With Virginia set to open its 2007-08 men’s basketball season at home against the Vermont Catamounts this Sunday, Cavalier fans can expect to see preseason All-American and team captain Sean Singletary come out to a large ovation when the starting line-ups are announced.
As for who will be joining the senior point guard in the starting five, that appears far less clear.
When
Virginia coach Dave Leitao first arrived in
Charlottesville, he had seven scholarship players. Now in just his third year, he has already accrued a 2007 regular season ACC title, a 2007 ACC Coach of the Year trophy and a cadre of talent to make the battle for playing time one of the themes of this season. With only one position firmly in place, Sunday will begin a year long journey to see just who will be the supporting players for a
Virginia team looking to reach the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year.
The graduation of J.R. Reynolds does more than just cost
Virginia a talented leader and scorer; it creates a hole in the shooting guard position. Freshman guard Jeff Jones is really the only pure shooting guard on the team roster this season. Last Sunday, in
Virginia’s blowout exhibition win against Carson-Newman, Jones did start and was able to rack up 12 points. However, Jones is still a freshman and that lack of experience might cost him dearly when the Cavaliers reach the ACC conference season. As an alternative to Jones,
Virginia could play either last year’s breakout star in junior Mamadi Diane, or senior three-point bomber Adrian Joseph. Both men are natural small forwards and have had to battle for the past two years for playing time. They have played on the court before at the same time, but both would prefer to stay at the forward position. Certainly both men have the ability to score from downtown, but both will have to show a greater propensity towards scoring inside.
Case and point: Adrian Joseph reached the free throw line in the second round ACC tournament game against
N.C.
State on March 9, 2007. It was his first free throw attempt since the San Juan Shootout in late December. That amazing stretch shows just how much Joseph has relied on his outside shot in the past. However, against
Tennessee in the NCAA tournament, Joseph played with an all-around passion not seen before. His effort was exemplified by a mammoth dunk in the second half to keep
Virginia in the game. Joseph continued that aggressiveness last Sunday with a team-high 22 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Now, certainly Carson-Newman is far from the stingiest defense the Cavaliers will face, but the fact that Joseph seems to be developing his overall offensive game bodes well not only for the future, but makes his case for the starting lineup spot that much stronger.
The biggest battles this year, however, will take place at the four and five positions. Battling for time at the first of these two positions, rising sophomores Will Harris and Jamil Tucker look to see their roles on the team increase this season. Harris made great use of his off-season and bulked up tremendously. He has grown into a different player and hopefully that size will help him battle in the paint for rebounds. Tucker is a great jump shooter who will probably see some time at both forward positions. Tucker’s liability last season was his lack of intensity on defense, one of the areas Coach Leitao constantly stresses. No one really knows how effective Tucker will be as an inside presence, or how often he will be put in this position. However, if Tucker can rise to the challenge he will be one more contender in
Virginia’s quest for a formidable big man.
As far as the center position goes, last Sunday really offered no help in discerning who has the inside track for these spots since most of the contenders sat the game out. Certainly, senior Tunji Soroye appears to be a frontrunner with his height and experience. Soroye is pretty limited offensively, but continues to show promise with his defense. His biggest goal this year will be finding a way to stay focused throughout the game. So far in his career, Soroye has had a tendency to lose concentration and commit a cheap foul or fail to block out. These mental errors have to be avoided if
Virginia is to succeed this season.
Junior Lars Mikalauskas and senior Ryan Pettinella are two talented players that failed to see the court as much as they would have liked last season. While Mikalauskas is one of the grittier players on the
Virginia roster, he was limited by injuries last year and may potentially miss time this year. He is a liability against some of the quicker big men in the conference, and that also cost him a great deal of playing time. Still, Mikalauskas has a wonderful attitude towards the game; his work ethic might very well get him to be a significant contributor this season. Pettinella may be
Virginia’s best offensive big man, but last year he was woeful at the free throw line. If Pettinella can improve this area, than he could become one of the difference makers.
All these small battles mean on thing for Coach Leitao and his coaching staff: options. He has so many different players; he can throw a variety of lineups at the opposition. He can use a shooting lineup, a speed lineup, a height lineup or even a veteran lineup. This depth could prove critical for Sean Singletary, who averaged 33 minutes a game last year. With freshman guard Sammy Zeglinski and sophomore guard Calvin Baker (who transferred from William and Mary) backing him up, Singletary may finally be able to get some rest and not worry about the Cavaliers turning the ball over every possession. Those precious minutes can pay huge dividends at the end of the year because a healthy, well rested Sean Singletary has shown the ability to deliver unbelievable performances. In an NCAA tournament game, guard play always seems to play a critical role, and
Virginia has one of the best.
In the end, depth is always a good thing because it makes everyone on the team better. Diane and Joseph will become better players because they have to fight each other for playing time each and every day in practice. The same will go for the big men. Healthy competition against quality players will always better prepare players for game situations. If
Virginia can utilize this depth to its full potential, there is no reason to doubt that the Cavaliers can orchestrate another march towards greatness…in March.
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