November 2007 - Posts
Following up on yesterday's awards list, we've got one more to announce.
Chris Long was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year today!
Congrats yet again, Chris!
Its a sad day when any person loses their life. When it's a senseless death, it makes it that much more difficult to deal with. When it is someone so public and with such obvious talent, it makes it that much more difficult to deal with. So today we mourn the loss of one of the best defensive players in the NFL, Sean Taylor.
My thoughts are with his friends, teammates and family.
(picture courtesy ESPN.com)
To many members of the UVA football program
First, to Chris Long who was named a unanimous selection to the All-ACC first-team. Chris is the first player voted unanimously to the first team since at least 2002.
Second to Branden Albert who also made the All-ACC first team.
Tom Santi and Ryan Weigand made the second team, while "Hoogene" Monroe was named an honorable mention selection.
And finally to Al Groh who, after being named one of the worst coaches in college football before the season, has won the ACC Coach of the Year award and found out the same day (not coincidentally I'm sure) that his contact is being extended 1 year (through 2011).
Congrats on a great season Hoos and I look forward to watching yall kicking someone's butt in the bowl game!
Less than 40 hours until kickoff... I've read every article. I've checked every blog... I've got all the information I need about the game... except the result.
Per Scott Guthrie's post, VS2008 and the latest .net framework have been released. I've been waiting for this for a while and this is very exciting news for all developers working on Microsoft platforms.
Downloading now!
"What sentence?" you may be asking. Well, we don't know yet.
But according to reports, Michael Vick turned himself into authorities today to begin serving time on his sentence.
Sentencing is not until December 10, so we won't know until then how much this extra time will help him. But you have to assume that the lawyers felt it would be in his best interests to start serving early.
Unranked Virginia beat #17 Arizona 75-72 on the road last night.
I don't have any better perspective on this game than most of the nation - I watched it on non-HD TV just like almost everyone else.
But I do have some comments on what this game means.
- This was one of those games that I really like having on the schedule. Why? If we lost the game - to a ranked opponent, on the road, early in the season - no one would really care. It would not be a bad loss. But win this game, like we did, and its a very good win. These are tournament résumé games.
- Captain Obvious statement of the day: Singletary is good. Even with the flu, against a ranked team, he's the best player on the court. He didn't have a perfect game - several turnovers and some poor decision-making early - but he made the shots when we needed them.
- Jeff Jones was 5-7 from three point range, scoring all 15 of his points from behind the arc. I guess that first year didn't get the memo about Virginia's road woes over the years.
- Tucker shot 5-7 from the floor for 12 points, with 4 rebounds and only one foul just gone game after being widely criticized for his performance against Howard. Good to see him bounce back.
- We don't exactly have big men this year (can Brandenburg and Sene hurry up please?) but what we do have comes in the form of two gutsy hustling almost-big men. Lars and Ryan give us just enough of a presence inside to get the job done. If they can do that (and we can shoot the three anywhere close to how we did last night) we will be a legit conference contender again this year.
Overall a very very solid win. Excitement is building for this program among those who have managed to stop watching the ACC football standings long enough to notice what the basketball team is doing.
So, apparently I lied when I said I wouldn't have much to say about the Howard game.
Thanks to a good friend, I watched the first half of the Howard game from the 3rd row opposite the visitor's bench (as opposed to row P in the upper bowl - big improvement). Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I watched the second half of the game from the President's box. Whoever said that its about 'hoo' you know, not what you know was spot on this time...
Oh, and we won, 92-53.
Aside from my own personal viewing highlights, there were several interesting things in this game.
- Mike Scott played. For more than 1 minute. And he played well (3 for 4 from the floor, including 1 for 1 from three point land; 6 rebounds; 2 steals; all in just 14 minutes of play). With him and Jeff Jones in particular, you can really see that Leitao has this program headed in the right direction.
- Jeff Jones didn't look as much like a "break out" player as he did in the exhibition and the Vermont game. But that's ok. He did what he needed to do and still looks plenty comfortable on the floor.
- When did this team forget how to shoot free throws? We were 6 for 14 as a team. That's pathetic. Granted, the 2 for 6 performance by our big men didn't help much, but even Mike Scott and Jeff Jones only combined for 2 of 5 shooting.
- Calvin Baker is going to win us some ball games this year. Mark my words.
- Sammy was better. Not perfect, but you can see that he's getting more comfortable in his role and playing at this level. 5 assists and a rebound in 10 minutes of play.
- Will Sherrill scored! Who? (Just kidding Will, good job).
- Sean is playing an interesting role this year so far. He scored 23 points in 30 minutes. The interesting part, however, is that I don't remember him being on the floor for 30 minutes. Last year I felt like every possession of every game ran through Sean. And it pretty much had to - we just didn't have the depth at guard to do anything else. But this year Sean is able to play off the ball more, move around and not be the primary ball handler all the time. That's giving other guys some quality early season minutes filling that position. I swear I don't remember a time in the previous 3 years when Sean was on the floor and I didn't realize it. But that's how it was for parts of the game. And yet he still manages to take over the game, seemingly at will, and put on an educational session about how to play this fine game.
- On a related Sean note, he has the most incredible ability to take contact under the basket and still have a handle on the ball and make impressive shots. I don't know how he does it. Then again, I don't know how he does much of what he does. I just enjoy it.
I feel like I'm missing some crucial points, but I think that's all for now...
The UVA Men's Basketball team started their season this past Sunday with a solid 18 point win over Vermont.
I'm not going to do a full write-up on the game, as there wasn't that much to really discuss. We played a solid game, saw some first-years in action and got the win over a team that will be a conference championship contender and possible NCAA selection. I'll take it for a first game.
I'll direct you to WESTENDH00's write-up of the game for a bit more detail.
A couple of my own comments/highlights:
- Jeff Jones could easily be a second-year and no one would know the difference. He just looks comfortable out on the floor and that makes a huge difference. If he's already comfortable in his first two games (including the exhibition), then how long can it be before he has a breakout 20+ point game or something like that? Not too long, if you ask me.
- Sammy needs work. He didn't show the defensive prowess he did in the exhibition game (where it seemed like his hand was always magically in front of the other team's passes) and he made a lot of mental mistakes. I'm going to chalk it up to first-year jitters and cut him some slack for a couple games.
- AJ seems poised for a terrific season. It started with our last game of the season against Tennessee and it continued in the exhibition and the opener. I'm not going to be convinced that he's here to stay in that form, but if he keeps it up through 3 or 4 more games, I might just be convinced.
- Sean is, as WESTENDH00 said, Sean. He had a very quiet 19 points in that game (in my opinion) and seemed to be playing the floor general / leader role more than the star role. I think its a credit to this fine young man that he manages to do both - lead the team in scoring (tied with AJ) and be a leader and role model for the young kids.
We play Howard tonight at JPJ, a team we've never scored less than 100 points against (granted, only two games). Hopefully an easier win, but that probably means I'll have even less to report.
Before the season started, I had many conversations with my coworkers about how this 2007 football season would turn out for the Cavaliers. I tend to be a little more in tune with the team than the rest of the people at my office, if only because I read TheSabre regularly. Nonetheless, they don't usually trust me when I get optimistic about the program.
I very distinctly remember a time a few weeks before the Wyoming game where I said that I thought this team had a legitimate shot at finishing the season 10-2. I got laughed at. "We're Virginia - a program that likes to lose the big games, and a few of the not so big games while they're at it" they said. Good point, I replied.
After the Wyoming game, they thought they were so smart. "Al Groh sucks. He's a terrible coach and really needs to go," they said. I frowned, unable to answer with any logical retort. That game was the definition of abysmal. What happened? How was my prediction so wrong?
Now look at where we are... The Cavaliers find themselves 8-2 (5-1 ACC), sitting a half game ahead of second-place Virginia Tech in the Coastal Division. Two (or three) games remain. We could be 8-4 (5-3) and find ourselves in a middle of the pack ACC bowl. Or we could be 11-2 (8-1) with a win in the ACC Championship Game. Or we could be just about anywhere in between.
With this team I'm not placing any bets on the outcome. No way. I have faith that we'll be in each of these games. But our margin for error is still so slim.
The strange way in which this season has played out prevents me from saying "I told you so" to my coworkers quite yet. I certainly didn't predict 5 victories by 2 points or less. But I've got that phrase tucked in my back pocket and, if we make it to Jacksonville on December 2nd, I might just be forced to pull it out...
Thank you Chris Long, Jameel Sewell and Al Groh (and many many others) for that potential opportunity!
It appears that Elliott Williams has verbally committed to Duke, choosing the hated Blue Devils over other finalists Memphis, Tennessee and Virginia.
Not being much of a recruiting guru means I didn't know much more about what his final choice would be than everyone else did. However, I'll say that I really really really wish he would have ended up at Memphis or Tennessee instead. Anywhere But Duke.