UVa in need of a senior moment

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On Senior Day last season, Mamadi Diane had a performance that Virginia fans won?t be forgetting anytime soon. The senior, who had been MIA, exploded for a season-high 23 points, leading UVa to a win in its regular-season finale over Maryland.
No doubt, first-year Virginia coach Tony Bennett wouldn?t mind a couple of Diane-like performances right about now.
Today, UVa (14-14, 5-10) will bid farewell to seniors Jerome Meyinsse, Calvin Baker and Solomon Tat when it hosts Maryland on Senior Day. Bennett?s bunch will be looking to snap an eight-game losing streak, which matches the program?s longest since 1962.
At this point, Bennett would probably settle for a competitive outing against No. 22 Maryland. The Wahoos? last six losses have been by an average of 17 points, including a 68-55 setback on Wednesday night at Boston College.
?I felt like we weren?t ready to compete,? Bennett said after the loss.
Maryland (22-7, 12-3), riding a six-game winning streak, is coming off a win over Duke that moved it into a first-place tie in the ACC with the Blue Devils.
Per Senior Day tradition, Meyinsse, Baker and Tat figure to get starting assignments against the Terps. Lately, Meyinsse and Tat have been bright spots ? Meyinsse for his ever-improving play and Tat for his energy and team-first attitude.
Earlier in the week, Meyinsse and teammate Will Sherrill were named to the All-ACC Academic Team. It?s the third year in a row that Meyinsse has earned the honor.

This season, Meyinsse has made some of the greatest strides of any Virginia player. The Baton Rouge, La. native has averaged 15.3 points, 6.3 rebounds in his last three games against Miami, Duke and BC. In the loss to the Eagles, Meyinsse was 6 of 6 from the floor.
?There?s an example of a guy who has paid his dues, worked hard and he?s improved,? Bennett said. ?He?s a great role model off the court, on the court. He?s just a great character kid.
?He?s just gotten better and better, and has become a bit of a presence somewhat for us inside.?

Tat, due to visa issues and a subsequent marriage that enabled him to stay in the country, arrived at Virginia with plenty of hoopla. While he never made much of an impact on the court, he certainly made his presence felt off it.
?He?s a warrior,? Bennett said. ?He?s got the best attitude I?ve seen?in all my years of coaching. He?s urging the team on and all about the right stuff. That?s why I named him [one of the captains]. I?m so glad I?ve gotten to know and experience a guy like [him].
?Even in the hard times, he?s been a voice of encouragement for our players, our staff and I respect that greatly.?
Perhaps no player has experienced as much of a roller coaster during his career than Baker. The Newport News native arrived at Virginia as a walk-on transfer from William & Mary. Through hard work, Baker earned a scholarship and was a key contributor under former coach Dave Leitao.
But this season, Baker was hurt before the season even started. When he returned, he wasn?t happy with his role on the team and let everyone know about it, which led to a one-game suspension on Feb. 6 at Wake Forest. That loss marked the start of the team?s current
eight-game slide.

Baker was a DNP against BC on Wednesday.
?Calvin?s a battler and competitor,? Bennett said. ?He?s kind of had an up-and-down season. I feel bad for him that, in his senior year, he?s had to deal with the injuries he?s had to deal with?
?He?s been through the wars.?

During the losing streak, the Cavaliers have gotten down big ? and quickly. To their credit, they haven?t completely given up in the games. However, Bennett is looking for the trend to stop this afternoon.

?I don?t know why we have to get in that spot,? he said after the BC loss. ?That?s why we made some substitutions. I?m going to play the guys that are going to fight and battle, and that?s kind of where we are.?
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Bennett looking for passion from a lackluster bunch



Tony Bennett talks a lot about character and the like to his basketball team. He has challenged them with a couple of ?gut check? scenarios.
The first-year Virginia basketball coach has tried every coaching trick in the book to get a response from a Cavalier team that may have flat-lined back in early February.
Bennett has shuffled the starting lineup, put starters on the bench, started walk-ons, gone away from his sticky man-to-man for a change of pace. He?s worn a tie, gone tie-less.
He?s chastised his team privately, he?s pushed them in practice.
Nothing.

The young coach?s frustration was oh, so evident on the sidelines in a near-empty gym at Boston College on Wednesday night when his team lost for the eighth straight time. Bennett couldn?t believe his eyes as his team committed one blunder after another.
It?s essentially the same team that drove former UVa coach Dave Leitao to the brink.

Leitao tried every tactic from locking them out of their own dressing room until they showed enough pride to earn a return to not allowing them to have their dinner boxes for a bus ride home after one road loss.
Lumped together, last year?s squad and this year?s team have gone 24-32 over the past two seasons, 9-22 heading into this afternoon?s regular season finale against the ACC?s hottest basketball team, Maryland, which has won 22 games already this season.

The question is, will Bennett get more of the same from his squad that includes three seniors playing for the last time at John Paul Jones Arena, or will the visiting Terrapins just roll to a likely win, which would allow them to finish no less than tied for the ACC regular season title?

Virginia had better bring its ?A Game,? if it can still find one because Maryland would relish in blowing the Cavaliers out of their own gymnasium.
Coach Gary Williams, likely the ACC Coach of the Year, doesn?t have any trouble finding motivation from his troops, thanks largely to senior guard Greivis Vasquez, likely the ACC Player of the Year. At least both of them have my vote.
Vasquez, sometimes referred to as the most polarizing player in the ACC, is a guy opposing fans love to hate. Heck, sometimes in the past, even Terp fans have drawn his ire.

Still, no one in the league plays harder than the flashy guard from Venezuela, a kid, who upon arriving in College Park to play roundball for one of the game?s most volatile coaches, was said to have walked into Williams? office, saluted, and said ?Reporting for duty.?
Now, that is the attitude, the commitment, that every coach wishes he had from a player. Bennett is certainly looking for that kind of passion from his team.

Last year, thanks to an inspired Mamadi Diane, who put on one of the best Senior Day shows ever by a Cavalier basketball player, Virginia found a way to bushwhack Maryland in the finale. Perhaps it will require another Diane-esque moment by some Wahoo in order to repeat the magic.
Otherwise, today is just another page in a lost cause.


If Virginia loses today it will be the team?s ninth straight setback. That hasn?t happened in Hooville since the early 1960?s.
Has Virginia basketball been reduced to that kind of insignificance?
If memory serves, former ACC commish and UVa AD Gene Corrigan once told me about those days when there was no money in the Virginia athletic department budget even though the school had been a member in the conference for at least five years.

Billy McCann was the head coach and he really didn?t have enough money for a full-time assistant coach and Corrigan either volunteered or was volunteered.

Again, if memory serves, I think Corrigan told me the Cavaliers used to travel to ACC road games in a few cars or station wagons and packed crackers and sandwiches.

That?s a far cry from how the Wahoos roll nowadays. Except for one thing. They keep losing.
When will the frustration end?