So, what to expect from the basketball team this year? Well, by a wide margin, the Hoos were picked to be dead last in the conference. Will that be where they end up?

Quite possibly. Without one of the younger guys taking a giant leap, this team is largely made up of role players and raw talent. You probably know the cast by heart, but the guys at Dear Ol’ do a good job of looking over the probable bench and starting lineup if you need a refresher. Looking over the roster, someone like Jeff Jones or Mike Scott needs to make a major leap, Mamadi Diane needs to lose his characteristic inconsistency, either Sammy Zeglinski or Calvin Baker (if he’s playing) need to lock down the point, and the rookies need to grow up in a hurry (especially the big men, unless Tunji Soroye learns to score). That’s a lot of things that need to happen for Virginia to climb out of their expected basement dwelling.

And that’s probably too many things. Perhaps some of those happen, and perhaps the Hoos climb over a few teams next year to avoid being dead last. In a rebuilding year, that would be a nice accomplishment. But for Dave Leitao to reach the NCAAs this season, there’s a long list of names that need to blow through expectations. But making the NIT (and avoiding the CBI) might be a reachable goal this season.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 12:39 am and is filed under ACC Basketball, Dave Leitao, Men's Basketball, UVa Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.