Bad News for the 'Hoos

I'm a University of Virginia graduate, so this is bad news from my standpoint: Pete Gillen is retaining his position as head coach. What's worse is the lame justification that Athletic Director Craig Littlepage (former UVa assistant basketball coach and former Rutgers head coach) gave for retaining Gillen: "The team did turn the corner competitively -- with a young team, practicing and playing without one of its best players, playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the country.''

Littlepage's statement cannot withstand scrutiny. Virginia's usual starting lineup consisted of two juniors, a senior and two freshmen; the 2003 Syracuse team that won the NCAA Tournament and went 30-5 (disclosure: I've been a Syracuse fan since childhood) had two sophomores, two freshmen and a senior in its starting lineup and its top bench players were a junior, sophomore and a freshman. Granted, one of those frosh was Carmelo Anthony, but Gillen has had his share of big-reputation recruits (Elton Brown, Travis Watson; the oft-injured Majestic Mapp should not count against Gillen) and has one NCAA appearance in six years. Gillen has rebuilt UVa to NIT level, someone else needs to build it to NCAA level.