The Tony Bennett era of UVa basketball begins tonight, and I think we all have high hopes that it will end better than the “New Gillenium.”

Tonight, the Hoos will open against Longwood at JPJ Arena. Gametime is 7 pm. Not surprisingly, there is no television coverage of this titanic struggle, but Dave Koehn and Cory Alexander will call the game on the Virginia Sports Network.

Virginia is more short-handed than usual tonight, though I hope it won’t come back to haunt the good guys. Calvin Baker is out after having arthroscopic knee surgery. Assane Sene has been suspended. Jamil Tucker is, well, not here.

Fortunately, Sylven Landesberg is here, and I know I’m not the only one who is anxious to see how Landesberg performs in the new system. He’s a talented guy; I’m not particularly concerned.

I’ve never been more excited for a Virginia-Longwood game. That’s kinda sad.