For all the gloom and doom that has been forecasted for the Virginia men's basketball team, chances are that the Cavaliers will have an opportunity to win a game on their final possession.

For the last three years, the Cavaliers would have looked for Sean Singletary in that situation.

Just who, exactly, will take that shot now that Singletary is gone?

"Me, of course," senior Mamadi Diane said.

Diane couldn't keep a straight face. Even if he actually felt that way, which he might, it would be out of character for Diane to be so brash.

Diane is the Cavaliers' only returning double-figure scorer, and he'll need some help. Even with Singletary, arguably the best point guard to ever play for the Cavaliers, Virginia was 10th in the ACC and finished 17-16 last season.

At the ACC's Operation Basketball, the media made UVa a preseason choice for 12th this year.

"I pay zero attention to that," said Virginia coach Dave Leitao on the eve of preseason practice. "I can prove it. In three years, whoever is responsible for predicting, they're 0-for-3. So, the likelihood of them being 0-for-4 is very strong."

In addition to Singletary, the Cavaliers will take the floor without No. 3 scorer Adrian Joseph, who was a senior, and No. 5 scorer Lauris Mikalauskas, who was dismissed by Leitao for not living up to team standards.

Virginia also lost Will Harris, who did some good things as a freshman in 2006-07, but had back problems that caused him to miss the last 14 games of the 2007-08 season.

Harris eventually transferred to Albany, opening a scholarship for 6-foot-11, 250-pound Tunji Soroye, who was awarded a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA after missing most of the 2007-08 season with an assortment of injuries.

In Soroye's absence, Virginia did not have a legitimate shot-blocker, one reason that it ranked last or next to last in the ACC in scoring defense, field-goal percentage defense, steals and blocked shots.

Soroye will be joined by a pair of first-year post players, including his fellow west African, 7-foot Assane Sene from Senegal. It has been hard for Leitao to hide his excitement over Sene's potential.

"When we were recruiting him, for a guy who had been playing the game for only five years, I was enthralled by how much of an offensive feel he had," Leitao said. "Believe me, these two aren't comparable, but when you watch a football game, Chris Long has a motor. When you watch Assane, he's got a motor.

"All the things that he's not are going to be as obvious as the things that he [is]. He hasn't figured anything out yet, but he's already more gifted offensively than Tunji is or was."

When the season ended with a 96-85 loss to Bradley in the College Basketball Invitational, Leitao swore that the Cavs would play defense this season -- which is even more important due to potential offensive voids.

A pair of wing players, sophomore Jeff Jones and freshman Sylven Landesberg, were prolific scorers in high school. Jones hit six 3-pointers and scored a season-high 26 points against Bradley but he previously had gone 20 games without scoring in double figures.

Jones started 25 games and his 6-foot-9, 233-pound classmate, Mike Scott, started 21 games. Scott played center after Soroye and Mikalauskas were hurt. This year, he will share the power-forward spot with Jamil Tucker, who is coming off a shoulder injury.

Leitao said his impression early in practice has been that Jones and Scott are willing to become go-to offensive players.

"A lot of that is dictated more by [the players] than by me," Leitao said.

It won't be easy to take over for Singletary, a role that will be assumed by his fellow William Penn Charter graduate, Sammy Zeglinski. Zeglinski played during the nonconference portion of UVa's schedule but required foot surgery and, like Soroye, was successful in his appeal for a hardship year.

If Zeglinski isn't ready, the Cavaliers will turn to 2007-08 backup Calvin Baker, who started only eight games but was third on the team in minutes per game (25.3). Baker, described as a combination guard, has missed several practices due to a stress fracture.

Landesberg is a possibility, but Leitao won't "try and not put that on him right away because I'm going to ask him to do many more things," he said. "It would probably burden him if he had to worry about making the other four guys better all the time."

There are a lot of questions about this UVa team: Will it play defense, can it score, can it stay healthy, will leaders emerge? However, for a preseason choice for 12th, the talent level is decent, maybe better than decent.

"I kind of feel like this is almost a first-year venture because, when I got here, being blessed with Jason [Cain] and J.R. [Reynolds] and Sean was probably more than I could have expected," Leitao said.

"Now, that there's a new wave here, there is a new wave of things that have to go with it. Being as young as we are, there are going to be those great days and those down days, too."