Special Features 
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Special Features
The Virginia football team continues its spring practice work this week before the annual spring game on Saturday at 2 p.m. Get a look at the Hoos in practice before they hit Scott Stadium this weekend with a spring practice photo gallery. This free 100-image photo gallery features coach Mike London, Perry Jones, Dominique Terrell, Demetrious Nicholson, and many other Cavaliers.
The Virginia baseball team completed the weekend sweep of Wake Forest on Monday night and won its 14th straight home game at Davenport Field. The current homestand continues with a mid-week game against George Washington University on Wednesday beginning at 6 p.m. Here is a brief scouting report on GW.
Spring practice gives Cavalier fans a preview of what to expect in the fall. It shows how far key players have come since the end of last season. Practice also provides a chance for backups to move into a more significant role. Along those lines, wide receiver Miles Gooch, already a fan favorite, hopes for big things in 2012.
The Cavalier baseball team spotted JMU a 2-run lead in the opening inning this past Wednesday and then blasted by the Dukes with 15 unanswered runs to win 15-5. Now, UVa's 9-game homestand continues with a visit by the Wake Forest Demon Deacons for the first time since 2008. Here is a brief scouting report on Wake Forest.
As I prepared for the 2011 grade reports last August, one of the areas I identified as a major issue for the Cavaliers in 2010 and an item to watch as the upcoming season progressed was Virginia's poor offensive scoring efficiency (OSE) numbers in 2010. OSE is the amount of yardage it takes to score one point. Despite winning four more games last fall, the Virginia offense scored fewer points for every yard of offense in 2011. So what's that tell us?
The Virginia baseball team thought it could exorcise some demons in Raleigh this past weekend but the ghosts of Wolfpack games past reappeared and continued to haunt the Hoos at Doak Field. Now the Cavaliers start a nine-game homestand by hosting a return matchup with James Madison on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Here is a brief scouting report for James Madison.
The Cavalier baseball team completed an undefeated six-game homestand this week by beating Towson University in two mid-week games, 8-0 and 19-5. Now the Hoos have to go into very unfriendly territory this weekend and play a crucial 3-game ACC series against North Carolina State in Raleigh, NC.
The sudden announcement that UVa superstar and NCAA Champion Robby Andrews would be leaving the University and pursuing a professional track and field career this outdoor season got me reflecting back on my own collegiate career - and, let me tell you, life outside the college system isn't ALL roses and fistfuls of cash like it might be made out to be.
Yes, Wahoo fans: "The University of Virginia" and "Major League spring training" can be used in the same sentence for '12 and '13. In a story that received shockingly little media coverage, The Washington Post announced to the surprise of Washington DC baseball fans and Charlottesville residents that "the home selected for the Nationals is just outside of the university grounds and within a stone's throw of the campus." 
Head coach Mike London and the rest of the Cavalier football team braved wind and rain for an open practice in Fairfax, VA on Saturday. A few hundred dedicated fans battled the elements for a glimpse of the future of Virginia football, and were rewarded with an energetic, engaged practice.
Spring football is well underway in Charlottesville as the Virginia football team wrapped up day three of practice on Friday morning. The Cavs were in shoulder pads for the first time. With the shoulder pads came more physical drills. The spring has the same rules as the fall regarding full pads. Tomorrow's practice at Fairfax High School will be the fourth practice of the spring, and the Hoos will be in full pads.
Last November in my post-game grade report following the Virginia Tech loss I wrote, "Throughout the season I have focused on different aspects of special teams in the "Needs Work" segment. Saturday the season-long inconsistency and, candidly, poor play was on display across all five phases of special teams. In fairness, all three operations delivered sub-par performances against the Hokies, but special teams consistently has underperformed all year."
Virginia's baseball team suffered a sweep at the hands of Florida State in Tallahassee after having a 3-run lead in every game over the weekend series. The last two games were particularly painful as the Cavaliers squandered numerous scoring opportunities during the middle of those games and then watched FSU strike for 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning of each game to wrench victory from the Hoos. Now, UVa returns to Davenport Field so here is a brief scouting report on VMI.
Virginia football 2012 is officially underway with the first open practice of the spring. The Cavaliers hit the field at the McCue Center bright and early on Monday morning at 8 a.m. Head coach, Mike London says that the eight o'clock practices help the team get an early start to the day, and accommodate their class schedules. Read more about that and other spring practice news in this practice notebook.
Jason Williford has been coaching collegiate basketball for 12 years. Nearing the conclusion of his third year as a Virginia men's basketball assistant coach, Williford has come full circle - from UVa player to UVa assistant coach - and is exactly where he wants to be, back within the Virginia basketball program. The passion and loyalty for the Cavaliers remains evident any time you talk with Coach Williford, including during The Sabre Interview.
Okay, so if Virginia went on a magical tourney run it wouldn't exactly make the Cavs a "Cinderella" in the traditional sense, but in so many ways, the shoe would fit. The overused fairy-tale cliche conjures up thoughts of so-called "mid-major" programs overcoming the adversity of (often) smaller campuses, smaller budgets, smaller fanbases, and smaller players. Well, what about fielding a smaller team? Numerically speaking, that's exactly what the Hoos are faced with this Friday.
Late-game comebacks were on display at Davenport Field in every exciting game against Virginia Tech this past weekend in the first ACC baseball series for both teams. The Cavaliers won the "comebacks" contest 2-1 and the won the series as a result. Now Virginia (9-5-1) welcomes Marist College from Poughkeepsie, NY, to town for two mid-week games on Tuesday and Wednesday, both games starting at 5 p.m.
The Virginia men's basketball program earned its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since the 2007 event on Sunday. The Cavaliers received one of the 37 at-large bids to the Big Dance as a No. 10 seed in the West Region where it will meet No. 7 seed Florida from the Southeastern Conference. The contest is scheduled for Friday in Omaha, Nebraska.
For the first half of Tuesday's game against JMU, the pattern looked all too familiar to the Virginia baseball team this year. Get an early lead and then give it up in the middle innings due to a combination of self-inflicted woes and timely hitting by the other team. But, then the Cavalier offense exploded for 11 unanswered runs over four innings to rout James Madison 14-6.
Now the Hoos begin ACC conference play with three games this weekend against Coastal Division foe Virginia Tech at Davenport Field.
The one constant to date for the 2012 Virginia baseball team has been its inconsistency. Now the Cavaliers head to Harrisonburg for a return matchup with James Madison on Tuesday at 4 p.m. No one was satisfied in the first game between these two in-state rivals in Conway, SC, because it ended in a rare 4-4 tie after being called in the eighth inning due to heavy rain and poor playing conditions.
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