In celebration of the Hoos’ ACC Tournament win on Thursday, I thought I’d make a quote of the day blog post. After the win, Tony Bennett gave an interview on Raycom where he said:

“Unity is a strong thing.”

For a team without star Sylven Landesberg or captain Calvin Baker, there couldn’t be a better quote to describe the total team effort that it took to defeat Boston College on Thursday.

It’s no secret that the ACC is struggling in its TV contract negotiation with ESPN. So, some of started talking about how the “superconference” idea might be the next move for the ACC and all the other conferences in the post-recession media environment.

To that end, I thought I’d toss out an idea: the ACC’s niche needs to be the “Atlantic Coast.” The league can’t compete down South with the SEC, so for TV contract reasons, the ACC should try to dominate the East Coast media markets. That would mean an expansion that could include some of the following: PSU, Syracuse, Rutgers, Navy, UConn, Army, Pitt, WVa, S. Florida, Temple. (On PSU, I would back up the Brinks truck for the Nittany Lions to get another premier football school in the conference – but acknowledge that getting them out of the Big 10 would be very hard.) With this expansion, you then create two mini-conferences (north and south) that would decrease travel costs (i.e., don’t make BC or Miami have to fly 1,500 miles each season) to lead to a championship game in Charlotte.

The point here is to dominate the CFB media markets in Florida (the ACC would have 3 of the 4 top Florida schools if it takes USF), mid-Atlantic (already have the main schools – VT, Md, UVa, Carolina schools – but would help with adding Navy), and the Northeast (adding ‘Cuse and perhaps Rutgers, UConn to BC). Also, the ACC would get a huge piece of the Pennsylvania market if it added Pitt, and take the state over if it gets PSU as well (yes, a pipe dream, I know). Also, the ACC could have a piece (or all of) the Army-Navy game, which could be a nice little chit for negotiations.

(more…)

While the loss to Maryland was heartbreaking for fans and players alike, it was also a breath of fresh air following six straight double-digit losses in which the Cavaliers were rarely in contention after halftime. Watching the Maryland tape a few times (not recommended), I was able to clear my anger over the final minute and take a look at the positives that emerged from this game, and more importantly, how they might apply to the Boston College game.

(more…)

I know I frequently – maybe not frequently enough! – link to the From Old Virginia blog … but Brendan’s stuff is just so dang entertaining! This time, I’m pointing out the recent “Rays of Light” post on the blog. Wrestling, baseball, men’s soccer, men’s lacrosse, football and basketball all in one post? Well played sir! Well played!

Here’s a snippet:

Just ponder all that for a second. It’s possible, even likely, there’s never been a point in history in which UVA athletics has been so successful as a whole. Four ACC Championships. One National Championship. Three teams ranked #1 nationally. It’s as if the gods have smacked down our football and basketball teams to balance out the success on all the other fields. Or vice versa. Because these would be truly heady times indeed if we had a football and/or a basketball (men’s, that is) team that was even remotely competitive.

Brendan’s right. This may be the most successful time in UVa athletics history … even without the two revenue programs providing any boost. There’s a decent chance that Virginia will achieve its highest ranking ever in the Director’s Cup this time around. Listen, I’m not pretending that makes up for the struggles of football and basketball. I also know some fans just don’t care about anything else. And that’s OK. But nothing is changing on the results front for football and men’s basketball right now in March. My suggestion is to enjoy the good times of the other sports while you can! We’ll deal with those other two later.

EDGE subscribers know that a running theme in the analysis articles this season has been the flex offense. Opponents have been using this set against the Hoos fairly frequently; Maryland and Boston College use variations of the flex as their base sets to begin with and both teams had great success with it in their first match-ups with UVa. The Terps, however, did not find as many easy opportunities the second time around in Charlottesville with some of the flex looks.

Virginia defended parts of the flex better (more on that later from Cvillehoops13), which brings at least a bit of hope to the rematch with Boston College in the ACC Tournament. I asked Will Sherrill about that very thing after the Maryland game over the weekend.

“Maryland runs the offense at a faster pace while Boston College is more physical and they like to post up more,” Sherrill said. “But I think definitely having played Maryland once helped us and will help us against Boston College for sure.”

If UVa can slow down BC’s flex offense AND do a better job on the boards, then the Cavaliers should be able to make the game a competitive toss-up at noon on Thursday.

This is quite a week for Virginia fans with three teams ranked No. 1 in the nation in the polls! The UVa men’s lacrosse team topped previous No. 1 Syracuse on Sunday, 11-10, to join the baseball and men’s tennis teams atop the polls. I asked Max Pomper, a senior lacrosse player, about taking over the top spot – his answer is something you’d probably get from any member of the Hoos’ three outstanding teams.

“It’s very exciting. It says a lot for our Olympic sports that we have three teams now ranked No. 1 in the country,” Pomper said. “We take a lot pride in it, but to be honest the one thing we always stress is that we want to be No. 1 at the end of May.”

So if you think it’s cool now, can you imagine how incredible it would be if all three teams won national titles this season? Here’s hoping!

Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is expected to be on today’s MASN broadcast of the Tigers-Nats spring game. It airs live at 1 p.m. (in HD!) with a replay scheduled for 7 p.m. On masnsports.com, Byron Kerr caught up with UVa coach Brian O’Connor for his thoughts on Strasburg as well as what fellow National Ryan Zimmerman meant to the Cavalier program. Check out the link for a short write-up and the audio clip!

According to a news release from UVa athletics media relations, senior guard and team captain Calvin Baker has left the men’s basketball team for personal reasons. Read the full release here.

“Calvin will miss the rest of the season for personal family reasons. A member of his family is ill and he needs to be with his family. Calvin and his family have our best wishes.”

The UVa athletics media relations office issued a news release shortly before Saturday’s men’s basketball game with Maryland indicating that “Sylven Landesberg will not play in games for the remainder of the 2009-10 season for failure to live up to his academic obligations.” Click here for the release.

Cavalier coach Tony Bennett’s quote from the release follows:

“Sylven has failed to live up to his academic obligations and will not play in games for the remainder of the season. This is a very difficult decision. Sylven is a fine young man who I deeply care about, but our players need to take personal responsibility for their academic obligations. There are standards and expectations that Sylven and every player in this program now and in the future must uphold. When they are not upheld, there are consequences.

“It’s important for our current and future players to understand it’s a privilege to compete in the ACC and attend one of the finest institutions in the country. My hope is through this action it will help Sylven and the other young men in our program understand the value of a degree from the University of Virginia and the opportunities it provides for life after basketball.”

Ken Clausen on Sunday’s Syracuse game:

“We’ve had a long week to prepare, which the whole team is grateful for. It will be the first big test of the season.”

“It’s a great test for our defense. We need to be on our best game. Syracuse is a team that capitalizes on mistakes. We know their middies are strong, very good players. We know we will have our hands full this Sunday.”

“Looking at the calendar before the season starts, there are a few games you always highlight and this is one of them. We’ve been able to maintain an attitude of ‘One scrimmage at a time’ and ‘One game at a time.’ Everyone’s excited to know it’s Syracuse week. I don’t think we’ve talked about it in the slightest earlier this season, but you had better believe that now 100 percent of our attention is being paid to them.”

“It’s an unbelievably competitive game. We have very similar styles of play, and that contributes to the mentality going into this game. We want to beat them at their own game.”

“Throughout my career we’ve beaten the eventual National Champion every season, but we’ve come up short in the end. This being my senior year, the senior class is putting the pressure on themselves. We have the potential and this is the first step in the season to prove to ourselves that we have what it takes.”