Don’t expect any long-winded conversations with Virginia starting cornerback Ras-I Dowling. If a question can be answered in 20 words, Ras-I can do it in 10.

John Swofford said Tuesday morning that if some think the ACC has a post-expansion image problem, he doesn’t share that opinion.

When Clemson rewarded Tommy Bowden with a lucrative contract during the winter, expectations soared as high as his new salary. Bowden had flirted with an offer from Arkansas until Clemson opened its coffers.

After the grades from the first semester were compiled, Sewell was placed on an academic suspension for the next two consecutive semesters, meaning he would miss spring practice and this coming season. So, Groh and his staff were forced to find another quarterback and return to a different style of play.

Grove went out like a champion, made the birdie for a final round of 1-under par 69 and a two-shot victory with a three-day total of 3-under 207.

The city championship has been the most unpredictable of all the local major tournaments over the past two decades.

If you’re wondering why Virginia was eager to host the NBA Top 100 Camp the past two years, look no further than Sylven Landesberg.

Brian Skatell has a story to tell, and he has his fingers crossed that The Golf Channel’s “Big Break” series will be the avenue.

Thirty-one golf balls sailed simultaneously down the 14th fairway at Farmington Country Club, each a memory of the late Bill Battle and what he meant to those assembled to celebrate his life.

The good doctor served not only the University of Virginia’s athletic teams and the general community here over that span, but also made regular trips to William & Mary, Richmond, VMI, even what was then Ferrum Junior College many moons ago. He would travel the state helping high school and college athletes recover from serious injuries suffered in their respective sports.

Albemarle High School’s baseball team was accustomed to bouncing back from adversity. In fact, the Patriots thrived on such situations.

While many of his accomplishments, coming to John Kennedy and PT 109’s rescue during World War II, helping Kennedy win the presidential election, serving as ambassador to Australia, running a major corporation, running for governor of Virginia, and many other deeds, have been well-documented in this newspaper the past two days, we knew Battle more from the golfing perspective.

When Virginia gained back-to-back commitments from football prospects in the talent-rich Tidewater recruiting area this week, more than a few eyebrows were raised.

Beware of Ben Rubeor, Virginia’s star goal producer on a Cavalier lacrosse team headed back to the Final Four.

There’s a note that’s been sitting on Dom Starsia’s desk for almost two years, one of his keepsakes from the 2006 national lacrosse championship that Virginia won under his direction.

When sixth-ranked UMBC, billed as the hottest lacrosse team in the nation with 11 straight wins, came to rain-soaked Klockner Stadium on Sunday, needless to say Virginia was ready.

More than 20 years had passed since Gus Gerard last set foot in Charlottesville. That’s when his life began to crumble as a result of his addiction to drugs and alcohol - an addiction that cost him his family, friends, and a small fortune accumulated as a pro basketball player.

When Brad Butler starred at right tackle for Virginia’s football team, he was dead serious about the game. However, he wasn’t a one-dimensional guy.

When Jim Dombrowski came to the University of Virginia in the early 1980s, he figured his future was in medicine and not on the gridiron.

Virginia’s players claimed they blocked any thoughts about Duke from their minds all week leading up to this weekend’s ACC Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. First, the Cavaliers had to deal with Maryland, a team that had beaten them soundly a month ago at College Park.

Perhaps it was God’s plan to reunite the “West Virginia Rifles” one more time last month in Charlotte at the ACC men’s basketball tournament.

The tight end is a forgotten soul in some of today’s aerial circus offenses.

Lacrosse, which has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, has become a real hit in Charlottesville. A school-record crowd of 7,579 showed up for Virginia’s home victory over Johns Hopkins that day.

When Dave Leitao walked out of Virginia’s locker room the night that the Cavaliers’ basketball season came to an uneventful close last week, he chose his last words carefully.

When incumbent quarterback and two-year starter Jameel Sewell was declared academically ineligible after UVa’s loss in the Gator Bowl, the focus turned toward Peter Lalich, one of the nation’s most highly sought-after prospects two years ago, and his fellow quarterbacks.

The phrase student-athlete gets thrown around rather loosely in our society these days. While covering sports for three decades, this columnist has interviewed some “student-athletes” that couldn’t spell ‘cat’ if you spotted them the ‘a’ and the ‘t.’

So ended Virginia’s basketball season with a 96-85 setback by the Braves from Peoria, a team that was better than its 20-15 record may have suggested.

When the smallest player on the floor launched a confident shot from beyond the arc with seconds remaining in overtime, it proved to be the dagger that ended, or perhaps just delayed, Virginia’s return to the NCAA’s Sweet 16.

Groh appeared to completely understand where his critics were coming from when he was grilled about the Wyoming massacre and the state of UVa’s football program. POST YOUR COMMENTS

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering what scalpers will be asking for UVa-Duke tickets on Thursday ...