SFN has made no secret of our affection and appreciation for the manner in which Dave Leitao runs his program.. So, when Sidney Lowe and Leitao talk before each team’s ACC opener tomorrow, one could argue that both could feel they are greeting themselves in another place and time. It’s not the twilight zone, just another ACC basketball opener.
Similar to Lowe’s six scholarship players this year, Leitao’s first campaign as UVA’s coach last season saw the Cavs go to battle with only 8 scholarship players. Ultimately, the Cavs managed through the ACC season with a 4-2 record in route to a 7-9 finish. The Cavs’ 15-15 overall record earned Leitao’s boys a trip to Palo Alto to play the Stanford Cardinal in the NIT. Much higher expectations accompany the Cavs this year, its inaugural season in 15,000 seat John Paul Jones Arena.
With a freshman class of five scholarship players – bringing the total to twelve on the team – Leitao gets the opportunity to make a run through the ACC with quality depth and a versatile roster. What his team lacked last year was compensated by focus and execution. The question now is if the new roster can provide the depth without compromising the chemistry and character of last year’s squad?
To this point in the season the Cavs are passing the test – currently ranked in the Top 25 with a big win over Arizona certainly bodes well for the program which may boast the ACC’s best backcourt with Sean Singletary and JR Reynolds. For two detailed previews of Sunday’s game you can click here for Pack Pride and here for Section Six’s statistical look at the Cavs.
Virginia’s D isn’t going to block shots or force a lot of turnovers; they get stops with FG defense and good defensive rebounding. Our turnover rate, then, is going to be dependent on how many unforced errors we commit. Protect the ball and we’ll get plenty of shots at the basket; that’s the good news. The bad news: very few second chances will come our way.
Leitao’s comments regarding the difference between this year’s Cavalier squad and last year’s were nearly prophetic:
“We don’t get a chance to play against last year’s team…If we did, we’d probably beat them…hopefully.”
Well Dave, think of life as a theater and ACC Basketball as a stage. Sidney Lowe’s ’06-’07 Wolfpack could serve as a good understudy of the ’05-’06 Cavs. So you may get to use that as a measuring stick after all.
