The Wahoo Chronicles | A UVa Blog » Men’s Basketball

Another view on the lacrosse tragedy

Chad — Sun, 09 May 2010 12:00:46 +0000

Really outstanding look by Jerry Ratcliffe here on the lacrosse tragedy…from the perspective of former UVa hoops coach Pete Gillen? I know, strange angle, but it’s a good read on what UVa’s lacrosse coaches have been dealing with.

Mike London making a good impression

Chad — Thu, 06 May 2010 16:45:16 +0000

The coaches are out making their rounds on the rubber chicken circuit, schmoozing with donors. It appears that head football coach Mike London and assistant hoops coach Jason Williford made a pretty good impression in Suffolk.

I’m hoping to catch basketball coach Tony Bennett later this summer when he’s speaking to alums down here in my end of the state.

Still recruiting?

Chad — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:00:29 +0000

Tony Bennett is still looking around, possibly seeking to add another player to the 2010-11 recruiting class. Bennett already has about thirty new kids in that class, so what’s another one?

I’d be pretty surprised if Bennett actually signed someone else. There are six kids coming in as first-years this fall, and I can’t imagine they’ll want 7 kids in the same class. To add another, it would have to be a player that the staff just couldn’t pass up, and there aren’t many of those guys still available.

(Premature) Pre-Season Predictions

Chad — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:15:52 +0000

Three straight hoops posts at the end of April; that’s extreme, even for me. But I thought I’d pass along the ACC Sports Journal’s pre-pre-preseason ACC predictions. With only five scholarship players returning and six incoming first-years, Virginia is picked about where you’d expect.

Hoos in the NBA

Chad — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:05:05 +0000

While watching the Dallas-San Antonio NBA playoff series, I keep having the same thought, and it came back to me while writing the post below about Sylven Landesberg.

We need more former Virginia players in the NBA.

Roger Mason, Jr., is really the only former Hoo in the NBA right now, though Mason’s Spurs are playing against a team coached by Rick Carlisle. Marc Iavaroni is still kicking around as an assistant coach. I am convinced that Sean Singletary will have a good NBA career…eventually.

Anyone else I’m missing? That’s a pretty thin roster of Hoos who are kicking around the league, only one of whom is a current player. If Singletary and Landesberg make NBA rosters next year, that’ll be three, and that’s a start. After seeing how much Tony Bennett’s NBA career seems to have helped him in recruiting, I can’t help but think having former Virginia basketball players playing in the world’s best basketball league would help in the recruiting process, as well.

Unfortunately, no one on the current roster appears to be a likely bet to make a future NBA roster. I have high hopes for the incoming recruits, but it’s too soon to tell.

At least our list of NBA players is more accomplished than this one.

Q & A time

Chad — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:30:20 +0000

Sylven Landesberg has been answering questions here. I know a lot of UVa fans are down on Sylven after the way his UVa career ended, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff in here. Including this:

What would you tell high school basketball players if they asked you if UVa was a good place to play basketball?

i would tell them its a great school nd great experience

and this…

besides your teammates, what will you miss most about UVA?

hmmm… gus burgers lol

One more:

Should i be mad at Coach Bennett for you leaving?

no not at all coach is a great guy

Sylven made a dumb mistake by skipping that class, and Coach Bennett had little choice in his response…but we need to remember that Landesberg is still a kid. He planned on going pro after the season anyway, and I hope he has a ton of success. I hope Hoos will give him the benefit of the doubt.

On Billy Baron

Chad — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:45:48 +0000

I don’t know if Billy Baron will end up being a star or not. He wasn’t very highly recruited, frankly, but he does appear to be exactly the type of player that will thrive in Tony Bennett’s system. He also appears to be the type of player that UVa fans will enjoy: a hard-nosed kid who plays hard and, perhaps more importantly (given what we’ve seen over the last decade), who plays smart.

There have been times since the New Gillenium began that I would’ve given my kingdom for a few players who didn’t take bad shots and make bad decisions. I’m so tired of that, but I’m very optimistic that Bennett is going to change that.

At any rate, what brought on this rambling post was this Daily Progress profile of Billy Baron. Check it out.

Wahoo Basketball Roundup

Chad — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:15:28 +0000

Lots of interesting news around Wahoo Nation today:

–Assane Sene needs to eat!

–Jeff Jones has announced his transfer destination: Rider. I wish Jones all the luck in the world.

–Sammy Zeglinski is recovering from hip surgery.

With only five scholarship players returning, Tony Bennett’s 2010-11 squad is going to be interesting to watch. It may not always be fun, but the development of the group will be interesting to UVa partisans. In Tony We Trust.

Heh

Chad — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:20:26 +0000

You’re the man, Mu.

What a weekend

Chad — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:00:16 +0000

The Hoos hammered North Carolina. My other alma mater destroyed Duke. In the same weekend.

It just doesn’t get any sweeter than that.