THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090585
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
The Virginia basketball team leaves this ACC tournament a dead man walking.
When a season ends the way U.Va.'s has - five losses in the last six games and no prospects of postseason play - the phrase ``learning experience'' is likely to be thrown about.
In 1995-96, the Cavaliers learned how to lose, a new, not to mention unexpected, experience for Jeff Jones' players.
``At the beginning of the year,'' junior Jamal Robinson said Friday night in the Cavaliers' locker room, ``one of the polls didn't even have us in there. I thought that was just crazy.''
He stopped to pull at a piece of blue tape wrapped around one finger. ``As it turned out,'' he said, ``they knew what they were doing.''
Standing at the locker next to his, Harold Deane said, ``I just didn't get it done when I had to.''
So many games, he didn't, though he wasn't alone.
``Right now,'' said Deane, ``nobody has any answers.''
Fortunately for U.Va., then, there are no questions for the time being. For the first time since 1988, the Cavaliers won't be going to The Big Dance, or even to the Small Sock Hop thrown by the NIT.
Missing out on postseason play ``wouldn't have entered my mind at the start of the season,'' said senior center Chris Alexander. ``We had so much talent back, and we had players who had been through the wars.''
But the Cavaliers didn't have an inside game. In retrospect, U.Va.'s problems were as obvious as that hole in the middle of the lineup. U.Va. had no big man, nobody who could make a difference in the paint.
``Teams did a good job of exploiting the fact that we aren't a very good rebounding team,'' Jones said. ``At times, it seems like we made it very easy for teams to rebound against us.''
Friday, Wake Forest outrebounded U.Va. by 10. As expected, Tim Duncan played volleyball off the backboards in the Deacons' 70-60 victory. His 15 rebounds were half what the U.Va. team could manage.
Not that the Cavaliers were the only ACC team lacking resources Friday. In losing to Maryland, Duke is believed to have set a tournament record by bringing two soccer players off its very thin bench.
With Chris Collins nursing an injured foot and point guard Steve Wojciechowski hobbled after twisting an ankle, Duke's best scoring play in the NCAA tournament may be a corner kick followed by a head shot.
For all Duke's problems, Maryland struggled stylelessly to win a game that is expected to propel the Terps into the Field of 64.
In the afternoon session, then, it was left to Georgia Tech to show people how the game should be played.
It has been fashionable in recent days to root for Les Robinson, North Carolina State's beleaguered coach. The passing of Stephon Marbury and Drew Barry, though, makes Georgia Tech much too entertaining to wish out of any tournament.
``These two play so well together,'' said coach Bobby Cremins, ``they're beautiful to watch.''
No such esoteric pleasures were available to U.Va. fans. Off the court, the picture was even uglier this season. First, two Cavaliers were charged with larceny. Then, earlier this week, a recruit Jones has wooed for 2 1/2 years was arrested on a charge of malicious wounding. Melvin Whitaker, 6-foot-10, 220 pounds, was going to be the man in the middle for U.Va. next season.
The latest news out of Charlottesville gives a whole new meaning to the concept of rebounding. by CNB