This weekend is when the Virginia women's basketball season will be defined. And for the five seniors on the squad, this is where careers are made.
The Cavaliers travel to Greensboro, N.C., where the 28th Annual ACC Women's Basketball Tournament tips off Thursday. Virginia (19-9, 8-6 ACC) has a first-round bye and, as the fifth seed, will play fourth-seed Florida State (23-6, 9-5 ACC) on Friday at 2 p.m.
The matchup against the Seminoles will be the second of the year for the Cavaliers. In Tallahassee on Jan. 31, Virginia handled a smallish Florida State team inside, out-rebounding the Seminoles 47-30 en route to a 77-62 victory. Senior guard LaTonya Blue, who was named to the All-ACC Defensive Team as well as the Second Team All-ACC Team earlier this week, led the Cavaliers that night with 24 points. The Cavaliers know, however, that they will have to look out for a Seminole team on the war path Friday.
"They're definitely going to come back and want to retaliate after what we did to them on their home court," said senior center Brandi Teamer, who had 16 rebounds to go with nine points in the Jan. 31 win. "We know it's not going to be an easy fight."
Even after that convincing win, overlooking Florida State at a potential semifinal matchup with top seed North Carolina would be a grave mistake for Virginia. Coach Debbie Ryan feels Florida State, in the face of enormous hardship this year, has battled as tough as any team in the country. The Seminoles coped with two deaths on the team prior to the season.
"They have had a lot of adversity that I don't know that any team in the country could have handled as well as they handled it," Ryan said. "They sort of turned it into a spirit and a positive. They play from the heart under severely tough circumstances."
Not only against Florida State, but also for the Cavaliers to get through the ultra-competitive ACC Tournament, Ryan knows that she is going to have to rely on her seniors, as she has all year.
"I'm very proud of the fact that I can pin the success of the program right now on [the seniors]," Ryan said. "They have meant everything to us this year, and they've really done a great job of leading us, in turning this program back around."
Virginia also knows that with tournament time here and with the Greensboro Coliseum rocking, the intensity level in an especially brutal ACC conference is only going to increase.
"There is definitely a sense of urgency," senior forward Jocelyn Logan-Friend said. "People play more intensely because they know that this is the end of their season and that these games are for the championship. Players play harder, bottom line."
This weekend's ACC Tournament not only will be intense but will feature some of the best teams in the country. The ACC currently has seven teams in the top 20 in the RPI rankings and is widely recognized as the toughest conference in the country.
"This year [in the ACC], I don't know if we've had the talent and the level of competition ever in my career," Ryan said.
Ryan would know; she has coached in every single one of Virginia's ACC Tournament appearances. For her Cavaliers to make the 2005 Tournament especially memorable, Virginia has to start with a tough game against a tough Florida State squad.
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