Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503070041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Sometimes you have to reach above everyone else to get what you want. And there's nothing embarrassing about going to the floor to take what you need, either.
That's why Virginia owns a share of the four-way tie at the top of the ACC standings. That's why these Cavaliers are the only ones in school history with 12 victories without Ralph Sampson.
That's why coach Jeff Jones, when asked Sunday evening how he liked his team's No.4 seeding for this week's ACC tournament, grinned and bared his soul.
``It doesn't make a whole lot of difference, does it?'' he said.
No, it doesn't. With Sunday's 92-67 thumping of Maryland at overflowing University Hall, the Cavaliers finished in a 12-4 tie with the Terps, Wake Forest and North Carolina.
Has any fourth-seeded team in any league in college basketball history ever had 12 victories? UVa (21-7) doesn't know and doesn't care, because the Cavs have their most regular-season victories since Sampson's senior year.
This is the kind of season hoopheads figured for Mr.Jefferson's program when Jones signed Cory Alexander, Junior Burrough, Jason Williford, Yuri Barnes and Chris Alexander four years ago.
It isn't the sort of finish anyone could have expected 10 weeks ago, when the Cavaliers were 6-3 and having anything but a merry Christmas.
``I think we could have said that [the Cavaliers could get 12 ACC victories], but I don't think we would have said that,'' Jones said .``It would have been very difficult convincing ourselves of that, although we still thought we could be a very good team.''
Since then, UVa hasn't lost much but Cory Alexander - to injury, for a second consecutive season - to injury. The Cavaliers were 6-4 against nationally ranked teams. They pulled a Bo Derek in 10 games against the bottom five teams in the ACC.
None of the other conference co-champions can say that. The Cavaliers still are playing their gritty defense of the past, and they're shooting better.
Another reason they've kept up with the ACC Joneses other than their coach is that no one has to wonder whether the Cavaliers will show up. What opponents don't know is who will show them up from game to game.
For instance on Sunday, Roanoke's Curtis Staples kept the UVa record for 3-point goals in a season in the Roanoke Valley, but shot down Salem's Richard Morgan.
While it is Williford who has been prominent among the forwards in recent games, Burrough posted his seventh double-double of the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds, moving behind only Sampson in UVa's career boards count.
Point guard Harold Deane tied the school record with 14 assists and battled Maryland's pressure until he sprained his left wrist late in the game. Then, there was the trio of Barnes, Chris Alexander and Norman Nolan in the middle.
``We had 15 fouls to give,'' said Jones, considering his defense on Terps star Joe Smith.
What the three provided was 20 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and superb block-outs on the probable ACC player of the year. Smith, certainly no ordinary Joe, had only five rebounds to go with his 25 points.
The Cavaliers got 15 more rebounds and most of the loose balls, and although Jones recognized his team ``had to win the game from 15 feet in'' and did, those aren't new developments.
Maryland had a plus-11 rebound bulge - Virginia's worst board score of the season - in the Terps' triumph Feb.1 at Cole Field House. However, the often-shorter Cavaliers have been outrebounded in only eight of 28 games, and still have managed to split those.
Now, with at least one victory in the ACC Tournament, Virginia might be seeded as high as No.3 in one of the NCAA Tournament regions, likely the West or Midwest. The Cavaliers haven't been seeded higher than fifth since Sampson's graduation in 1983.
In first-round foe Georgia Tech, the Cavaliers have drawn probably the most underachieving team - considering its talent and experience - in the league.
The loss cost the Terps (23-6) what would have been their first outright ACC regular-season title since 1979-80. In the absence of ill coach Gary Williams, assistant Billy Hahn guided Maryland.
Hahn tried stomping his way to victory, much as his former Terps coach, Lefty Driesell, did. However, Hahn's footwork couldn't compare to Lefty's, and because Hahn stomped so much, the effect wasn't as jolting.
Hahn stomped 41 times. It seemed that was only a few more times than the Cavaliers - who had the biggest stomp this day - went to the floor.
by CNB