Archive for October, 2009
If you had told me…
Oct 31st
If you had told me fifteen years ago (when I was a second-year at U.Va.) that there would come a time when we’d lose to Duke and William & Mary in the same season, I absolutely would not have believed it.
Sigh….
It must be said
Oct 31st
The football team’s pants with the stripes down the sides are just awful. Hideous.
That is all.
(Okay, maybe it isn’t all. The offense is pretty hideous today against Duke, too.)
Getting ready for Duke
Oct 30th
The big Duke game is this week. Can you feel the excitement?
Me either, but this game is important in its own way. From The Sabre’s game preview:
This is also a match-up of the only two teams in the ACC that did not make a bowl game last year, and this Saturday’s game is vital to both teams’ hopes for bowl eligibility this season. Duke sits at 4-3 overall, and Virginia at 3-4; both teams have four games remaining after this one, including two on the road and one at home against a ranked opponent. Both teams also sit at 2-1 in conference play – with no remaining undefeated teams in the ACC, a win would keep either team in contention.
I’m trying to forget that Duke embarrassed the Hoos last year, 31-3. What a disaster that was. Surely that can’t happen again, right? Right?
Anyway, go read the in-depth preview linked above. Also check out From Old Virginia’s preview, and The Sabre’s injury report for this game. It’s time to get pumped up for Virginia/Duke on the gridiron!!!
On the next football coach
Oct 29th
I guess there’s no guarantee that UVa will have a new football coach next season, and I’m not going to get drawn into an argument about whether Al Groh should return in 2010. Groh is an alum and a hard worker, and I kinda like the guy…even if he’s sorta run the ship aground over the last nine years.
But … From Old Virginia has been looking at some potential candidates to take over the program. Nothing wrong with being prepared, right?
Right now, FOV is looking at Charlie Strong, Florida’s defensive coordinator. It’s good stuff, as usual; go check it out.
Anyway, my favorite options for the next coach have always been Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly and Richmond’s Mike London. I would be thrilled with either coach. After thinking more about Charlie Strong, however, I’m nearly convinced to rate him on the same level as Kelly and Richmond. Any of the three would be very strong choices to lead the UVa football program going forward.
Jeff Jones (for a new generation)
Oct 27th
No, not this Jeff Jones. This Jeff Jones.
If you had to pick one player who needed to take a big step forward in order for this year’s hoops team to be competitive, wouldn’t Jones be your pick? If your answer is “yes”, then prepare to be excited:
Tony Bennett got his first look at his basketball team’s media guide Sunday morning. Flipping through it, UVa’s new coach stopped on Page 84.
“He could be an important guy for us,” Bennett said, pointing to a photo of junior guard Jeff Jones….
Indeed, Jones has been one of the Cavaliers’ standouts in practice thus far, and he’s a strong candidate to start at shooting guard.
“I would say he’s just stress-free right now,” sophomore swingman Sylven Landesberg said. “I think last year he just felt like there was a lot of pressure on him. I think he just feels like he can go out and play his game without hearing anybody.”
Jones’ body language reflects his renewed confidence. He looks happy on the court, and his shot drops regularly in practice. Gone is Leitao’s motion offense, replaced by a more structured system that plays to Jones’ strengths.
“If I had to have a dream offense, this would be it,” Jones said before a recent practice. “You’re loose out there. You’re playing your game, you’re coming off multiple screens, and eventually you’re going to be open.
Oh man, November 13 can’t get here fast enough.
Calvin Baker has surgery
Oct 27th
Bad news for the men’s basketball team: Calvin Baker had arthroscopic surgery today to remove a loose piece of cartilage in his right knee. He’ll be out 2-3 weeks.
It could be worse, certainly, but Virginia is going to be thin this year, anyway. Losing a senior for any amount of time can’t help the development of this team as they try to learn a new system.
More hoops
Oct 27th
Lots of great items in Jeff White’s UVa notebook:
–Sylven Landesberg isn’t happy about missing out on the pre-season All-ACC team; he finished sixth in the voting. Let’s hope he uses that as motivation.
–Another Virginia hoops star fared better in preseason voting:
On the women’s side, that distinction belongs to senior guard Monica Wright, who Monday was named the ACC’s preseason player of the year at the conference’s media day in Greensboro.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the young women’s team fares this year. Wright is the only senior, but there are five freshmen on Coach Debbie Ryan’s squad.
–I love this:
Landesberg’s new coach, Tony Bennett, made 49.7 percent of his 3-point attempts during an illustrious career at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
That’s still an NCAA record, and Bennett, from all accounts, hasn’t lost his touch.
Asked if he ever challenged his players to games of H-O-R-S-E, Bennett smiled and shook his head. “That’d be like taking candy from a baby,” he said.
Heh.
Lots of other great stuff over there; read the entire thing.
UVa Hoops picked to finish 11th
Oct 26th
Tony Bennett’s men’s basketball team has been picked by the media to finish next-to-last in the ACC this year:
Duke and North Carolina tied for first place in the voting by media representatives participating in the preseason poll with 545 points. Duke had 25 first place votes, North Carolina 20, Georgia Tech two and Wake Forest had one first place vote. Clemson was third in the poll with 409 points followed by Georgia Tech (387), Maryland (378), Wake Forest (315), Florida State (314), Virginia Tech (273), Boston College (251), Miami (135), Virginia (116) and NC State (76).
Duke’s Kyle Singler was the selection as the conference’s preseason Player of the Year and Georgia Tech’s Derrick Favors was selected as the ACC preseason Rookie of the Year.
The five-man preseason All-ACC Team included Greivis Vasquez (Maryland), Trevor Booker (Clemson), Kyle Singler (Duke), Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech) and Ed Davis (North Carolina). Virginia’s Sylven Landesberg finished sixth in the voting.
Frankly, I’m pretty happy with the 11th place prediction. I am surprised the Hoos aren’t picked to finish dead last. Last night, I read the annual Sporting News college basketball preview magazine, and they had Virginia finishing 12th.
Look, low expectations are great for Coach Bennett. I will go on the record now, however, and predict that there’s no way in the world UVa finishes 11th or 12th in the ACC. I expect the Hoos to outperform expectations. They aren’t going to be in the top half of the league, but I think they’ll finish ahead of Miami and NC State, at least. The Hoos are going to surprise a few folks with their tenacity on the defensive end.
Also nice to see Sylven Landesberg get some love. No, he wasn’t named to the preseason All-ACC first team, but to finish sixth as a sophomore from the team picked to finish 11th…well, not bad. It will be interesting to see how Landesberg improves as a leader with this crew in 2009-10.
I think we’re going to have lots of fun watching the Hoos this winter, if we aren’t expecting miracles from the new coach.
D’Brickashaw Ferguson Way
Oct 25th
Good piece in the NY Times about one of our favorite former Hoos, D’Brickashaw Ferguson. Brick is not only progressing nicely in his pro career after a bit of a bumpy start, but he now has a street named after him in his hometown. Sweet.
Hoos lay an egg
Oct 25th
Well, that was ugly. The offense looked terrible, just terrible. The defense ultimately wore down because they were on the field so much, thanks to UVa’s patented “Three And Out” offense.
It added up to a miserable afternoon for the Hoos.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t miserable for as many fans as usual:
As the lead expanded into the fourth quarter, the already sparse crowd of 43,616 – a season-low and the worst attendance since 40,100 fans showed up in a 1999 game against Buffalo – began to file out. An announcement in the fourth quarter with UVa trailing 27-9 said that fans may leave due to sever weather in the area and use their ticket for re-entry, but few fans likely took advantage. Rather than watch Virginia unravel at game’s end, the few students that remained on the grassy hill behind the UVa end zone instead slid down a man-made mudslide, to the biggest Virginia cheers of the fourth quarter.
Wow, tiny crowd. I watched the game on television, and didn’t notice the crowd being so small. Then again, when Raycom broadcasts a game, there’s a lot that we miss (Raycom is a joke).
I guess the fans are voting on Al Groh’s program with their wallets. It’s a bad situation, especially for the players, who deserve support.
I’m as much to blame as others who didn’t show up. I was a long-time season ticket holder until this season. I didn’t renew because it’s a 4.5 hour drive each way for me (with two young children), and that’s too difficult a trip to make only to watch a football program that seems unprepared too often.
Okay, time to get ready for Duke. Anyone else worried about that game?
