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Feb. 29, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Since the time he can first remember, Virginia guard Keith Friel has always played thegame of basketball. The eldest son in a family rich with basketball tradition, he lived in ahousehold where the game played a big part of his everyday life. His father, Gerry Friel, playedcollege basketball at SUNY-Oswego and served as the head coach at the University of NewHampshire for 20 seasons. Growing up a coach’s son, Keith Friel acquired a great appreciationand love for the game at a young age, and once he began playing, he literally neverstopped—that is until almost two years ago.
Following his sophomore season at Notre Dame, Friel decided to transfer to Virginia. Forthe first time since he was a young boy in New Hampshire, he made the conscious decision tostep away from competitive basketball. Knowing he would need to sit out a year, due to NCAAregulations, before playing at Virginia, Friel packed his bags and moved to Charlottesville prior tothe 1998 fall semester. Though he practiced with the team all season long, he suffered throughan agonizing year-long layoff from competitive play that proved to be one of the most challengingperiods of his life.
“It was much harder than I ever anticipated it would be. [As a transfer] you expect to sitout, but going into it you can still only imagine not playing a sport you have been playingcompetitively your whole life,” said Friel. “It is a year academically, but it is really more than ayear sitting out, reduced to only practicing and not playing basketball competitively.”
Though unable to take the floor last season, Friel did get an up close and personal look atACC basketball as he watched every game from the Cavalier bench while showing support for hisnew team. This year, making the switch from the Big East (the conference he played in while atNotre Dame) to the ACC has proven far less difficult than adjusting to a newly revitalized Cavaliersquad. Entering this season, four new freshmen and one junior college transfer were added to ateam he had yet to play with in a true game situation. Throughout the majority of the year, Frielhas faced the challenge of getting acclimated to actually playing with his teammates, both newand old. “The ACC is the same type of competition as in the Big East, except that the Big East ismaybe a little more physical. I think the toughest part of adjusting is there are now so many newfaces and all these people I have never played with before,” said Friel. “Practice situations areone thing, but in games everyone is new to me, so them getting used to my game and me gettingused to everyone else’s game has taken a while.”
While he and his teammates adjust to one another, Friel must also contend with theACC’s tough defensive play as many conference teams take extra measures to prevent him fromgetting open shots. At Notre Dame, he led the Irish in three-point field goal percentage and evenset a school record for three-pointers in a game during his sophomore season, with eight againstSyracuse. His reputation as a deadly long-range shooter followed him from the Big East, andnow, after playing the first half of the ACC schedule, it remains no secret that teams throughoutthe league continue to guard him closely. Often unable to get the open looks he needs to settleinto a nice shooting rhythm, the 6-4 junior at times struggles to become involved in the Cavaliers’offense and must find other ways to help the team.
“If you’re a marked man there is nothing much you can do about it. You just try to getyourself open and hope others can help you get open. For me to do well, I need to get a couple ofopen looks and then have guys keep looking to get me the ball,” said Friel. “We have a lot ofweapons, so I am really not looked to very often. It is definitely a different role for me.”
Friel is not the only member of this year’s young, talent-laden squad still trying todetermine how he best fits within the team. With the addition of five new players this season, boththe veterans and the newcomers had to learn to accommodate the unique playing style of theirteammates. Still not fully accustom to playing with one another, everyone on the team continuesto discover how their own play can benefit the strengths of the other players. “For me, my rolehas always been shooting the ball, so if I am open, I hope I get the chance to knock down ajumper,” said Friel. “We have a lot of guys that have never played with me, and we really havenot played much with each other. Knowing how to get people the ball when they are open and inwhich particular situations only comes with time and experience.”
Yet, getting the necessary playing time and game experience needed to help buildcontinuity between the players is often difficult. Unlike last season, this year’s Virginia squadboasts an extremely solid roster with a very deep bench, and there now exists a healthycompetition for playing time. Like many of the Cavaliers’ top reserves, Friel feels a certain amountof pressure to produce every time he checks into the game. He fully understands there oftenexists only a small window of opportunity for him to make an impact during the game. With only ashort time to find his rhythm and little room for error, Friel knows several other extremely capableplayers waiting in the wings.
“Everybody is in a tough position, because we all have to go in and produce,” said Friel.”It is especially tough being a shooter, because you have to get your touches and get your legswarm [to get into the flow of the game]. Defenders are keying in on me, and I need to get it goingquickly or else I will come out. If I don’t get something done in a five-minute span, who knowswhat is next. It is a very tough situation, but it is the one I am in, and I just need to deal with it andwork through it.”
For Friel and the rest of the 1999-2000 Cavalier squad, this season has represented atime of extreme growth and maturation. Friel’s first active season at Virginia has not come withoutits fair share of obstacles and challenges, yet the chance to once again take the floor andcompete for one of the ACC’s top teams makes it all worthwhile. He, along with five other players,donned the orange and blue for the first time this past fall, and though the team continues to makeminor adjustments, they have made great strides since November. Friel knows it only remains amatter of time before this team comes together and fully maximizes the talents each of its playershas to offer.
“I think it is slowly getting there, but it is definitely tough, because we play 10 guys in eachgame. You can just see the progress the team has made from the first few games to where weare now. We are a much different team and a much better team,” said Friel. “I think it has a lot todo with the experience of the guys playing together and getting used to each other. Our chemistryis not where it needs to be quite yet, but things will only progress as the season goes on.”