Post of the Week

This was in reference to the St. Petersburg Times column on Dawn Staley.

Subject: I got a lump in my throat reading that.
Posted by: G'Len Portier on Fri Aug 13 2004 12:10:28 PM
Message: As I said yesterday, Dawn is and always will be one of my favorite UVA athletes and her brilliance on the basketball court is only a part of the reason. She is an even better person. Dawn is, simply put, what's good about college sports.Competitiveness, athleticism, humility, determination,gratitude, a sense of responsiblity and a willingness and even enthusiasm for giving back to her community. Everyone associated with the University of Va. should be exceptionally proud that she is one of our own.

Cavaliers begin preseason practice

QB Marques Hagans

The Virginia football team opened training camp for the 2004 season Wednesday. With the season opener looming at Temple on Sept. 4, the Cavaliers have a little over three weeks to get ready. Among the biggest question marks are quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back and punter.

You can stay on top of all the training camp developments by subscribing to Sabre Edge and reading the daily reports.

For a (free) example of TheSabre.com's daily camp coverage, please see the link below.

Are Cavs legit title contenders?

Two Sabre Edge columns this week generated discussion about Virginia's chances to win a (gasp!) national championship. The Cavaliers never have finished higher than 13th in the AP poll and did not finish in the top 25 last year, but expectations for this season may be higher than ever.

Two schools of thought for fans were represented by Greg Waters, who believes fans ought to expect greatness from the 2004 Cavaliers, and by John Galinsky, who thinks fans should have modest expectations and be pleasantly surprised by great results.

One thing all UVa fans can agree on: Whether or not you expect Virginia to be great, we all sure hope so.

Zimmerman stars for Team USA

Too bad the United States baseball team didn't qualify for the Olympics. Ryan Zimmerman could have been a national hero.

The UVa third baseman starred for Team USA all summer. In 24 games, he led the Americans -- a collection of college players -- in batting average (.468), slugging percentage (.805), hits (36), RBI (27), runs (25), doubles (12), homers (4). He didn't get to do it on an Olympic stage, but he was the MVP of the FISU II World University Games held in Tainan, Taiwan earlier this month.

Zimmerman helped Team USA go 8-0 in the seven-team tournament and capture the gold medal with a 4-2 comeback victory over Japan in the championship game. He'll be a junior next spring for the Cavaliers.

Men's soccer picked second in ACC; Women third

With all 11 starters back from last season's ACC championship squad, the Virginia men's soccer team was picked second in the preseason ACC poll. The Cavaliers received 51 points and one first-place vote in voting by the league's eight head coaches.

North Carolina was picked to finish first with 57 points and four first-place votes. The Tar Heels were followed by UVa, Wake Forest, Maryland, Clemson, Duke, Virginia Tech and N.C. State. The Cavaliers open the season by hosting the Virginia Soccer Classic on Sept. 3 and 5.

Virginia was picked third in the preseason ACC women's soccer poll behind North Carolina and Florida State. The Cavaliers, who return eight starters from last year's fifth-place team, open at home against East Carolina on Aug. 27.

For more information on UVa men's soccer, please see the link below.

For more information on UVa women's soccer, please see the link below.

Sabre Edge articles and columns from the past week

The biggest news since the last War Room Defense was the departure of freshman Ahmad Bradshaw. Virginia lost some depth at the cornerback position when Bradshaw transferred to Marshall. The Cavaliers already have commitments from Mike Brown and Chris Cook, so they may not need another cornerback in the 2005 class. But they are pursuing plenty of other potential corners, including Victor "Macho" Harris, Montario Hardesty, Willie Harriott and Jahre Cheeseman.

One of the big question marks entering fall camp is the young secondary, especially the safety position. There is no question about the speed and talent of this unit, but experience is somewhat limited and Virginia will need to lean on some rookies in 2004. In this training camp report, we'll look at the safeties, the linebackers, the offensive line and three former walk-ons who have earned scholarships with special teams play, including Isaiah Ekejiuba.

There was one notable absence as the Virginia football team opened training camp for the 2004 season Wednesday. Braden Campbell, who played in 26 games as a reserve defensive end, has had to give up football because of injuries to both wrists, UVa coach Al Groh said. Groh also discussed the health of Jermaine Hardy and Kai Parham, and the attitude of Philip Brown, in a teleconference with reporters before the first preseason practice.

Great things were expected of the Titanic, the Eisenhower Administration and the Segway. Unfortunately, all too often, great expectations lead to great disappointments. Greg Waters made a strong argument yesterday for Virginia football fans to raise their expectations and jump on the Orange Bowl bandwagon. Today I'll make the case for modest expectations, which, I'm convinced, are the key to happiness.

Virginia fans like to flash the No. 1 sign, but for some reason many of them don't seem to think of the Cavaliers as legitimate national championship contenders this season. While the media appears to be in love with the team's prospects, UVa fans have been slow to get on the "'Hoos in Miami" bandwagon. Today I'll try to explain why they are reluctant and why they should hop aboard.

Sure, the Virginia football team has plenty of question marks going into the start of preseason practice - excuse me, training camp - on Wednesday. But doesn't everyone? At this time of year, people always talk about question marks - the things to worry about, the areas of concern. How about the exclamation points - the sure things, the main reasons to get excited about the upcoming season? We'll look at both punctuation marks in this preseason analysis of the 2004 Cavaliers. On this team, for every question mark (punter?), there is an exclamation point (kicker!). And perhaps some question marks, like Marques Hagans, will turn into exclamation points.

Sabre Edge recruiting updates and videos from the past week

Our resident recruiting expert, Chris Horne, provides updates for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please see the sign-up promotion below. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.