Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
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cavalier sports AUGUST 2021 9 HOO'S TALKING Being on the U.S. Olympic Team coaching staff has always been an insane dream of mine, but it's all because of the athletes. I just get out of their way. A lot of people are like, 'Hey, you put four people, five people on the Olympic team!' I'm like, 'I didn't put anybody on the Olympic team. They put me on the Olympic team!' I'm on staff because of what they did. I'm fortunate I got to work with those athletes." — UVA swimming head coach Todd DeSorbo on being named an Olympic assistant for a squad that includes four of his athletes (UVA Today) around grounds Player has been part of championship teams at the NCAA, G League and NBA levels — Virginia's Mamadi Diakite. The 6-9, 228-pound forward — who also happened to win a state title on the high school level with Blue Ridge School in 2015 — played on the Cava- liers' national title-winning squad in 2019, appeared in 12 games for the eventual 2021 NBA G League cham- pion Lakeland Magic and saw ac- tion in 14 contests for the 2021 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks. Diakite also became the first Guinea native to earn an NBA championship ring with the Bucks' 4-2 series win over Phoenix in the NBA Finals. 5 College World Series appearances for the Virginia baseball pro- gram since 2009. UVA is one of just four schools with at least five during that stretch, with Florida (seven) the only one with more. 10 Non-conference games on Virginia's 2021-22 men's basketball schedule, highlighted by matchups against 2021 Final Four participant Houston and Iowa in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Date Opponent Nov. 9 Navy Nov. 12 Radford Nov. 16 at Houston Nov. 19 Coppin State Nov. 22-23 Legends Classic* Nov. 26 Lehigh Nov. 29 Iowa Dec. 7 at James Madison Dec. 18 Fairleigh Dickinson * Includes Northwestern, Providence and Georgia, and will be played at Newark, N.J. 18th 18th Was where Pro Football Focus placed UVA third-year Brennan Armstrong in its ranking of all 130 starting quarterbacks in the Football Bowl Subdivision. "He notched an 85.2 passing grade and a 78.8 rushing grade en route to a 90.3 overall mark on the year, which was his first year as a starter," PFF noted. "He also delivered several im- pressive throws under pressure. Armstrong ranked behind only Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler [No. 1 on the list] for the high- est big-time throw rate when under duress in the country last season." 19 19 People with UVA ties are taking part in the 2021 Olympic Games July 23-Aug. 8 in Tokyo. That includes one current Cavalier coach, one incoming student-athlete, four student- athletes who were active in 2020-21 and 13 alumni (see the list below). Through July 29, the Cavalier contingent had already earned seven medals — swimmer Emma Weyant won a silver in the 400 individual medley; rower Hannah Osborne achieved a silver in the women's double sculls; swimmers Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass captured the silver and bronze, respectively, in the 200-meter individual medley; swimmer Paige Madden was part of the silver-winning 4x200 freestyle relay; and rowers Susanne Grainger and Christine Roper helped Canada to a gold in the women's eight. That already eclipses the previous school record for medals in one year (five in the 2008 Beijing Games). Athlete (Graduation Year) Country Sport Joe Bell ('19) New Zealand Soccer Francisco Caffaro* Argentina Basketball Todd DeSorbo^ USA Swimming Kate Douglass* USA Swimming Susanne Grainger ('13) Canada Rowing Inge Janssen ('10) Netherlands Rowing Paige Madden* USA Swimming Filip Mihaljevic ('17) Croatia Track & Field Aisha Mohammed ('09) Nigeria Basketball Kristine O'Brien ('13) USA Rowing Meghan O'Leary ('17) USA Rowing Hannah Osborne ('14) New Zealand Rowing Christine Roper ('13) Canada Rowing Becky Sauerbrunn ('07) USA Soccer Emily Sonnett ('16) USA Soccer Dawn Staley ('92)! USA Basketball Mike Tobey ('16) Slovenia Basketball Alex Walsh* USA Swimming Emma Weyant# USA Swimming * Competed for UVA in 2020-21; ^ assistant coach; # incoming first-year; ! head coach Virginia starting quarterback Brennan Armstrong was a major surprise in 2020 and is not quite getting the respect he deserves. The dual-threat quarterback made plays through the air and on the ground, and ended his first year of starting with an elite PFF grade [90.3]. … One would imagine there will be a lot of mechanical refinement this offseason, and if he can improve his ball placement, he is a sleeper pick as one of the top ACC quarterbacks in 2021." — Pro Football Focus on UVA third-year quarterback Brennan Armstrong 1 PHOTO COURTESY MILWAUKEE BUCKS