Message:
About three years ago (2005), I posted this on Laxpower in one of their threads
about all time great teams. I've added some additional thoughts subsequently.
There have been a number of All Time UVa Teams suggested by various posters
and all of them have merit. Not wanting to do anything else this morning, I decided
to take a stab at mine. I've had the good fortune to see most of the UVa players
since 1970, mostly in person and some on TV and video clips, so my edition of the
'best' will be skewed accordingly. I'm not going to go back much before 1970
because it was a different game then with slightly different rules and much different
equipment. So here we go with the attack (statistics apply to UVa only).
Attack
Ball Handlers (or the assist men)
1. Jay Connor (2x1st AA; NCAA champion; 58 assists in 1972; UVa record, HOF)
2. Conor Gill (2x1st AA; NCAA champion; 3x All ACC & ROY; 2nd all time assists
at UVa)
3. Kris Snider (2x All ACC; 3.35 APG & 4.9 PPG for career-UVa records)
4. Tim Whiteley (2x All ACC & ROY; 159 career assists; UVa record; 244 pts, 2nd
all-time))
Scorers (putting it in goal)
1. Doug Knight (2x1st AA & POY; 3x All ACC; 165 g; 249 pts, 1st all-time)
2. Michael Watson (2x1st AA & PPOY, 4x All ACC & ROY, POY; 142 g, 2nd all-
time; 240 pts, 3rd all-time)
3. Matt Ward (1x1st AA & POY, Tw.; 2xNCAA champion; 3x All ACC; 139 g, 3rd all-
time)
4. Kevin Pehlke (3x All ACC & ROY; 138 g, 4th all-time; 239 pts, 4th all-time)
All Around (can't put your 3rd best Dman on them)
1. Tom Duquette (1x1st AA; NCAA champion; top 10 g, a, pts, HOF)
2. Tucker Radebaugh (1x1st AA, 2x All ACC & POY; NCAA champion; 11 in g, pts)
3. Roddy Marino (1x1st AA & PPOY; 4x All ACC; 11 in g-played midfield early in
career, HOF)
4. Drew McKnight (1x All ACC & POY; NCAA champion; top 10 in g, a, pts)
I've left some pretty good players off the list, but these were the top attackmen as I
see them. You can take one player from each group and have a great attack, or you
can make your team from any three players from the list. I've given a little bit of
weight for playing on NCAA championship teams as well as NCAA and ACC honors.
All of the players on the list except Jay Connor and Tom Duquette made all ACC
which came into existence in 1977.
Personal observations. Kris Snider was the best passer I ever saw play at UVa bar
none. He played on some pretty bad teams (in 1976, 77 & 78 UVa had 4 AA
citations and he was mentioned 3 of the 4 times) and was always getting double
teamed when he had the ball. He still managed to average over 3.35 assists per
game for his career. You let him play as many games as Whiteley and he might
have recorded 211 assists, a staggering number.
Jay Connor was non-stop energy and he still holds the UVa single season record for
assists at 58 in 1972. He was not quite as good a pure passer as Kris Snider but he
always seemed to get ball to someone in a position to score. He played with some
pretty good players so that helped.
Tom Duquette was as smooth as they come. He could run, pass and score with the
best of them. He was and remains my all-time favorite UVa attackman. He's been a
pretty good high school coach too sending Drew McKnight to UVa.
Roddy Marino was also very smooth, but he played some midfield (1st year) before
moving to attack which kept his overall scoring totals down a little. It should be
noted that he was a 4x all ACC selection (3x at attack and 1x at midfield). One of
the best players ever at UVa.
I'm not going to comment on the 1990s and beyond players except to say that
Knight, Watson and Gill were three of the very best attackmen in the history of the
game. Right behind them are Pehlke, Whiteley, Radebaugh and McKnight. It's
interesting that many of these young men played together, enhancing their
reputation as scorers and passers.
This leaves Matt Ward. It's hard to place him higher on the scorer list because he
follows two of the best ever in Knight and Watson. It would be hard to pick one of
these guys if pressed to make a choice, but his play this past year has to give him
some special consideration as being one of the best ever at UVa. The fact that he
was a four year starter and played on two NCAA championship squads attests to
that. Of course he had some special teammates as well.
Addendum 2008: I really like Ben Rubeor as a player. I think if he hadn't been injured
in 2007 around playoff time and also this past year, he would have made my list as
scorer and points man. He reminds me most of Tom Duquette in that he could score
and pass. He was also very good at getting his shot.
Danny Glading and Garrett Billings are also pretty good attackmen, not as flashy as
some of the others on the list. Much will be learned about them next year. Win
another national title and score 60-70 points each, and you have the makings of
additional names to my list above.
I want to make a couple of additional comments. The UVa teams of Dom Starsia
have been pretty competitive, at the top echelon of the sprot. This lends itself to
recognition and awards. Aside from the 1970-1971-1972 UVa teams (2 national
titles, but only the 1972 NCAA title), the UVa teams were at a level below JHU,
Cornell, Syracuse, North Carolina to name four of the best during this time, and on
parr with UMd, Navy and several others. They had some very good players but not
the national recognition of Dom's more recent teams. Also, the equipment is so
much better, which make the records of those who played before the 1990's even
more impressive. It's easy to name the best attack unit of the 1990's, they played
together for three years. In the decade of the 2000's, I'd say to date the unit should
be made up of Gill, Rubeor and Ward (subject to the year to come).
UVa has probably had as good a group of attackmen as any school in the country in
the same timeframe. It's hard comparing cross-generational players since the game
has changed so much, but the great players stand out regardless. Any one of the
players mentioned to date in this thread would be worthy of the recognition given
them. In the end it's always a matter of choice.
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