Going out this weekend?  Have fun.  Here’s what the rest of us will be watching on television …

Friday night:

• If you can slip out of work in time and make it to the local pub, you can catch No. 15 Ohio State taking on No. 12 Cal in the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, which is set to tip-off at 5 p.m. and will air on ESPN2.
• Even if you missed the OSU/Cal match-up, you’ll be able to see No. 4 UNC vs. No. 24 Syracuse which directly follows OSU/Cal on ESPN2 at 7 p.m.
• Don’t get all caught up in UNC/Cuse to forget that there is still some other quality programming on; you really need to utilize the “go back” function on your remote control … Seinfeld comes on Fox 19 (CVille) at 7 followed by an episode of The Office, then Tosh.0 comes on Comedy Central at 8 and 8:30.
• If you’re still awake after the UNC/’Cuse game and missed it this past Tuesday, FX is re-airing this week’s Sons Of Anarchy episode.

Saturday:

• On a national scale, this weekend is lousy for college football match-ups with only one game featuring two ranked teams.  However, there are plenty of good college football games starting at noon to keep you glued to the couch well before UVa’s game vs. Clemson at 3:30.  Ohio State/Michigan, though significantly less exciting than previous years, is always a fun game to watch.  UNC/BC and Duke/Miami are also set to kickoff at noon for those following the ACC race.
• If you feel the noon football games really aren’t doing it for you, don’t forget the UVa men’s basketball team hosts Oral Roberts at 2pm in the JPJ, and that might be worth leaving the couch for … at least for an hour or two.
• UVa/Clemson kicks off at 3:30 on ABC, wahoowa!
• The Cal/Stanford game (the only one with two ranked teams) starts at 7:30 and can be found on the Versus channel.  If that game is a downer, flip over to Kansas @ No. 3 Texas, which starts at 8 p.m. and airs on ABC.

Sunday:

• Football, FOOTBALL, FUTBOL!! Sunday’s line-up is loaded with football … and even a little “foot-ball”.
• The Redskins travel to Dallas to take on the Cowboys at 1 p.m.  Colts @ Ravens and Falcons @ Giants also start at 1.
• If it’s European football you prefer, you should head over to Klöckner Stadium at 1 p.m. and watch the UVa men’s soccer team host Bucknell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• After you get home from the soccer game, pop on CBS for the start of the Jets/Patriots game which kicks off at 4:15.
• The Eagles travel to Chicago for the Sunday night game, set to kickoff at 8:20 p.m.
• If you’re feeling a little “football’d out” on Sunday night, don’t forget that a new episode of Family Guy comes on Fox at 9 p.m.

If you’ve followed my viewing guide, you will have spent about 70 hours in front of the TV, taken in a UVa men’s basketball and men’s soccer game, and hopefully ingested about 20,000 calories worth of Doritos, Pizza Hut, beer, fried chicken and nachos in the process … nicely done.

Here is the injury report for the Cavaliers’ game at Clemson on Saturday:

Out
Raynard Horne (back)
Torey Mack (ankle)
Tim Smith (back)
Marc Verica (head)

Questionable
Vic Hall (hip)

Probable
Kris Burd (shoulder)
Darren Childs (neck)
Matt Conrath (ankle)
Colter Phillips (leg)
Jameel Sewell (shoulder)

All remaining players on the Virginia roster are available to participate. Please note the status of an injured student-athlete’s ability to participate can increase or decrease between the time this report is issued and game time.

Key:
Probable = Virtual certainty will be available for normal duty
Questionable = 50-50 chance will not play
Doubtful = At least 75% chance will not play
Out = Definitely will not play

With such a varied reaction to the Hoos performance against the USF Bulls on Monday night I decided to treat it to a true game analysis and after watching the game three times and logging every play there were some interesting trends that are worth looking at for this team going forward.

I will start by saying that with the line-up available a lot of things had to go right for UVa to win this game with USF’s inside game along with All-Big East guard Dominique Jones. Here are some notes drawn from my game report:

First Half:

- How about Mike Scott outleaping 6-11 USF Center Jarrid Famous for the jumpball, shows how athletic Scott is.

- UVa came out throwing both double teams on the perimeter as well as the corner, this successfully pushed the Bulls away from the basket and gave them some real trouble getting the ball to their post players on the block.

-Speaking of getting the ball to post players on the block, Sylven Landesberg can’t get enough credit for the job he did helping down low in this game – several times he denied and successfully defended both Famous and 6-10 Gus Gilchrist, a remarkable feat for a guy who really struggled at times last year on the defensive end.

- Mike Scott improved greatly on the defensive end from the Longwood game. In this game he correctly defended some very talented bigs, and trusted his help – both were problems against Longwood.

- UVa ran a good deal of a pretty standard motion offense in this game and both Farrakhan and Landesberg had success driving into the lane in the first half.

- With 16:56 left in the first-half Zeglinski was called for a block (that I thought should’ve been a charge) but on the play his footwork was a great demonstration of what these players are going through. When the USF player caught the ball on the wing Zeglinski starts to turn his feet to send him baseline but mid-move adjusts his feet to the correct stance to funnel the player to the middle. These guys are still working on their footwork but this game was much better than the last.

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With his team sitting at 3-7 overall, dead last in the ACC Coastal Division and the media scrutiny mounting by the day, I think it’s fair to assume that the next two games for Virginia’s football team will be the last under head coach Al Groh.  And while I could list off several other reasons why Groh does not need another season as UVa’s coach, I think it would be counterproductive at this point … he’s gone.  Period.

So where does that leave us?  In search of a coach who can lead us in the right direction and get us back to a level of respectability on the national level while maintaining the academic prestige of The University and graduating student athletes. (sounds familiar doesn’t it?)

With that in mind, I thought about all the possible candidates that would or could come to UVa and came up with a pretty interesting question that I’ve decided to pose to the rest of you…

What would you, as a UVa fan, rather see out of our next football coach: a “flashy” candidate who could take us to the BCS once or twice then bolt for greener pastures after 5-6 years of success OR would you rather see more of a “system” guy who would take more time but would eventually get us to 7 wins a year with the occasional 9-10 win outbursts?

On one hand, you could bring in a guy like a Tommy Tuberville or Brian Kelly (neither of whom I believe will get the job, but for argument’s sake…) who can generate enough “name power” to bring in some big recruits and get us back on the map before leaving us for a better job.  But on the other hand, you could bring in a guy like Mike London or Ken Niumatalolo who will probably have a losing season or two to start off before ultimately finding success with the players that fit in their system and end up staying with us until they retire (ala George Welsh).

I’m pretty sure I have a good idea of which type coach I would prefer, but I’d like to let the situation play out a little bit longer before I show my hand.  Besides, I think most fans would be happy with either one so long as they brought some “W’s” to the table … right?

Here are some things to key in on as you take in tonight’s game in Tampa-

1. Transition – USF has the guards to get out and run on Virginia, and the Packline needs to get back and settle to be effective (much like many zone looks). It’ll be an interesting choice for USF Coach Stan Heath, he may decide to push tempo, or he may opt to break tendency and slow the ball down because of…

2. Post Defense – The biggest weakness in the Longwood game came from both the Bigs and the Guards in defending the post. The Bigs struggled with angles, footwork and concept – while the guards seemed lost in their help assignments. USF has the size to really make Virginia pay down low if they are out of sync. Watch to see if Heath has his guards throw their post entries in time with the backside post, guarded by Mike Scott,  cutting high (probably Gus Gilchrist). This will force the Virginia guard that is matched up with Jarrid Famous to be temporarily isolated on the block with a 6′10 Center. Making it more difficult is that helping off of Gilchrist in the high post is dangerous as he is versatile enough to really make you pay even away from the basket – much like Alabi at FSU, Gilchrist will even pull the trigger from behind the arc if his defender sags too far. The Pack-line defense requires a good amount of guard help and when that pass heads to the block we should see the backside guard come to cut off the middle of the court while the post defender stops the baseline- forcing USF to swing it back out…

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Defense – On  D, the Packline style made its debut. On almost every possession UVa set up with Packline depth and responsibilities – there were some positives such as transition defense and the play and positioning of a few of the guards (Landesberg and Farrakhan in particular) and there were some negatives in the execution of help and baseline responsibilities. Bennett used many of these mistakes as teachable moments during the game – both during timeouts and when players subbed in and out.  Having these players able to see these mistakes on film with a teacher like Bennett should prove invaluable moving forward.

Offense – While the D unveiled an early version of Tony Bennett’s Packline, the offense rarely showed the Blocker/Mover, only giving it a few sets in each half. While the idea of a new coach coming out in his first game and attacking a smaller in-state foe with a spread offense might give some Cav fans nightmares, it worked very well for Bennett on Friday night. The team was encouraged to push the ball, look for openings in the secondary break, and then go into a 41 set (4 players on the perimeter with one post player setting up ball side). UVa’s speed advantage regularly used this look to get to the lane and either finish, or take advantage of Longwood helping and dish to the post or kick the ball out for an open 3-pointer. There were a few 32 sets, some pick and roll and some motion sets as well, but Coach Bennett kept the strategy simple and his players responded by executing fairly well and playing with confidence.

Blocker/Mover – In the first half while Mustapha Farrakahn was at the point, the Cavs ran two series out of the Blocker/Mover. In the second half, the short period in which Jeff Jones came alive occurred during a few Blocker/Mover sets – other than those 4-5 plays it was absent from the Longwood game.

Given that Coach Bennett was faced with the obstacle of introducing a new defensive style and concept, finding his rotation, and facing the pressure and expectations that come from a debut game – Bennett’s strategy fit the circumstances perfectly. It is important to remember that this was Tony Bennett’s first game ever as a head coach in which he didn’t recruit the players he was coaching.  Coach Bennett is right that this team has a lot to improve upon, but there is a lot to be positive about heading out of the first game of his tenure as well.

Here is the injury report for UVa for its game with Boston College this Saturday …

Virginia

Out
Raynard Horne (back)
Quintin Hunter (ankle)

Questionable
Darren Childs (neck)
Jameel Sewell (shoulder)
Marc Verica (head)

Probable
Javaris Brown (ankle)
Aaron Clark (knee)
Matt Conrath (ankle)
Colter Phillips (leg)

All remaining players on the Virginia roster are available to participate. Please note the status of an injured student-athlete’s ability to participate can increase or decrease between the time this report is issued and game time.

Key:
Probable = Virtual certainty will be available for normal duty
Questionable = 50-50 chance will not play
Doubtful = At least 75% chance will not play
Out = Definitely will not play

With the UVa Men’s Basketball season getting under way tomorrow night in the John Paul Jones Arena, I figured this would be the best time to get to know our first opponent of the 2009-10 season, the Longwood Lancers.  After coming off a season in which the Lancers recorded their highest win total since joining NCAA D1 competition (17), this is certainly not a game the Hoos can just show up and win.  And while I believe Coach Bennett will have his team prepared for Friday’s game, it was only a year ago that the mighty Liberty Flames came to the JPJ and walked away victorious.  So pardon me for not taking this one for granted …

Led by seventh year head coach Mike Gillian and assistants Bill Reinson, Doug Thibault and Tim Fudd, Longwood registered a +8 win total from the 07/08 season to the 08/09, marking the 18th best turnaround in NCAA D1 basketball. The Lancers return four starters from that squad in Dana Smith, Kevin Swecker, Billy Robinson, and Duran Neil.

Smith, a 6-5 combo guard, is the leading returning scorer from a year ago, averaging career-bests of 30.0 minutes, 14.8 points, and 6.4 rebounds.

Swecker, a senior guard and team captain, started 30 of 31 games last year, averaging 30.6 minutes and 10.9 points per game.  Swecker also ranked 24th nationally in Division I steals during the 08-09 campaign.

Robinson and Neil, both juniors, combined for 51 starts between the two of them last season.  Neil, who will be playing primarily point guard this year, ranked 35th nationally in assist to turnover ration (2.24) last season while chipping in 7.9 ppg.  Robinson, a 6-7 200 pound forward, provides some length and athleticism for the Lancers’ front court.

Longwood also returns three top lettermen from last year’s squad in EJ Dawson, Antwan Carter, and Martiz Washington.  Though it is unclear who will be the fifth starter of this trio, all three should see quality minutes on Friday night.

*stats courtesy of Longwoodlancers.com

So while I was helping edit Mike’s Q&A with Solomon Tat – a great read (sub required)! – I ran across a couple of old videos of Tat in high school. From a site called GeorgiaEliteMagazine.com (the home page loads really slow FYI), check these out:

• “Rock the Backboard” dunk
• Fender Bender dunk

Anyone else hope Mike Curtis finds a way to re-establish some of that athleticism here at UVa?!

On the EDGE board Wednesday night, poster 4hoova asked a fun and straight-forward question. Read the post here (sub required). The gist? What are your expectations for the football program? National Championships? ACC Championships? How many wins?

I couldn’t help but answer and I thought the thoughts belonged on the blog for any Hoo to see! Here goes …

Expectations should not be for National Championship – those are few and far between for anyone. National Championships aren’t really “expected” most places, although many schools attempt to achieve national titles. Expectations are to play at a level where you can beat the top teams, but playing for national titles is more of a dream than a reality, even for the teams that “expect” to get there.

Expectations for a new coach at Virginia would be to first get the Hoos back to where they were a few years before George Welsh left. Fielding competitive teams, and I mean competitive with the top of the conference and competitive out of conference with solid programs, like the Hoos were against VT, Texas, Auburn and Michigan. UVa has had teams that could compete at that level sprinkled in here and there. I really thought Al Groh would sustain what Welsh had build and maybe give Virginia a few more teams throughout the years that could compete at that level. Unfortunately, he really doesn’t understand the college landscape very well, particularly as it applies to overall team execution (still trying to teach the NFL way to kids right out of high school for example).

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