Bye Week Passes

The Virginia football team's open date in the schedule has come and gone ... and everything remained quiet on the coaching front as the hot seat talk around Al Groh continues to simmer. The heat, of course, is the result of an 0-3 start, the first for the program since 1982. UVa has lost seven straight games, the program's longest losing streak since 1981-1982 (Dick Bestwick finished with three straight losses before George Welsh opened with five straight losses; the only other losing streak of five or more games in that time came in 2001, Groh's first season). Virginia is 5-12 in its last 17 games.

The Hoos will try to turn the tide this weekend with a trip to Chapel Hill, N.C., where a meeting with North Carolina awaits. The game represents the 114th meeting between the two schools, which has earned the nickname "the South's oldest rivalry." Only four other match-ups have a longer running history in the FBS - Minnesota/Wisconsin (118), Missouri/Kansas (117), Nebraska/Kansas (115) and Texas/Texas A &M (115).

UNC leads the overall series with Virginia 56-53-4. UVa has been on the winning end more often than not in recent years, however, winning six of the last seven meetings. The Cavaliers won 22-20 two years ago in Chapel Hill.

Kickoff is set for noon and the game will be televised on Raycom. Check The Sabre's Game Information page for all the important information about the contest.

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Men's basketball's 2010 class wrapping up soon? ...

As reported on the EDGE message board last week, 6-6, 210-pound guard Kyle Collinsworth has narrowed his list of schools to two. BYU and Virginia are the finalists for the Provo (UT) senior, who also considered Southern Cal and Stanford, among others, before trimming his list to two.

Collinsworth made an official visit to BYU this past week and I hope to catch up with him for an update this evening, so stay tuned to the EDGE for the latest. Rated a 4-star prospect by Scout.com, Collinsworth was recruited by Tony Bennett since his freshman year. In fact, the Provo star was one of the first 2010 class prospects offered by Coach Bennett when Bennett accepted the Virginia job.

Cave Spring (Roanoke, VA) senior center Josh Henderson still has an official visit scheduled to Virginia for the weekend of Oct. 10. Before that, the 6-11, 225-pound prospect plans to visit Davidson this weekend. We'll check in with Henderson for the latest on his recruitment, which could come to an end in October.

Vanderbilt and Wake Forest are the other programs primarily in contention, and Maryland is being considered too.

Also scheduled to make an official visit sometime this month is 6-8, 220-pound forward Will Regan, who was the first high school senior to commit to Tony Bennett's 2010 class. Look for Regan to be in Charlottesville on the weekend of the 10th as well, though he hadn't nailed down a date in our last interview.

Four prospects have verbally committed to UVa's 2010 men's basketball recruiting class, which is currently ranked ninth nationally according to Rivals.com. With Coach Bennett and company close to wrapping up their 2010 class, their focus likely will shift to 2011 recruits and beyond. Today, we'll have a feature profile on top junior Mike Gbinije, a guard/forward out of Benedictine High School in Richmond, Virginia.

Gbinije has been offered by every school in the ACC with the exception of Duke and UNC, Benedictine head coach Sean McAloon says. Gbinije traveled to Charlottesville earlier this month and comments on the experience.

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 ...

Virginia RB Recruit Ties State Record
West Rowan (Mount Ulla, N.C.) running back Kevin "KP" Parks Jr. continues to churn out the rushing yards in what has been a stellar varsity football career, moving closer and closer to becoming the all-time leading rushing in the history of North Carolina high school football. The 5-7, 190-pound senior scampered for 224 yards last week, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for the season and tying the state record for number of 100-yard rushing games.

E.J. Scott Firm in Commitment, Stays Positive
Good Counsel (Wheaton, MD) wide receiver E.J. Scott has noticed Virginia's 0-3 start the season and has heard the swirl of negative buzz that has gone along with it; however, the 5-11, 170-pound senior continues to be solid in the commitment he made back in June.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• OLB/DE Attaochu Updates Season, Recruiting
• Olaniyan Opens Up Recruitment
• 2011 Profile: Harrisonburg OL Landon Turner

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Blog Banter: Virginia Bloggers Tour (9/25/09)

As promised, we're taking a look at some UVa bloggers heading into the weekend ...

From Old Virginia compiled a big list of coaches and placed them in hiring categories - definitely worth a look. ... The folks over at the 7even Win Society also put up a post called The Case FOR Al Groh, apparently in an effort to balance their opinions since they say they are "not huge fans of Al Groh around here." ... Trent Thurston put up some more possible candidates on the HooYa! Blog too.

Instead of talking coaches, The Great Blog of Virginia is looking back at the good ole days when UVa beat UNC in 1996. ... And The Roanoke Times is wondering what happens to Vic Hall if he returns from injury.

Away from the football field, former baseball stars Ryan Zimmerman - playing good defense - and Michael Schwimer - making the playoffs - have a couple of good posts up. ... The Washington Post's blog is giving brief snippets on UVa's four basketball commits.

Make sure to keep up with The Good Ol Blog!

Hoos Talking Archives

"Hoos Talking", a sports radio program and Sabre partner on Richmond radio, is heating up the airwaves on Wednesday nights. Jim Hobgood, the former men's basketball analyst for the Virginia Radio Network, and Frank Maloney, former President of the Richmond Chapter of the UVa Alumni Association and current President of the Bill Dudley Scholarship Foundation, will host the new show that is focused on Virginia athletics.

"Hoos Talking" airs on Sports Radio 910 in Richmond on Wednesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. throughout football and basketball season. Phone calls during "Hoos Talking" are always welcome at (804)-345-0910. You can always email the show at [email protected].

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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

• Virginia Opens ACC Slate with 2-0 Win Over BC: The No. 4 Virginia field hockey team improved to 10-0 on the year with a 2-0 win over No. 9 Boston College Sunday at the University Hall Turf Field. The Cavaliers are off to their best start since the 1979 team started the year 12-0. "Ten is a nice number and it's even nicer to get the first ACC game under our belt," Virginia coach Michele Madison said. "We started a little tentative but we were able to work things out and get our attack moving." Sophomore Inga Stöckel scored the first goal on an assist from teammate Paige Selenski, who later added the second goal.
• No. 18 Seminoles Sweep Cavaliers: The Virginia volleyball team couldn't find a way to stop No. 18 Florida State's efficient attack on Sunday afternoon and was swept by its Atlantic Coast Conference foe (25-14, 25-21, 29-27). The loss drops the Cavaliers to 6-8 on the season and 1-2 in the ACC.
• UVa Men's Golfers Crack National Rankings: The Virginia men's golf team, off a fourth-place finish to start the season at the Maryland Intercollegiate, debuted in the top-25 of both the Golfweek and Golfstat standings this week. The Cavaliers jumped to No. 19 in the Golfstat rankings and figure No. 25 in Golfweek's poll.
• Clemson Edges No. 11 Virginia, 1-0: Clemson scored the game's only goal in the 41st minute to edge No. 11 Virginia, 1-0, on a rainy Saturday night at Klöckner Stadium. Virginia's record dropped to 5-2, 1-2 in the league. Earlier in the week, Virginia coach George Gelnovatch recorded his 200th career victory and the 11th-ranked Cavaliers defeated George Washington, 2-1, in overtime.
• Women's Soccer Downs Clemson 3-0: The No. 14 Virginia women's soccer team recorded its first ACC victory of the season, downing Clemson 3-0 Sunday afternoon in front of 1,097 fans at Klöckner Stadium. With the victory, the Cavaliers improve to 6-2-2 overall (1-1-0 ACC), while the Tigers fall to 3-7-0 (0-2-0 ACC).
• Singh and Shabaz win Titles at UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational: he Virginia men's tennis team won two singles flight titles Sunday as play concluded at the UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational. Sanam Singh won the A-2 title and Michael Shabaz won the A-4 title, as both players remained undefeated this season.
• Angelinos Wins Futures Title in Greece: Former Virginia men's tennis player Teddy Angelinos won his first professional tournament last week, winning the 10K Futures Event in Kos, Greece. Angelinos defeated three top 600 players en route to the title, including a three-set win over former Arkansas All-American Adrians Zguns in the final.
• Cavaliers Finish 12th at Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate: The No. 9 Virginia women's golf team finished 12th at the rain-shortened Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate held in Franklin, Tenn. at the Vanderbilt Legends Club. The Cavaliers shot 1-under 287 Sunday to finish the 36-hole tourney at 3-over 579. Saturday's second round was not played due to rain.

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

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Issue No. 186 - April 22, 2005

Post of the Week

Our very own BoardHost chimes in on a discussion about the role of Internet message boards in college athletics...

Subject: I'll never get this
Posted by: BoardHost on Tue Apr 19 2005 3:10:49 PM
Message: Have coaches and presidents only recently noticed that their fans and alumni have something to say? Maybe they're just afraid that the Internet will hold them accountable and it scares them. Oh darn, now they have to actually do their jobs. They cannot just brush the issues aside any longer. The Internet offers the people who (inevitably) pay their salaries to get together and discuss the topics that surround their schools and athletic programs. Administrators and presidents could control the local media somewhat in the past. But the Internet is something they cannot control. The only thing left for them to do is embrace the technology and make it work for them, or take shots at it and let it work against them.

UVA has been a leader in this respect (this site has been fully credentialled since 1998 - no other independent ACC site can say that). No one at UVA openly lashes out against the Internet. There are some that wish this site would go away so that the official site would get more advertising revenue, but most of the staff at UVA can actually see the forest for the trees and appreciate what we've done and what we're doing. Littlepage for one is appreciative of what we've done - Holland was as well. Perhaps Casteen doesn't like us, but that's in part to the firestorm he caused on two occasions. The first was his plight to remove the V-Sabres logo from our athletics programs. The second was his decision to go to bat for Virginia Tech with regard to the ACC.

The Internet has served UVA well over the years with getting out important information and rallying support for their programs. But the Internet is a give and take situation. Schools are always going to take some hits from the fans and alumni, but they get a ton in return in the way of fan support and donations.

Fan discussion forums will never go away, and it's a shame that some folks (i.e. Weaver at VT) cannot come to grips with that. Discussion forums should be appreciated for what they are, which is a community where fans can gather to discuss and support their teams. While these forums can be extremely critical at times, they can also be a big winner when it comes to filling up stadiums and arenas, or gathering financial support. The Internet is also a valuable tool for promotions and marketing departments to guage effectiveness of various events and other areas of concern (like mascots, logos, sound and video systems, etc).

When schools and their athletic programs stop listening to what their fans have to say, they're basically deciding to run their program blind. And when you're asking for a large chunk of your budget to be funded by your fans, you'd better be listening to what they have to say. UVA has been listening as far as I can tell.

Check Out SabreMail #186.

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:

• Pregame Coverage: The Sabre gets you ready for the start of ACC play as UNC game week arrives.
• Basketball Practice Nearing: The official start of basketball practice is just a couple of weeks away. The Sabre will get you tuned up for the upcoming season.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

10 Things I Learned From Southern Miss
Virginia fans finally saw some life in the Cavalier offense and despite a drop-off in the second half this unit played well enough to win. The letdown this week came from a defense that was shredded for 157 rushing yards in the second half a special teams unit that gave up big play after big play to open the door for the Eagles' late game come-from-behind win. It's been over four years since Virginia lost a game when scoring 34 points or more. Let's find out why.

Greg's Stock Report '09: Southern Miss
This week, it looked like the Hoos might finally have found something ... and then just as fast, it was gone. The end result was a heartbreaking 37-34 loss to Southern Miss, the kind of loss that will be tough for the head coach to overcome and for the team to live with going into the bye week. And frankly, it will not be all that much fun to review either. But that is the task before us.

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