By Al Featherston for theACC.com
How long can an ACC basketball coach hold his breath?
Ask Dave Leitao.
The 2007 ACC coach of the year spent all last spring holding his, anxiously waiting to find out whether or not he'd have Sean Singletary to anchor his 2007-08 Virginia basketball team.
Sean Singletary
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Singletary, who earned first-team All-ACC honors in both 2006 and 2007, submitted his name for early entry into the NBA draft, but insisted that he was just exploring his options. He worked out for a number of NBA teams, including his hometown Philadelphia 76ers, but also paid his own way to the workouts and refused to hire an agent.
Leitao later admitted that he was torn between the selfish desire to coach the wonderfully gifted guard for one more season and the unselfish impulse to see one of his kids realize his NBA dream.
"If Sean had decided to stay in the NBA draft, I think we all would have hugged him and kissed him and wished him well," Leitao told Jerry Ratcliffe of the Charlottesville Daily Progress. "I couldn't be selfish to want it for another year just for me, or for us, when I've already gotten two more years than I could have imagined."
Leitao has had the luxury of seeing Singletary take the court in 61 of the 62 games he's coached at Virginia since coming from DePaul. The 6-0 playmaker missed a game against Fordham early in the 2005-06 season (which just happened to end as a two-point Virginia loss), but otherwise he's been the rock upon which Leitao has laid the foundations of his program.
A year ago, Singletary teamed with senior guard J.R. Reynolds to lead Virginia to a totally unexpected ACC regular season co-championship. Picked eighth in the media's pre-season conference rankings, the Cavaliers finished 21-11, earned an NCAA bid and won 11 of 16 regular season ACC games to tie North Carolina for the title.
Leitao's two gifted guards combined to average 37.4 points a game and they often dominated play with their ballhandling and their one-on-one offensive skills. The Virginia coach knew he was going to have a tough enough time replacing Reynolds' 18.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
How much tougher would it be if Singletary jumped to the NBA after leading the '07 Cavs in scoring (19.0 ppg.), assists (4.7 apg.), 3-pointers made (79), FT percentage (87.2), steals (38) and average minutes played (33.2)?
Fortunately, that's a problem that Leitao won't have to deal with. Just hours before the NBA's cutoff time, Singletary withdrew his name from the draft.
"It's significant," Leitao said when asked about the move, obviously aware of the gross understatement of those words. "You're talking about one of the greatest players to ever play here - a guy who will go down in the ACC as one of the all-time greats. Not just for his talent, but he also has the mentality and the competitiveness and the ability to perform in the clutch like only a few can."
Indeed, Singletary is positioned to reach some lofty goals in his senior season. He can become just the third Virginia player to win first-team All-ACC honors for three straight years (Ralph Sampson and Bryant Stith are the others). If he matches last year's offensive output, he will become just the fifth Cavalier player to score 2,000 points in his career. He will finish high up on the school's all-time assist and steals lists. He has a chance to become Virginia's first ACC player of the year since Sampson won it three straight times from 1981-83.
But Singletary's return means far more to the Cavs than any potential individual accomplishments. He gives Leitao a weapon that he can use to stabilize his team while his young additions to his roster mature.
"Obviously this team centers around Sean, but I don't want him to feel like he must carry the weight of this team on his shoulders," Leitao said. "We need to find players who will step up and complement him."
Mamadi Diane
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He already has 6-5 junior Mamadi Diane and 6-7 senior Adrian Joseph who were vital supporting players on last year's successful team. They should be able to expand their roles. Up front, the Cavs have 6-11 senior Tunji Soroye, a returning starter at center. Leitao also knows what to expect from 6-8 junior Laurynas Mikalauskas and 6-9 senior Ryan Pettinella. None of the three veteran big men is likely to put up big numbers, but all three are solid defenders and capable post performers.
However, the real hope for Virginia to sustain and build on last year's success lies with the abundance of young players that Leitao has brought in since replacing Pete Gillen after the 2004-05 season.
A year ago, sophomores Will Harris, Soloman Tat, Jerome Meyinsse and Jamil Tucker were relegated to minor roles on a veteran-dominated team. Leitao is waiting to see which of those youngsters demand more playing time this season.
"When you have five returning starters plus subs, you go into the season having a good sense of who your starters are and what your substitution patterns are," Leitao said.
"This year, we're still shuffling the deck and we still don't know that. In one respect, though, that's good because we have a half dozen guys fighting it out to be one of those guys."
Among the contenders are the members of Virginia's latest recruiting class. Jeff Jones and Mustapha Farrakhan are a pair of 6-4 guards with famous names and big reputations. Just to be clear, while Farrakhan is the grandson of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Jones is no relation to the former Virginia point guard and head coach of the same name. Both guards should see action this season, along with 6-8 freshman forward Mike Scott and 6-2 sophomore guard Calvin Baker, a transfer who averaged 11 points a game at William & Mary two years ago.
"It's still too early for me to assess where they fit into the picture," Leitao said of the newcomers. "Through all that, though, I am pleased with where they are in learning the system. They've all put their best foot forward and are making contributions. But you also want to slowly incorporate into the system, so they're not overwhelmed."
It helps that they all have Singletary on hand to lead the way. If Leitao is still struggling with the rest of his rotation, at least he knows who his go-to guy is. And Singletary insists that he didn't return to Virginia to play for a loser.
"Since I've been here, people have always downplayed us, so we just go out and work harder to show people they don't know how good we really are," Singletary said.
STRENGTHS - Singletary could be the best all-around guard in the ACC, maybe in the nation. It never hurts to put the ball in the hands of a player like that.
CONCERNS - Finding another reliable offensive weapon or two. The freshmen have potential and Diane and Joseph had their moments last year, but somebody has to take the 13 shots a game that went to Reynolds last year. It would also help if Leitao could find at least one quality inside scorer.
NEWCOMER TO WATCH - Jeff Jones is a big-time talent. Unlike his unrelated namesake, who was a heady, but physically limited point guard, this Jeff Jones is a superior athlete on the wing who thinks shoot first and pass second.
EARLY TESTS - Virginia got off to a great start last season by rallying to beat Arizona in the dedication game at the new John Paul Jones Arena, but this year the Cavs must repay the game - traveling to Arizona for a Nov. 17 test. Syracuse will visit Charlottesville for a Dec. 5 game. The Cavs will close out their pre-ACC slate with a tough one on Jan. 3 at Xavier.
