New coaching staff excites UVA men’s basketball

CHARLOTTESVILLE — The 2009-10 Virginia men’s basketball media day on Monday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena was a whole lot different than the one last season.

Mainly, because there wasn’t one.

A year ago, for reasons unknown, the program bypassed the annual ritual in favor of a teleconference with former coach Dave Leitao.

In some ways, the missing day of optimism — no matter how far-fetched — was a harbinger.

Virginia went on to have one of its worst seasons in school history — the Cavaliers won just 10 games — and replaced Leitao with Washington State coach Tony Bennett.

But on Monday’s media day at JPJ, a palpable optimism was back.

With the start of official practice on Friday, smiles abounded — something that was missing the last couple of years when many Virginia players seemed as if they were walking on egg shells.

“(Bennett’s) whole demeanor is different than coach Leitao’s,” said Sylvan Landesberg, last season’s ACC Rookie of the Year. “Coach Bennett is more laid back. If you mess up, instead of yelling at you, he’ll pull you over to the side.

“He’ll talk to you personally and won’t put your whole business out there. … I guess it’s better because we’re not afraid to mess up or anything, because we know if we do, coach Bennett will talk to us in private and not in front of everyone.”

“We’re all excited about all this new staff and coach Bennett, who is like a great guy, a funny guy also,” added sophomore center Assane Sene. “But when it’s time to work, it’s time to work. He knows exactly what players need to do to improve their games for this coming season.”

For the last couple of months, per NCAA rules, the team has only been allowed to practice a couple of hours per week, and in small groups.

Bennett has gotten a feel for what many of his new players can do, but admitted he was looking forward to learning more come Friday.

“To be able to start building habits on a day-to-day basis will be crucial for us,” Bennett said. “It’s a hard-working group, but the thing I’m trying to stress is that every team in America is working hard right now — no question about it.

“But the old mantra of playing hard, playing smart and playing together — there has to be some execution and smarts with the effort. That will certainly be addressed.”

Landesberg is really Bennett’s only known quantity. Bennett has been impressed with what he has seen on tape, and also the way the sophomore has been able to penetrate the lane and “snake” shots up during workouts.

However, there are a plethora of other questions for Bennett to answer before the team’s season opener against Longwood on Nov. 13.

For starters, how to improve the ACC’s worst defensive outfit? Who will supplement Landesberg’s scoring? Can Bennett get any low-post production?

Bennett, the National Coach of the Year in 2006-07, won’t be looking for any quick fix. Yet, he stopped short of calling this a “transition” season for the program.

“Do I want to win? Absolutely,” he said. “But we have to be so geared on doing things the right way.

“I have a vision for the long haul. If there’s short-term success, that’s great. But this is a vision for the long haul. I just want to see us do things well. You just don’t know what to expect with the competition and the conference. I know it will be a great challenge and great opportunity, and hopefully we’ll play in a way that gives a chance to be competitive first, and then hopefully we’re a bit successful after that.”

When asked whether he needed to rebuild his players’ confidence after two nightmarish seasons, Bennett said he wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “Some of the things we do are probably a bit different than coach Leitao and his staff. There are some things that they are conditioned to do that we have to change.

“But as far as confidence ... losing’s tough. When you do that for a couple of years, that can be a challenge.”

That’s where optimism can come into play. Near the end of his media session, Bennett, with the help of a Virginia student in attendance, invoked the poem, Casey at the Bat.

“Hope springs eternal,” he said. “With youth, I’ve always noticed that. Kids — they’re always optimistic and are always hopeful.

“One of the tenants and pillars in our program is humility. ... That’s going to be big for our program — do you really know who you are as a team. What I want to get across to our team is, ‘Do we know who we have to be and who we are in order to have a chance to be competitive and successful?’ We’re going to have to know who we are.”

The answers should start flowing Friday.