|
Written by Alex Friedman
|
|
Monday, 13 November 2006 |
 It is tournament time for many fall sports and time for home openers for many winter sports here at Jefferson’s University. One Cavalier team continued its season while another began its season on one of the highest notes in the history of the program… I’ll give you three guesses. As a new era in Virginia men’s and women’s basketball was ushered in this weekend, we at The Fanatic thought it would be a perfect time to usher in something new of our own. This week is the debut of our Big Man on Campus column (BMOC for basketball literate fans). Yours truly will attempt to cure that case of the Mondays and provide an avenue for all you fanatics out there to relive the great moments and to vote on the Cavalier athlete who had the best performance over the previous week of play. Simply read up on the candidates each week and place your vote in the poll on the main site. Got it… good… here we go:
 First up is Virginia women’s basketball sophomore forward Lyndra Littles. All Littles did this past week in two Lady Cavalier’s victories over Rhode Island 69-56 and Old Dominion 92-72 is net consecutive double-doubles. Littles led Virginia in points and rebounds in both games. She also scored 14 points on 4-5 shooting and pulled down 10 boards against Rhode Island and added 23 points on 5-9 shooting and 12 rebounds against Old Dominion. Lyndra earned ACC player of the week for her efforts on the court leading her Cavaliers to a 2-0 start.
 Next is Virginia women’s soccer sophomore defender Julia Falk. Julia led the Virginia women’s soccer team to two NCAA Tournament wins this past week against West Virginia 2-0 and No. 19 Wake Forest 2-0. Falk netted the game winning goal against WVU and added an assist to Jess Rostedt for the Cavaliers first goal (which would end up being all they needed) against Wake Forest. Thanks to the sophomore’s spectacular efforts the Cavaliers are into the sweet 16 for the second straight year where they will meet Texas A&M.
 Our last two top performers come from the men’s basketball team: Sean Singletary and Mamadi Diane. Both man played their hearts out in a comeback win over No. 10 Arizona last night 93-90. Let’s start with the floor general Singletary. Singletary was what every team wants out of their point guard… cool, calm, and collected. He ran the offense beautifully and came through at the free throw line when the Cavaliers needed him, connecting on 13-14 from the charity stripe. Sean finished the game with cramps and, oh yeah, 25 points on 5-14 shooting. Singletary also added 2 rebounds and 6 assists, only committing 1 turnover to go with his co-team leading 25 points. Singletary outplayed fellow Philadelphian and heralded Arizona point guard Mustafa Shakur and looked all the part of one of the best, if not the best point guard in the nation.
Lastly, there is Mamadi “Mo” Diane. This fanatic will admit that he was less than impressed with Mamadi’s eight turnover performance in the exhibition game against Augusta State and did not want to see him in the starting lineup. Do you want some coke to go with those words sir? I have never been happier to have been proven wrong. Mamadi came through in the clutch with his best performance in a Cavalier uniform. Mo also finished the night with 25 points on 8-9 shooting (5-6 from behind the arc and 4-4 from the charity stripe), 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Mamadi was lights out in the second half and fueled the Cavaliers’ 13 point comeback. He hit clutch three pointers throughout the second half, but none more clutch than the one he banked in with under six minutes to play to give the Cavaliers an 80-79 lead, their first lead since it was 14-12. Diane’s efforts in the win over Arizona earned him ACC Player of the Week honors, which were released Monday. Praise must go out to head coach Dave Leitao for sticking with Mamadi after his poor performance against Augusta State. There is something special brewing down here in Charlottesville and I suggest you all get on for the ride… see you in March? We may have just found our third scoring option to get us there.
Alright fanatics, there they are--your BMOC candidates for the week that was in Cavalier sports. Now get out there and vote. The loser may ask for a recount if the margin of victory is less than one percent of the total number of votes cast.
|
Alex Friedman |
| About the author: |
| Alex is a second-year Psychology major, with minors in college sports, fantasy sports, and poker, preferring college basketball, fantasy baseball, and no-limit texas hold'em. While UVA is Alex's school, he still has a strong allegiance to the Longhorns of Texas, having lived in Austin and watched Ricky Williams run into the record books. He spends most of his weekends watching his Longhorns and Wahoos and following recruiting online. In Alex's eyes March is the best sports month of the year for obvious reasons and Vince Young is a saint.
|
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 06 September 2007 )
|
