NCAA MEN’S MIDWEST REGIONAL : Virginia Keeps Defying Odds

The cheap way to describe today’s Midwest Regional final is to go the cute route and say, “Yes, NCAA tournament, there is a Virginia.” But the Cavaliers, fourth seeded and forgotten at various times of the season, deserve better than that.

Defending national champion Arkansas, which faces Virginia this afternoon at Kemper Arena, can’t go a day without mentioning some sort of slight, either real or imagined. They lead the country in victories and being victims--or so the Razorbacks say.

But the team with the legitimate complaint is Virginia, which has gone about two rounds farther in the tournament than anyone imagined, except, of course, Virginia. Even then, it took a while before the Cavaliers were convinced they belonged.

“We got (a team) that works extremely hard and does a good job, but we don’t have the All-American,” Virginia Coach Jeff Jones said. “We don’t have the big names like Rasheed Wallace or (Jerry) Stackhouse, or (Randolph) Childress, or Travis Best or James Forrest or Joe Smith or on and on. I think because of that, even once we started playing and started beating some of those teams, it was kind of easy to overlook Virginia.”

Admit it, when you filled out your office pool you didn’t have the Cavaliers in the Midwest final. Who knew?

“Before we entered the tournament, there was a lot of talk about us not being as good as we were,” Virginia guard Curtis Staples said. “Even though we tied for the regular-season (Atlantic Coast Conference) championship, everybody still overlooked us, as if that were some type of luck or something like that. Everybody talked about all the other teams but us. When we made it to the Sweet 16, I can remember seeing numerous television shows talking about everybody but us, showed clips of everybody but us. We take those things to heart. But we keep winning.”

It isn’t often a team actually becomes better after its best player gets hurt, but that’s what happened with the Cavaliers. Shortly after star guard Cory Alexander, Virginia’s best ballhandler, penetrator and one of its best perimeter shooters, broke his ankle Feb. 8, the Cavaliers won 11 of their next 13 games, including tournament victories over Nicholls State, Miami of Ohio and then Friday night’s semi-shocker over top-seeded Kansas.

Virginia isn’t exactly the most watchable team of all time. It’s doubtful that gym rats around the country are copying Virginia’s patient offensive schemes. Arkansas’, yes. Virginia’s, no.

“No, I don’t think so,” Razorback guard Clint McDaniel said. “They’re wanting to play our style, instead of (Virginia’s) pass, pass, pass and shoot.”

Maybe so, but the Cavaliers have won 25 games this season, the most since the days of Ralph Sampson, a former Jones teammate. They also are one victory away from their first Final Four appearance since 1984.

“Personally,” Arkansas’ Scotty Thurman said, “I’m not surprised.”

Thurman knows Virginia power forward Junior Burrough, who is as close to a Corliss Williamson clone as possible. Similar size (6-8, 242 vs. 6-7, 245), similar power post moves (keep all hands and feet away from the heavy machinery), similar biceps.

“Junior Burrough . . . he’s one guy, but sometimes he plays like three,” Thurman said.

And this from Burrough, when asked how he’ll contain Williamson: “I’ll let Chris guard him.”

Nearby, junior center Chris Alexander stared straight ahead. He wasn’t smiling.

Arkansas (30-6) has its own problems, mainly finding a way to win a game in regulation, to say nothing of stopping Virginia’s backcourt of Staples and Harold Deane.

But Arkansas is Arkansas--NCAA champion until further notice. Virginia is . . . well, nobody is exactly sure what Virginia is, except they’re playing for one of those precious Final Four spots.

“It never stops,” Staples said. “We could probably win a national championship and somebody would write we’re still not that good.”