White: 'Hoos Prepare for First Clash with Hokies
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 01/25/2010
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- In men's basketball, UVa (3-1 ACC, 12-5 overall) starts a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and a senior. Virginia Tech (2-2, 15-3) starts four juniors and a sophomore.

As well as these rivals have played in 2009-10, each figures to be a bigger factor in the conference next season, particularly given the personnel losses many of their counterparts will suffer.

Duke's rotation includes seniors Jon Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Greg Zoubek, and Kyle Singler may leave early for the NBA. Maryland's top players include seniors Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne.

At Wake Forest, Ishmael Smith, L.D. Williams and Chas McFarland are seniors, and Al-Farouq Aminu projects as a lottery pick if he leaves for the NBA this year. Florida State's 7-1 center, sophomore Solomon Alabi, also be a lock for the first round.

Georgia Tech will have to replace senior Zach Peacock and could lose Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal as well, and Clemson's Trevor Booker and David Potter are seniors.

In Chapel Hill, Roy Williams' seniors include Deon Thompson and Marcus Ginyard, and Ed Davis could be a two-and-done player.

So the future looks promising for this state's ACC teams. Their focus this week, though, is on their Thursday night clash in Charlottesville.

At 7 p.m., the Cavaliers host the Hokies at John Paul Jones Arena.

"Every [ACC] game will be a fight," said UVa's lone senior starter, center Jerome Meyinsse. "That will be a fight as well. We've got to learn from this game, where the breakdowns were, and get ready for Thursday."

Meyinsse made those remarks in Winston-Salem, N.C., about 20 minutes after UVa suffered its first ACC loss. Wake Forest built a 24-point second-half lead and coasted to a 69-57 win.

"My big thing is not to be destroyed by it, but to learn from it," said Tony Bennett, Virginia's first-year coach. "It's the same if you have a big win.

"There were some valuable teaching points in that game that exposed us, and we have to be willing to really work at those and have the right kind of mindset. It certainly makes you realize that when you're not playing at a high level, that can happen in this league. So I think it's certainly a great learning opportunity, and I hope they're revved up and ready to go and want to get better and play quality basketball on Thursday."

Bennett's record in rivalry games is good. In three seasons as Washington State's head coach, he went 5-2 against Washington.

He pointed out Monday that his coach on the NBA's Charlotte Hornets was Allan Bristow, a former Virginia Tech great. Bennett's teammates in Charlotte included Dell Curry, another legendary Hokie.

BAKER BACK: He was conspicuous by his absence Saturday in Winston-Salem -- and at practice last week -- but guard Calvin Baker was on the court with his teammates Monday at JPJ.

"He's back, and we're moving forward," Bennett said after the morning practice.

Baker, a team captain, recently lost his starting job to freshman Jontel Evans. The fifth-year senior from Newport News didn't handle the demotion well, and he wasn't allowed to practice last week. Nor did Baker travel with the team to Wake.

"Coach's decision," Bennett said after the game.

Baker has started six games for the Wahoos this season. He's averaging only 3.8 points but has an outstanding assist-to-turnover ratio (3.4).

As a junior, he started 22 games and averaged 8.4 points.

Baker began his college career at William and Mary, then transferred to UVa after the 2005-06 season. He came to Virginia as a walk-on but later was awarded a scholarship.

NEW CHALLENGE: UVa struggled against Wake senior Ishmael Smith, who finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocked shots and only 2 turnovers.

The Cavaliers will face another of the ACC's premier guards when Virginia Tech's Malcolm Delaney comes to town. A junior from Baltimore, Delaney leads the Hokies in scoring and assists and is second in steals. He's hit 37.4 percent of his 3-pointers.

"We didn't do a real good job on Ish," Bennett said Monday. "He played really well and had his way with us in a number of different phases in the game. And certainly with Delaney, that's a guy who can score the basketball, very talented, and they use him in a lot of different ways.

"And so, with players like that, you just gotta do your best to make them earn the baskets, and that's what was disappointing against Wake Forest for us. While [the Demon Deacons] did a nice job, we didn't make them earn a lot of the baskets they had. Some of them were big-time plays, and some of them were just breakdowns on our part."

VIEW FROM THE OTHER BENCH: On the ACC coaches' teleconference Monday, Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg noted the rivalry's importance to students, alumni and fans at both schools.

"But it becomes a bigger game because it's a league game and both teams are having some semblance of success," Greenberg said. "Both teams are fighting to stay alive and be relevant within the league. Obviously it's an in-state rivalry, but it's also a league rivalry right now.

"It's something that obviously your kids are aware of, but it's not like we're an hour away from each other and they're seeing each other all the time.

"We understand how big a game it is, because they need to win their home games, and we need to try to find a way to break serve on the road."

UVa is 10-1 at John Paul Jones Arena this season. Tech hosts Virginia at Cassell Coliseum on Feb. 13.

SCORER'S MENTALITY: Bennett inherited an appreciation for suffocating defense from his father, Dick, for whom he played at Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The younger Bennett laughed Monday when asked how his father would have evaluated his defense.

"You know what? I was really good on the ball -- I was -- when I played," Bennett said. "I could keep people in front of me. Off the ball, I would probably stand up and rest a little bit, so I feel hypocritical when I'm all over my guys.

"I always told [Dick Bennett], 'If you expect me to go get 20 on the other end, I need to get a breath here.' That just doesn't fly now when a player tries to express that to me. So I guess I was the pot calling the kettle black."

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: UVa trailed by 19 at the break Saturday, in part because Sylven Landesberg spent on the final 12:28 of the half on the bench.

Landesberg, the Cavaliers' leading scorer, picked up his second foul at the 12:28 mark, and Bennett wanted to make sure the sophomore swingman didn't get called for a third personal before halftime.

"Offensively, he's such a threat, and people are stacking up [to stop Landesberg], you worry sometimes about an offensive foul as much as a defensive foul," Bennett said Monday.

With Landesberg on the bench, the 'Hoos did fine at first, slicing their deficit from nine points to four.

"And then it got out of hand," said Bennett, who kept Landesberg on the bench as the Deacons seized control.

"Probably, in looking at that, I think if I had to do it again, I might have slid him back in there," Bennett said. "You learn from that. But my philosophy is usually if you can keep him on the bench and keep the game intact, I would leave him on the bench and save those three fouls for the second half."

OFF THE MARK: Against Cleveland State in the Cancun Challenge, forward Will Sherrill made 7 of 9 shots from the floor, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, all career highs.

Against Wake, the 6-9 junior matched his career highs in two of those categories but fell well short in the other two. He was 2 for 9 from the floor and 1 for 5 from long range.

Sherrill wasn't the only Cavalier to misfire Saturday -- his teammates were a combined 4 for 16 from beyond the arc -- and Bennett wasn't displeased with his shot selection.

"I think you just gotta make sure you're getting good looks, and take them," Bennett said. "Now, if he had missed a few and he took a one-pass shot with a hand in the face, that's different. But these were usually where the ball was rotated or he really stepped into some good looks."

Sherrill entered the game shooting 40 percent from 3-point range.

"You just try to get a few extra reps in practice, work on your technique and be confident when you shoot it," Bennett said. "When you start becoming hesitant or rushing it, that's when problems set in.

 

Virginia’s Baker back with the team
By Whitey Reid
Published: January 25, 2010
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Virginia senior co-captain Calvin Baker is back with the team and will be in uniform for Thursday night’s game against Virginia Tech, UVa coach Tony Bennett said on Monday.
Baker missed the Wake Forest game on Saturday for disciplinary reasons.
On Sunday, The Daily Progress reported that Baker was peeved at being benched in favor of freshman Jontel Evans. On Monday, Virginiasports.com confirmed the report, stating, “Baker didn’t handle the demotion well, and he wasn’t allowed to practice last week.”
The ultra-competitive Baker, who was named a team captain just a couple of weeks ago, was supplanted in the starting lineup by Evans three games ago. In the win over UNC Wilmington on Jan. 18, Baker played a season-low seven minutes.
However, the Newport News native — who is averaging a career-low 3.8 points, but has a team-high 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio — has seemingly worked his way back into Bennett’s good graces. He practiced with the team on Monday.
“As I mentioned in the press conference after the game, it was a coach’s decision not to bring him to Wake,” Bennett said, “but he’s back with us and we’re going to move forward, and he’ll be fully participating up to this week and the game.”
Tucker doing well
Former Virginia player Jamil Tucker, who was dismissed from the team by Bennett for academic reasons on Dec. 22, is still enrolled in school. Tucker, who has been in attendance as a fan at most home games, told The Daily Progress that he plans on graduating in May.
Stand-up coach
Not very many coaches admit to making mistakes. But Bennett did so on Monday, saying he probably erred in not putting Sylven Landesberg back into the Wake game sooner. The sophomore had picked up two quick fouls in the first half. Bennett thought he could get away with Landesberg on the bench after Virginia cut the Demon Deacons’ lead to four. “I said, ‘OK, maybe we can just get into the half without him picking up a third, but then it got out of hand…I think if I had to do it again, I might have slid him back in there. You know, you learn from that.”
Shot from Greenberg
On Monday, Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg was asked during a teleconference how preparing for Virginia is different than preparing for them in years past. Whether intentional or not, Greenberg took a shot at former UVa coach Dave Leitao.
Said Greenberg: “The first thing is, obviously, they’re extremely well-coached.”
 

Virginia star Landesberg on Tony Bennett, a celebrity crush and more
Story Highlights
Landesberg's surprising Cavaliers are off to an ACC-best 3-0 start this season
Which national player would Landesberg pick to take a last-second shot?
Landesberg explains how boxing training helps him on the basketball court

The latest subject of our Hoops Q&A series is Virginia's Sylven Landesberg, a 6-foot-7 wing guard who's averaging 17.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists as a sophomore. On Monday, he hit a shot with 2.2 seconds left to beat UNC-Wilmington as the the Cavaliers improved to 12-4. Virginia has been the surprise team in the ACC this season, off to a league-best 3-0 start despite being picked to finish 11th in the preseason media poll. The following is an edited transcript of our conversation:

Luke Winn: When your new coach, Tony Bennett, was hired away from Washington State this offseason, how much did you know about his NBA career?

Sylven Landesberg: I knew nothing at all about Tony before that. The only Tony Bennett I knew was the singer.

LW: I think they met once in an airport in Green Bay, in some staged publicity thing. You ever ask about that?

SL: Really? I had never asked about it. But when he was hired, the people here passed out these short biographies on him, so we read up, and found out how he'd been in the NBA for like three years, and found out about his coaching career.

LW: Did the sheet say he was Muggsy Bogues' backup?

SL: He actually tells us stories about Muggsy, about things he picked up from him on the defensive end. If [Bennett] sees us doing something wrong, he might say, this is a little thing I learned from Muggsy: "When you see a man turn his back in the post, then you can fully commit to jumping him when he dribbles."

LW: What was Coach Bennett's overhaul process like when he arrived at UVa.?

SL: He just came in with a positive attitude. We had just gone through a tough season. Everyone on the team wants to win, and we hated how it went last year. We didn't like the situation we ended up in. So we all appreciated it when he came in so positive, and we did whatever he told us to do, because we felt like we cold learn a lot from him, with where he'd played, and what he'd done as a coach. I think everyone bought into the system, and we're seeing the result.

LW: He put in the famed Bennett Pack-Line defense, right? Explain how it works.

SL: Basically, when you're off the ball, you don't stretch out. We don't deny our man. If your man is on the 3-point line, you'd let him catch the ball, but if he's inside the "Pack" -- 15 feet and in, or 18 feet and in, you've gotta make it difficult for him to catch it.

When your man does get ball-pressured -- last year, if your man had the ball, you were basically one-on-one, you had to contain him. This year everyone is more confident in the fact that you can go out and pressure your man, and if we do get beat a little bit, someone will be there to help until we recover.

LW: You hit a game-winner on Monday against UNC Wilmington with 2.2 seconds left [for a 69-67 victory]. You're taking those big shots for Virginia ... but let's say you were a coach and you had to pick one other player in college hoops -- not from your current team -- to take a last-second shot. To whom would you give the ball?

SL: Depends what the score is.

LW: Down two, time for one shot.

SL: And we're going for the win? Then I'd give it to that boy [Andy] Rautins from Syracuse. He can really stroke it. So I'd have a lot of faith in him to hit a three.

LW: And if you're only down one?

SL: I'd take Damion James from Texas. He seems so dominant inside and on the boards. With the way he attacks the rim, he's so athletic that he's real tough to guard in the post.

LW: Can you explain the role your father, Steven, played in your basketball development. I've heard the stories about him working with you non-stop, even quitting his job at a hospital to focus on your training.

SL: My father played a huge part in my development. I would have to say most of it, if not all of it, is because of him. On days I was tired, or days I just wanted to be a regular kid and hang out or be lazy, he would push me. He'd say, "Come on, let's go to the park. Let's go get shots up. Do some ball-handling drills."

That took me a long way. It helped me grow as a player and in life. Taught me a lot of discipline -- that if you want something, it's not handed to you. You've gotta go out and work, and go get it yourself. Taught me a lot of lessons in basketball and life.

LW: This stuff would start early and go all day in the summer, right?

SL: It would start at 6 a.m., with a light shootaround, and then go on throughout the day. I'd have 5-6 workouts throughout the day, and usually get done at about 6 or 7 p.m. After that I'd be so exhausted that I'd just go to sleep. All of that was preparing me to be able to compete at this level.

LW: You had a dribbling coach, a shooting coach, a weightlifting specialist and a boxing instructor, for footwork. I'm most curious about the boxing instruction -- how did it help?

SL: I've taken boxing now for the past 2-3 years. When I first started, it was basically something just to work on my conditioning and footwork. The first few times I went, I hated it because I was getting so exhausted. My arms were killing me. After a while you start to pick it up, though, and a lot of stuff actually converts to playing basketball -- like being able to make moves or defend with quick hands and quick feet.

LW: What's a move you might make that has a relation to a boxer's footwork?

SL: I think a lot of people, when they watch a game, think a crossover is all in the hands. But a lot of it is in your feet. You've gotta be able to change directions quickly -- real quickly -- to get to that spot, and you have to move yourself in the right way to keep your balance. If I come at a guy with an in-and-out crossover, I have to be able to move quickly, but also control my body to be able to get by him.

LW: Did you ever actually fight someone, or spar, or was it just training?

SL: You know, I was basically just doing the training, and I shadow-boxed with a few people. I never really boxed. I might've sparred once, and I held my own a little, but the guy I was sparring with was pretty good, so it ended quickly.

LW: I watched a video of one of your old basketball trainers, Jerry Powell, who's well-respected, and also pretty hilarious. He has that line about how, "If my mother was to ever guard me in a 1-on-1 basketball game, I'd run her right the f--- over."

SL: I trained with Jerry Powell two years ago. He's the best. It was an in-the-gym-all-day kind of thing. This past summer, I worked out five times a day, but it was different people. With Jerry I'd do 3-4 of them just with him.

The "mother" thing, he said that to me a few times. Once he had a girl working out there, who was pretty good, and he put her in a game with us. I started to fool around a little, taking it easy because I didn't want to hurt her. That's when Jerry said, "Listen, if I was playing 1-on-1 with my mother, I would run her over, score the bucket, then after that I'd tell her, 'Let's go make some cookies.' "

LW: Given how much time and money your dad spent on your training, what do you think would've happened if, at 15 or 16 years old, you'd all of a sudden decided, I really don't want to play basketball anymore -- I want to be a drummer, or a writer, or something else?

SL: Nothing would've happened. My father is fully supportive of every decision I make. He's still my father regardless of what happens. I could be musician and he'd be supportive of me just the same way. He'd probably be a little mad that I'm not playing basketball ... but he'd be supportive, 100 percent.
Posted: Friday January 22, 2010 12:56PM; Updated: Friday January 22, 2010 2:31PM
Luke Winn
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Sylven Landesberg on Tony Bennett, a celebrity crush and more (cont.)

LW: You're one of the few Jewish stars in college hoops; is that on your dad's side, or your mom's?

SL: My father's side is Jewish, my mother's side is Christian.

LW: I only ask because I saw some chatter on an international basketball message board about your potential eligibility to play for the Israeli National Team [along with Duke's Jon Scheyer and the Lakers' Jordan Farmar]. Would you ever consider something like that?

SL: Definitely. That could be a great experience, so it's something I would consider. I got invited to play in a lot of things this summer -- with the USA Under-19 team in New Zealand; the Trinidad [& Tobago] National Team in, I think, a Caribbean Invitational, because my mom is from Trinidad; and then the Maccabi USA team in Israel. But I turned them all down because I decided I wanted to work on my skills in New York, and get ready for the upcoming season.

LW: You have to be the only person in hoops history with invites to play for Trinidad and Maccabi USA at the same time. Do you know anyone else on the Trinidad & Tobago team, and have you ever been there?

SL:Adrian Joseph plays on it, I think -- he came to UVa. 2-3 years ago, and he was here with Sean Singletary. I've never been to Trinidad, though. I've only left the country once in my life, and it was to go to Canada last year with the [Virginia] team, for exhibition games.

LW: To what extent did you look into turning pro after last season? Your name has been on some NBA Draft boards and there were rumors about it.

SL: I never looked into it too much. I only thought about it in that short period where we had no coach, and I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. But our athletic director, Craig Littlepage, called all of us to his office and told us it was under control, and that he had hired Coach Bennett. We met Coach Bennett and ever since then, the NBA stuff hasn't been on my mind.

LW: You're playing a lot on the wing at Virginia, but you do quite a bit of ball handling, so where do you think your eventual NBA position is -- at the point or on the wing?

SL: I think I could play a little bit of both. I could play the point some -- I like to make plays, get teammates involved -- but I can also handle playing on the wing.

LW: You have a Twitter account that you haven't posted on since Nov. 3. What gives?

SL: I just stopped using it. I started getting annoyed with it. And it wasn't even me who set it up -- my teammate, Mustapha Farrakhan, made it, and I said I'd start using it for a little while.

LW: You're following some interesting people on there, though. It's not like NBA players or college players or anything -- there's ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, golfer Ian Poulter, Coldplay ... I was surprised.

SL: George Stephanopoulos? I don't even know who that is. I think when Mustapha made the Twitter account for me, he just followed a bunch of people to show me how to get started. I had no clue who they were.

LW: So I'm guessing you don't know Ian Poulter, either? Man ... I was going to ask you about him, too.

SL: I do know some of the people I'm following -- some of them are my friends -- but those celebrities or whoever they are, no. The only celebrity I would follow is Hayden Panettiere.

LW: Why her?

SL: Because I have a huge crush on her, that's why.

LW: And Coldplay? Are you embarrassed to be associated with them?

SL: No. Not at all. I've definitely had some Coldplay on my iPod.

It's a band I've listened to here and there. So I'm not embarrassed to be associated with them. I don't know how I'm following them, but whatever.

LW: Do you have a go-to album before games? I hope it's not Coldplay.

SL: I listen to the same album before every game: The Black Album. I just let the whole thing play through. Jay-Z is the best rapper of all time, and that's his best album. It just gets me ready to play, every song on there. I don't skip through any of them.

LW: Have you chosen a major yet at Virginia, and what is it?

SL: I'm still undecided. I have to pick one by the end of this year

LW: Candidates?

SL: Art History, or maybe Sociology.

LW: So your fall-back job, if hoops doesn't work out, might be in a museum?

SL: I've been finding art history pretty interesting, and it would be something a little different -- but I don't know if I'd want to work in a museum. That could be a little boring.

LW: What would be an exciting, non-basketball job, then?

SL: I used to joke around with my mom when I was real young, like 7 or 8, about being a garbage man. I'm from the city -- from Flushing -- and I used to think it was so cool when they'd jump on the back of the truck and it'd drive off with them hanging off the side. I used to say, "Mom, I want to be a garbage man when I grow up."

LW: And her response was ...

SL: She would give me no response. She'd say nothing. I remember her looking at me, and then looking away, just nodding her head.

Tony Bennett Q &A, Part I
Aaron Perryman, Cavalier Daily Columnist

Featured / Sports
January 26, 2010 0

Last Thursday morning, I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with first-year Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett for an interview. In addition to being a great listener and easy to talk to, he seemed genuinely interested in my questions despite having received a high volume of interview requests, according to media relations officials. It was evident through his answers that he is a relentless teacher of defensive basketball and that he gets his team to give 100 percent every night. During the first half of this two-part interview, he discussed the general progress the team has made, the ACC and the question of how successful his team would be without his leadership. (Note: This interview took place prior to the Wake Forest game, when Virginia was still 3-0 in the ACC.)

So the last time that most of the student body saw the team play was against Penn State. If you had had Mike Scott, you might’ve beaten Auburn. What are the major changes that the students are seeing now? Was that [exam] break a turning point — those practices?

I just think we’ve gotten a little better over time. We’ve handled some adversity well in games late — made free throws, taking care of the ball. I just think we’ve improved some but we need to because of the competition now, the ACC. With [junior forward] Mike Scott certainly being healthy, that’s helped make us a little more complete. Different guys have stepped up at different times. We’ve had some balanced scoring — more guys in double figures. We’re probably a little better defensively. We have been taking care of the ball and we’re just riding some emotion of the home crowd … I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout of the students on Monday against UNC-Wilmington. It’s been a nice atmosphere — the UAB game, the Georgia Tech game and Miami. It was a great turnout. It can get better but it was exciting … Momentum’s a funny thing. Hopefully we can keep that up, but it’s been a nice, pleasant surprise.

At first, you guys couldn’t buy a win against a major conference school. Do you think the team has learned how to win down the stretch, or is it being sounder system-wise?
Both. I think when you’re a coach, you realize how small of a margin there is. That N.C. State game was hanging in the balance — we were down 10 in the second half. One play here or there and it could’ve been a different outcome — same with Georgia Tech. But I think you just have to acknowledge that and know that in conference play, if you play well, you’re going to be in a lot of close games and tight games, and it’ll come down to making some plays and trying not to beat yourself down the stretch — being solid, and that’s [how it is for] a lot of teams. I think if we can just be one of those teams that doesn’t beat itself and takes care of things, you sometimes find yourself in a more successful spot than not. I think that’s happened with eliminating some turnovers, making some free throws and guys making some big shots — you always need that down the stretch, a big play or two to be made. And the defense has to keep getting better. [We are] fortunate. There’s so much conference play in front of us that I tell the guys, ‘Keep an even keel, don’t get too up and don’t get too down regardless of the outcome, and let’s just keep trying to get better over the course of this year and see where that takes us. Use the success as a motivation but don’t let it make you be anything but who we have to be.’

The outside expectations for this team were low at the beginning of the year. And now that you’re getting some praise, how do you keep a level head? Also, what were the team’s goals at the beginning of the year and have they changed at all since going 3-0 in the ACC?

You realize, first of all, with the league you’re in, you can’t take anything for granted — how close games have been, how fortunate you are to come up with victories. Just having a realistic view of your team — knowing your strengths, knowing your areas where you’re weak and continuing to work on those. One of our principles is humility, which really means — for our basketball team — don’t think too highly of yourself and don’t think too lowly of yourself. Just have a realistic view of who you are as a team. Know who you are and don’t veer from that, as far as what we have to do to be successful. I think that helps, and our guys are hungry to want to do well, but they know how competitive the league is and how fine of a line you walk between being successful or not. I think that really helps you — I hope it does — as a team, just focusing on quality and focusing on getting better and know that if we do that, wins and losses will take care of themselves. The goal is qualitative first over quantitative. Let’s just focus on quality, knowing that quantity — the wins and losses — will take care of themselves … Just continuing to improve and focusing on that process more than end results has been the message and what we’re trying to do as a team.

Now that you’ve played three ACC games, how is it different to you than the PAC-10? As we all know, the PAC-10 is struggling right now.

It’s early to tell you but I’ll say this: The proximity of the teams, the intensity of the following … because you fly from Pullman [Washington] to California, [which] is such a long geographic distance between your opponents and here, you’re bussing to places, you’ve got close games. And early on, there’s some parity in the ACC, and that’s the case in a lot of conferences. But just the intensity and the following — the genuine interest in games. When N.C. State and Virginia played, preseason teams picked at the bottom of the ACC, there were a lot of people [at the game]. That speaks volumes about this league and the excitement that surrounds it. There’s just a lot of individual talent, too, in this league. You see the players when you watch TV. Certainly there’s pro [prospects], but there’s high-level players, whether it’s the team projected near the bottom or certainly at the top, you can see the talent. And the quality of coaching appears to be of a high, high quality.

The team must be responding well to you and your staff. Can you talk about that a little and how coachable they are?

I think they have a good attitude. Certainly, having some wins here and there to validate what we’re trying to do helps. I think they’re a group that’s hungry to improve from the last couple years … Credit goes to coach [Dave] Leitao and his staff for seeing something in these guys to bring them in here, to work with them, to instill some things — even though some of them for two years didn’t taste a lot of success, they’ve stayed at it. We’re just trying to build on that. They’re a year older, they’re mature — I don’t think we’re an old team, I don’t think we’re a young team, I think we’re probably a middle-aged team. There’s some third-years, there’s some second-years, a first-year that’s playing right now in [guard] Jontel [Evans]. [Forward] Jerome [Meyinsse] as a fourth-year is really coming into his own … so I think the maturity has helped and I think they’re just hungry to try to establish some credibility, and it’s hard to get traction doing that. It’s a battle, it’s a climb, but hopefully we can keep pushing in that direction.

How much difference do you think it makes that this team is basically the same as it was last year? Do you think they could’ve had success this year if Leitao had still been here? How much does that chemistry matter?

Certainly [they could’ve had success]. I think there’s a maturity that helps. There’s no substitute for experience. Good experiences, bad experiences, there’s great wisdom in that. And some of these guys have one year under their belt, and some of them have two under their belt, and a couple have three. That’s important. I’m sure that team would’ve kept gelling and coming together … I have more questions than answers as a coach and I have a lot of areas to improve on. I’m just thankful these guys are gelling together and have, at times, grasped what we’re trying to do and have come together, and I think that’s important. I think their experience is a big factor in this.

U.Va. basketball notes: Baker returns to practice
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By Staff Reports
Published: January 26, 2010
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Baker returns to practice

After not traveling with the team to Wake Forest over the weekend, guard Calvin Baker returned to practice yesterday morning with the Cavaliers.

"He's back with us," coach Tony Bennett said. "We're going to move forward, and he'll be fully participating up to this week and the game."

Bennett described it as a "coach's decision" to not bring Baker, who has been unhappy with the amount of playing time he's received in recent weeks.

Baker is a senior from Hampton Roads who started his career at William and Mary before transferring to Virginia, where he worked his way into the starting lineup. Earlier this month, he was named a captain along with the team's other two seniors.

He has been lauded for his senior leadership but has also made only 23 percent of his 3-point shots, while freshman Jontel Evans has established himself as a better presence on defense. Evans was named the starter two weeks ago.
Opportunity to bounce back

Bennett laughed yesterday when asked how his team was holding up after its first ACC loss, saying that "college kids, they bounce back pretty quick."

The Cavs get a few days this week to prepare for the rivalry game with Virginia Tech, which will take place Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena.

"Coaches hang on to losses probably more than the college kids," Bennett said. "My big thing is not to be destroyed by it but to learn from it."

There was regression in several areas Saturday, including at the foul line. U.Va. finished 8 for 16 but remains the second-best team in the conference, behind Duke, with free throws.

Bennett said he'd present some "teaching points" from the game to the players before moving on in preparation for the Hokies.

"It certainly makes you realize that when you're not playing at a high level, that can happen in this league," he said. "I hope they're revved up and ready to go and wanting to play good basketball this Thursday."
Revisiting the rotation

Bennett revisited his decision to keep guard Sylven Landesberg benched with two fouls for most of the first half Saturday.

"I think if I had to do it again, I might have slid him in there," the coach said.

The game remained close with Landesberg on the bench, but when forward Mike Scott picked up his second, the Demon Deacons opened the floodgates to extend their lead before halftime.

Despite the lack of playing time, Landesberg still managed to score a team-high 18 points. He's the only ACC player to score in double digits in every game this season.
Musgrave won't join London

Putting an end to speculation, Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave announced he will not be leaving to take the offensive coordinator role at Virginia.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Cavs requested permission to talk to Musgrave, adding that his name was "hot, hot, hot this offseason" across the league.

Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers, who also was mentioned as a candidate, could see his stock soaring over the next few days, especially since the coordinator position also is available at Syracuse, where Rogers developed Donovan McNabb. - Michael Phillips
 

7 weeks on job, London still running at UVa
Mike London has two aides to hire and may add 4-6 more recruits.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
New UVa football coach Mike London has yet to name an offensive coordinator.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- For the first 18 months that he was the head football coach at Richmond, Mike London continued to maintain a residence in Charlottesville.

"You know how the housing market has been," said London, previously a defensive coordinator at Virginia. "I was going back and forth to Richmond, but, I was like, 'You know, I love [Interstate] 64, but I don't love it that much.' "

So, last summer, London finally moved to Richmond full time and put his Charlottesville house on the market.

And it sold, just in time for London to be named head coach at Virginia on Dec. 7.

"We just went through closing, a couple of weeks after I got named head coach," said London, who facetiously added. "Right up until the closing date, I was thinking, 'Maybe we could tell them it has termites or do something to get out of the contract.' But, no, we'd had it inspected. Everything was fine with the house."

So, for the record, London owns a home in Richmond and he's now looking for a place in Charlottesville, or, rather, he will be looking at houses when he has the time.

Monday marked London's seventh week on the job and he still has two full-time coaches to name, an offensive playbook to write and player meetings to complete.

"Seven weeks," he said. "Really? It seems like it's flown by."

London also has a second recruiting weekend to stage. London said that he might add as many as 4-6 recruits to a 2010 class that added Decatur, Ga., quarterback Miles Gooch over the weekend.

In the next seven days or so, London also hopes to complete his staff with an offensive coordinator and a second offensive assistant.

He confirmed that former Cavalier defensive lineman and seven-year NFL offensive lineman Ron Mattes will be UVa's offensive line coach.

Mattes, returning to college coaching after a four-year stint at James Madison from 1995-99, will be assisted by another ex-UVa offensive lineman, Gordie Sammis. Mattes and Sammis both will be graduate assistants.

The hold-up with the coordinator's job probably stems from the uncertainty surrounding Atlanta Falcons quarterback coach Bill Musgrave, who joined London on Al Groh's first Virginia staff in 2001.

"Obviously, there is a guy or two that I've had a pre-existing relationship with," London said. "The college cycle and the pro cycle are different in terms of when guys are available."

London said he interviewed college coaches at a convention in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month, but pro teams were still wrapping up their seasons at that time.

"I think I have a pretty good sense for the college guys I interviewed," said London, who spoke to former Clemson and Syracuse offensive coordinator Rob Spence, among others. "We'll finish up with the NFL guys in the next couple of days.

"There's been a tremendous amount of interest from some very good candidates. It's been remarkable. I've talked to some people I never thought I'd talk to."

London said that spring practice starts March 15.

"There is no playbook right now," London said. "Until Feb. 3, everybody is out on the road recruiting. After signing day, when the staff is intact, coaches will have a chance to meet.

"The good thing that happened was all of the commitments stayed committed. There wasn't a hurry to find guys and get them out on the road recruiting. That was a tribute to [Anthony] Poindexter and Bob Price for holding the thing together."

Poindexter was the lone holdover from the Groh staff to retain full-time status. Price probably will remain with the program in an as-yet-undisclosed capacity.

London said he is holding open the possibility that new UVa assistant Mike Faragalli, his offensive coordinator and play-caller at Richmond the past two seasons, could serve in that capacity with the Cavaliers.

"I'm not going to be out there chasing names just for the sake of chasing names when I feel I've got a good one here," London said.

Another ex-Spiders aide, Jeff Hanson, will serve as Virginia's recruiting coordinator.

London didn't have much to say about current players but indicated that running back Keith Payne has expressed interest in returning for a fifth season of eligibility in 2010. Payne left the team in the fall after a difference of opinion with Groh.

"Keith has a certain number of goals and objectives he has to meet," London said. "Thus far, he has met those goals and objectives, and that will be an ongoing process, into spring practice and out of practice. But the window has not closed on Keith Payne."

Vikings quarterback coach Rogers possible offensive-coordinator candidate at U.Va.
By Norm Wood ¦ 247-4642
January 26, 2010

One day after finishing a season where he helped the Minnesota Vikings get to the NFC championship game, while acting as overseer for future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, Kevin Rogers hadn't had much time to consider his future.

He certainly hasn't thought much about Virginia's vacant offensive-coordinator position — mainly because U.Va. hasn't contacted him about the job. Rogers, 58, is content to take his time after wrapping up his fourth season as Minnesota's quarterbacks coach.

"I haven't heard anything from U.Va.," Rogers said Monday afternoon.

Still, the question remains — if U.Va. coach Mike London, a Bethel High graduate, reached out to Rogers, would he listen?

"I don't know," said Rogers, who has also been a speculative candidate for Syracuse's vacant offensive-coordinator job, but he added he hasn't heard anything from Orange coach Doug Marrone either. "It's all hypothetical."

Rogers, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native, knows his way around the commonwealth. He graduated from William and Mary in 1974, where he also played linebacker. He started his coaching career in '74 at Bayside High in Virginia Beach, where he remained until '76. He was the running-backs coach from '80-'82 at W&M.

After serving as the offensive coordinator at Syracuse from '91-'98, and at Notre Dame from '99-2001, he returned to Virginia to be Virginia Tech's quarterbacks coach from '02-'05. Under Rogers, Bruton High graduate Bryan Randall became Tech's all-time leader in passing yards (6,508), touchdown passes (48) and total yards (8,034).

"There's no place I'd rather live than back (in Virginia)," Rogers said. "I'm home there. I went to college there. I coached at William and Mary. I coached in Virginia Beach (Bayside High). I coached at Tech. The largest portion of my football career was spent in that state.

"As you get older, things you might've jumped at when you were a younger coach, you've got to evaluate a little more now."

U.Va. pursued Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave, who was U.Va.'s offensive coordinator in '01 and '02, and Carolina Panthers quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer for the Cavaliers' offensive-coordinator job. Both Musgrave and Scherer, also a '74 W&M graduate, removed their names from the search.

London may now turn to Mike Faragalli, who was London's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the two seasons London was the coach at Richmond before coming to U.Va.

A possible concern for NFL candidates involved in the U.Va. offensive-coordinator search could be salary-related. U.Va. is believed to be offering about $350,000 annually for the job, which may not be enough to lure NFL talent.

Men's Soccer: Agorsor Leaves, Transfers Arrive
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 01/25/2010
Jan. 25, 2010
1:05 p.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The injury-marred college soccer career of forward Chris Agorsor is over.

Agorsor, who was among the most heralded recruits to join the program in recent years, has left the University, Cavaliers coach George Gelnovatch said Monday morning.

"He decided it's the right time for him to pursue a professional soccer career, and we wished him all the best," Gelnovatch said.

Agorsor graduated from McDonogh High near Baltimore. As a 12th-grader, he was named the Gatorade national high school player of the year, and he made an immediate impact at UVa in 2008.

He scored 4 goals in seven games as a freshman before tearing the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee.

Reconstructive surgery repaired his knee, and Agorsor was cleared to play this season. In late October, however, he suffered a high-ankle sprain, and by the time that injury healed, UVa had settled on a forward rotation that didn't include him.

Agorsor did not play in the postseason for the Wahoos, who won the ACC championship Nov. 15 and beat Akron for the NCAA title Dec. 13. For the season, he had 2 goals and 2 assists in 13 games, 10 of which he started.

Coming out of high school and then again last summer, Agorsor considered turning pro, Gelnovatch said. They agreed this time that it would be best for Agorsor to pursue his dream.

"You can't have a guy that's halfway in," Gelnovatch said. "We wish him all the best and hope he succeeds."

With Will Bates and Brian Ownby back, Gelnovatch likes the Cavaliers' talent level at forward, even without Agorsor. And the incoming freshman class will add more depth at that position.

Those recruits, who'll sign letters of intent next month, won't start classes at the University until this summer. But two transfers -- Felipe Libreros and Matt Miscione -- enrolled at UVa this month and are taking part in the team's offseason program, which starts this week.

As a freshman at South Florida in 2008, Libreros played with goalie Diego Restrepo, who transferred to UVa after that season. Restrepo was an All-American for the 'Hoos in 2009.

Libreros, who's from Colombia, has two years of eligibility left. He appeared in 14 games in 2009 for a USF team that finished 14-4-3 after losing to Akron in the NCAA tournament's first round.

"He's a central/wide midfielder -- just what we need," Gelnovatch said.

Miscione, a goalkeeper, is a 2009 graduate of Stone Bridge High in Northern Virginia. He started 12 of the 14 games in which he appeared last season for Bryant, a Division I school in Rhode Island. Miscione had a goals-against average of 1.53, with 80 saves.

Restrepo is a virtual lock to start again in 2010, but Miscione gives UVa an experienced backup at goalie.

-- Jeff White