ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 10, 1997 TAG: 9703120025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES
The wait is over for Virginia, which will play its first-round NCAA game in Salt Lake City.
There are reasons the Virginia men's basketball team might be wary of its first-round destination in the NCAA Tournament.
At least the Cavaliers don't have to worry about playing a team from the Western Athletic Conference.
The Cavaliers were seeded ninth in the West Region and will meet eighth-seeded Iowa on Thursday at the University of Utah's Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
``We're elated to be in the field again,'' coach Jeff Jones said Sunday. ``We were sweating it out all day today. I know it was very difficult for me to watch any basketball. I tried not to think about it, but, obviously, all of us were consumed with trying to find out if we were in.''
It will be UVa's fourth trip to Utah and its third to Salt Lake City, where it was eliminated in the first round by WAC representatives Wyoming in 1987 and Brigham Young in 1991.
In 1983, North Carolina State defeated the Cavaliers in Ogden, Utah, in the final of the West Regional.
The Cavaliers (18-12) have not previously played Iowa (21-9), although the teams crossed paths this season at the Maui Invitational in Hawaii.
``They're a team that came into the season with a lot of high expectations,'' Jones said. ``They struggled a little bit out in Maui and struggled a little bit more when they lost their best player, Jess Settles.
``They've done a remarkable job of rebounding, pulling together and getting that chemistry and finishing very, very strongly,'' he said.
Iowa has won five of its past six games, with the lone loss Feb.26 at Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes tied for second in the Big Ten Conference with Purdue at 12-6.
Settles, who made himself available for the NBA draft last year but elected to return to Iowa, suffered an ankle injury after three games and is out for the season.
The Hawkeyes are led by Andre Woolridge, a 6-foot point guard who averaged 20.0 points and had 177 assists. Woolridge, who began his college career at Nebraska, had a season-high 34 points Saturday in Iowa's 75-59 victory at Northwestern.
``Their headliner is Woolridge,'' Jones said. ``He's a very powerful point guard. I don't know how tall he is [6 feet], but he plays very, very big. I would say he has the ball in his hands 60 to 70 percent of the time. He's the one who makes things happen.
``Style of play is a big thing with them. Iowa is a team that, after made field goals, will come up in a 1-2-1-1 zone press. They will very aggressively trap the first pass, then drop back into a zone. That's the way Tom Davis has been coaching for a long time.''
Davis has been an NCAA Division I head coach for 25 years, with stops at Lafayette, Boston College, Stanford and, for the past 11 seasons, Iowa. He has coached against UVa twice - in the 1972 National Invitation Tournament at Lafayette and in the 1980 NIT while at BC.
``I was telling the team when we found out we were playing Virginia that, from a coach's point of view, I can't ever remember getting a draw and liking it,'' Davis said. ``But we're playing the best we've played all season.
``Virginia is a very good ballclub coming out of a power conference [the ACC]. Having Kentucky as a possible second-round opponent says enough for itself. We won't have to fight a home-court advantage this year with Virginia and Kentucky coming from farther away than we are.''
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