This week's New York Times Magazine profiles the city of Virginia Beach, Va., labeling it the "new Motown" because of the creative rap and R&B music the area has recently produced. Just a three-hour car trip away in Charlottesville, Va., the Virginia basketball team (12-7, 2-8 in the ACC) sits in last-place in the ACC, seemingly desperate for the energy and innovation that comes so naturally to the state's musical acts.
It is hard to romanticize the recent past of the Cavaliers' basketball accomplishments. After producing three-time national player of the year Ralph Sampson and two Final Four appearances in the 1980s, Virginia has not won an ACC tournament game since 1995 and the school has not had a first-team All-ACC player since 1992. The arrival of Pete Gillen for the 1998-99 season salvaged a below average campaign in what was supposed to be a horrendous five months, but the witty coach has only led the Cavaliers to one NCAA appearance since that optimistic campaign.
"We always are concerned about [team morale]," Virginia head coach Pete Gillen said. "I think we have character, and we'll play hard of these next few games."
But the question remains as to whether Virginia is a faltering program that lacks talent, or if the Cavaliers just have the bad luck of being just a half a step behind the rest of the best conference in the nation? Unfortunately for the Duke basketball team (20-1, 9-0), which takes on the Cavaliers at 7 p.m. tonight in Cameron Indoor Stadium, it appears that Virginia is a gifted team that can beat nearly any squad in the country, and has merely had the bad luck of bearing the brunt of the ACC's juggernauts over the last few years.
"It should be apparent that we have the best league this year and people are going to lose games," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We should always have a fear that it could negatively impact because things that we have done locally in the ACC are sometimes not embraced as that difficult of things nationally, and I don't know why that takes place."
Gillen points this reality out to his team in hopes of motivating his squad.
"I've been telling the guys there are some great teams in the league that have losing records in conference play," Gillen said. "We're a couple games behind people. We can regroup. We have seven games left. Our morale, our attitude and our confidence level is a big thing. We have great kids, we just have to keep their morale up."
Despite their record, the Cavaliers are talented both on the perimeter and the interior. Junior center Elton Brown leads Virginia in scoring and rebounding, dropping 15.1 points per game and grabbing 6.3 rebounds a contest, good enough for eighth and ninth, respectively, in the ACC. Devin Smith leads the Cavalier backcourt, as he hit his first three three-pointers against the Blue Devils in Duke's 93-71 win in Charlottesville January 11. Smith is averaging 12.5 points per game, which is all the more impressive when one takes into consideration that he does not practice because of a back injury.
"The fact that he's playing shows unbelievable character and leadership," Gillen said.
Despite Virginia's last place stature, The Duke players do not deny the talents of the Cavaliers.
"Virginia's a talented team," junior Daniel Ewing said, who will play tomorrow despite being somewhat under-the-weather. "They have good perimeter, good inside. They're a confident team that can play with us."
The Duke players think the biggest challenge for tonight's game is to not come out flat in the same way they did against Clemson Sunday. With a poor showing from the Cameron Crazies, the Blue Devils were tied at 27 with the other last-place team in the ACC with three minutes to go in the first half. Krzyzewski has numerous techniques to motivate his players, but senior captain Nick Horvath admits that it is nearly impossible to start games against teams like Virginia and Clemson with the same vigor as in a game against a program like North Carolina.
"[Krzyzewski] tries to say that 'Duke is playing, and when Duke plays it's an important day,'" Horvath said. "Again, you say that but then again obviously there are going to be some games that are more intense."
Ewing, however, feels Duke has learned from its slow start against Clemson, and will come out fired up against the formidable Cavaliers.
"They have nothing to lose and everything to gain...that's a dangerous team to play," he said. "We just have to take care of business. I think if we do that, we'll play a lot better game."
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