Previewing Basketball

The Virginia men's basketball team won an exhibition contest against Division II Shepherd on Sunday by an 87-52 score. (Read about it here: Hoos Win Exhibition Contest.) With the only public preseason game out of the way, the Cavaliers open the regular season this week when VMI visits the John Paul Jones Arena on Sunday at 4 p.m.

The Sabre is getting you ready for tip-off with a week's worth of preview articles about Dave Leitao's squad. Planned features include 10 Questions Facing Leitao's Hoos (2 parter), "Take 5" With Bailey Stephens, schedule analysis, a Jed Williams' column, and more. Make sure you subscribe to the EDGE to get all the information about your Hoos!

Kris Wright
Editor

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Lafayette (Williamsburg, VA) defensive end recruit William Hill will focus solely on his college decision now that his high school football career is over. The 6-4, 260-pound senior hopes to decide in the near future. He is considering scholarship offers from Connecticut, Duke, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, among others.

Hill has taken a handful of unofficial visits to Virginia. He has also been on an official visit to Tennessee, has an official visit scheduled to Penn State for this upcoming weekend, and may take an official to Maryland as well this month. In today's EDGE update, Hill talks recruiting and mentions when a college decision could come.

Virginia likely will not host Hill on an official visit before a decision is made, but at least three important prospects are expected in Charlottesville on the weekend of Nov. 22 (Clemson weekend). St. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH) standouts Luke Kuechly and Patrick Muldoon, along with Camden (N.J.) wide receiver Tyree Watkins are scheduled official visitors.

Kuechly, a 6-3 linebacker, and Muldoon, a 6-4 defensive end, are uncommitted targets. Watkins, however, has already committed to Virginia. Watkins has wavered some in his decision but recently seemed much more solid with his commitment to Virginia. We'll be sure to confirm with these three recruits again next week and find out what other prospects are scheduled to be in attendance for the Clemson weekend.

Brookville (Lynchburg, VA) tight end/wide receiver Logan Thomas, a 6-6, 225-pound senior who has been selected to the 2009 U.S. Army All-American Bowl game, verbally committed to Virginia Tech on Thursday night. Thomas, one of the top recruits in the state of Virginia's 2009 class and one of Virginia's top overall targets, chose Tech over a list of finalists that also included Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wake Forest.

Thomas informed primary recruiter Wayne Lineburg, a coach with whom the star had developed a close relationship with, of his decision last Wednesday night. Virginia's staff continues to pursue 6-5, 270-pound senior offensive lineman Devin Bolling and has offered top junior defensive end/tight end Zack McCray. The Cavaliers have not yet offered Bolling.

On the basketball recruiting front, stay tuned this week for the latest on 6-6 star junior Travis McKie. McKie, a standout out of John Marshall High School in Richmond (VA), is a top junior target of the Cavaliers. He discusses Virginia's standing as well as when a college commitment may come.

Clemson, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, and Virginia Tech are among the other programs in the running for the central Virginia star.

Chris Horne, our resident recruiting expert, provides updates throughout the week for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please check out the Sabre Edge Sign Up and Information Page. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.

Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week ...

Aboushi a Top Target of UVa
The University of Virginia football staff seems to have picked up its recruitment of 6-6, 305-pound offensive lineman/defensive lineman Oday Aboushi, a standout senior out of Xaverian (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Aboushi is focused now on his senior season, but he is seriously considering the Cavaliers for an official visit.

Q&A with Brunswick WR Kevin Royal
Brunswick School (Greenwich, CT) wide receiver prospect Kevin Royal was showing why he is a Division 1A recruit this season, performing well in his senior season before being sidelined with a broken radius bone in his right forearm. The Virginia recruit is the latest subject of "Q&A," discussing his injury, his future at UVa as well as the unofficial visit to Charlottesville he made this past weekend.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• Varina Notes: Rhodes Update, Cavs Eye Jr. WR
• Cavs in Top Four with Another St. Xavier Star
• McCray Enjoys Success On and Off Field

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Selenski, Krzysik Earn ACC Honors

Official UVa Media Relations News Releases

Virginia's Paige Selenski (Shavertown, Pa.) was named the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference field hockey Freshman of the Year, the league office announced Sunday following the championship game of the conference tournament. She is just the third player in program history to receive the honor and is the first since Meredith Elwell in 1996.

"It is a fantastic recognition to Paige and the University of Virginia," said Virginia mentor Michele Madison. "She is an outstanding talent among UVa's great first-year class and no one works harder in practice. Her game gets better and better as she is a great listener and always accepts her role on the team.

Selenksi, a forward, led Virginia in scoring with 17 goals and tied for a team-best with nine assists for 43 points this season. She played in all 21 games and tallied a team-high 97 shots. Additionally, six of her goals were game-winners.

Meanwhile on the soccer field, Virginia senior defender Nikki Krzysik was named the 2008 ACC Defensive Player of the Year and five Cavaliers earned All-ACC honors as the conference announced its women's soccer honors on Tuesday.

"Our entire program is extremely proud of the players who earned 2008 All-ACC honors, especially Nikki's distinction as the Defensive Player of the Year," said head coach Steve Swanson. "To have as many players as we had represented on both squads is a tribute to every member of our team and how hard they all have worked throughout the regular season. We are looking forward to the ACC tournament this week."

Krzysik becomes the third Cavalier to be named ACC Defensive Player of the Year since the league split the player of the year award into an offensive and defensive honor in 2004. Sarah Huffman was the inaugural Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 and Becky Sauerbrunn took the honor last season.

Newslink - Your One Stop Shop for UVa News

TheSabre.com provides an excellent service for the Virginia fan base that you may not know about: Newslink. Sabre NewsLink provides you with links to the daily news on your Hoos. Our staff checks the Internet each morning to locate and link to articles from various online media sources from around the state and beyond. We even throw some interesting ACC news to let you know what the Hoos' opponents are up to. Sabre NewsLink is updated every morning, 365 days a year!

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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

• Virginia Falls To No. 1 Wake Forest, 2-0: Virginia fell to top-ranked Wake Forest, 2-0, Friday night at Klöckner Stadium. Cody Arnoux and Sam Cronin scored for the Demon Deacons.
• Cavaliers Fall in Penalty Kicks in ACC Semifinals: The No. 14 Virginia women's soccer team was eliminated from the ACC Tournament in penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie with Virginia Tech in a semifinal Friday night at the WakeMed Soccer Park. The Hokies won the shootout 2-1 to advance to the final. "It is obviously disappointing to be eliminated this way," said head coach Steve Swanson. "We did everything we needed to do to win this game but just ran into a red-hot goalkeeper. We now must regroup and get ready for the NCAA Tournament."
• Virginia Novices Finish In First Place Saturday: On the Rivanna Reservoir Saturday, the UVa "A" novice crew rowed to a first-place finish against novice crews from Georgetown and George Washington. Coxswain Chloe Delaney, Chelsea Simpson, Hannah Silver, Mackenzie Leahy, Ana Tucker, Hampton King, Jenny Shultis, Morgan Joseph, and Jen Sroba finished with a time of 14:36.12 to win the head race.
• Cavalier Women's Golfers Make Another Move up in Standings: The Virginia women's golf team, ranked No. 5 last week, moved up one spot to fourth place in both the Golfweek and Golfstat rankings. The Cavaliers are coming off a second-place finish in the stroke play portion of the 2008 NGCA Match Play Championships. The field featured 13 teams ranked in Golfweek's top-25 poll at the time. The ranking is the highest ever in the program's history.
• Virginia Sweeps Kentucky on the Road: The Virginia men's and women's swimming and diving teams swept Kentucky on the road Friday. Megan Evo was a double-event winner in the 200 IM (2:02.51) and 100 free (51.30) for Virginia. Both teams are back in action Nov. 14-15 with a tri-meet at home against Florida State and Penn State. In other swimming news, Virginia head swimming coach Mark Bernardino has been named the head men's coach for the 2009 World University Games, USA Swimming has announced.
• Fourth-Seeded Virginia Falls in Overtime to No. 1 Maryland: The 12th-ranked and fourth-seeded Virginia field hockey team (13-8) fell in overtime to top-seeded and top-ranked Maryland (17-2) 3-2 Friday in the semifinals of the 2008 ACC Tournament. Inge Kaars Sijpesteijn and Traci Ragukas recorded goals for the Cavaliers.
• Solid Play Lifts Cavaliers Over Wolfpack: The Virginia volleyball team used an all-around solid performance to snap a four-match losing skid and avenge a loss earlier this season to N.C. State, sweeping the Wolfpack, 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-18), Saturday evening in Memorial Gymnasium. The win bumps the Cavaliers back over the .500 mark with a 14-13 overall record (6-9 in ACC play). Senior Beth Shelton dominated the match, tying a career-high 19 kills to go with nine digs.
• Seven Cavaliers Place at Michigan State Open: Seven Virginia wrestlers were placewinners Sunday at the Michigan State Open, held at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich. Championships from Matt Bonson, Chris Henrich, and Brent Jones highlighted a strong day for UVa's wrestlers. The open tournament boasted over 500 wrestlers from nearly 40 teams.

For more Hoo news or to read full releases, check out Virginiasports.com.

2009 UVA Wall Calendar
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Issue No. 209 - Sept. 30, 2005

Post of the Week

Subject: The first quarter of the season is done, what to make of it?
Posted by: Homer L Ferguson on Sun Sep 25 2005 3:54:20 PM
Message: UVA starts out against three cupcakes. In game one, struggles on both sides of the ball. In game two, struggles a little less on offense, not a great defensive performance. In game three, things start slowly on offense but come around, and the defense is sound as the pound throughout.

So, UVA is now 3-0 and evidently within the top 20. Well, this is just where UVA should be. None of these three games should have been close in the first place. Steady improvement and no injuries are all we can hope for starting against WMich, Sorry-excuse, and Dook.

Steady improvement? Yes, definitely, but it is a little hard to measure. Since none of these opponents should have posed much of a challenge, is this really steady improvement in the sense of the team getting better or steady improvement in the sense of the team catching up to where it was supposed to have been in the first place?

Marques Hagans and the OL are doing very well, and the front seven has done well in Brook's absense. It will be interesting to see how the receivers and DBs do in the next three games, as that will determine a lot.

Injuries, well, hard to say if the Hoos will be good enough to deal with Maryland, BC, and Florida State, the first two on the road, if Lundy, Brooks, Barthelmes, and Ferguson (Dbrick, not Homer L) aren't there.

Given the talent in Blacksburg and Coral Gables, it is probably reasonable that the Hoos will need to go 2-1 in the second quarter of their schedule. One man's opinion: based on the first quarter of the schedule, no way to say confidently that this is or isn't possible. This isn't a pep talk or a flame, just an opinion intended to have no positive or negative connotations.

Being a fan of any team should be a low-stress proposition, but as a UVA fan, I'd have to say that the only real stress is that, three games in, still no clear picture about how competitive the team is in the ACC. Maryland seems to me to be the most critical game, since Maryland is the softest of the three upcoming games. Lose to Md and BC and beat FSU, and either it is an underachieving team or a fluke. Take care of the Twerps on the road, than that is building momentum. The BC game will be a lot easier coming off a win.

Coming Soon

The Sabre has you covered when it comes to Hoo news. Here are a few of the articles to expect on the site soon:

• Basketball Previews: The Sabre brings you preseason coverage of Cavalier basketball.
• Looking Back At Wake Forest: Our analysts and columnists take a look at the Hoos' second straight loss.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

Hoos Win Exhibition Contest
The Virginia men's basketball team's sole public tune-up game unfolded as expected Sunday afternoon at the John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers spread out the minutes, experimented with line-up looks, and worked on many sets that have undoubtedly occupied preseason practices. In the end, the Hoos slowly dissected Division II Shepherd despite poor free throw shooting (15 of 26) before winning 87-52.

Wake Forest Drops UVa
All of the things that made Virginia successful during a four-game October winning streak fell apart Saturday at Wake Forest. Cedric Peerman picking up big rushing yards and taking care of the football. Nope. Marc Verica picking apart defenses with accurate passes or at least bouncing back from early struggles. Not exactly. The defense controlling the opponent's running attack. Afraid not. An unexpected comeback in the fourth quarter. Not quite. The result? A 28-17 defeat at the hands of the Demon Deacons, the fourth loss this season by double digits. This setback leaves UVa at 5-5 on the season and likely out of the Coastal Division race.

Wake Forest Scouting Report: Defense & Punting
Brad Lambert entered his first season as Wake Forest's defensive coordinator inheriting a defense that has become known for creating turnovers and scoring touchdowns. The Demon Deacon defense has developed a reputation as a playmaking unit. Wake Forest has scored a remarkable 23 touchdowns on interceptions and fumble recoveries since 2003, which ranks among the most in the nation. Over the last two seasons, Wake Forest is tied for the national lead in take-aways.

Best Seat In The House: Wake Week
The Best Seat in the House is getting you ready for Saturday's showdown with Wake Forest with a pair of free audio clips. Jay James caught up with Virginia wide receiver Kevin Ogletree and Demon Deacons coach Jim Grobe to talk about the contest. UVa and Wake kick off at 3:30 p.m.

Sabre Roundtable: Preseason Basketball
The men's basketball team plays it's exhibition contest this weekend against Shepherd. That contest tips off at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the John Paul Jones Arena. It's the first chance for fans to see the 2008 edition of the Cavaliers. What can we expect from the Hoos this season? The Sabre's Bailey Stephens and Kris Wright join Jeff White of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and EDGE member Pierce to take on some hoops questions in this Sabre Roundtable.

Wake Forest Scouting Report: Offense & Kicking
Jim Grobe and offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke run an efficient, opportunistic offense that has a history of not making mistakes. Over the last six years, Wake Forest has posted five of its greatest offensive seasons in school history. The 2007 Deacon team accumulated nearly 4,500 yards of total offense. But this season the offense has been anything but the mark of efficiency and production we've come to expect from Wake Forest. Can the Virginia defense continue to keep the Deacons in check?

The Hawk's Nest - Kickoff Coverage
There are three phases that take place during a football game and they are offense, defense, and special teams. Every player strives to be great on either offense or defense but the ultimate team player will take pride in also being a great special teams player as well. One special teams unit that plays a big part in games but rarely get praise is the kickoff coverage team.

Tuesday Press Conference Notes '08 - Wake Forest
The Virginia football team travels to Wake Forest for the first time in six years this weekend. UVa has won 10 straight games at Wake, a streak that was in serious jeopardy on that last visit in 2002. Al Groh, who worked as the Demon Deacons' head coach from 1981-86, viewed that game recently and remembers the Cavaliers' impressive comeback - they trailed 31-10 at halftime before rallying for a 38-34 victory. Chances are another barnburner is in store this week.

Greg's Stock Report '08: Miami
An average performance from the offense and defense produced average grades and a below average outcome. As we come down the stretch, there are several disturbing trends that hopefully were more a result of a superb Miami defense and not habitual problems. What trends? In order to make a run at the ACC title game, Virginia will need to perform better on first down, sustain drives, find a way to stop late game scoring drives by the opposition, and figure out how to stop the run more effectively.

JHoo: 10 Things I Learned ... Miami
You can't win 'em all ... but it sure felt like Virginia should have won this one, I am sure many agree. Plenty seemed to go right during the afternoon but enough went wrong, particularly at the wrong moments, and the result was an end to UVa's four-game winning streak. So what did we learn from the game with the Hurricanes?

Inside The Game - Miami
During Virginia's disappointing 24-17 loss to Miami, there were several near misses that have created a lot of 'what if' feelings for the Cavaliers. One group that didn't have a 'what might have been' day, however, was the punt coverage unit led by true freshman Jimmy Howell. Howell recorded 7 punts for 299 total yards, an average 42.7 yards per punt. That included a career-long 58-yarder.

Q&A - Boo Williams
If you're a college basketball coach and Boo Williams' phone number isn't in your Blackberry, then it might be time to consider a career change. Like it or not, much of modern recruiting funnels through the year-around travel leagues orchestrated by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). And when you think of AAU, you think of Boo. Sabre columnist Jed Williams has been following Boo Williams' teams for years and recently caught up with the Hampton native for an in-depth conversation about the history of his program, the future of UVa hoops, and the health of AAU basketball.

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