New coach Bennett means fresh starts at Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The arrival of new head coach Tony Bennett at Virginia has sparked enthusiasm that the Cavaliers will improve after several dismal seasons.

But the key to Bennett’s system working will be his ability to get his team to buy into the same philosophy his predecessor tried: the idea that defense makes everything else go.

So far, at least, the message seems to be taking hold.

“When a coach comes in preaching that defense is what’s going to make us win, I feel like it’s easier for us to embrace it because we didn’t have the solution last year,” guard Calvin Baker said. “It’s something new we have to change, and that was a problem area for us.”

Departed coach Dave Leitao talked foremost about the importance of playing rugged defense, then often talked after games about how his team’s effort was lacking. It showed, too, as the Cavaliers finished 10-18, their worst record in 40 years.

Bennett, hired from Washington State after posting a 69-33 record in three seasons that all ended in postseason tournaments, has come across as more of a player’s coach than Leitao so far, but said accountability on the defensive end will help determine who plays.

In taking on a rebuilding job that he said will be more about the long haul than immediate results, he even gave Leitao’s last recruits, 6-foot-8 swingman Tristan Spurlock and 5-11 guard Jontel Evans, a chance to opt out of their commitments. Neither did.

“I really want to have guys that are excited about trying to turn this and to be a part if it,” he said while speaking of “non-negotiables” like defense and good shot selection. “It usually doesn’t work in the long run if guys don’t want to be part of building a program.”

Like Leitao, Bennett arrived to find a team with players he can build around, most notably Sylven Landesberg, the ACC’s top freshman last year when he averaged 16.6 points.

One season of disappointment was enough, Landesberg said.

“It was very difficult. I wasn’t used to losing coming in,” he said. “It was a hard first year, but we’re all ready to turn it around. We’re not going to let it happen again.”

Landesberg’s scoring numbers fell off as the league got to know his slashing and driving game last season, and so he spent the summer working on his outside shot. While trying to make himself harder to stop, Landesberg also was given a challenge by his new coach.

“My challenge to Sylven will be this,” Bennett said as practice began. “Every good player I’ve been around, the real good ones, they just find a way to make their teammates better.”

Scanning the floor, Landesberg will see many players who have been brilliant at times in a Cavaliers uniform, but nearly invisible at others in Leitao’s often-crowded doghouse.

Mustapha Farrakhan, for example, started twice last season, once after he scored 15 points in a span of just 3:51 to nearly singlehandedly lift the Cavaliers at Virginia Tech. They lost by three, but the scoring explosion earned him the start in Virginia’s next game.

After he missed 11 of 15 shots, the start of a 3 for 32 slump, he didn’t even leave the bench the next time the Cavaliers and Hokies met, and played sparingly the rest of the way.

“It definitely feels great to have a fresh start,” Farrakhan said.

It’s a feeling several other players share.

“You can see the vibe on campus, and you can see the vibe on the team,” guard Jeff Jones said. “Everybody’s high energy, they’re excited. It’s like the first day of recruiting.

“I think it’s given a lot of people a lot of motivation to do great things.”

That kind of talk is what fires Bennett up to get started in a season where he cautioned that getting his systems installed will be more of a priority early on than winning.

“The thing that I’m trying to stress is that every team is America is working hard right now, no question about it, but the old mantra of playing hard, playing smart and playing together,” he said.

“There’s got to be some execution and smarts with the effort.”

Bennett’s background is helping him get his message across. He led Washington State to the NCAA tournament twice as coach, and he still is the NCAA career record-holder with a .497 shooting percentage from 3-point range. Even more, he played three seasons in the NBA.

“We’re all very excited,” forward Jamil Tucker said. “We have a new system and basically a new start being able to do things a different way. We’ll see if it’s a better way or not.

“The last two years were tough, but this year we have a better outlook.”

Not to mention, Landesberg said, plenty of motivation. The Cavaliers were picked to finish 11th in the ACC by the media, and Landesberg was not on the all-preseason team.

“We’re all ready to prove everybody wrong,” he said.

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