Groan.

Well, it's official. Al Groh has decided to return to coaching, this time as Georgia Tech's defensive coordinator.

He must really want to try to stick it to UVA.

It's amazing how much respect I've lost for this guy since that win against Minnesota in the 2005 Music City Bowl.

Meanwhile, this is great news for the Hokies. It pretty much eliminates the 2nd best team in the Coastal as any sort of threat to their dominance.

I wonder if the man in the mirror is still happy with himself.

Hoos in First!

Virginia basketball currently stands at a very solid 10-4 overall and an downright unbelievable 2-0 in the ACC. It's early, but we're alone in first place in the conference!

Much of the basketball team's recent success can be attributed to the natural, organic improvement of our young players. But make no mistake -- without Tony Bennett's systems and focus on playing sound defense and protecting the basketball, we'd be nowhere right now. Case in point, the 2008-2009 team went 10-18, 4-12 in the ACC. It averaged 12.4 assists to 14.8 turnovers. The Bennett-coached 2009-2010 team is currently sitting at 10-4, 2-0, and has averaged 14.1 assists against just 10.2 turnovers. Teams must beat us, instead of just waiting for us to beat ourselves.

This year's basketball team, under Coach Bennett's guidance, has become more than the sum of the parts. It has truly become a team.


Here's a quick player-by-player look at what I've seen so far this season. For a fun twist, the players are ranked in order of what I believe to be their overall value to this year's team.

1) Sylven Landesberg
Landesberg continues to be the primary go-to scorer for the team (averaging 17.4 ppg), but he has really stepped up in terms of getting his teammates involved, especially recently. His defense continues to be a liability, but his shooting percentage from the perimeter has risen dramatically to 40% (up from 31% last year.) His best asset might be his accuracy from the free throw stripe -- he's shooting 81.7% from the line, and getting there roughly six times per game. If this improvement continues, I fully expect to see Syl bolt for the NBA after this season.

2) Mike Scott
He missed a few games with a high ankle sprain, and his absence made the heart grow fonder. Scott is our best interior player, and is really our only low post scoring threat. His rebounding has always been solid, and this year he's close to averaging a double-double -- 13.6 points and 8.4 rebounds. The team usually struggles without Scott on the floor, so his improved defensive footwork, body control, and focus on sound positioning has really been a boon to the team. As he avoids ticky-tack fouls, he avoids leaving games prematurely, and we're able to put a reliable big man on the floor in crunch time.

3) Sam Zeglinski
Sammy is our 3rd-most valuable player? Really? I absolutely think so. One of Coach Bennett's best decisions this season has been to move Sammy over to more of a shooting guard role, freeing him from some of his ball handling duties. Sammy has drained 34 threes as a spot-up shooter so far this season, hitting from the bonusphere at a remarkable 50% clip. Best of all, his shot seems the most sure when the team needs it the most. It's always key to have a clutch three-point sniper, and that seems to have become Sammy's role with this team. His defense has also improved, and while he'll never be mistaken for a defensive stopper, he's been doing a fine job of "heating up the ball" from the point in the pack-line defense.

4) Mustapha Farrakhan
Easily our most improved player, Mu has emerged as our best on-ball defender. Coach Bennett's decision to put Mu on UAB's Elijah Millsap basically won that game for the Hoos. Additionally, Mu has stepped up as a scorer and also has seen some time running the point.

5) Jerome Meyinsse
His numbers have been modest, but his widebodied presence has been vitally important to a team that is extremely thin in the frontcourt. His defensive effort in the Georgia Tech game was a critical piece of the Cavaliers' success on Wednesday night. Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors should have been able to pound us to death, but Meyinsse prevented that from happening. He's a solid defender, a solid rebounder, and gives the team 17 solid minutes each game.

6) Jeff Jones
He's embraced his role of "instant offense" coming off the bench, and that's been a very big thing for the Hoos this season. JJ is stroking a nice 45.2% from downtown, and his confidence seems to be growing.

7) Jontel Evans
I like to think of the freshman as the straw that stirs the drink. He's always good for a lift, as he's a tenacious defender and attacks the basket on offense. As he continues to improve, I imagine he'll take over as our starting point guard, making Sammy's move to the 2 a more permanent thing.

8) Calvin Baker
Currently standing in Evans' way is the grizzled old vet, Calvin Baker. Baker earned a spot in UVA fans' doghouse by being careless with the ball and committing way too many boneheaded turnovers in the two years prior. This season, he's cleaned up his game considerably, with an impressive 31 assists against just 10 turnovers. (Compare that to last year's miserable 78 assists against 70 turnovers. Horrendous for a point guard.) Baker is finding his teammates this season, and he hasn't lost any of his unconventional scoring ability.

9) Assane Sene
His lack of progress has been frustrating, and many fans wonder why he isn't playing more. The answer is simple -- he still hasn't gotten comfortable in the pack-line. Until he does, he won't play major minutes unless matchups dictate. You have to play strong fundamental defense in order to see the floor for coach Bennett. Still, Sene has a ton of talent, shows flashes of being great, and can really block shots with the best of 'em. If the light flickers on for him, look out.

10) Will Sherrill
This walk-on has given us some solid minutes this season, and his three point shooting carried us to a comeback win over Cleveland State in Cancun. He's too slow and unathletic to play big minutes against ACC foes, but he puts forth a good effort and plays with strong fundamentals.

11) Tristan Spurlock
Like Sene, Spurlock just isn't "getting it" on the defensive end of the floor. His plus athleticism could be an asset to the team on offense, but he's too much of a defensive liability and too careless with the basketball to play for Coach Bennett. Sadly, Spurlock is a prime example of how Leitao players sometimes don't fit with Bennett's system. Don't be surprised if Spurlock transfers after this season.

The other players have only seen time in mop-up duty, so I won't bother listing them. The above eleven players are basically our team for this season.


Trying to keep my expectations in check, but winning six more games -- including one against UNC Wilmington -- would put us at 16-13 and in the NIT mix. A major step forward from last season's disaster.

(And I hate myself for thinking and typing this, but...) going .500 the rest of the way would put us at 18-11 and 9-7 in the ACC, and likely on the NCAA bubble. I seriously doubt we'll battle our way to that point, but we're really looking pretty good right now.

Saturday's game is crucial. A win over Miami would put us at 3-0 and would serve notice to the ACC: Virginia basketball is back.

The remaining schedule:
Miami
UNC Wilmington
@ Wake
Virginia Tech
@ UNC
NC State
Wake
@ Maryland
@ Virginia Tech
Florida State
@ Clemson
@ Miami
Duke
@ BC
Maryland

My prediction is that we win six more (including UNCW) to get to 16-13, 7-9 ACC heading into the ACC Tournament.

I'm really liking the progress we're making under Coach Bennett.

GO HOOS!

Welcome Back!

I'm back from my holiday hiatus with a HUGE piece of news --- as per Jeff White, Ras-I Dowling is returning to UVA for his senior season. While he didn't have a great season in 2009, his return adds a blue-chip NFL-caliber talent to our secondary, and actually improves two positions, as Ras-I at corner allows Rodney McLeod to stay at safety. I'll stack our starting secondary -- Dowling, McLeod, Chase Minnifield, and Corey Mosley -- against anyone in the ACC. What a fantastic [late] Christmas present! GO HOOS!

20 > 0

In case you missed it on Sunday, UVA won the national championship in men's soccer.

I'm not a soccer fan (at all), but I am a fan of seeing the Hoos win national championships.

We've now won 20 national championships. Six in men's soccer, six in men's lacrosse, three in women's lacrosse, two in boxing, two in cross country, and one in track & field.

I'm guessing at least one of baseball, men's lacrosse, and/or tennis brings home a championship this spring.

Compare this record to that of Virginia Tech. Zero national championships. A much better football team than ours in recent years, but zero national championships.

Suck it, Hokies.

The 4-3 Defense

Many college football fans are used to seeing the 4-3 defense. In fact, other than places in which they run "gimmicky" 4-4, 4-2-5, or 3-3-5 defenses, I'd say most college football fans are used to the 4-3. Why, then, is Mike London's announced switch from Al Groh's 3-4 back to the traditional 4-3 an exciting thing for UVA fans? Well, there are a few reasons.

1) At any level, a 3-4 base defense requires a huge, strong, behemoth nose tackle to anchor the scheme. These players must be short (generally less than 6-2) and squat, and must weigh 320+ in order to win the leverage battle at the point of attack. These types of players are extremely difficult to find coming out of high school, and since the nose tackle position is usually responsible for handling two blockers at the point of attack, the 3-4 nose isn't a stat-heavy position on the field. There isn't a lot of glory for the nose tackle. Therefore, it was nearly impossible for Virginia to recruit and develop ideal nose tackles... so in many ways, Groh's 3-4 defense was flawed from the drop. The 4-3 defense requires two defensive tackles instead of just one, but the 4-3 DTs can be a bit taller, and will often only be responsible for one gap, meaning they'll be more free to attack the quarterback in the pass rush, meaning there will be more stats and glory to go around. It's just a fact of football -- it's easier to find a 4-3 tackle than a 3-4 nose.

2) Defensive ends in the 3-4 function in many of the same ways tackles function in the 4-3. Here at Virginia, we were recruiting "big" ends (think Chris Long) or "small" tackles (think Nate Collins) in order to find our 3-4 DEs. Even though the two examples I just provided were star players at UVA, the 3-4 end is not usually a difference-making type of position. They are on the field to occupy blockers and free up the linebackers to make plays. Think about the Pittsburgh Steelers -- the NFL team largely credited with the current rise of the 3-4 defense. Are the Steelers' ends considered stars? Meanwhile, 4-3 defense ends are one of the true glamour positions on the football field. These guys are responsible for generating the pass rush out of the base defense, and typically end up with the sacks. The 4-3 can work with smaller defensive ends, as long as they have an explosive first step and the speed and quickness to attack the backfield. In other words, it's much easier to recruit 4-3 defensive ends than 3-4 defensive ends. Also, defensive ends in the 4-3 have the potential to be able to play much earlier in their college career, as they require much less physical development.

3) Outside linebackers in the 3-4 are generally the same as the defensive ends in the 4-3, in that they are responsible for generating the pass rush in the base defense. That being said, the 3-4 OLB is asked to drop back into coverage much more often than their 4-3 DE counterparts, so here is yet another situation where more development time must be invested before the players can see the field. Al Groh typically recruited high school defensive ends (like Clint Sintim and Darryl Blackstock) and shaped them into outside linebackers for his 3-4. Often, those former DEs turned OLBs would have [understandable] lapses in coverage, leading us to sacrifice big plays in the intermediate passing game. The 4-3 generally calls for less size and pass-rushing ability from its OLBs, providing another opportunity to put increased levels of speed on the field. In fact, big safeties can often be easily converted into weakside OLBs for the 4-3.

4) 3-4 inside linebackers are fairly equivalent to the 4-3 middle linebacker. The one exception is that [once again] the 3-4 calls for bigger/stronger players whereas the 4-3 can function with a smaller, faster MLB.


So across the board in the front seven, Al Groh's 3-4 defense usually meant sacrificing speed in favor of size, strength, and power, and was a more difficult system to sell to recruits. ("We're recruiting you, stud defensive end, to come to Virginia and learn how to play outside linebacker. Why would you want to go to Virginia Tech and play the same position you've been playing the last four years?")

I would argue that despite Groh's relative success on the defensive side of the football, Virginia was usually lacking one or two "playmakers" who could change games around by making explosive plays on that side of the ball. Yes, we usually kept scores low, but how often did the defense force turnovers and score touchdowns? Yes, Virginia's defenses were solid, but how often were they spectacular?

I'm not trying to bash the 3-4 defense. It's a great defense, where the opposing team has to constantly guess where the blitz is coming from. But without the right types of players and athletes in the front seven, the explosive blitzing Steelers-esque version of the 3-4 faded into a milquetoast version of a glorified 5-2 defense. Good enough... but never truly great. As Virginia struggled to recruit huge nose tackles and dynamic defensive ends willing to learn a new position, Groh had no choice but to go with nose tackles that were too small, and OLBs that weren't really elite-type talents. Therefore, the OLBs had to creep closer and closer to the line of scrimmage, and voila! We were running a 5-2 and calling it a 3-4. Too much size, too much thinking, too much reacting, and not enough attacking the offenses' weaknesses.


So Mike London is committing to the 4-3 base defense, and I think it will quickly prove to a boon to the Virginia defense. We'll be able to field faster players at DE and OLB, and we'll have a defense that can pin its ears back and attack... and hopefully generate a bunch of game-changing plays. As for recruiting, there will no longer be an absolute need to land the elite size/speed/strength pass rush specimens, as we can take smaller guys who can speed rush and also bigger guys who can push the pocket, and then play them at the positions which they are already comfortable. Instead of forcing the square pegs into round holes, we can just take the players and let them be who they are. Instead of watching our players being bogged down by indecision and overthinking

I love this move back to the 4-3. It worked for George Welsh, and it will work for Mike London. Hell, it works for most effective college defenses. Gone is Al Groh's paralysis by analysis, and while he'll be lauded for his effective defenses here at UVA, I'll slightly mourn the what-could-have-beens of players like Blackstock, Sintim, Aaron Clark, and pretty much any other players this decade that were forced to learn a new position in order to play in Groh's front seven.

Hitting the Ground Running...

Here are some of the choisest nugs from Mike London's first few days as UVA's new head football coach, in no particular order...

1) It's official. Coach London is switching the UVA defense back over to the traditional 4-3 scheme. This is great news, as hulking nose tackles and size/speed/strength specimens at outside linebacker are difficult for a school like Virginia to land in the recruiting wars. Operating out of a 4-3, London can now recruit smaller pass rushers at defensive end and big safeties to bring in and develop into outside linebackers. We'll be able to put more speed on the field via recruiting the 2- and 3-star caliber athletes that are typically in our wheelhouse. The initial switch could be difficult, as we lack numbers at defensive tackle, but the change is indeed a good one for the long-term potential of a Londonesque attacking defense.

2) According to the guys at CavsCorner, Noel Mazzone and Jim Reid are the best first-guesses for the offensive and defensive coordinator positions. That being said, it sounds like Mike London might be willing to wait out the Atlanta Falcons' season in attempt to lure Bill Musgrave back to his old post here at UVA. Remember the razzle-dazzle of the 2002 season? It was all Musgrave. No doubt that these coordinator picks are almost as important as the choice of head coach. London is great, but he is woefully inexperienced as a head coach. He needs experienced and effective coordinators supporting his mission.

3) Believe it or not, Coach London has already landed his first recruiting commitment as head coach of the Cavaliers, and it's at a position of dire need. 3-star quarterback Michael Strauss (from Miami, FL) said, "In the first few minutes of talking with him, I knew that I wanted to play for [Coach London]." Strauss is fully qualified and could enroll in January, which would be great as it would give him the spring practice sessions to stake his claim for our wide-open starting quarterback position. Strauss has been described as a heady passer who throws a very accurate ball and who has some wheels with which to scramble. I've heard comparisons to Ken Dorsey, Charlie Frye, and Riley Skinner so far...

4) If you missed Coach London's [impressive] press conference yesterday, bang it here for the full transcript. It's a long but exciting read.

5) It has been confirmed that Anthony Poindexter has been retained by Coach London and will join the new staff. Wayne Lineburg and Bob Price have also been mentioned as having the potential to return. It is expected that London will bring several members of his staff at Richmond with him to Charlottesville, including former UVA standout Byron Thweatt and offensive line coach and former UVA graduate assistant Bill Polin. Vincent Brown (linebackers) and Jeff Hanson (defensive line and associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at U of R) are two others who are being eyeballed. Hanson, a grizzled vet, has been coaching college football for almost 30 years.

6) The 2010 schedule is coming into focus. We already knew about the ACC slate (@ Duke, BC, GT, and VT and home against Maryland, UNC, FSU, and Miami) and the home game against Richmond and on the road against USC. Jeff White just announced that home games against VMI and Eastern Michigan have been added to the mix. It's interesting that we're playing two FCS teams, but we need wins of any sort (see also: "schedule cupcakes!") Only one of the FCS wins can count toward bowl eligibility. And won't it be weird/gut-wrenching for Coach London to face the Spiders in his first game as UVA's head coach?

Press Conference -- 1:00 PM Today!

Visit virginiasports.com at 1:00 PM today to watch the press conference announcing Mike London as Virginia's new head football coach!