can't We Hit A Damn Free Throw and That Was Only A Foul In Your Stupid Imagination. Fix these two eminently fixable problems, and UNC will be the Friday opponent. That's the near future. The distant-ish future is a sky's-the-limit proposition, on account of the rather large number of woulda-coulda-shoulda games (Miami, UNC, Duke, etc.) plastered all over the schedule. You are not only authorized but strongly encouraged to act during the offseason as if Seattle and Norfolk State never happened.
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Other stuff:
- I guess I can live with the complete lack of UVA representation on the all-ACC teams. Joe Harris seems like the most obvious snub, if any, and that'd be for the all-freshman team, but pretty much everyone there is statistically better than Harris. Kendall Marshall of UNC would be the only one who isn't, but I actually appreciate his presence there because it shows the media did more than look at the stats when they voted for the team. Of course, they would only watch North Carolina games - and Duke ones - but people who did watch Carolina couldn't help but notice the improvement in that team with Marshall on the floor. Larry Drew's huffy departure was the best thing that happened to UNC because it saved Roy Williams the dilemma of how much to get Drew on the floor when he was being so obviously outplayed.
- So they highlighted the venerable Maryland tradition of actively ignoring the visitor's lineup being announced. You know it's Maryland when their traditions involve making a big in-your-face deal of showing as much disrespect as possible to the opposition.
- Maybe the best thing about the Maryland game, besides having more points than them, was that unlike most of our wins this season, this one didn't involve grinding the game into an ugly brickfest. No, I'm not complaining about Tony Bennett's style. Winning is fun no matter how it happens. It's just nice to know that we can also win games by simply matching them basket for basket and then some. That's a preview of the offense with a post game. Clemson was your example of offense minus a post game.
- I was hoping for a path to sneak into the NIT if we ended up with a winning record, but the RPI is just too sucky. Blame Seattle. And Wake Forest. I've said it before, but I really do hope the administration uses some of that profit on the CBI, which is still a money-loser. Partly it's because this team really can use all the games they can play against decent competition, but partly it's because ending the regular season 4-1 has a way of making me crave more basketball.
- I haven't said the name "Sammy Zeglinski" yet in this post, which is a shame because he only scored 25 damn points. Yikes. Sometimes you just have one of those days where you're feeling it and can't miss if you try. I know the feeling and I'm five-foot-seven, so, far be it for it to be a totally foreign thing to a guy like Sammy. Nice frickin' game.
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I was going to involve the lacrosse game against Syracuse in this post, but it's getting long and that was a loss and why adulterate happy time with a loss? I'll have some kind of comprehensive-ish lacrosse thing later this week.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
all those times i said UVA wouldn't beat maryland
you know I was just working the reverse jinx, right? right?
just wanted to clear that up.
yyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
just wanted to clear that up.
yyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Thursday, March 3, 2011
game preview: Syracuse
Date/Time: Fri., March 4th; 6:00
TV: ESPNUVA
Record against the Orange: 14-12
Last matchup: UVA 11, Cuse 10; 3/7/10; Charlottesville
Last game: UVA 22, VMI 6 (2/28); Cuse 11, Army 9 (2/27)
Time for a clash of titans. It's like Duke vs. Kentucky in basketball. UVA and Syracuse are co-#1s, the first meeting in history between two such teams. This game, as per usual, is for the right to be #1 outright, though usually it's a 1 vs. 2 thing. It's also historically a close matchup. The typical UVA-Syracuse game is decided by a single goal. Sometimes two. The last game between these two teams at Syracuse's dark, cavernous Carrier Dome drew over 16,000 fans. Yeah, it's big.
HOW WE CAN WIN
- Win a few face-offs. Yup, the old bug is back, and worse than before. UVA's face-off men are winning less than 50% of their draws, even going just 17-for-30 against hapless VMI, and getting killed, as usual, by Stony Brook. It's a testament to the quality of everything else UVA does that they're undefeated despite being so rotten on face-offs. Cuse has played two games against quality opponents - Denver and Army - and is winning 66% of their draws, an excellent number. If we only let them win 66% on Friday, even that poor showing should help us out, because the offense is efficient enough to make good on its chances. Get beat 75-25 and major problems will start happening.
- Dominate the fourth quarter. Because these games always go down to the last whistle, the fourth is where it's at. Dominating the fourth is what won the Drexel game; getting dominated in the fourth is what almost lost the Stony Brook one. Syracuse's opponents have outscored them in the fourth 7-3, mostly thanks to Army's furious 5-2 rally.
HOW WE CAN LOSE
- Holes in the defense. There can be none. Cuse gets very good, balanced scoring. Their attackmen - Tim Desko, Steven Keogh, and JoJo Marasco - are the stars of the team, but they have a very experienced offensive midfield that will absolutely burn anyone who thinks they can win the game by keeping the attackmen off the board. Our defenders, particularly the short-stick defenders, will need to stay very disciplined, and Adam Ghitelman will have to stand on his head once or twice in net.
- Get swamped early. Big, hostile crowd - and Cuse has been outscoring the opposition 13-3 in the first quarter. That's not just some small sample size fallacy - last year they outscored their opponents 54-16 in the first quarter, as opposed to 133-95 in the other three. In other words, by 38 in the 1st and by 38 in the last three. After the first 15 minutes is when the opposition has gotten their chance to crawl back into the game. Survive the first 15 minutes and things should be OK, but UVA can't let itself get blown out in the first quarter.
HOW THE GAME WILL GO
Close, duh. Like I said - it is every time. I won't condescend to predict anything beyond that. Anyone who does is either crazy or ordered to by their editor. I am the editor, so nobody's making me say anything that I'll get blamed for later. I think our team has some serious questions left to be answered if we're going to be in contention for the national title - namely, FACEOFFS, but I think the defense needs to get settled as well. This game should help answer them, hopefully with answers we like.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
the recruit: Darius Jennings
Name: Darius Jennings
Position: WR
Hometown: Baltimore, MD
School: Gilman
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 175
ESPN: 81; four stars; #15 ATH; US #98
Rivals: 5.8; four stars; #10 ATH; MD #4; US #191
Scout: four stars; #43 WR
Other offers: Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Oregon, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Boston College, UCLA, North Carolina, Stanford, West Virginia, Maryland, Iowa, South Carolina, NC State, many others
Signing Day brought a bushel of good news for Virginia fans, starting around 9:30 or so with Darius Jennings's commitment, the first of two on the day. A look at that offer list - which isn't comprehensive - is all you need to know about why UVA's class got a lot of publicity on that day. Jennings filled a major hole in the class: playmaker. Dominique Terrell would join in a couple hours later, and the two players turned the offensive skill positions from a semi-question mark to a huge strength of the recruiting class.
Jennings conducted his recruitment in the classic style, naming a top 10 and then slowly whittling it down to six, then three, and finally choosing UVA at crunch time. As things went along, the coaches felt confident enough in their position to stop recruiting project players like Demetri Knowles and put their eggs in the biggest basket they could find. And by December, I was confident enough to predict that he'd end up a Hoo when all was said and done. It wasn't automatic, though: Jennings named a final three of UVA, Ohio State, and Wake Forest. Jennings played quarterback at Gilman, and Wake was the only one of the three offering him the chance to do so in college. And OSU is, you know, kind of good.
But the answer in the end was woohoo. Wide receiver is a significant position of need for the Hoos - not in terms of numbers, but just plain ol' talent. Proven quantities are Kris Burd and ???. (Matt Snyder is a proven quantity, and a solid player, but an offense that depends on the playmaking abilities of Matt Snyder is going to drag itself to another 4-8 finish.) Tim Smith was the only other four-star talent in the lineup, and he's coming off surgery. His playing time is limited, and E.J. Scott probably has talent but won't have any more time on the playing field than Jennings will.
And Jennings really has the pedigree. He dazzled on a big stage - the Maryland prep school circuit that includes powerhouses like DeMatha and Good Counsel - so much so that the Maryland HS Rivals affiliate named him the Maryland POY over higher-rated players like Cyrus Kouandjio and Blake Countess. He led Gilman to a 35-10 whomping of DeMatha; the Baltimore Sun gave him runaway Baltimore OPOY honors; and he joins Demetrious Nicholson as a Gatorade POY honoree as well. Hyperbole abounds whenever a high school coach is asked about him.
Fact is, Jennings has major potential to add a dimension to the UVA offense that hasn't been there for at least a decade: the electric, playmaking wide receiver. Billy McMullen was the last really great receiver at UVA. (Kevin Ogletree was pretty sharp too, of course, but really only for one year, and he left too soon.) And McMullen was a different kind of receiver - a taller, jump-ball-grabber that was fast enough. Jennings is probably only six feet tall on tiptoes, but he's explosive and allows Bill Lazor to make the playbook a little more interesting. Even though there are plenty of bodies in front of Jennings on the seniority chart, it'll be a surprise if he redshirts.
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I'd be awfully remiss if I didn't celebrate, somehow, the outstanding effort on the JPJA floor last night. It seems like Senior Day always goes badly. Not this time. Will Sherrill and Mustapha Farrakhan were honored for their contributions - and truly, these are two players that worked their way up from absolutely nothing, and took advantage of the coaching change - and then went out and had a night to remember on the floor. Sherrill dropped 5-of-7 for 14 points and 8 boards. Yeoman's work was done on defense, especially on NC State's star senior Tracy Smith, who was held to just four shots. (Sidney the Big Red Coat bears some credit for that too. How do you play your best player just 18 minutes? It's not like he was in foul trouble. Criticize Dave Leitao how you will, but he never made Sean Singletary sit for over half of any game.) I said great three-point shooting would be needed, and the team came through with 10-for-21 - Sherrill and Joe Harris hitting eight of the ten makes.
UVA almost certainly won't drop below the 10th seed.** And it would take a very convoluted set of twisted circumstances that start with us beating Maryland on Saturday, and ends with the coming of locusts, in order for UVA to jump into the 7th seed. That means basically we're looking at the 8/9 game again, probably with Duke awaiting the winner, and almost certainly against Miami. Mark your calendars for next Thursday at 12:00 noon, and start game-planning for the Canes.
**For those who just have to know, a two-way tie for 9th and 10th would be between UVA and NC State, so obviously we win. A three-way tie would include Miami, which involves a 1-1 round-robin of results, so the next tiebreaker is how you did against the league's best team, then second-best, until you can break the tie. A three-way would be problematic, because it involves UVA, Miami, and NC State at 6-10 - and the only way NC State gets there is if they beat Florida State on Saturday. Not likely, but still. If FSU beats UNC tonight that would lock them into the 3rd seed, and nobody's beaten UNC or Duke in our little three-way mini-conference, so NC State beating FSU would be very bad for us. It would give NC State the 8th seed, and Miami gets the 9th because they beat UVA.
So basically, if you like the idea of the 8/9 game - and I do, at least, better than the 10th seed - root for FSU on Saturday. Or root for Miami to either win or lose both of its next two so that the tiebreaker is only between UVA and NC State.
Position: WR
Hometown: Baltimore, MD
School: Gilman
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 175
ESPN: 81; four stars; #15 ATH; US #98
Rivals: 5.8; four stars; #10 ATH; MD #4; US #191
Scout: four stars; #43 WR
Other offers: Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Oregon, Illinois, Georgia Tech, Boston College, UCLA, North Carolina, Stanford, West Virginia, Maryland, Iowa, South Carolina, NC State, many others
Signing Day brought a bushel of good news for Virginia fans, starting around 9:30 or so with Darius Jennings's commitment, the first of two on the day. A look at that offer list - which isn't comprehensive - is all you need to know about why UVA's class got a lot of publicity on that day. Jennings filled a major hole in the class: playmaker. Dominique Terrell would join in a couple hours later, and the two players turned the offensive skill positions from a semi-question mark to a huge strength of the recruiting class.
Jennings conducted his recruitment in the classic style, naming a top 10 and then slowly whittling it down to six, then three, and finally choosing UVA at crunch time. As things went along, the coaches felt confident enough in their position to stop recruiting project players like Demetri Knowles and put their eggs in the biggest basket they could find. And by December, I was confident enough to predict that he'd end up a Hoo when all was said and done. It wasn't automatic, though: Jennings named a final three of UVA, Ohio State, and Wake Forest. Jennings played quarterback at Gilman, and Wake was the only one of the three offering him the chance to do so in college. And OSU is, you know, kind of good.
But the answer in the end was woohoo. Wide receiver is a significant position of need for the Hoos - not in terms of numbers, but just plain ol' talent. Proven quantities are Kris Burd and ???. (Matt Snyder is a proven quantity, and a solid player, but an offense that depends on the playmaking abilities of Matt Snyder is going to drag itself to another 4-8 finish.) Tim Smith was the only other four-star talent in the lineup, and he's coming off surgery. His playing time is limited, and E.J. Scott probably has talent but won't have any more time on the playing field than Jennings will.
And Jennings really has the pedigree. He dazzled on a big stage - the Maryland prep school circuit that includes powerhouses like DeMatha and Good Counsel - so much so that the Maryland HS Rivals affiliate named him the Maryland POY over higher-rated players like Cyrus Kouandjio and Blake Countess. He led Gilman to a 35-10 whomping of DeMatha; the Baltimore Sun gave him runaway Baltimore OPOY honors; and he joins Demetrious Nicholson as a Gatorade POY honoree as well. Hyperbole abounds whenever a high school coach is asked about him.
Fact is, Jennings has major potential to add a dimension to the UVA offense that hasn't been there for at least a decade: the electric, playmaking wide receiver. Billy McMullen was the last really great receiver at UVA. (Kevin Ogletree was pretty sharp too, of course, but really only for one year, and he left too soon.) And McMullen was a different kind of receiver - a taller, jump-ball-grabber that was fast enough. Jennings is probably only six feet tall on tiptoes, but he's explosive and allows Bill Lazor to make the playbook a little more interesting. Even though there are plenty of bodies in front of Jennings on the seniority chart, it'll be a surprise if he redshirts.
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I'd be awfully remiss if I didn't celebrate, somehow, the outstanding effort on the JPJA floor last night. It seems like Senior Day always goes badly. Not this time. Will Sherrill and Mustapha Farrakhan were honored for their contributions - and truly, these are two players that worked their way up from absolutely nothing, and took advantage of the coaching change - and then went out and had a night to remember on the floor. Sherrill dropped 5-of-7 for 14 points and 8 boards. Yeoman's work was done on defense, especially on NC State's star senior Tracy Smith, who was held to just four shots. (Sidney the Big Red Coat bears some credit for that too. How do you play your best player just 18 minutes? It's not like he was in foul trouble. Criticize Dave Leitao how you will, but he never made Sean Singletary sit for over half of any game.) I said great three-point shooting would be needed, and the team came through with 10-for-21 - Sherrill and Joe Harris hitting eight of the ten makes.
UVA almost certainly won't drop below the 10th seed.** And it would take a very convoluted set of twisted circumstances that start with us beating Maryland on Saturday, and ends with the coming of locusts, in order for UVA to jump into the 7th seed. That means basically we're looking at the 8/9 game again, probably with Duke awaiting the winner, and almost certainly against Miami. Mark your calendars for next Thursday at 12:00 noon, and start game-planning for the Canes.
**For those who just have to know, a two-way tie for 9th and 10th would be between UVA and NC State, so obviously we win. A three-way tie would include Miami, which involves a 1-1 round-robin of results, so the next tiebreaker is how you did against the league's best team, then second-best, until you can break the tie. A three-way would be problematic, because it involves UVA, Miami, and NC State at 6-10 - and the only way NC State gets there is if they beat Florida State on Saturday. Not likely, but still. If FSU beats UNC tonight that would lock them into the 3rd seed, and nobody's beaten UNC or Duke in our little three-way mini-conference, so NC State beating FSU would be very bad for us. It would give NC State the 8th seed, and Miami gets the 9th because they beat UVA.
So basically, if you like the idea of the 8/9 game - and I do, at least, better than the 10th seed - root for FSU on Saturday. Or root for Miami to either win or lose both of its next two so that the tiebreaker is only between UVA and NC State.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
game preview: NC State
Date/Time: Tue., March 1; 7:00
TV: RSN
History against the Pack: 55-79
Last matchup: UVA 59, NCSt. 47; 2/3/10; Charlottesville
Last game: BC 63, UVA 44 (2/26); NCSt. 79, GT 74 (2/26)
Opposing blogs: Riddick & Reynolds
KenPom:
National: UVA #120; NC State #78
Offense: UVA #175; NC State #52
Defense: UVA #88; NC State #147
Senior Night! And maybe the last realistic chance for a win this season. NC State is a watered-down version of Boston College - offense is a little worse, defense is a little better, but they're still skewed toward offense and their defense on the road has been abysmal. Because Maryland is such a likely loss (again, UVA matches up so badly against Maryland that I'm just calling that a loss right now), losing this game basically cements us into the ACC tourney's 10th seed. The likely 7 seed? Boston College. Win, and three teams - NC State, GT, and Wake - will be permanently stuck below us, meaning the 8 or 9 seed is our fate. In that case we'd probably play Miami and the only difference between 8 and 9 is the color of the uniforms. That's what's at stake. Neither is preferable to the other - BC is better than Miami but Duke awaits the winner of the 8/9 game.
HOW WE CAN WIN
- Shadow Scott Wood. Part of the problem with NC State's game is that without Wood there's no three-point shooting. They'll get more than their fair share of two-point shots because NC State is a tall team. Wood is a big guy, listed as a forward but truthfully a big guard. It probably won't be enough to sit behind the pack-line and defend him when he gets the ball; it's best if he doesn't get the ball at all.
- Shoot the lights out. This is the only way this is gonna happen. The three-point shooting can't just be decent, it has to be great. NC State has too many ways to clog the paint with 6'8" types that'll cause major issues for our donut team trying to score inside. Offensive rebounds won't happen, because you know Tony Bennett sends his guys backpedaling the moment the shot goes up and there're too many forwards on NC State to make it work anyway. The first shot has to go in.
HOW WE CAN LOSE
- Troubles on the defensive boards. This is what worries me. UVA is still the best defensive rebounding team in the conference, but NC State is a very good offensive-rebounding team and they enjoy that height advantage. The Pack rarely use their seven-footer, Jordan Vandenberg, and they rely very heavily on two-point shots, so Assane Sene will be absolutely vital. He must be in position to get defensive rebounds and limit NC State's tip-in chances.
- That damn press. By now everyone's seen the film. Getting beat by UVA? Easy three-step process. 1) Press. 2) Get turnovers. 3) Profit!! Fortunately, Sidney Lowe isn't one of the more observant coaches in the league, but even so, a blind man knows to press UVA. You don't even have to do a lot of work on the press or have superior athletes running it. You just have to be in the right place and let UVA make horrible decisions.
HOW THE GAME WILL GO
Here's what worries me: NC State is a bad defensive team, and the reason for that has largely been their inability to get turnovers and inability to rebound on the defensive end. UVA will purposely give up the offensive rebound and a poodle could create turnovers against us if it simply employed a three-quarters press. So we don't have much ability to attack their defensive weaknesses.
But NC State's reliance on two-pointers means that even with a size advantage, the pack-line defense should be able to frustrate them at times. I don't think either team will shoot real well tonight. We might very well see a repeat of the Clemson game. In any case, this one should be close. Home court advantage is the best shot we have to see this one through. Call it a tossup.
Monday, February 28, 2011
weekend review
So it's back to the grind. Losing by 19 to Boston College, if nothing else, serves to remind us of the cavernous talent (and more importantly, experience) chasm separating this basketball team from the rest of the ACC. Various game reports opened by wondering what to point to in order to explain the blowout - or more specifically, the total lack of ability to play either offense or defense in the second half. The answer is simple: the implicit conclusion from last week's column that this team has been playing way over their heads. At some point that has to be expected to catch up to you.
You are now forbidden, for your own health, from uttering the word "NIT." I suppose it doesn't especially matter what happens for the rest of the season, but since Tony Bennett is still Tony Bennett it's not like the team is going to agree with that. Worse teams than this one have made the CBI, and even if that's the only tournament we get invited to we should accept. It's probably a money-loser, but this is the most profitable athletic department in the conference and what good is making all that money if you don't spend it on something like that? This team needs to cram as much basketball into its gullet as possible. And even if the only thing we have to look forward to this year is three more losses to end the season, we'll always have Paris, where "Paris" is code for "sweeping the Hokies right the hell out of the arena."
Speaking of the Hokies: Fuck you, Duke. Seriously. You run roughshod over the entire conference for three decades and then the one time I want you to actually take care of business and crush someone, you choke like Monica on the President's cigar. I hope when Coach K retires you hire Matt Doherty.
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OK, now that the profanity is out of the way let's talk about things that make us happy, like lacrosse and baseball.
I don't know whether to worry or not about the start of the lacrosse season. Yes, 3-0 is a good thing, and Drexel is no slouch of a team and Stony Brook is potential final four material, so beating them is great. Beating them without the suspended Bratton twins is pretty incredible.
That said, why the rash of suspensions? First Ghitelman and now both Rhamel and Shamel, and both for games of importance. Let's hope this is Starsia's way of reacting to the problems of last year and clamping down on stuff that he wasn't clamping down on before. And let's hope the team gets the message.
Discipline problems aside, this why there's such a thing as Steele Stanwick. Five goals against Stony Brook, including the OT game-winner, should tell you who the team sees as their go-to guy, especially when last year's second-line midfield of Haldy, Briggs, and Emery is suddenly the first-line midfield. The Brattons got the preseason hype and they'll be creating all the highlight goals, but Stanwick might well be the irreplaceable one.
The Stone-Age lack of TV means I'm still at a loss for individual observations, and tonight's VMI game won't add anything to what we know. Fortunately, it's Syracuse on Friday.
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I might be waffling on the lacrosse team, but not the baseball team. Despite losing on Sunday and allowing East Carolina to avoid the sweep, the start to the season has been fantastic. Danny Hultzen, of course, sparkles as the Friday starter. Fifteen strikeouts and top-notch work with the bat earned him National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball. (Seriously, read that article. Hultzen's pitching on Friday was as dominant as you can get short of throwing a perfect game.) Hultzen's dominance is to be marveled at, and should result in all kinds of recognition, gaudy numbers, and Friday evening victories as the season goes on.
But we've kind of been counting on that. The same for Tyler Wilson's excellent job on Saturdays. Wilson's an excellent pitcher too, and we knew that. Even though Cody Winiarski took the Sunday loss with one bad inning, I'm more encouraged by his play than by that of anyone else so far this season. Winiarski has struck out six in each of his two starts, almost doubling his K rate from last season. A weekend rotation without a hole in it means lofty ACC expectations; this is probably the top rotation in the conference and should result in a solid 20 conference wins and maybe then some. This is an awesome development. This is how you live up to people calling you "one bad machine."
I was going to get moving with a full-out preview of the season this week, but actually it'll probably have to wait til next week when the basketball regular season is done.
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And now, the rest of the story:
- Ralph Sampson, Hall-of-Famer. My initial reaction was this would've happened fifteen years ago if Sampson were a Dookie. Instead he played for lowly - which wasn't at all lowly at the time - Virginia. After all, Sampson is a member of a three-time-NPOY club that includes just two other players - Oscar Robertson and Bill Walton. Screw the man, man. Then I remembered that the NCBHOF is only like four or five years old, and Sampson wouldn't have been part of the (absolutely enormous) founding class because he's not in the big HOF on account of a mediocre NBA career. Still, how does Ralph Sampson, Three-Time-National-Player-Of-The-Effing-Year Ralph Sampson, have to wait behind Christian Laettner for his turn? Oh, right: Duke, and Not Duke.
Anyway, justice is done. The fact that a College Basketball Hall of Fame could exist as an institution with a building and everything and not have Ralph Sampson inside it was silly. Now it's not.
- Swimmers rock. The men's team, as predicted, made it two-for-two at the ACC Swimming & Diving championships. The meet, as not predicted, wasn't even close. 232 points separated UVA and 2nd-place UNC, which is more points than four of the competing teams achieved at all.
The meet's MVP was distance swimmer Matt McLean for the third time in four years. Other event winners: sprinter Scot Robison and butterflyer Peter Geissinger. The tone of the meet was pretty well set in the first individual event - the 500-yard freestyle - where Virginia swimmers took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 8th. For those keeping score at home, the meet's over so you can put your pencils away, but that's still 92 of the event total 155 points. In one event UVA scored more than Boston College or Miami combined.
Nationals are next, where hopefully top-10 finishes await both the men and women.
- Can't let this go without a recruiting board update. But first, something even better. A map. I put together a Google Map of the recruiting board. It's color-coded and everything, although the red is kinda pink. And the orange looks red if you don't have the pink near it to compare it to. Blame Google's pastel coloring. Anyway, the link will have a permanent home on the recruiting board page so you can check it out whenever.
Now, the update:
- Added RB Kye Morgan and WR Drakar Harvell to yellow. Both might be green, but for a couple mitigating factors: Morgan lives almost literally in the shadow of Rutgers The SUNJ, and Harvell needs an offer. Harvell will eventually get one, I think, at which time he'll be instabumped to green or blue.
- Moved DT Korren Kirven from yellow to red.
- Moved ATH Cyrus Jones from red to yellow. Jones hails from Gilman - Darius Jennings's alma mater.
Full schedule this week (that's code for "I don't have to pull anything from my ass this week"): I'll preview the NC State game, and lacrosse's Syracuse game. I don't know if I'll preview the Maryland game, as we're destined to be killed by a team we match up with exceedingly poorly. As much as I enjoy this very likable version of our basketball team, I am really looking forward to spring sports.
You are now forbidden, for your own health, from uttering the word "NIT." I suppose it doesn't especially matter what happens for the rest of the season, but since Tony Bennett is still Tony Bennett it's not like the team is going to agree with that. Worse teams than this one have made the CBI, and even if that's the only tournament we get invited to we should accept. It's probably a money-loser, but this is the most profitable athletic department in the conference and what good is making all that money if you don't spend it on something like that? This team needs to cram as much basketball into its gullet as possible. And even if the only thing we have to look forward to this year is three more losses to end the season, we'll always have Paris, where "Paris" is code for "sweeping the Hokies right the hell out of the arena."
Speaking of the Hokies: Fuck you, Duke. Seriously. You run roughshod over the entire conference for three decades and then the one time I want you to actually take care of business and crush someone, you choke like Monica on the President's cigar. I hope when Coach K retires you hire Matt Doherty.
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OK, now that the profanity is out of the way let's talk about things that make us happy, like lacrosse and baseball.
I don't know whether to worry or not about the start of the lacrosse season. Yes, 3-0 is a good thing, and Drexel is no slouch of a team and Stony Brook is potential final four material, so beating them is great. Beating them without the suspended Bratton twins is pretty incredible.
That said, why the rash of suspensions? First Ghitelman and now both Rhamel and Shamel, and both for games of importance. Let's hope this is Starsia's way of reacting to the problems of last year and clamping down on stuff that he wasn't clamping down on before. And let's hope the team gets the message.
Discipline problems aside, this why there's such a thing as Steele Stanwick. Five goals against Stony Brook, including the OT game-winner, should tell you who the team sees as their go-to guy, especially when last year's second-line midfield of Haldy, Briggs, and Emery is suddenly the first-line midfield. The Brattons got the preseason hype and they'll be creating all the highlight goals, but Stanwick might well be the irreplaceable one.
The Stone-Age lack of TV means I'm still at a loss for individual observations, and tonight's VMI game won't add anything to what we know. Fortunately, it's Syracuse on Friday.
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I might be waffling on the lacrosse team, but not the baseball team. Despite losing on Sunday and allowing East Carolina to avoid the sweep, the start to the season has been fantastic. Danny Hultzen, of course, sparkles as the Friday starter. Fifteen strikeouts and top-notch work with the bat earned him National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball. (Seriously, read that article. Hultzen's pitching on Friday was as dominant as you can get short of throwing a perfect game.) Hultzen's dominance is to be marveled at, and should result in all kinds of recognition, gaudy numbers, and Friday evening victories as the season goes on.
But we've kind of been counting on that. The same for Tyler Wilson's excellent job on Saturdays. Wilson's an excellent pitcher too, and we knew that. Even though Cody Winiarski took the Sunday loss with one bad inning, I'm more encouraged by his play than by that of anyone else so far this season. Winiarski has struck out six in each of his two starts, almost doubling his K rate from last season. A weekend rotation without a hole in it means lofty ACC expectations; this is probably the top rotation in the conference and should result in a solid 20 conference wins and maybe then some. This is an awesome development. This is how you live up to people calling you "one bad machine."
I was going to get moving with a full-out preview of the season this week, but actually it'll probably have to wait til next week when the basketball regular season is done.
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And now, the rest of the story:
- Ralph Sampson, Hall-of-Famer. My initial reaction was this would've happened fifteen years ago if Sampson were a Dookie. Instead he played for lowly - which wasn't at all lowly at the time - Virginia. After all, Sampson is a member of a three-time-NPOY club that includes just two other players - Oscar Robertson and Bill Walton. Screw the man, man. Then I remembered that the NCBHOF is only like four or five years old, and Sampson wouldn't have been part of the (absolutely enormous) founding class because he's not in the big HOF on account of a mediocre NBA career. Still, how does Ralph Sampson, Three-Time-National-Player-Of-The-Effing-Year Ralph Sampson, have to wait behind Christian Laettner for his turn? Oh, right: Duke, and Not Duke.
Anyway, justice is done. The fact that a College Basketball Hall of Fame could exist as an institution with a building and everything and not have Ralph Sampson inside it was silly. Now it's not.
- Swimmers rock. The men's team, as predicted, made it two-for-two at the ACC Swimming & Diving championships. The meet, as not predicted, wasn't even close. 232 points separated UVA and 2nd-place UNC, which is more points than four of the competing teams achieved at all.
The meet's MVP was distance swimmer Matt McLean for the third time in four years. Other event winners: sprinter Scot Robison and butterflyer Peter Geissinger. The tone of the meet was pretty well set in the first individual event - the 500-yard freestyle - where Virginia swimmers took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 8th. For those keeping score at home, the meet's over so you can put your pencils away, but that's still 92 of the event total 155 points. In one event UVA scored more than Boston College or Miami combined.
Nationals are next, where hopefully top-10 finishes await both the men and women.
- Can't let this go without a recruiting board update. But first, something even better. A map. I put together a Google Map of the recruiting board. It's color-coded and everything, although the red is kinda pink. And the orange looks red if you don't have the pink near it to compare it to. Blame Google's pastel coloring. Anyway, the link will have a permanent home on the recruiting board page so you can check it out whenever.
Now, the update:
- Added RB Kye Morgan and WR Drakar Harvell to yellow. Both might be green, but for a couple mitigating factors: Morgan lives almost literally in the shadow of Rutgers The SUNJ, and Harvell needs an offer. Harvell will eventually get one, I think, at which time he'll be instabumped to green or blue.
- Moved DT Korren Kirven from yellow to red.
- Moved ATH Cyrus Jones from red to yellow. Jones hails from Gilman - Darius Jennings's alma mater.
Full schedule this week (that's code for "I don't have to pull anything from my ass this week"): I'll preview the NC State game, and lacrosse's Syracuse game. I don't know if I'll preview the Maryland game, as we're destined to be killed by a team we match up with exceedingly poorly. As much as I enjoy this very likable version of our basketball team, I am really looking forward to spring sports.
Friday, February 25, 2011
game preview: Boston College
Date/Time: Sat., February 26; 12:00
TV: RSN
History against the Eagles: 7-5
Last matchup: BC 70, UVA 67; 1/18/11; Boston
Last game: UVA 62, GT 56 (2/23); Miami 74, BC 63 (2/23)
Opposing blogs: BC Interruption, Eagle in Atlanta
KenPom:
National: UVA #108; BC #70
Offense: UVA #140; BC #14
Defense: UVA #83; BC #225
If you want to see what might have been, if any of the woulda-coulda-shouldas had come through (not collapsing against Miami, beating Wake Forest like we were supposed to, etc.) look no further than Boston College. One game separates these teams in the ACC standings, and Boston College is praying for an NCAA tournament bid while UVA's best shot is probably a low seed in the NIT. Yes, there's Seattle. BC has Yale. We are on the brink, folks. Next year. Just wait.
Meantime, there's Boston College, and the shoestring tournament bids riding on this one qualify it for EPIC SHOWDOWN status. So I turned to BC Interruption to learn more about the Eagles. Standard Q&A wizardry. The other half is there at BCI, as usual you are compelled to click over to find out more about my own take on things. Including that which I almost never do unless asked: a prediction and score.
1. How are BC's tournament hopes?
Hanging on by a thread.
BC's 16-11 (6-7 ACC) record isn't much to look at, but the Eagles' benefit from strong resume numbers, including an RPI of 50 and a conference-best SOS of 16. Now, about that 3-7 record in their last 10 ...
Given BC's strong resume numbers, all they have to do is start winning again. Three wins to end the regular season, plus a decent-to-above average showing in the ACC Tournament probably gets BC in. If the season ended today, the Eagles' would probably find themselves playing in Dayton on a Tuesday. Next week's mid-week game against the Hokies is probably an NCAA Tournament eliminator. Cage match style.
2. BC graduates something like eight seniors, and Steve Donahue inherited a program with literally zero scholarship underclassmen for 2010-11 and had to scramble to put together a recruiting class. What's the outlook for next year?
Pain.
BC graduates Trapani, Raji, Paris, Southern and Dunn next season, and will be left with these players who have gotten significant minutes this year: Reggie Jackson (34.0 minutes), Danny Rubin (18.5), Dallas Elmore (16.3) and Gabe Moton (13.8).
Next year, Donahue will have Matt Humphrey, a transfer from Oregon, and six incoming recruits. Four of the six hail from Southern California -- PG Jordan Daniels, SG Lonnie Jackson, PF Ryan Anderson and C Kyle Caudill. Donahue is also bringing in SF Eddie Odio (Miami, FL) and PF Dennis Clifford (Milton, MA). So while Donahue is doing a good job reloading and bringing in players to fit his system, it will likely be a slow process ... and a LONG season next year.
3. How about further down the line? Is Donahue the right guy for BC basketball?
I think so. Far soon to tell, though. Donahue is playing with house money this year, and the fact that we are even talking about the NCAA Tournament as the calendar hits March is a good sign for his long-term prospects. Donahue took a less-talented roster of players that don't fit his system and has already won more games than last year's team ... against a much more difficult schedule. Opposing team writers and fans seem to come away from watching BC games stating that the Eagles are a very well-coached team.
Only two knocks so far on Donahue: home attendance and defense. I think the former will improve over time as Donahue builds a winner at BC. The latter ... well ...
4. Why does BC have a really good, efficient offense - rated 2nd-best in the ACC by KenPom - but they can't stop anyone on defense?
Over the last few years, BC has had a higher offensive efficiency than defensive efficiency. Defense was one of the team's flaws under Skinner that led to a change at the top. But this year, the offensive-defensive bipolarity is off the charts. I can't put my finger on the root cause. Sure, BC gets killed in the paint without a true big man on the floor, and this team gives significant minutes to three walk-ons, but even still, the defense shouldn't be that bad.
Donahue's teams at Cornell followed the same pattern -- highly-efficient offenses and porous defenses. Hopefully this problem gets better as he brings in guys to fit his system. The defense has to improve though, because there's nowhere to go but up.
5. Eight seconds left, BC is down by 2, with the ball, and Reggie Jackson just fouled out. Who's taking the shot?
Joe Trapani.
Trapani has been a workhorse for the Eagles over the last 10 games, averaging 16.5 points a game and 4 double-doubles over that span. A transfer from Vermont, Trap doesn't have the raw talent and athleticism that Reggie Jackson has, but he makes up for it with effort. Trapani can beat you on the dribble or drain the three ball. A lot of fans have a love-hate relationship with Trapani, but he's really come on strong down the stretch this season, and he'll certainly be missed next year.
6. Prediction?
A big, big test for Steve Donahue and the Eagles. Win, stop the bleeding, and keep your NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Lose and BC probably ends up hosting an NIT game in front of 5,000 fans. Being the homer that I am, I think Donahue gets this team to respond on the road, and we live to see another day. Then again, in typical BC fashion, it will be far too close for our liking ... 68-66 Eagles.
Beaucoup gracias to BCI. And best of luck in the cage match.
HOW WE CAN WIN
- Patience. Shots will come. BC's defense has gotten even worse since we played them. They can't force turnovers, and teams always find good shots. There are a multitude of ways to score on the Eagles. Patience, fortunately, is a strong suit of ours.
- Defend the paint better. Last time did not go well for the Hoos down low. BC, normally a good three-shooting team, shot very poorly from long range, but made up for it with stellar work in the paint. Center Josh Southern had four assists and no turnovers. That can't happen; for a big, Southern's a good passer, but not that good. Joe Trapani was 7-for-10 inside the arc. Southern, 3-for-4. And BC had 25 free throw attempts. Hopefully Will Sherrill can play more than just five minutes. Assane Sene will need to be a major presence and must stay out of foul trouble. BC's offense is one of the country's most efficient and very difficult to stop, and UVA has to at least make them work for their points.
HOW WE CAN LOSE
- BC shoots like BC. They were an uncharacteristic 6-for-21 from long range in the last meeting, which helped keep the game close. They're much better than that.
- Let Joe Trapani get going. Trapani is a UVA-killer. As nasty-good as Reggie Jackson is, Trapani's the real matchup nightmare in my book. When UVA beats BC, Trapani is invisible, but otherwise he's all over the floor. Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell will probably be assigned to guard him, and they've got to find a way to make him one-dimensional, preferably by keeping him out of the paint as much as possible.
HOW THE GAME WILL GO
BC is so damn bipolar it's ridiculous. I don't think you'll find another team in the country with such a huge spread between their offensive and defensive effectiveness, the latter of which has gotten even worse since last time. Of course, I don't buy into the idea that they're struggling, either - sure, they're 2-6 since our last meeting, but UNC and Duke account for half those losses, and FSU a fourth. It's been a tough schedule since January 19, and they've swept Maryland this year. The only actual bad loss was the latest, against Miami, which is only going to serve to piss them off.
And yet, I like what I see. UVA is 3-3 in the last six and frankly, none of the losses were uncompetitive, despite what the Duke score said. This team has had the willpower to beat back adversity in the last two games. They're playing like they're on a mission, even if nobody's real sure what the mission is. The BC offense is highly efficient, but not unstoppable, and the UVA defense has been getting much better, game by game. And of course, BC can be scored on. As long as shots are falling at the rate they should, the chances look good for a third straight win.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
the kings of unlikely
The lacrosse team is 2-0, the baseball team is 4-0, both are headed for a big weekend of games, and the basketball team is barely over .500 on the season, playing out the string en route to another likely quarterfinals exit (at best) from the ACC tournament, which they do every year. They ain't exactly making history. If they're lucky they'll get a CBI invite, which isn't even the junior NIT - it's more like the NIT's janitor. No offense to janitors. If they're really lucky they'll get a low seed in the NIT. How does a basketball team get anyone to care about the longshot chase for a 7-seed in the NIT?
By caring very, very hard themselves. You might ask, if you were a national observer: how can you keep devoting so much attention to a mediocre bunch that missed the tournament bubble about two months ago? Then again, how can you not? This is the raggediest, misfittiest UVA basketball team in recent memory. It's held together - as an on-court product, not in the intangible locker room - with baling wire, Elmer's, rainbows, and the wishes of orphans. No duct tape. Duct tape hurt his ankle in December. There's an adolescent giraffe playing center, a shooting guard playing power forward, and another shooting guard that's sort of a point guard and can only hit three-pointers when flying backwards into the Gatorade jug with the shot clock expiring. And now they're winning basketball games. In the ACC.
Consider this: This team lost Sylven Landesberg, Mike Scott, Jeff Jones, and Jerome Meyinsse, replaced them with four freshmen, and that change resulted in a likely increase in wins - assuming they can win just one of the next three. That's how you know you have the right coach.
Now we have the kings of unlikely, trying to do the unlikely. Make the postseason and the NIT. Sure, it's a longshot. North Carolina did it at 16-16, 5-11, just last season, but of course they have something we don't: the name "North Carolina." And Assane Sene is gangly and awkward, and if you look up "assane sene" on YouTube half the results are "Travis McKie posterizes Assane Sene". He is the least likely person to create his own Sportscenter highlight and he just created his own Sportscenter highlight by MANBLOCKING two Georgia Tech shots. Somehow this guy who can't catch a bounce pass ripped someone's weak stuff right out of the air not two feet away from the hand that fired the shot. In the second half, he encored by belting a Daniel Miller dunk attempt into Mongolia. If you'd asked me two years ago or last year how I felt about a team led by Mustapha Farrakhan - who had made a career of shooting 4-for-15 - I'd have seriously considered demoting the basketball team to club level. Today I exchanged Q&A with BC Interruption and they asked me how to go about stopping Mustapha Farrakhan. An unlikely team leader, an even more unlikely clutch player - and yet without a trace of irony yesterday I exhorted the inbounder to find Mu and get him the ball.
Slowly but surely, and painfully, the kings of unlikely are coming up with unlikely wins. It is nothing to anyone whether they finish with 14 or 15 or 16 of them, but the journey, to recycle a hackneyed phrase, is more important than the destination. The process is one of learning how to win - another hackneyed, overused phrase, but never more apt than when describing a team that blows lead after lead after lead and then finds itself not blowing the lead any more. ESPN's announcers may condescend to marvel at the effort given by a team headed - from their lofty perspective - nowhere, and you might be crazy to keep letting your sanity hinge on every Sammy Zeglinski desperation heave. But as long as there's effort like that coming from this team, it's not only your right, it's a sworn duty. Lacrosse and baseball will still be there when they're done.
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Other things you should know:
- No, seriously, Assane Sene. He's playing like a man possessed and is Exhibit A in the case for Tony Bennett's player development skills. Easily the team's most improved player.
- Or not so easily, given Farrakhan's progression.
- The NCAA is not happening, obviously, barring ACC Tournament insanity. The NIT is also unlikely. But you know what I've been saying about unlikely. NIT bracketology is a bizarre thing to do and I'm not gonna bother, but if you're holding onto that hope, the best bet is to root for the chalk in the small-major conference tournaments so they don't take up space in the NIT. Fairfield, Oakland, Vermont. Teams like that. Winning, at a bare minimum, two more games, is also obvious. Probably at least three would be needed, including a tournament game.
By caring very, very hard themselves. You might ask, if you were a national observer: how can you keep devoting so much attention to a mediocre bunch that missed the tournament bubble about two months ago? Then again, how can you not? This is the raggediest, misfittiest UVA basketball team in recent memory. It's held together - as an on-court product, not in the intangible locker room - with baling wire, Elmer's, rainbows, and the wishes of orphans. No duct tape. Duct tape hurt his ankle in December. There's an adolescent giraffe playing center, a shooting guard playing power forward, and another shooting guard that's sort of a point guard and can only hit three-pointers when flying backwards into the Gatorade jug with the shot clock expiring. And now they're winning basketball games. In the ACC.
Consider this: This team lost Sylven Landesberg, Mike Scott, Jeff Jones, and Jerome Meyinsse, replaced them with four freshmen, and that change resulted in a likely increase in wins - assuming they can win just one of the next three. That's how you know you have the right coach.
Now we have the kings of unlikely, trying to do the unlikely. Make the postseason and the NIT. Sure, it's a longshot. North Carolina did it at 16-16, 5-11, just last season, but of course they have something we don't: the name "North Carolina." And Assane Sene is gangly and awkward, and if you look up "assane sene" on YouTube half the results are "Travis McKie posterizes Assane Sene". He is the least likely person to create his own Sportscenter highlight and he just created his own Sportscenter highlight by MANBLOCKING two Georgia Tech shots. Somehow this guy who can't catch a bounce pass ripped someone's weak stuff right out of the air not two feet away from the hand that fired the shot. In the second half, he encored by belting a Daniel Miller dunk attempt into Mongolia. If you'd asked me two years ago or last year how I felt about a team led by Mustapha Farrakhan - who had made a career of shooting 4-for-15 - I'd have seriously considered demoting the basketball team to club level. Today I exchanged Q&A with BC Interruption and they asked me how to go about stopping Mustapha Farrakhan. An unlikely team leader, an even more unlikely clutch player - and yet without a trace of irony yesterday I exhorted the inbounder to find Mu and get him the ball.
Slowly but surely, and painfully, the kings of unlikely are coming up with unlikely wins. It is nothing to anyone whether they finish with 14 or 15 or 16 of them, but the journey, to recycle a hackneyed phrase, is more important than the destination. The process is one of learning how to win - another hackneyed, overused phrase, but never more apt than when describing a team that blows lead after lead after lead and then finds itself not blowing the lead any more. ESPN's announcers may condescend to marvel at the effort given by a team headed - from their lofty perspective - nowhere, and you might be crazy to keep letting your sanity hinge on every Sammy Zeglinski desperation heave. But as long as there's effort like that coming from this team, it's not only your right, it's a sworn duty. Lacrosse and baseball will still be there when they're done.
***************************************************
Other things you should know:
- No, seriously, Assane Sene. He's playing like a man possessed and is Exhibit A in the case for Tony Bennett's player development skills. Easily the team's most improved player.
- Or not so easily, given Farrakhan's progression.
- The NCAA is not happening, obviously, barring ACC Tournament insanity. The NIT is also unlikely. But you know what I've been saying about unlikely. NIT bracketology is a bizarre thing to do and I'm not gonna bother, but if you're holding onto that hope, the best bet is to root for the chalk in the small-major conference tournaments so they don't take up space in the NIT. Fairfield, Oakland, Vermont. Teams like that. Winning, at a bare minimum, two more games, is also obvious. Probably at least three would be needed, including a tournament game.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
the recruit: Mason Thomas
Name: Mason Thomas
Position: S
Hometown: Virginia Beach
School: Kempsville
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 195
ESPN: 63; one star; #272 WR
Rivals: 5.3; two stars
Scout: two stars
Other offers: Kent State, Delaware, Old Dominion, Norfolk State
Huh.
January 21 through the 23 was a big deal for UVA recruitniks; all but a couple of the committed recruits, as well as some of the biggest uncommitted ones, were on an official visit. People had their ears to the ground hoping for a pleasant surprise from someone like Dominique Terrell or even, bless my soul, Curtis Grant. So when word came out Sunday that there was indeed a commitment, it was big news.
Excitement turned to puzzlement when the name actually got out, though. Nobody'd ever heard of Mason Thomas. Seriously. Seems the coaches had been recruiting him silently for quite some time, and nobody knew it. In fact, Thomas was reportedly a silent UVA commit since January 7, or even earlier - according to someone who works at Kempsville - and still nobody knew it. Or almost nobody. It was a they-must-know-what-they're-doing moment, since the numbers were getting awfully crunchy. It was, of course, before Jordan Lomax uprooted himself for Iowa, which was probably one of those things the coaches were expecting when they took Thomas's commitment.
Thomas was committed to ODU for about a month, and truthfully has the full profile - offers, ratings, and all - of a I-AA talent. Our last profile, Demetrious Nicholson, was the state POY; Thomas, from just across town, was no higher than second-team all-District. It's not all two stars and I-AA - at least one writer ranked him the #9 player in Hampton Roads, above Ross Burbank and Tech signee Dewayne Alford, and just behind Kameron Mack.
You have to assume the coaches agree. If Thomas was a March or April commit, he might be looked at as taking up space. Someone that the coaches liked early, offered early, and jumped at the first scholarship he got. Sometimes that's a road to disaster - the first five commitments of the 2006 class came in June '05, and three of them had zero other offers and all three of them, I don't even think any of them even made it to UVA. The coaches took Mason Thomas at a time when scholarships were at their absolute most premium. A desperate need for defensive backs helps explain it, but there must be something about Thomas that the coaches just love - as much as they loved what they saw in someone like Jeremiah Hendy, whom they recruited until the eleventh hour. Plus, the only service that rates Thomas as a safety - his intended position - is the one that ranks him highest. (Not that high at all, but still.) Scout and ESPN evaluate him as a receiver.
Still, how much playing time can there be in the future? Rodney McLeod, Corey Mosley, and Dom Joseph are entrenched at the top three safety spots. Also the only three safety spots, at least in February. Freshman safeties scare the everloving bejeebers out of me, but if we're gonna use four over the course of the season - which seems perfectly likely - at least one will be a freshman. Who exactly is ticketed for safety is a bit hazy, but I don't think any of them are the real blue-chippers of the class. Guys like Anthony Harris and Kameron Mack - talented yes; surefire stars, no. Thomas isn't likely to be as physically talented as his competition at the position, but safety requires at least as much brains as brawn, so he's as likely as anyone to end up playing a role.
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I did promise a recruiting board update and here it is. It's loaded with additions. The staff has locked and loaded the offer gun and is spraying it in all directions. If I put on here every prospect that listed a UVA offer on every site it'd be three pages long; as I mentioned in the original post I limit it to players listed on multiple sites. Also, ones whose offer seems solid enough to commit to today, and there are some I left off because yes they have an offer but their eyes are obviously elsewhere.
You might also notice the addition of an extra column; someone decided there was room for a fourth recruiting site on the scene, so since they exist, why the hell not: I added a column for the rating from 24/7 Sports as well. Eventually it'll even have stars in it.
Changes:
- Added OLB Mark Hall to orange. Recruiting profiles begin in June or Julyish, but for now, here's the basics on Hall: He plays linebacker and tight end for Green Run in Virginia Beach, the same place David Dean came from, and he's probably an OLB for UVA. I expect three stars across the board; I'd guess a 5.6 from Rivals and maybe a 77 or 78 from ESPN, though they're less predictable. Solid, solid pickup and a good way to start the class.
- Moved RB J.C. Coleman and LB Kwontie Moore from green to blue.
- Added WR Mario Nixon to blue.
- Added WR Eugene Lewis to green.
- Added ATH Corey Coleman, ATH Canaan Severin, DE Eli Harold, and S Alex Carter to yellow.
- Added ATH Germone Hopper to red.
Position: S
Hometown: Virginia Beach
School: Kempsville
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 195
ESPN: 63; one star; #272 WR
Rivals: 5.3; two stars
Scout: two stars
Other offers: Kent State, Delaware, Old Dominion, Norfolk State
Huh.
January 21 through the 23 was a big deal for UVA recruitniks; all but a couple of the committed recruits, as well as some of the biggest uncommitted ones, were on an official visit. People had their ears to the ground hoping for a pleasant surprise from someone like Dominique Terrell or even, bless my soul, Curtis Grant. So when word came out Sunday that there was indeed a commitment, it was big news.
Excitement turned to puzzlement when the name actually got out, though. Nobody'd ever heard of Mason Thomas. Seriously. Seems the coaches had been recruiting him silently for quite some time, and nobody knew it. In fact, Thomas was reportedly a silent UVA commit since January 7, or even earlier - according to someone who works at Kempsville - and still nobody knew it. Or almost nobody. It was a they-must-know-what-they're-doing moment, since the numbers were getting awfully crunchy. It was, of course, before Jordan Lomax uprooted himself for Iowa, which was probably one of those things the coaches were expecting when they took Thomas's commitment.
Thomas was committed to ODU for about a month, and truthfully has the full profile - offers, ratings, and all - of a I-AA talent. Our last profile, Demetrious Nicholson, was the state POY; Thomas, from just across town, was no higher than second-team all-District. It's not all two stars and I-AA - at least one writer ranked him the #9 player in Hampton Roads, above Ross Burbank and Tech signee Dewayne Alford, and just behind Kameron Mack.
You have to assume the coaches agree. If Thomas was a March or April commit, he might be looked at as taking up space. Someone that the coaches liked early, offered early, and jumped at the first scholarship he got. Sometimes that's a road to disaster - the first five commitments of the 2006 class came in June '05, and three of them had zero other offers and all three of them, I don't even think any of them even made it to UVA. The coaches took Mason Thomas at a time when scholarships were at their absolute most premium. A desperate need for defensive backs helps explain it, but there must be something about Thomas that the coaches just love - as much as they loved what they saw in someone like Jeremiah Hendy, whom they recruited until the eleventh hour. Plus, the only service that rates Thomas as a safety - his intended position - is the one that ranks him highest. (Not that high at all, but still.) Scout and ESPN evaluate him as a receiver.
Still, how much playing time can there be in the future? Rodney McLeod, Corey Mosley, and Dom Joseph are entrenched at the top three safety spots. Also the only three safety spots, at least in February. Freshman safeties scare the everloving bejeebers out of me, but if we're gonna use four over the course of the season - which seems perfectly likely - at least one will be a freshman. Who exactly is ticketed for safety is a bit hazy, but I don't think any of them are the real blue-chippers of the class. Guys like Anthony Harris and Kameron Mack - talented yes; surefire stars, no. Thomas isn't likely to be as physically talented as his competition at the position, but safety requires at least as much brains as brawn, so he's as likely as anyone to end up playing a role.
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I did promise a recruiting board update and here it is. It's loaded with additions. The staff has locked and loaded the offer gun and is spraying it in all directions. If I put on here every prospect that listed a UVA offer on every site it'd be three pages long; as I mentioned in the original post I limit it to players listed on multiple sites. Also, ones whose offer seems solid enough to commit to today, and there are some I left off because yes they have an offer but their eyes are obviously elsewhere.
You might also notice the addition of an extra column; someone decided there was room for a fourth recruiting site on the scene, so since they exist, why the hell not: I added a column for the rating from 24/7 Sports as well. Eventually it'll even have stars in it.
Changes:
- Added OLB Mark Hall to orange. Recruiting profiles begin in June or Julyish, but for now, here's the basics on Hall: He plays linebacker and tight end for Green Run in Virginia Beach, the same place David Dean came from, and he's probably an OLB for UVA. I expect three stars across the board; I'd guess a 5.6 from Rivals and maybe a 77 or 78 from ESPN, though they're less predictable. Solid, solid pickup and a good way to start the class.
- Moved RB J.C. Coleman and LB Kwontie Moore from green to blue.
- Added WR Mario Nixon to blue.
- Added WR Eugene Lewis to green.
- Added ATH Corey Coleman, ATH Canaan Severin, DE Eli Harold, and S Alex Carter to yellow.
- Added ATH Germone Hopper to red.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
game preview: Georgia Tech
Date/Time: February 22; 7:00
TV: ESPNUVA
History against the Jackets: 32-38
Last matchup: UVA 72, GT 64; 1/22/11; Charlottesville
Last game: UVA 61, VT 54 (2/19); Duke 79, GT 57 (2/20)
Opposing blogs: From The Rumble Seat
KenPom:
National: UVA #113; GT #96
Offense: UVA #152; GT #164
Defense: UVA #86; GT #54
Time to try for sweep #2. By virtue of being a road game in a tough place to play, this could be the toughest game of the next three. Well, theoretically a tough place. As we'll see in the customary FTRS Q&A, there may not be much of an audience. As per standard practice, click over to FTRS to see the other half (when it's posted) (which is now.)
1. GT's remaining schedule is a who's-who of crappy ACC bottom-feeders. Any hope among the masses - or on the team itself - that something can be made of the rest of the season?
Masses? What you talking about masses?! The coliseum hasn't been breaking any attendance records this year. The mentality around the fanbase is glum. I would say no one wants us to win because of the fear that Hewitt will solidify more of an argument to stay!
Players - Well, Iman Shumpert brings his game. He leads in scoring most nights, followed quickly by Glen Rice Jr. After that, who knows.
Paul Hewitt - Well, when you stare hypno-face in the eyes**, it used to be believable (see 2003-04/2004-05 seasons). But now we all fear it's backfiring on itself. Pretty soon, Hewitt will stare at himself in the mirror and say "I feel we are almost there! We play hard!" and then explode into flames.
2. That game against Duke was kinda chippy for a while, and so was the previous UVA-GT game. Think we'll see more of the same?
Losing leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads its way to suffering.
3. What's the biggest problem with this year's GT squad? Is it Hewitt, or is there a major on-court weakness that teams are exploiting?
On paper, Paul Hewitt can flat out recruit. He is known for his ability to reel in top prospects and he is very proud of the fact. Unfortunately it has not turned into results on the GT court. In the past 10 years what has been the most consistent subject in seasons of inconsistencies? I think you know the answer.
4. What's the long-term outlook for GT basketball? Next year, 2-3 years down the road, etc.
It's too hard to look that far ahead team-wise. Department wise, we are upgrading the AMC and turning the basketball complex into a state-of-the-art facility. All while paying a coach a continuious 5 year contract worth millions of dollars. Next year the Yellow Jackets will play mainly in the Gwinnet Arena (approximately 30 minutes away) with a few games at Philips Arena, the home of the Atlanta Hawks. In 2012-2013, we should be on schedule for a brand new facility. But with the same coach? Only one man knows the answer to that question...Dan Radakovich.
5. Prediction?
Empty stadium.
**Hmmm. Not feelin' it. Truly, the magic is gone. I wonder if this is why nobody on GT can hit a jump shot.HOW WE CAN WIN
- Pack it in. Yes, I said this last time. It worked, why switch it up now? Georgia Tech still couldn't hit a three-pointer if their grandma's lives depended on it. This is another matchup game that favors UVA; Bennett's pack-line defense thrives on taking a team exactly like GT out of its plan. GT wants to drive the rim. The pack-line, if played correctly, makes that close to impossible. GT will have to hit from outside if it wants to win, and may I remind you that their best threat to do so is shooting .320? They are miserable from back there.
- Make free throws. Yup, another repeat. The Jackets are the fouliest team in the conference with a whopping 21 per game, and even if you bring it down to UVA's snail's pace, it works out to 18. Last game, UVA shot 32 free throws and made 22. Getting to the line is probably a given, so we must capitalize.
- Get Sene involved. This should open up the three-point lanes for easy shooting. GT is not only awful at shooting three-pointers, they're awful at defending them, and they should be even awful-er if they feel like they need to do something about the open looks that seven-footer keeps getting down there. Last time out, Sene had one of those outstanding games that didn't look like anything in the box score but made his presence felt with a meanness on the court, and our three-point shooting was mind-blowing. There's a connection.
HOW WE CAN LOSE
- Get too dribbly. Iman Shumpert averages 2.6 steals per game, and GT is fifth in the nation at creating steals. VT almost worked its way back into the game on Saturday by pressing and causing our guards to make really poor decisions with the ball that mostly involved dribbling straight into trouble. GT has even more potential to create a disaster this way. Sloppiness cannot be tolerated.
- Letdown factor. Our players' quotes after the game showed they really were up for beating Virginia Tech. There are two ways you can go after that; you can relax and call it mission accomplished, or you can decide you enjoy the taste of victory and want more. Tech is teetering on the brink of not caring, and the arena won't be all that hostile especially if UVA can jump out to a lead. It's an opportunity lost if the team comes out flat.
HOW THE GAME WILL GO
FTRS's prediction about the crowds at Alexander Memorial Coliseum gives me happiness. GT can be a tough venue, but a check of attendance figures lately backs up the graveyard portrayal. Just 5,900 is the figure for their game against FSU two weeks ago - just less than two-thirds full if every one of those seats were full, which they surely weren't. UVA has had its usual tough time on the road - even Wake Forest turned into a house of horrors - but this is a fanbase staring down a tunnel without much light at the end.
And Georgia Tech is eminently beatable. Just about everyone's done it. I think my characterization of the Jackets from a few weeks ago in the last game preview holds true - they can take advantage of bad basketball (which we are certainly capable of) but if you play reasonably well, up to your level of play, you'll win. Take nothing for granted on the road, but I like the outlook.
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Promised a recruiting board update and you'll get one.....tomorrow. (By that I mean today, but later today when it's really today and not late night yesterday.) The good news I referred to, you can have that, though: Just as with last year, Mike London's first commitment in the class of 2012 comes from Green Run in Virginia Beach. That was David Dean; this is his teammate, Mark Hall. Hall committed hours after getting his offer. He's an outside linebacker, and very preliminarily rated the #15 prospect in Virginia by Rivals. That should make him a very solid three-star in the low-5.7, high 5.6 range on their rating scale; for reference, the #14-#16 prospects in 2011 were Jay Whitmire, Lafonte Thourogood, and Rob Burns, all very heavily recruited players. Hall is an excellent kickoff to the 2012 recruiting season.
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