Okay, I think I've come to the conclusion that all of these prank calls are from copy cats. People have read about the others, so they search out numbers for the conference calls (which are very easy to find if you try), and then harass a coach they don't like. Either that or some kids are going to put them all out on a CD like the Jerky Boys

Anyway, here is audio of the latest "hit" on a Virginia Media conference call with UVA Coach Al Groh....

Again not very imaginative, and that sounded like a bad Special Ed impression, but it was enough to get the call canceled. My favorite part had to be the moderator flipping out in the calmest way possible. If someone cursed at me and threatened to arrest me, I'd probably just laugh. But if someone told me chastised me and told me that I was, "going to upset a lot of people," I might just feel a bit guilty.

So who wants to take bets on who the next target is? I'm thinking the Big Ten is probably heavily guarded, so I'm taking the WAC.

(Thanks to Anon for the audio)

Tied at 61 and we get it, the chick has a Duke needs more time sign. Enough with it. Mike Patrick claims to be a psychic on the Singletary jumper.
UVA wins the tip, and Singletary is fouled while shooting. He hits both. Nelson misses an open 3, but McClure hustles for the board, and dishes to Paulus, who is fouled, giving Cain 5 and Paulus 2 FT's. There is now a "Paulus Sucks" chant. He cooly hits both as well. Reynolds limps off of the court. Singletary misses, but a big rebound and putback for Diane. Foul on Pettinella, who replaced Cain. McRoberts hits both and we're tied again. Foul called on Thomas, giving him 5. An iffy call as he batted the ball out of Pettinella's hands. He is a 26% shooter from the line, misses the first one badly, and somehow makes #2. Paulus misses a long 3 and UVA calls timeout with a 1 point lead and 2:33 left.

Reynolds is checking back into the game. Henderson steals the ball from Diane. A reach in foul called on Joeseph. Henderson splits them. Singletary airballs the three pointer, and Duke can take the lead, but they don't, McRoberts misses. 1 minute left, Reynolds drives and A GREAT BLOCK by McClure, saving the lead. Duke calls timeout with 30.2 left and 8 on the shot clock. Their gameplan appears to be give it to McRoberts and hope he scores. Reynolds is on the bench. Scheyer misses the shot, and UVA can hold for the win. They call timeout with 16 seconds left. Lets see if Singletary or Reynolds gets the last shot. Singletary drives and HITS THE SHOT with 1.0 left. Wow, what a great shot. Duke will need another miracle here.
McRoberts to inbound. The pass goes to Paulus, open 3 for the win...NO GOOD, hits back iron.

Wow just a great game, as UVA storms the court. ESPN is now down on its knees for the Cavs but what amazes me is that people still storm the court for Duke this year. No matter what, a great game, showing how good UVA is, and how much better Duke needs to be by next wednesday, as they take on UNC (and I'm liveblogging!) Thanks for reading, all 4 of you.

Sam

Virginia's gettin the ball to start, and within 10 seconds, Lance Thomas has picked up foul #3, and Mamadi Diane hits his 3rd trey of the night. The Lithuanian guy with the long name picked up foul #3 for UVA. Thomas hits layup number 3, and Diane hits a running jumper to cut it back to 5. Paulus gets away with an intentional foul on a fast break, but Reynolds hits a short jumper. UVA has all of the momentum now, but Diane throws it away, and Duke goes right down for a Thomas layup +1. He makes it, but UVA scores and the crowd is back into it. UVA will get the ball under Duke's hoop when we return. Duke leads 41-37.

We're back. Patrick is still bitching about the no call on the intentional foul. Reynolds airballs a floater in the lane. Virginia runs a great inbounds play, but Harris misses the layup that would have cut it to 4. Reynolds hits a wide open jumper, Duke takes a TO and leads by 4.

Nothing happens for a while, until Reynolds drains a 3, they're within 1. Duke has the ball down by UVA's basket and leads 43-42.

UVA gets the ball back and can take the lead on this possesion. They get two shots, but can't put it in. After that sentence, I am obliged to remind you that "That's What She Said Day" is on February 15th. McRoberts hits a layup, and Singletary misses the tying 3. McRoberts gets the ball in the post and hits a hook shot in the lane, causing UVA to call a much needed TO. McRoberts blocks a layup, but UVA gets the rebound and scores, back within 3. Patrick reminds us that he gets to watch people like Singeltary for free. Asshole. Shot clock running down, so Paulus fires up an airball, but Scheyer tips it in, Duke by 5. Singletary gets an assist, then McRoberts commits a foul on the offensive end. TV Timeout, Duke by 3.

Virginia can tie it here, and Reynolds is fouled shooting a 3 pointer by Scheyer with the shot clock running down. Hits the first...hits the second...and hits the third. Tied at 49. McRoberts comes right back with a layup, giving him 13 points. Singletary misses the shot, but there's a loose ball foul on Duke. Diane misses badly and Thomas snags the rebound. McRoberts is double teamed and finds Scheyer for 3...good! UVA misses again and Duke's going to slow it down now. Cain called for his 2nd foul on a block, and now Duke will be in the 1 and 1 with the next foul. And somehow a handoff around a screen turns into an offensive foul on Thomas, giving him 4. Reynolds hits a runner in the lane, exciting the crowd again. Nelson silences them with a 3, but a UVA player is down and can't get up. It was Reynolds, who went down after his made shot. Reynolds has 17 and is going to get looked at. Meanwhile, Duke leads by 6. McClure blocks a short runner, and he has been a pretty good 5th/6th man all year for Duke. They slow it down again. McRoberts drives and gets fouled, and he made a great shot! Duke leads by 8 with 3:42 left.

McRoberts misses the free throw, and Reynolds is back in as he hits another shot. Diane gets a steal, and Nelson commits a foul. Reynolds hits both FT's, they're back within 4. Duke needs to score to silence the crowd, and they might. McRoberts draws a foul from Cain, his 4th, and he'll get 2 FT's, and he hits them both. Reynolds bricks a long 3, and there's a tieup. Possesion arrow goes to Duke. I would rant about how I hate the possesion arrow in college hoops, but I'm too bored. Meanwhile, the ball is tipped off of Paulus, and UVA gets the ball. Only Paulus' second turnover. UVA calls timeout. Someone holds up a witty sign, causing ESPN to run the same graphic about the Clemson game that will be a fixture in Duke games to come. Foul on Scheyer with 2:05 left. Reynolds hits both again. UVA needs a stop badly, and Singletary knocks the ball out of bounds, Duke will keep it. Scheyer long 3 no good. Virginia can make this a very exciting finish if they can score here. Reynolds drives and a block is called, giving Reynolds two more shots at the line. He hits both and he is now 10-11 from the stripe. Timeout UVA.

ESPN shows a montage of Duke losing this year-classy. Duke kills 20 seconds, then calls timeout with 55.2 left in the game. This gives time for Len Elmore to pick the Colts on sunday. Now there is a discussion of the fans, and nobody cares. Reynolds has scored 13 in a row for UVA. Paulus misses a floater. UVA can tie or take here...and Singletary drains it! Tied at 61. Duke to hold for 1. McRoberts misses, and the clock runs out. We're going to OT!

OK, here are some stats from this game:
Duke:
Scheyer has 2 points, so I really did well on that pick
Nelson leads the team in points (9) and rebounds (3)
Lance Thomas scored thier first 4 points but hasn't shot the ball since
Shooting 55.5% from the field

UVA:
Singletary has 9 points, Reynolds has 5. Combined they are 1-5 from 3 point range.
Shooting 39.3% from the field

be back in a minute with the exciting conclusion to this game

Ok, I'm going to try and get a post in at every TV timeout (4 minutes).

We're playing at the John Paul Jones Arena-so expect a lot of Led Zeppelin references tonight. Awful Announcers: Mike Patrick and Len Elmore

The teams trade layups before UVA player to watch JR Reynolds bricking a 3, and Lance Thomas nailing his 2nd layup for Duke, and then Duke player to watch Scheyer gets a foul call on him. I was really on fire with those picks...yeah I was as Scheyer and Reynolds both score on the ensuing possesions, Duke by 3-make that 6. Paulus has hit 2 deep 3's, figuring that if you're shooting, you can't turn the ball over.
Virginia nails a 3, then Paulus feeds Nelson for another deep 3. With all of these long range shots, it's like a game of NBA Live...without my friends throwing the controllers at the TV and demanding a rematch. TV Timeout-Duke-15, UVA-9.

Paulus throws up a crazy shot as the shot clock runs down and hits it. That's a shot you don't even try in HORSE. UVA misses a dunk, and David McClure hits an 8 footer (yes he got it off). Virginia gets a fast break and fearful of missing the dunk, he gets swatted by Gerald Henderson. Cain follows with a dunk, and McRoberts hits a short floater with the foul, FT good. Duke treis an alley-oop to McRoberts, which fails but they get the foul call. Another TV Timeout-Duke leads 24-16. Isn't this exciting?



Duke turns the ball over, but UVA can't convert. Nelson airball's a 3 pointer-can you guess what the fan's chanted? Reynolds misses another floater, and surprisingly, no one's said anything incredibly stupid yet. McRoberts tries to beat the double team and fails miserably, which leads to Singletary nailing another 3, UVA's back within 1 (see, i told you). Nelson hits a mid range shot and Duke leads 17-14, TV Timeout.

I have the game on mute and I'm listening to my Led Zeppelin songs on iTunes, so tell me if I miss any gems in the comment's section. Singletary scores again (maybe I should have picked him) and UVA is within 6 and has the ball back...before they throw the ball away and Nelson dunks it. Fast break, but then a double dribble is called, something I have not seen since 1996. Duke gets a few more hoops, now lead by 11, and UVA calls a timeout. Duke-30, UVA-19.
Nelson dribbles baseline and somehow keeps his feet inbounds for a reverse layup. Coupled with a long pass out of bounds, Duke leads by 11, 32-19 going into the last TV timeout of the half.

Even Duke's mistakes are working out, McRoberts tries the most predictable move a big man can try, and misses, but McClure comes in to get the tip in. Cain dunks for UVA, followed by another long 3, and they're back within 8; 34-26. McRoberts gets the ball in the post coming off of the timeout, and pivots 3 times but avoids traveling or a 3 second call and puts in the 3 footer. Henderson draws a charge, but Duke can't get a good shot off and gives up the ball. 7'1 Brian Zoubeck comes in and quickly draws a foul, UVA is going back to the line, they split the shots and Duke has the ball with 30 seconds left, holding for 1 shot. It's an 8-2 UVA run, and UVA commits a dumb foul, but had 1 to give. Duke does indeed hold the ball for one shot, and don't even get it off.
It's halftime, Duke leads 36-29. Be back with some stats soon.

Welcome blog readers, Duke Haters, Duke Sympathists, and maybe some Virginia fans! I'm back to give you the game of the night (on ESPN) between Duke and UVA. I'll give you some pregame breakdowns, so you can be fully prepared for this mid-season conference matchup.
DUKE:
Record: 18-3 (5-2, 4th place ACC)
Ranked: 8 in AP, 10 in ESPN/USA Today
Leading Scorer: DeMarcus Nelson-14.5 ppg

Player to Watch Tonight: Freshman G John Scheyer, who leads the team in ACC PPG (a very meaningful stat), and is the team's latest white 3 point shooter. He may have the arduous task of guarding Sean Singletary, and more importantly, may have to take over at point guard after Greg Paulus starts turning the ball over.

VIRGINIA:
Record: 13-6 (5-2 4th place ACC)
Ranked: NR in both polls
Leading Scorer: Sean Singletary-19.0 ppg

Player to Watch Tonight: Senior G J.R. Reynolds, who is 2nd on the team in ppg at 18.2, and will get plenty of looks, considering all of the pressure that Duke will direct towards Singletary. This game could affect his draft position...oh who am I kidding? It's his last chance to beat Duke on his home floor.

Prediction:
UVA will definetly put up a fight in this game, and expect it to be a good first half. After that, start looking for the UCLA/Oregon game.
Duke-83
UVA-64

More coming at tipoff