Sabre Edge Features 
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Your source for independent coverage and discussion of University of Virginia sports
Sabre Edge Features
Virginia coach Mike London came to Charlottesville to rebuild the Virginia football program. An 8-5 record marked the first winning record for the Cavaliers since 2007, snapping a string of three losing seasons. A surprise bid to the Chick-fil-A Bowl provided a little proverbial icing. In Tony Bennett parlance, 2011 was a turnaround year. Now comes the hard part.
When football season begins in early September, Virginia will try to put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2004 and 2005. To pull off that feat, the Cavaliers will have to replace the production of many departed seniors as they face an arguably tougher schedule. What are some of the key questions for the Hoos? Who are some of the key faces in 2012? "Take 5" as TheSabre.com covers some of the top themes, names, and more on day two of the Hoo Preview.
The Virginia football team surpassed expectations in 2011 with an 8-5 record and a trip to the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Considering that the Hoos had suffered through losing campaigns from 2008-2010, it marked a welcome change for anyone fond of the orange and blue. So as UVa fans prepare for the 2012 season, what do some of the important numbers look like? TheSabre.com's annual Hoo Preview begins with a look at Virginia "By The Numbers."
Where does time go? Once, a long, long time ago, I felt like I had a lot of it. These days ... not so much. Time has been flying by for UVa football, too, with an eventful summer creating quite a bit of buzz about what is to come next. I have been dying to talk about a lot of those developments ... but oh, that whole "time" thing has gotten the best of me again. So before the summer is entirely in the rearview mirror, let's take the CliffsNotes approach and jam in as much Summer Reading into a column as we can, covering a key player at each unit on the UVa squad.
The Olympic Trials have long come and gone; the Olympic Games are here, with the Opening Ceremonies kicking off Saturday night. Team USA walked through the stadium in their Ralph Lauren suits and berets. I was not a part of it. I lived vicariously through my friends and fellow athletes through Twitter, Facebook posts, Instagram images. It was cool to see how close we, as an audience, could get to the action and it was simultaneously painful to watch. I am so happy for the men and women representing our country, but I'm also, of course, heartbroken to be home.
When Tony Bennett and company returned to the recruiting trail this week, Virginia's coaches did so with a little extra pep in their step. And why not? After all, the Cavaliers have a lot to like with their basketball program right now. Just look at the developments for the program over the last calendar year.
"The NCAA informed the University of Virginia today that sophomore quarterback Phillip Sims has been granted a waiver and will be eligible to compete on the Cavalier football team this fall." With that opening sentence in a news release Wednesday, a giant can of worms burst open as Cavalier fans awoke from the summer slumber and dove head-first into speculative frenzy. The quarterback position does that to folks.
Tom Hagan has no regrets. He doesn't regret leaving football to concentrate exclusively on baseball. He doesn't regret giving up playing professional baseball and he doesn't regret the fact that his career path is about as far away from his major as could possibly be. Today Hagan is a sports agent with CAA Sports.
The Atlanta Hawks selected Virginia forward Mike Scott with the No. 43 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft on Thursday night. Scott is the first UVa player to be drafted since Sean Singletary in 2008; Singletary went to Sacramento one spot earlier at No. 42. So how does Atlanta look as an opportunity for Scott?
Cornel Parker didn't think basketball would help lead him back to his alma mater. Or into business. Or earn him an official's uniform. Twenty years after helping Virginia win the NIT Championship, however, Parker remains heavily involved in the sport in many different ways.
For four memorable years within the framework of the University of Virginia and its unparalleled baseball program, the misnomer of the 'offseason' was littered with fall ball and Iron Cavalier competitions plus intermittent and taxing midterms and finals. In the current state of my transition from 'offseason' to pitch one, fall ball was replaced with Spring Training, classes were replaced with workouts and social time with ... more workouts.
As an admitted UVa fan, I try to put on an objective hat when covering sports for TheSabre.com but let me say it's difficult to watch my favorite club lose two NCAA Tournament games in the same day - each by a lone run with the tying run in scoring position. Brutal. That's what that is.
Top-seed Virginia advanced to the winner's bracket of the Charlottesville Regional with a 9-1 win over No. 4 seed Army on Saturday. All-ACC pitcher Branden Kline claimed the win by holding the Academy to one earned run over 5.2 innings. UVa faces No. 3 Appalachian State on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Mountaineers squeaked out a 5-4 win over No. 2 Oklahoma on Saturday evening.
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