Wahoo Wire

With basketball season gearing up, Wahoo Wire will be previewing each ACC team.

Virginia

Last Season:

ACC: 5-11

Overall: 15-16

Postseason: None

What they lost:

The most glaring loss is certainly Sylven Landesburg.  Landesburg led the Hoos last year with over 17 points, almost 18 in ACC games, and just understand five rebounds per game.  Along with his exodus to Israel, inside presence Jerome Meyinsse also left for the greener pastures of professional ball, but his departure was because of an end to his eligibility.  Meyinsse, while not as big a part of the stat sheet, is a loss in that he was a leader on the team and stepped up his play in conference games.  Also, there were the transfers of both Jeff Jones, last year’s fourth-leading scorer, and Tristan Spurlock, the formerly heralded recruit.

What they gained:

As a team, there is much more cohesion in Tony Bennett’s second year as head coach.  Down the entire roster, the players have all improved from last year.  Mike Scott has accepted his role as the big time scorer, but Jontel Evans and Assane Sene have stepped up their game a great deal.  Evans worked the entire offseason on his shot so that he could be able to score from long-range as well as with his dribble-drive skills he has already established.  Sene, who is the only player listed as a center on the team, gained 20 pounds and improved his hand skills, with the aid of celebrated Strength and Conditioning Coach Mike Curtis, so that he could better handle the stresses of being a center in the ACC.  While there is fear in that there are 7 first-years on the team, two of them, KT Harrell and James Johnson, should shine as they were highly touted recruits, both in ESPN’s Top 100.  The incoming class is a continental squad of sorts as they come from the West, East, and Gulf Coasts and the first years vary in their preparedness from the prep school polished Billy Baron to the raw (and still growing) Akil Mitchell.  If anything, the Hoos will be an even better shooting team as the incoming class is full of shooters (see Billy Baron) to go along with Sammy Zeglenski when he returns from his rehabilitation.

Summary:

Guarded Optimism.  This team could really cause a splash in the ACC as its unknown how well they could gel as a unit in the second year of the Coach Bennett administration.  Defense will be probably the biggest criteria for a successful season for the Hoos and, as Coach Bennett has pointed out, it will come down to whether or not the first years pick up the aggressive style.  There may not be star power on this squad, but, if they can play as a team, the Hoos could have 7 or 8 wins in the ACC and could be on the positive side of a .500 record.  Mike Scott has said he “definitely want[s] to make some type of run” to a postseason tournament, since he has not in his three previous years at UVA.  Maybe the Hoos could sneak in, but it’s wise to be guardedly optimistic.

• Boston College
• Clemson
• Duke
• Florida State
• Georgia Tech
• Miami
• Maryland
• North Carolina
• NC State
• Virginia Tech
• Wake Forest