Few things make me angrier than those few UVA basketball anti-fans who attend games consciously hoping for a Cavalier loss, so as to expedite the firing of head coach Pete Gillen. In 2004, I found these traitors even more despicable than the obnoxious supporters of visiting Georgia Tech, UNC, Wake Forest, and Arizona, top-15 programs that Gillen knocked off to demonstrate that he was still the man to take the Hoos to national prominence. And while I still wish the anti-fans could be forever banned from University Hall, over the past few weeks I have regretably come to concede the validity of their central argument. Gillen must go.
It seems like ages since everyone thought PG was the leprechaun who would soon lead the Cavaliers to a pot of gold in the Final Four. In fact, it was only as far back as the 1998-99 season (Gillen's first) when he earned a surprising 4 ACC wins with a dismantled UVA team made up mostly of walk-ons. Within two seasons, he had transformed University Hall into one of the NCAA's most feared arenas, a place where fans would camp for days to see the Wahoos routinely arrest, convict, and execute members of the unholy triumvirate of Duke, Carolina, and Maryland. A friend of mine once agreed that Pete Gillen had reached demigod status in the Charlottesville pantheon (with Dave Matthews being one of its gods, and Thomas Jefferson, of course, being its Zeus).
But even those golden days had their signs of discontent. UVA could never manage to steal a quality win on the road, and it was a sure bet to flounder in the first round of any post-season tournament, whether it be ACC, NCAA, or even the lowly NIT. The problems became more apparent in later years. Home wins were no longer a guarantee, and even members of basketball's special-ed class, like Virginia Tech and Ohio, could give the Cavs a run for their money. Still, I could always come up with a legitimate, Gillen-unrelated excuse for these shortcomings. Keith Jenifer was an NBA level player in all areas but basketball-playing ability. Majestic Mapp injured his knee more frequently than Kim got kidnapped on 24. The refs were sexually attracted to Coach K.
This season, no such excuse is to be found as ACC losses pile up. The Cavs have a pair of competent point guards, and had regained some momentum following a series of miraculous wins at the conclusion of last year. Yet, they still seem to lack discipline either on or off the court, and they've shown once again that they are unable to build on the successes of the previous year. Freshman players in the mold of Derrick Byars and Chris Williams show potential, then remain stagnant or get worse as time moves on. While the academic suspension of Jason Clark is currently giving UVA problems under the basket, the team had already fallen into a downward spiral before the big man's departure.
As long as it's taken me to say it, the best way for a loyal fan to support UVA basketball these days is to root for a new coach.
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2 comments:
i resent your attack on chris williams. he was a great player and always played hard. he underachieved only in his fourth year, while still managing to average about 14.5 points a game. He averaged over 15 points a game for his career with lots of other intangibiles. Don't compare him to Byars who avered 7 points in his best year.
Chris Williams was a fantastic UVA player, and I'd love to still have him on the team. However, he was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 1999, yet he never ended up making the all conference 1st team. While he was a much greater asset to UVA than Derrick Byars, he's a pretty classic example of a Gillen player who started out strong but never took his game up to the next level.
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