Anyone asleep in my hotel Friday night was no longer when Paul Jesperson's halfcourt heave banked in. That's how loud I yelled. Anyone who thought double-digit leads were secure, even in the waning moments, knows better after Arkansas-Little Rock's comeback against Purdue, and Texas A&M's versus...
RALEIGH, N.C. – Malcolm Brogdon barely cracked even a hint of a smile all Saturday evening in Virginia’s 77-69 victory against Butler in an NCAA tournament Midwest Region second-round matchup. Saddled with slowing down Butler’s hottest hand, there was no time for pleasantries. He saved the arm-pumping,...
RALEIGH, N.C. — Butler coach Chris Holtmann was ready for a sleepless night. It comes with the territory this time of year, especially when he’s preparing his team to play a group the caliber of NCAA tournament Midwest Region No. 1 seed Virginia.While insomnia may not have ruined the evenings of...
RALEIGH, N.C. — Unlike last season, Virginia is healthy and fresh off a crisp performance. Unlike last season, a former national champion led by a Hall of Fame coach does not loom in the second round. And unlike last season, double-digit seeds have mocked the region’s bracket.Now all the Cavaliers...
For two years running, Virginia violated the mantra of college basketball’s elite: Never give an NCAA tournament underdog hope.Let a modest program from a conference such as the Big South, Ohio Valley or Mid-Eastern Athletic stick around, and everyone starts to believe. Players, coaches, fans....
RALEIGH, N.C. - Just as his team started to pull away from Hampton University in Thursday’s NCAA tournament Midwest Region first-round game, the lights went out in the scariest way possible for Virginia coach Tony Bennett.He passed out for a few moments on the sideline late in the first half, creating...
RALEIGH, N.C. — When Virginia last opened the NCAA tournament in Raleigh, Anthony Gill envisioned for a few minutes an embarrassing footnote being added to the chronicles of No. 1 seed-versus-No. 16 seed first-round matchups.Something along these lines:No. 1 seeds rule No. 16 seeds every time,...
His college legacy and NBA prospects at stake this season, Malcolm Brogdon had every reason to obsess over Virginia’s first day of practice. A six-month journey, a road to reversing past March disappointment, was finally about to start.But before lacing ’em up that October afternoon, Brogdon had...
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Long before the opening tip Nov. 13 in Virginia's first game against Morgan State, a deep NCAA tournament run by the Cavaliers in March had been preordained by national pundits. Why not? With seniors Malcolm Brogdon and Anthony Gill back, along with junior point guard London Perrantes,...
Soon after Virginia discovered Sunday it had earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament Midwest Region, the Cavaliers learned the selection committee just can't get enough of seeing them in close proximity with Michigan State on the bracket. U.Va. (26-7) will open its tournament Thursday at about...
Tony Bennett and his staff crafted a devilish non-conference schedule for a team they thought elite. Sunday brought a deserved dividend: a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed. Among the four top regional seeds — Kansas, North Carolina and Oregon are the others — the Cavaliers are the only squad that won...
WASHINGTON – Four of the last five ACC basketball teams to win national championships lost in the conference tournament. Neither of Virginia’s Final Four teams or its last two Elite Eight squads won the league tournament. So difficult though it may be for players and, especially, fans, let’s minimize...
WASHINGTON - For a little over eight minutes in the second half Saturday night, Virginia was less than ordinary – a shell of the team that entered its Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship showdown with North Carolina in prime position for an NCAA tournament top seed. It was a futile...
WASHINGTON – At this late hour, the clock just past midnight, the temptation is to look ahead, to anticipate what should be a classic ACC tournament final Saturday night between the league’s best teams: Virginia and North Carolina. After all, the Tar Heels were breathtakingly ruthless in Friday’s...
WASHINGTON - After splitting two intense games this season with Miami before Friday night’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinal, Virginia coach Tony Bennett knew what was going to be required of his players to move on. He’d seen enough of Davon Reed and Sheldon McClellan’s marksmanship,...
WASHINGTON — The crowd gathered along the fence line Friday morning as Marine One prepared to lift off the White House South Lawn. Two other choppers hovered in the sky, ready to serve as escorts. As the presidential helicopter elevated and flew over us, taking Barack Obama to nearby Joint Base...
WASHINGTON — Virginia began its ACC tournament Thursday night with a convincing reversal of an unsightly regular-season defeat, feeding the notion of a memorable and extended March for the Cavaliers.The Charlottesville chapter of Anxiety Anonymous probably called an emergency session after a tepid...
WASHINGTON – There's an annual benchmark in Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams' mind that provides an indication of his program's progress over the course of a season. If his team is still playing once the weather starts to turn warm, that's a good sign. "I think the teams that improve after Valentine's...
WASHINGTON — Even in victory, there was something wrong. Syracuse made a baker's dozen 3-pointers, and Wake Forest — Wake Forest! — shot 53.5 percent from the field. And the defeats? Virginia Tech made 9-of-17 from beyond the arc, Georgia Tech 8-of-15, Florida State 6-of-13. For a Virginia basketball...
WASHINGTON – Don't count Virginia's Mike Tobey among the legions of Golden State Warriors fans who have jumped on the bandwagon since their version of Steph Curry-driven small-ball has become all the rage. Basketball can be a struggle for a big man these days. Tobey knows it all too well. As the...
Over the next five days, the party line from the Atlantic Coast Conference's men's basketball coaches about how close the talent level has been all season in the conference will be tested in Washington, D.C. After last Saturday's win at Duke, No. 1 seed and ACC regular-season champ North Carolina...
A few minutes before last Saturday's game against North Carolina, Virginia's Anthony Gill glanced up at the scoreboard above the John Paul Jones Arena floor in Charlottesville. He'd never watched the pregame hype video, so he figured he'd better take the opportunity. He probably made the right...
GREENVILLE, S.C. — As soon as No. 4 Virginia finished off its 64-57 victory Tuesday night in a black-and-blue affair at Clemson, Malcolm Brogdon knew he’d seen his team make a statement it wasn’t capable of producing less than two months ago.Mismatched. Unsteady. Reeling.U.Va. (23-6, 12-5 Atlantic...
GREENVILLE, S.C. — College GameDay wasn't here, the opponent was unranked and thousands of seats were unoccupied. But at evening's end, Virginia's victory over Clemson on Tuesday was more impressive than Saturday's conquest of North Carolina. Sure, it sounds daft. The Tar Heels lead the ACC and...
As a connoisseur of fine defensive teams, Clemson coach Brad Brownell hasn’t been overwhelmed by his program’s ability to stop opponents this season.Of course, his opinion is affected by what he sees in his own conference. Virginia’s smothering defensive approach always will make you second-guess...
NORFOLK — Ruffin McNeill was back behind the wheel recently, burning up the roads of southeastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina. The University of Virginia assistant head coach and linebackers coach — no longer the beloved head coach at East Carolina — wasn't recruiting. He returned to Greenville,...
CHARLOTTESVILLE — About a week after he took his first classes at Virginia, Andrew Benvenuto started to hatch a plan when he finally got a glance at U.Va.'s upcoming men's college basketball slate. As soon as the schedules were released in early September, he conducted a deep study of U.Va.'s dates...
Five minutes.If Virginia coach Tony Bennett lingered any longer than that on the John Paul Jones Arena floor Jan. 31, 2015, when ESPN’s College GameDay preview show came to Charlottesville for the first time to watch his team play Duke, he must’ve done it from the shadows. That’s all he wanted...
As he sat in front the television in January watching Alabama fend off Clemson in the College Football Playoff national championship game, Connor Jones had a flashback to his own experience on the biggest stage of his own sport. Jones is a self-professed college football junkie, so in theory, he...
Miami's basketball team endured its most severe beating of the season Saturday afternoon at North Carolina. With first place in the ACC at stake, the Tar Heels humbled the Hurricanes 96-71.Two days later, with guards Sheldon McClellan and Ja’Quan Newton nursing an ankle and shin injury, respectively,...
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — The stat sheet says Miami defeated Virginia on Monday night because of 3-point shooting. And the numbers make a darn compelling case. The Hurricanes made 10-of-19 from beyond the arc, the Cavaliers 5-of-16. Such was the XXL difference in Miami's 64-61 victory. Or was it? The...
Once the weather started to warm up last season, Pavin Smith remembers it beginning to click for him. All the nervous energy associated with being a freshman on a veteran-laden college baseball team with high expectations started to vanish. Now, he's the example for Virginia's new crop of players...
CHARLOTTESVILLE — One of the ACC’s 14 baseball coaches picked Virginia to win the league’s Coastal Division this season. None tabbed the reigning national champion as the conference’s overall favorite.Cavaliers coach Brian O’Connor gets it. He knows how skilled the consensus choices, Coastal rival...
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Just two days after its most demoralizing loss of the season, Virginia got right back on track Monday night in a convincing 73-53 victory against North Carolina State. Malcolm Brogdon showed once again he could do it on both ends of the floor for No. 7 U.Va. (21-5, 10-4 Atlantic...
CHARLOTTESVILLE — For one of the few times Monday evening, Cat Barber beat Malcolm Brogdon off the dribble and penetrated the lane. But before Barber could even sniff the rim, a bevy of defenders swarmed and created a turnover. Devon Hall assist, Isaiah Wilkins dunk, crowd eruption, North Carolina...
Handling North Carolina State guard Anthony "Cat" Barber wasn't much of an issue for Virginia in the 2013-14 and '14-15 seasons, but U.Va. coach Tony Bennett has observed a different sort of player this season. He's seen an emerging star. "He's elite in terms of his quickness, his speed," said...