Monday, March 9

Regular Season in Review

                The Virginia Men ended their 2008-2009 regular season with a 68-63 victory on Saturday over the University of Maryland at the John Paul Jones Arena. On senior day Mamadi Diane lead all scorers with 23 points in 34 minutes. It was an appropriate ending and perfectly demonstrated the confusion that has surrounded the entire season. Other bright spots from the game included Mike Scott’s 11 rebounds and 11 points in his 37 minutes, his first extended playing time in quite a while.

                The Cavaliers season has been one of confusion and disappointment. This Sunday was in all likelihood the final game of the season for the Hoos and most questions from the beginning of the year still linger. However amidst all the confusion and lineup changes there is hope for the future. This team has many talented and young players and talent was by no means the reason that the Hoos finished 10-17 this year. In my opinion the reason this team underachieved this season was the coaching. The high school offense, profane bench tirades, and nonsensical substitution patterns were the obvious downfall of the team this season, which is a shame.

                In watching the Cavaliers offensively I genuinely attempted to learn the offense and what the basic strategy and concepts were, and I think I discovered the plan, there was no plan. After about the 3rd game this season it was apparent that the offense was give Sylven Landesberg the ball and let him use his ball skills to create a play for himself and have the rest of the team clean up after him. I hate to break it to everyone but that stopped working after everyone caught up to the freak 6 foot 5th grader in rec league and is by no means even close to an effective offensive strategy  for an ACC team. When Virginia went on its season killing 8 game losing streak after the New Year it was because every single team that walked into the gym knew that if they could pack the lane so Sylven could not drive there was no other way Virginia could score.

                 The success at the end of the season was directly correlated to the consistency of the lineup. Coach Leitao finally settled on 7 players that he would give the majority of the minutes. Those seven players developed a repertoire with one another that allowed the offense to have added dimension as the players learned each other’s tendencies. Looking at this team at the beginning of the season I don’t think any of us expected an ACC championship caliber team but I think we all would have been fine seeing the team grow together as they did at the end of the season. I can remember at least 15 different starting lineups this season alone. What the Coach did not seem to grasp was that he needed to pick one and stick with it. You can’t have your starters in for 4 minutes and make a determination on whether or not that lineup will be effective for you for the entire season. Basketball is not a science it’s an art. You can’t just find 5 players that will work every time, but what you can find is 5 players that know when one is having an off night or who has the hot hand and can change their style it account for them. The constant frantic lineup changes that Coach Leitao had this season robbed UVA of any chance of developing that kind of team and having any sort of success this year. We all saw what happened when a lineup was finally settled upon, it’s a shame we could not see it sooner.

                The biggest problem I have with this season is Coach Leitao’s behavior on the sideline. As someone who curses quite frequently I have no grounds to speak on this matter but I have never heard so many profanities thrown in an attack of someone who you are supposed to be mentoring. This is another thing the Coach doesn’t get. He isn’t just the basketball coach. Being the coach of the basketball team makes you not only the face of the team but the face of the entire university. How many of my 4 readers know the name of UVA’s president? I’d be willing to bet the majority of people can’t name our president, but quite a few would recognize our basketball coach. To see a representative of your university drop the f-bomb on Jamil Tucker 9 times in a rant that questions his desire and overall manhood while 5 feet away from fans that bring their 5 year old daughters in their UVA cheerleading outfits is completely out of line and not something that should be allowed to represent this school. The other issue I have is that parent have entrusted their sons to you, and I don’t think they would appreciate seeing their children verbally abused. These guys are not at home, the coach is their authority figure and he should not be allowed to act in such a way that shows that he has no concern for the maturity and development of his players as men, not just as basketball players.  This negative attitude and constant pressure of removal can be plainly seen in the play of Mamadi Diane who exploded for 23 points on Saturday when alleviated of all pressures. Who knows what could have been had he been free his whole career. Diane is a prime example of the detriment of Coach Leitao’s coaching style on his players.

                However after all that negativity the team has a bright future ahead of it. The talent is here and Tristan Spurlock is an excellent swing man coming in from Springfield, VA. I feel that this team can be great in the coming years but a coaching change has to be made. It has to be for no other reason than Coach Leitao is not a good representative of this university, but also because coaching seems to be the main problem with this team. The team has the talent, the fanbase, and the facilities to be great; the only thing missing is a great coach.

 

                I’ll be profiling a few guys a think would be a good fit for coaches if Coach Leitao is indeed fired but it would be in poor taste to speak of replacements before a decision is reached. For the rest of the week you can look forward to more profiles of the future of the basketball team and maybe some football by the end of the week. I will address the controversial Washington Post Article in tomorrow’s entry.

 

Wahoowa

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