Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 17, 1992 TAG: 9203170125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Nobody held a gun to Virginia's head and told the Cavaliers whom to schedule. If they feel they didn't make the NCAA basketball tournament because they were overscheduled, then it was their own fault.
Like a lot of coaches whose teams didn't make the field, UVa coach Jeff Jones swears he has one of the top 64 teams in the country. Nobody is disagreeing with him. But that's not the issue here. Did Virginia have one of the best 34 teams available for at-large selection?
On some nights, yes. But the Cavaliers had too many games when they couldn't shoot, most recently in the ACC quarterfinals against Georgia Tech, when they were 20-of-81 (24.7 percent) from the floor.
Could Virginia beat South Florida or Temple or Iowa State, some of the so-called "bubble" teams that made the field. Not shooting 24.7 percent. I'm not sure UVa could beat Wisconsin-Green Bay or some of the other teams that didn't make the field, and I don't think UVa will win at Villanova in the National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday night.
How typical that Virginia didn't think University Hall would be available, then learned it would, but still couldn't get a home game. The Cavaliers should be safely out of the tournament for the start of spring football practice March 26.
When it comes to priorities in the Virginia athletic department, I'm not sure men's basketball is in the top three. When asked earlier in the season about absenteeism at the UVa games, athletic director Jim Copeland responded, "That's an ongoing problem."
Sure, it's an ongoing problem. When's he going to do something about it?
But enough Copeland-bashing for now. There's more than enough blame to go around. Try and figure out who is responsible for Virginia's schedule and it's like Charles Town at post time, so many bucks are passed. Even Wake Forest head coach Dave Odom, a UVa assistant from 1982-90, has his fingerprints on it.
But the schedule wasn't so impossible that the Cavaliers couldn't have won 16 games or more. This is a team that lost nine games in which it was leading or tied in the second half - coaching has to figure into that somewhere. UVa is 19-21 in its past 40 games under second-year coach Jeff Jones.
"Is Virginia poorly coached," I asked commentator Dan Bonner, a UVa alumnus who isn't afraid to knock his alma mater, including Copeland.
"Look at the stat sheet from the Georgia Tech game," Bonner said. "They get 27 offensive rebounds, they have seven turnovers for the game and they hold Georgia Tech to 40 percent in the second half. All Virginia has to do is heat up to around 30 percent and they win the game."
Bonner says UVa lacks an offensive force in the middle, which allows opponents to guard the perimeter more closely. I think the problem lies deeper than that, that Jones has a limited offensive background and needs to spend about two weeks visiting Kentucky or Texas or some other school that puts points on the board.
Jones obviously needs to hit the road since he didn't sign any players during the early period, which looks like a bigger mistake all the time. He has placed a greater emphasis on next year's recruiting class, but by then it may be too late.
The Cavaliers are losing the leading scorer in school history in Bryant Stith and have nobody to replace him, but not even Stith escapes the season unscathed. In looking for a place where Virginia could have picked up another win, consider a 64-63 loss to Florida State when Stith missed two free throws with two seconds left.
Ah, Florida State, the newest ACC member. Copeland and his fellow athletic directors felt the Seminoles would give a boost to ACC football and that the ACC would help the Seminoles' basketball program. It turns out that Florida State basketball didn't need any help, that all it did was keep another ACC basketball team at home.
\ AUTHOR Doug Doughty has covered University of Virginia basketball since 1976.
by CNB