UVa Picked To Finish 11th In ACC

UVa Athletic Media Relations Official Release

The Virginia men's basketball team was picked to finish 11th in the Atlantic Coast Conference during the 2009-10 regular season on Sunday (Oct. 25) in a preseason poll of media representatives attending the ACC's 48th annual Operation Basketball.

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 N.C. 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.

In other UVa men's basketball news, organizers announced that tournament passes are available for the Cancun Challenge. Read more here.

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Despite the rain, recruits turned out in solid number on Saturday for Virginia's home contest against Georgia Tech. Headlining the group was big offensive lineman Landon Turner, a 6-5, 300-pound junior out of Harrisonburg High School (VA). Independence (Charlotte, N.C.) wide receiver Adrian Gamble, one of Virginia's two 2011 class commits, was also in attendance according to sources. We hope to have more on these juniors this week.

Deep Run (Glen Allen, VA) offensive lineman Conner Davis was in attendance as well on Saturday. The 6-5, 270-pound senior, one of nine high school seniors to commit to the Cavaliers, plans to attend each of Virginia's remaining three home contests and remains solid in the commitment he made in July. We'll have more tomorrow on Davis, who updates his senior season, which offensive line position he expects to play at Virginia and more.

Virginia's first commitment of the 2010 class has helped his team to a 10-0 record. 5-7, 190-pound running back Kevin Parks Jr. and his West Rowan (Charlotte, N.C.) teammates dominated East Rowan 41-7, capturing their 10th win of the season to zero losses. Parks rushed 21 times for 263 yards and four scores in the win. West Rowan is looking for a repeat of last season, when it captured the Class 4-A state championship.

Last week, I profiled another 2010 class commit in 6-3, 185-pound defensive back Pablo Alvarez. The Belen Jesuit (Miami, FL) star reflected on his commitment to Virginia…

"I attended the Virginia camp and something about their coaching staff sold me more," said Alvarez, who had been offered by Duke, Iowa and Northwestern at the time. Virginia came through with an offer at camp and he committed shortly thereafter. "I felt a good connection with the coaches. I like Coach Wilt, Coach Groh and Coach Poindexter. The coaching staff won me over."

For more on Alvarez be sure to check out The Sabre EDGE story linked below.

The news wasn't good for Virginia on the 2010 class target front last week, when the Cavaliers missed out on two of its top offensive line prospects. Lake Braddock (Burke, VA) standout Khamrone Kolb picked Penn State last Sunday while Linganore (Frederick, MD) star Robby Havenstein picked Wisconsin.

Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.) linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu, Bishop McNamara (Forestville, MD) wide receiver Brandon Coleman, DeMatha (Hyattsville, MD) offensive lineman Shane Johnson Jr. and Good Counsel (Olney, MD) cornerback Louis Young are among the top remaining 2010 recruits left on the board.

Basketball-wise, I was able to catch up with Virginia freshmen Jontel Evans and Tristan Spurlock, who discussed their first-year experiences and look ahead to the 2009/2010 season. Be sure to check out the latest on Evans, a 5-11, 185-pound point guard, and Spurlock, a 6-8, 220-pound forward.

Today, Nichols School (Buffalo, N.Y.) forward Will Regan reflects on the official visit he made to Virginia on the weekend of Oct. 10. The 6-8, 220-pound senior, the first prospect to commit to Coach Bennett's 2010 class, had a great time alongside fellow commit Akil Mitchell.

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 ...

Miami Star Solid to Virginia
Focusing in on schools with high academic reputations, Pablo Alvarez was especially interested in Boston College, Duke, Northwestern and Virginia early this summer. But the experience he had in Charlottesville, where he attended Al Groh's summer camp, put the Cavaliers over the top for the 6-3, 185-pound Belen Jesuit (Miami, FL) senior defensive back.

Mitchell Reflects On Official Visit
A week after accepting a scholarship offer from head coach Tony Bennett, Charlotte Christian (Charlotte, N.C.) forward Akil Mitchell made an official visit to his future school. Mitchell, a 6-7, 210-pound senior, wanted to get to know the players and coaches more closely and that's exactly what he was able to do.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• 2011 Profile: Lake Braddock's Michael Nebrich
• Brathwaite Talks Season, Commitment to UVa

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Camp Wahoo's Food Drive

The Sabre's good friends at Camp Wahoo - a tailgating group of Cavalier fans - are holding a "Hoos for the Hungry Food Drive" next month to benefit The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank.

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank was established in 1981 to help feed hungry people throughout Virginia and serves 25 counties and nine cities in northern and central Virginia. The bank has distributed more than 100 million pounds of food.

The drive is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14, the day of the Boston College game. It will run from 8 a.m. until kickoff of the game. Please visit the Camp Wahoo tailgate on your way to the game and drop off canned goods or other non-perishible foods to help reach the goal of donating 400 pounds of food to feed the area's hungry families.

The Camp Wahoo tailgate is located on the corner of McCormick Road and Cabell Drive on game days. This location is just beside Clark Hall, near the UVA Bookstore, and the 'East M' parking lot.

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The Chris Long Wall Decal is a huge wall graphic printed on a premium vinyl. It measures 6'3" x 2'8" with Chris wearing his retired #91 Virginia jersey. Place your graphic on a smooth surface and move it around without hurting your wall until you find the perfect spot!

Issue No. 213 - Oct. 27, 2005

Post of the Week

In a week full of angry rants, here was a good factual analysis...

Subject: Analyzed the game riding out the storm south of Orlando. See inside it you wish.
Posted by: uvagrad on Mon Oct 24 2005 12:04:27 PM
Message: This post is long (sorry), totally out of boredom, and is intended to get thoughts from you about our offense on Saturday. Sure, the defense played well enough to put us in position to win but you could simultaneously argue that we could have done more against the run. In my mind and from the looks of things, others on this board, we lost because of the offense. Therefore, I'm focusing on that side of the ball.

First off, the players deserve some of the fault especially the offensive line. I can't tell you how many times 4 UNC d-linemen blew up plays against our 6 to 7 blockers. I was shocked watching the game again. With all that being said though, the play calling was downright terrible. It was beyond clear that our coaches didn't put our players in situations to make plays and succeed.

Here are some interesting stats for you:

Total plays called: 67
Plays attempted beyond ten yards: 13
Plays attempted over twenty yards: 3
Passes attempted over the middle: 7 (3 of those were 3-4 yard "dumps")
Total sweep plays run: 21

Ron Prince caught a lot of flak for his play-calling vs. UNC.

The last number is generous at best since some of our off tackle plays are really run "off TE" and not quite sweeps so they weren't counted. To be fair, not all of the plays were EXACTLY the same but the theme of pulling linemen and trying to run outside with a direct handoff were there for every play. It was interesting to see no "Student Body Right" and "Student Body Left" plays (pitches). All wide attempts were handoffs.

Here are two plays that still baffle me watching today. The first was in the first half. On 3rd and 3, we tried to run a screen. Of course, UNC blew that play up and Hagans scrambled for a first. Now, I'm not a coaching genius but aren't you supposed to call a screen if you think the defense is coming on a blitz or aggressive stunts? Instead, UNC played the run (go figure on 3rd and 3) and the play was easily defended.

The second play is even more baffling. In the 2nd half, we had a 2nd and 2 from the UNC 43. As predicted, we run a sweep right with Hagans handed off to Peerman at the 50. That's midfield for you mathematically challenged fans, seven yards behind the LOS. As you can guess, UNC was all over the backfield and dropped CP for a 3 yard loss.

Here is another interesting point, after the 30-yard attempt to Ogletree in the first half we ran 19 straight plays either running the ball or passing the ball within 5 yards of the LOS. The 3rd down attempt to MJ in the end zone ended that string.

Since I'm so bored and everyone may not have watched the game, I was going to post every play and result but I don't want to bore you too. No need to spread my misery today.

So, the takeaway point for me is that we have little imagination on offense (at least we didn't on Saturday). There were many of the exact same formations and plays. We didn't test the middle of the field enough. Do you remember seeing the TE stretch play up the middle that we've run so successfully lately? Our plays are very predictable for even the armchair QB. We didn't use all our weapons. We continuously ran the same sweep play over and over again. We ran the wrong play at the wrong time. It's also interesting to note that I didn't see one checkoff from Hagans. Do we ever see one? That could say a lot about who has control and calls the shots.

I know we're supposed to be positive today. Don't consider this post as negative but more about the facts. If I come across negative then I truly do apologize to all who read through this entire post. All I want is to see my Hoos give every team its best shot, week in and week out. When we play not to lose, don't play with "all heart", don't take chances, don't seem to have fun, etc. than it makes it hard for us fans (read, me) to do the same.

Here's to hoping for changes down the road. We have two weeks to make those changes and 1 "practice" game to test them all in real game situations before the stretch run.

Check Out SabreMail #213.

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:

• Postgame Coverage: The Sabre continues to break down the Georgia Tech loss with postgame articles from JHoo and Greg Waters.
• Basketball Coaches: The Sabre has brought you articles on Jason Williford and Ron Sanchez. Stay tuned for more articles on Virginia's new assistant coaches.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

Yellow Jackets Hammer Hoos
With Georgia Tech taking possession and leading by a touchdown to start the second half, Virginia needed a stop. Instead, the Yellow Jackets slowly and methodically drove right down the Cavaliers' throats. The 18-play, 82-yard touchdown drive eating up the first 10:47 of the third quarter wasn't quite the last straw for the Hoos on Saturday, but it was a demoralizing drive from which they never recovered. Virginia simply could not contain the Georgia Tech spread-option attack defensively and sputtered in the red zone offensively, as a 34-9 GT victory spelled the end of the Cavs' three-game winning streak this season and an eight-game home winning streak against the Yellow Jackets dating back to 1990.

UVa's Run Defense Falters Again
See Nesbitt run. See Dwyer run. See Allen run. See Nesbitt, Dwyer and Allen run. See Georgia Tech run. See TCU run. See Southern Miss run. See Georgia Tech, TCU and Southern Miss run. See William & Mary run even. See everybody run. It may seem simplistic, and in many ways it is, but Virginia's defense can't stop the run. At least not consistently. And certainly not against the Yellow Jackets. The result of all this ground grief? Four losses including a 34-9 thrashing at the hands of Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Priorities, Picks, & Power Players - GT
For each game this season, The Sabre will present a final peek at the week's match-up with a new feature called Priorities, Picks, and Power Players. In the "Priorities" section, we take a look at the keys to a Virginia victory. In the "Picks" section, Sabre Editor Kris Wright and another Sabre representative make a case for who will win and give you a final score. In the "Power Players" section, The Sabre predicts who some of the key players could be for that Saturday's showdown.

Randolph Adjusts To Life As Kicker
In the spring of Robert Randolph's sophomore year at Naples High School, though, football coach Bill Kramer came to one of Randolph's soccer games. Randolph could always kick a soccer ball farther than his peers - Kramer noticed, and asked Randolph if he'd like to kick for the football team. Eventually he joined the Virginia football team as an invited walk-on, and has since flourished as its placekicker.

Freshman Report: Spurlock and Evans
After accepting the job of University of Virginia men's basketball coach, Tony Bennett had the task of keeping both of Virginia's recruits in the fold. In the end, Hampton (VA) point guard Jontel Evans and Woodbridge (VA) wing forward Tristan Spurlock, who signed with Virginia last November, decided to stick to their original commitments. TheSabre.com caught up with both Virginia freshmen to discuss their college experience, including the first day of practice.

Game Preview 2009 - GT
Virginia is two games into its league schedule and owns a 2-0 mark, the only unbeaten record on the ACC block. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, is nearing the end of its conference ledger with just three games remaining. With a 4-1 league record, the Yellow Jackets are sitting in prime position in the Coastal Division title race. That makes this weekend's match-up one of the most intriguing and important games on the schedule for both teams to date. Let's take a closer look at Georgia Tech.

Greg's Stock Report '09: Maryland
This week's grades are about as ugly as the weather was in College Park, at least for the offense. But the Cavaliers were able to win a game on the road when clearly they struggled to play above average. That's O.K. because teams need to win those kinds of games from time to time. The Cavalier pass defense led the team in overall performance but did special teams have its best day of the year? Read on.

Press Conference Notes '09: GT
Every week, Al Groh talks about the challenge that the upcoming opponent presents in its schemes. The general challenge that Georgia Tech presents is the willingness of coach Paul Johnson and the coaching staff to evolve, both within a game and week to week with the triple option scheme. As soon as an opponent works out a way to solve one problem, Groh said, the Jackets have already countered with variations. It follows that Virginia can't put too much stock in any success it had in last season's 24-17 road win in this week's preparation. "They've got projectors, too," Groh said. "So we would expect a counter move on their part."

10 Things I Learned From Maryland
Beating Maryland generally just puts me in a good mood. Given that, it should come as no surprise that I love breaking down a win over Maryland. Love it. Would do 20 Things if allowed (and my wife is leaning over my shoulder right now saying, "You are not allowed"). So we will stick to 10 Things this week ... but we will enjoy them.

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