White: Landesberg Follows His Own Offseason Course
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 08/03/2009
By Jeff White
jwhite@virginia.edu

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Would he like to try out for the USA Basketball team that was headed to the under-19 world championships in New Zealand?

Was he interested in playing at one of Nike’s invitation-only skills academies, or in the Maccabiah Games, or for Trinidad and Tobago (his mother’s native country) in the Caribbean championships?

In the end, Sylven Landesberg’s answer to those questions was the same:

Thanks, but no thanks. I’m staying in New York.

The reigning ACC rookie of the year returned to Charlottesville early last month for summer school, and to work out with new strength-and-conditioning coach Mike Curtis. But in May, his first year at UVa behind him, Landesberg had headed home to Queens to dive into what has become a tradition for the 6-6 swingman: workouts under the direction of his father, Steve.

“We would start at 6 o’clock in the morning,” the elder Landesberg said this morning, “and sometimes we’d come home at 11 o’clock at night. And it was every day.”

As a freshman, Landesberg averaged 16.6 points, 6 rebounds and 2.8 assists, earning national acclaim for his play. As a result, he had several attractive offseason options from which to choose.

Tony Bennett, who replaced Dave Leitao as the Cavaliers’ coach after the season, encouraged Sylven to try out for the under-19 national team, which ended up winning the gold medal in New Zealand. Steve Landesberg wanted his son home, however, and father got his way.

“I want him to be perfect,” the elder Landesberg said, “so in order to be perfect, you have to practice your craft.”

Sylven says he wanted to be in New York, anyway.

“The USA [Basketball] thing, people had a lot to say about that,” he said last week at John Paul Jones Arena. “I just kept hearing it was a great experience, because you’re playing against the top players, not just in the country, in the world. But I looked at it as more of an experience than anything. I wanted to really focus on getting better for next season and doing what I had to do to help the team gain some more wins instead of going out there and trying to achieve more accolades.”

Sylven went home with Bennett’s blessing. The new coach had spent enough time with his best player to know that Sylven would return with an improved game.

“He’s driven,” Bennett said, “and anybody who’s that serious about his game is going to get better. With the fact that he came back and got a class in and worked with Mike, I think he got the best of both worlds.”

In New York, Steve Landesberg ratcheted up his son’s offseason program this year, hiring professional trainers to work with Sylven.

“It’s amazing, when you think you know so much, how little you really know when you’re around people who know so much more,” said Steve Landesberg, who’s retired.

Sylven worked primarily with Jay Hernandez, a former Hofstra point guard, and Milton Lee, who’s based at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan.

On a typical day, Sylven recalled, he’d wake up at 5:30 a.m. and then shoot from about 6 to 7 a.m. at a YMCA near his house in Queens. After a quick breakfast, he’d work out with Hernandez for about 90 minutes.

“He was just straight basketball,” Sylven said, “just conditioning, and basketball, and tearing my skill set up.”

After lunch came weightlifting and sessions with Lee. After dinner, Sylven said, he’d run a few miles along the Cross Island Parkway. He’d cap the day by testing himself against college and pro players in games at the NYAC.

In addition, Steve Landesberg said, he had Sylven “taking boxing lessons and working with a strength-and-conditioning guy, different things to help him improve his footwork and hand speed.”

Not until November will UVa fans be able to judge for themselves the effect of these workouts on Landesberg’s game, but his father says they helped “tremendously. I didn’t realize he could get so much better. With these trainers and all these different things we had him doing, he got so much better.”

As a freshman, Landesberg showed promise as a 3-point shooter late in the season, but overall hit only 31.4 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. Opponents want to limit Landesberg’s trademark drives to the basket, and he knows must become more dangerous from the perimeter.

“I would say that’s what I worked on most this summer, just my jump shot,” Landesberg said. “I took tons of jump shots every day, just trying to patent my form and get everything down. I think that made huge improvements.”

He hopes to see the Wahoos make similar progress as a team this season. UVa finished 10-18 in 2008-09, after which Leitao stepped down under pressure. If Landesberg and his teammates have been particularly motivated this summer, he said, it’s because they’ve experienced “the worst of the worst, having the subpar season we did. We’re all ready to make an impact.”

The Cavaliers’ top six scorers from 2008-09 are back: Landesberg, forward Mike Scott (10.3 ppg), guards Calvin Baker (8.4) and Sammy Zeglinski (7.8), forward Jamil Tucker (7.4) and guard Jeff Jones (6.5). Other veterans include 7-0 center Assane Sene, who blocked a team-high 35 shots and averaged 4.6 rebounds as a freshman last season.
 

Bennett lands top basketball recruit
By Whitey Reid
Published: August 4, 2009

As the son of a coach, Tony Bennett’s latest addition to the program makes perfect sense.
On Monday, the Virginia coach received a verbal commitment from Joe Harris, the 1A high school player of the year in the state of Washington. Harris plays for his father, also named Joe Harris, at Chelan High.
Harris chose Virginia over Washington State, Washington and the University of San Diego.
Harris, who was first recruited by Bennett when Bennett was the coach at WSU, is a 6-foot-5 wing player who averaged 26.0 points and 4.3 assists last season. He shot 53 percent from the field, including 41 percent from 3-point-range.
“I think it came down to coach Bennett and the staff,” said Harris, when asked why he picked Virginia. “Coach Bennett had recruited me since day one when he was at Washington State, so I always had a good relationship with him.
“Then coming to Virginia and seeing the facilities and the school, and meeting all the other coaches — it was an opportunity I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t pass it up.”
Harris said his participation in Virginia’s Elite Camp in June really helped seal the deal.
“Seeing everything they had, it was incredible,” he said.
Harris, rated as a 3- star recruit by Rivals.com, joins forward Will Regan as the second member of Bennett’s 2010 class. Both Harris and Regan would appear to be perfect pieces to the offense — one predicated on ball movement and good perimeter shooting — that Bennett plans on running.
Harris said shooting is his biggest strength.
“Hopefully I can contribute a lot offensively and with rebounds,” he said. “Overall, I have versatility, so I think I can bring a lot of things, like defense. Coach Bennett is a pretty defensive-minded coach, so I think I can fit pretty well in his system.”
Harris’ father believes his son projects as a shooting guard at the college level.
“He’s got a great presence and feel for game,” said the elder Harris. “He’s a very unselfish player and has a good perimeter game — he can knock shots down. He loves hoops and loves playing. He’s definitely a gym rat. I don’t think fans will be disappointed with the effort and type of game he has.”
Harris, who loved to watch video of Pete Maravich when he was younger, said being the son of a coach has helped him immensely during his basketball career.
“I’ve grown up in a gym just playing the game of basketball and just learning from all the players he had,” Harris said. “I think that’s helped me out a lot. It’s given me that drive to always be in the gym and working on my game.”
 

West Coast guard picks UVa
Joe Harris is the second member of coach Tony Bennett's first recruiting class for the Cavaliers.
Doug Doughty

Based on the attention he received from Washington State at his 2009 state tournament, Chelan (Wash.) guard Joe Harris might have pictured himself playing for then-Cougars men's basketball coach Tony Bennett.

Harris will be playing for Bennett, but it won't be in the Great Northwest.

Harris, who scored 25.7 points per game as a junior, is the second member of Bennett's first recruiting class at Virginia.

The Chelan coach for the past 17 years is Harris' father, also named Joe, who wasn't sure if Bennett would continue to recruit his son after he got the Virginia job.

"Any time you change programs, there's a feeling-out progress," coach Harris said. "We weren't sure if we'd see [Bennett] again or not."

That question was answered when Virginia invited Harris to its elite camp. The Cavaliers followed the 6-foot-5 Harris through his AAU season, when he played for Friends of Hoop, a team based in Seattle.

The Harrises, father and son, made a 512-hour round trip to Seattle for the past two years, sometimes as many as three times a week, to make sure that they received the best possible competition and exposure.

"Playing in a small school, sometimes you get labeled as a small-school kid," Harris' father said. "That's one of the pluses you get nowadays with the AAU programs. They get you to the bigger tournaments."

Harris was the state player of the year in his classification and also made first-team all-state on The Seattle Times team picked for all classifications.

He plays point guard for Chelan but is described by his father as a "combo" guard who can shoot from the outside (59-of-143 on 3-pointers) or drive to the basket (149-of-194 from the free-throw line). He also grabbed 8.5 rebounds per game.

"I wouldn't say he's extremely quick," the older Harris said. "I think he's deceptively quick because he's so long. I think that's an area that he needs to work on, but he realizes that. Any time you go to a higher level, guys are recruiting you because they feel you can play."

The younger Harris had offers from UVa, Washington State, Brigham Young, Portland, San Diego and Pacific. Washington also had stepped up its interest of late.

Bennett earlier had taken a commitment from 6-8 Will Regan from Buffalo, N.Y.
 

Chelan star Joe Harris commits to Virginia
By Brent Stecker
World sports writer
Posted August 03, 2009

CHELAN — When Tony Bennett was still men’s basketball coach at Washington State University, it wasn’t hard to imagine that Chelan star Joe Harris might one day run the floor under Bennett’s direction.

That’s still going to happen, but now it will take place on the other side of the country.

Harris, the reigning Class 1A state player of the year, verbally committed to the University of Virginia on Monday, where he will play for Bennett, who took over as the Cavaliers’ coach on March 31.

"It was my gut feeling," the soon-to-be high school senior said of his decision. "I had an unofficial visit at a mid-June camp, and I just liked the facilities and the school. It was an opportunity I couldn’t really pass up."

Harris, who averaged 26 points per game and led the Goats to the state tournament as a junior, received offers from Washington State, Washington, St. Mary’s, Brigham Young, San Diego, and Portland. Oregon State, Gonzaga and Notre Dame also showed interest in the 6-foot-6 guard.

"It was definitely a pretty tough decision, but I’m 100 percent sure I made the right one," Harris said.

"We left a lot of it up to him," said Harris’ father and coach at Chelan, also named Joe Harris. "We gave him some advice, but he has to have the right feel for where he’s going. He’s been recruited by some outstanding people, and at some point you have to tell a lot of those people no, which is not an easy thing to do — let alone for a 17-year-old."

Bennett first recruited Harris while at WSU, even going so far as to visit him once in Chelan. But when Bennett took over for Dave Leitao at Virginia, that left the Harris family uncertain about whether they would hear from him again.

"We weren’t quite sure what we’d see when (Bennett) move to Virginia, but he contacted Joe and he contacted myself," coach Harris said. "He’s a tremendous person, and he gets a lot out of his players."

Harris says he has a lot in common with Bennett, who played college ball under his own father, Dick Bennett, at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

"(Bennett) is just a great guy," Harris said. "Obviously he’s very successful, and everybody knows what he’s done. He’s a great coach, and I can relate to him."

Harris said Virginia’s academic reputation also factored into his decision. Virginia was listed as the second best public school in America in the U.S. News and World Report’s 2009 rankings, behind UC-Berkeley.

"You have to have something to fall back on, and Virginia is a first-class school," Harris said.

Though he hasn’t thought much about a major yet, Harris said it will "probably be something business-related."

Neither Harris nor his family is concerned about him heading to a school on the East coast.

"Family-wise, we’ve talked an awful lot about it, and we have no reservations at all," coach Harris said. "Coach Bennett and his staff are very good people. He’s in very good hands."

"That will definitely be a big change, going from coast to coast," Harris said. "My family will still be able to get over to see some games, and I know (Virginia) will try and schedule some games on the West coast."

Harris expressed excitement about playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference — which is regarded as one of the top athletic conferences in the NCAA — but he said it wasn’t a factor in his decision.

"It’s going to be awesome, night in and night out playing against Duke, North Carolina and Miami," Harris said. "I can’t wait to get over to Virginia and compete for some ACC titles."


 

Basketball guard from Washington state commits to U.Va.
By NORM WOOD
¦ 247-4642
9:52 PM EDT, August 3, 2009

Virginia men's basketball coach Tony Bennett mined the state he used to call home to gain a commitment Monday for his 2010 recruiting class.

Joe Harris, a 6-foot-5 guard from Chelan High in Chelan, Wash., turned down scholarship offers from Washington State, Portland, San Diego, SMU, BYU, Pacific, Eastern Washington and Seattle.

"I think his greatest thing is not only is he a great student of the game, but he just sees the floor extremely well," said Chelan coach Joe Harris, the player's dad. "With the ball in his hands, he's very good and he's great in the open floor. ? I think he's ready (for the ACC) and I think the guy recruiting him thinks he's ready. As a coach you have guys who second-guess you all the time, but I don't think coach Bennett would recruit a kid that didn't fit into his system."

Last season, he was named the high school 1A Player of the Year in the state of Washington after averaging 26 points per game and shooting 53 percent from the floor, including 41 percent from 3-point range.

Bennett coached at Washington State for six years, including his last three as the head coach, before being hired in March at U.Va. Harris is Bennett's second commitment for the '10 class, including Will Regan, a 6-8 forward from Buffalo, N.Y. .

Inglot Repeats as ACC Men’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 08/03/2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Virginia men’s tennis player Dominic Inglot (London, England) was named the ACC Men’s Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year as the conference announced the 2009 ACC All-Academic Team on Monday.

Inglot, a three-time member of the Dean’s List at Virginia, was a 2009 ITA Singles and Doubles All-American and ended the year ranked No. 15 nationally in singles. Inglot and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) teamed to win the 2009 NCAA Doubles Championship, the first for an ACC team. An All-ACC selection, Inglot was also the MVP of the ACC Tournament.

Joining Inglot on the ACC All-Academic Men’s Tennis Team are Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India). Singh, a 2009 ITA Singles All-American earned ACC All-Academic honors for the second consecutive year, while Barrick, a 2009 All-ACC selection, was honored on the academic team for the first time.

The ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards were established in September 2007 to be awarded annually to the top junior or senior student-athlete in their respective sports. Candidates for the awards must have maintained a 3.0 grade point average for their career as well as a 3.0 for each of the last two semesters.