2004-05 Year in Sports Report Card

Now that the 2004-05 school year in sports is over for Virginia, it’s time to hand out the report card. Why not? After all, UVa isn’t one of those schools that strives to succeed in one or two sports. Its stated goal is excellence in all 23 varsity programs. And since all 23 were fully funded (in terms of NCAA allowable scholarships) for the first time this year, let’s see how each one fared.

No, that doesn’t mean we’ll judge them by impossibly high standards. It’s not fair to expect excellence in every sport. But we’ll take a look at each team’s record and achievements, especially in the postseason, and weigh them against things like caliber of competition, expectations, injuries, inexperience and other mitigating circumstances. Then we’ll assign a grade that’s part objective and part subjective. (If anyone wants to complain about their grade, my office hours are from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m.)

In alphabetical order, here we go…

Baseball

After a breakthrough season in Brian O’Connor’s first year as head coach, it looked like the baseball program would take a step back in 2005. With little power in the lineup and less late-game magic, the Cavaliers lost 10 of their first 15 ACC games. But they surged toward the end, finishing .500 in conference play, advancing to the ACC championship game and making the NCAA tournament field for the second straight year. Though they lost both their NCAA games by a total of three runs – continuing their struggles in close games – they maintained the program’s forward momentum and set the stage for greater things to come.

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