Basketball Features 
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Basketball Features
The Virginia men's basketball team opens ACC Tournament play on Thursday at noon. The game matches eighth-seeded UVa and ninth-seeded Miami. It's far from a glamorous position and neither team is heading to the NCAA Tournament unless it wins four games in four days. Yet, optimism is palpable among Cavalier fans.
Ifeanyi Onyekaba capped off a stellar junior season in style, scoring 29 points, pulling down 15 rebounds and totaling five blocks as Virginia Episcopal School (Lynchburg, VA) captured the Virginia Independent Schools Division III state championship with a win over Williamsburg Christian. VES first-year head coach Curtis Staples, a former star guard at the University of Virginia, has high praise for the 6-8, 220-pound power forward.
When Virginia and Maryland met on Jan. 27 at the John Paul Jones Arena, Sammy Zeglinski scored three points in 26 minutes and the Cavaliers posted 42 - the club's second worst scoring output of the season. But not Saturday. On Maryland's Senior Night it was the Cavalier junior guard who took the spotlight, leading his team to a huge 74-60 win to snap a three-game losing streak to the Terps.
Perhaps Sabre poster 111Balz said it best about Will Sherrill on the EDGE board Wednesday morning: "Walked on, limped off with a little piece of our hearts." Sherrill, honored on Senior Night along with Mustapha Farrakhan on Tuesday, doesn't dazzle you with his athleticism or mystify opponents with endless ball skills. He doesn't steal the show very often with his offense either, though his start against N.C. State fits the bill there. No, Sherrill just does a whole lot of things right and helps give his team a better chance of winning.
The Cavalier men's basketball team has had its share of ups and downs this year, but it sent the seniors out with a win in the final home contest of the season on Tuesday night. The Hoos grabbed a quick, 16-0 lead to start the game and never fell behind. Virginia handled N.C. State 69-58 in front of an energized, midweek crowd, as seniors Mustapha Farrakhan and Will Sherrill both scored in double figures in their final games at home in the John Paul Jones Arena.
No one that met with the media on Saturday could put a finger on the answer. The question? What is it about soft zone presses, typically 1-2-2 alignments, that causes so much trouble for the Cavaliers? Players on the Virginia men's basketball team seemed as frustrated as any spectators with the results against the tactic, which again created problems this weekend in a 63-44 loss to Boston College.
It's hard to pinpoint just one aspect of Saturday's men's basketball game that stands out as Virginia's Achilles' Heel. Perhaps it was the failure of the team to make a 3-point basket in the second half, or the defensive breakdowns that started before halftime and continued to escalate as Boston College pulled further ahead. Whatever was ailing the Hoos made for one of the most disappointing games of the season, though. The Eagles ran away with a 63-44 victory in Charlottesville, leaving a bewildered Tony Bennett unable to pinpoint exactly what went wrong on the court.
Last week, Ravenscroft (Raleigh, N.C.) junior point guard Madison Jones led his team to a 74-44 win over North Raleigh Christian in the TISAC championship game. Tonight, the 6-2, 160-pound prospect will guide the Ravens in the NCISAA state quarterfinals against Providence Day. In the midst of this postseason run, Jones found some time to visit the University of Virginia and watched the Cavaliers defeat arch-rival Virginia Tech last Saturday.
Virginia may consider asking all of the schools in the ACC to add "Tech" to their names after the past few days. After all, the UVa men's basketball team finished off a 4-0 sweep of Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech this season with a 62-56 win against the Yellow Jackets on Wednesday night. The back-to-back Tech triumphs gave the Hoos consecutive victories for the first time since the first week of 2011.
Finally, one went the way of the Wahoos. Tony Bennett's beleaguered Cavalier team managed to hang on to sweep rivals Virginia Tech for the first time since 2006. Despite a late-game rally from the Hokies, the Hoos managed to hold on to a 61-54 win in front of a raucous home crowd at the John Paul Jones Arena.
It's not a cure for everything that has ailed this Virginia basketball program this season, but it helps. Boy does it help. The season's 'almost had it' wins and low-scoring losses took an afternoon hiatus on Saturday as the Cavaliers swept rival Virginia Tech in front of a lively, and thankful, John Paul Jones Arena crowd.
The second youngest of seven children (four brothers, three sisters), Paul Jesperson took an early interest in basketball, an interest fueled by older brothers Jason and Jimmy, who took their younger brother to parks and gyms to play. Jason, who played collegiately in North Dakota and coached Paul on the AAU circuit (Wisconsin Playmakers) for three years, recognized his younger brother's potential early on.
The Duke Blue Devils certainly didn't play like the No. 5 team in the nation on Wednesday night, but luckily for head coach Mike Krzyzewski, they didn't have to. Tony Bennett's cold-shooting Cavaliers just couldn't find the net, and set a record-low point total in John Paul Jones Arena for the second time this season.
Maybe it is because they have a lot of star power or because they play a winning brand of basketball. Maybe it is because they're the team everyone loves to hate. Maybe it's because everyone loves to throw a few barbs the way of the coach. Whatever it is, when the Duke Blue Devils come to town, fans are excited about the arrival. With all of that in mind, there are three key areas that I'm keeping an eye on in this match-up and the Hoos will need to be competitive or win all three categories to have a chance to pull off the upset.
Maybe it can be blamed on the location - the Virginia men's basketball team has dropped 14 straight games in Florida after all. Truthfully, however, the Cavaliers' 63-56 loss at Florida State did not come out of some Bermuda Triangle style curse. No, the story still focuses on themes from this frustrating ACC season - plenty of effort, but not enough post depth, not enough experience, and not enough consistency with shooting or defense.
Mustapha Farrakhan and the Cavaliers gave it everything they had at Miami on Saturday, and in the end gave the game away due to costly defensive mistakes and clanging free throws. The Hoos dropped an overtime heartbreaker in South Beach, losing 70-68 in overtime.
After Virginia's defensive debacle at Wake Forest last Saturday, I walked into the John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday curious how - or if - the Hoos' defense would respond against Clemson. After all, the Cavaliers haven't been a picture of consistency on that end of the floor this season. What happened against the Tigers, however, was a defensive gem.
In the days since the Cavaliers' disappointing loss at Wake Forest, one quote keeps jumping out at me. And considering it comes from head coach Tony Bennett, there shouldn't be any surprise that it's about defense. The problem? The Hoos aren't playing any when it matters most in games and it's costing them in the win column. It did against Wake.
To borrow senior forward Mike Scott's signature catch phrase, Virginia's 76-71 loss at Wake Forest was, in a word, tragic. The Hoos squandered a 10-point lead in the second half, and allowed the Demon Deacons their first ACC victory of the season.
It's a rough life being a Cavalier fan. Enduring countless disappointments from the major revenue sports, putting up with taunts and jibes from opposing fanbases, and being frustrated at decisions from above have all been a part of my first seven semesters at the University of Virginia. Thursday night's basketball game against Maryland highlighted a few of my major gripes. When the Hoos are good, they're good. But when they're bad ... let's just say things get out of hand in a hurry.
The Virginia men's basketball team used a variety of tactics to slow down Maryland post standout Jordan Williams on Thursday night. The Hoos held Williams, who entered the game with 13 consecutive double-doubles, to 4 points and 6 rebounds on just 5 shot attempts with 0 free throws. Unfortunately for UVa, the effort didn't pay off as the Terrapins pulled away to the 66-42 victory.
What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold.
No Virginia didn't play those Outkast lyrics throughout the John Paul Jones Arena on Thursday night, but it could have. After all, there's no other way to describe the Hoos' shooting performance against Maryland in a 66-42 ACC loss. 33.3% field goal shooting. 23.5% 3-point shooting. 46.2% free throw shooting.
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