The suspension of Virginia scoring leader Sylven Landesberg has resurrected an ongoing debate about the need for schools or coaching staffs to monitor the academic activity of their student-athletes.

UVa announced Saturday that Landesberg had been suspended for the remainder of the season as the result of unacceptable class attendance.

In another news release distributed Monday, Virginia announced that fifth-year senior co-captain Calvin Baker also would miss the remainder of the season due to an illness in his family.

The Cavaliers' season could end Thursday in Greensboro, N.C., where ninth-seeded UVa (14-15, 5-11 ACC) will meet eighth-seeded Boston College (15-16. 6-10) at noon in the first round of the ACC Tournament.

A UVa loss basically would result in a six-day suspension for Landesberg. A bigger issue surrounds his return for a junior year in 2010-11.

Multiple calls to the Landesberg home in Flushing, N.Y., went unanswered.

Coach Tony Bennett shed some more light on the Landesberg issue in Monday's weekly ACC coaches' teleconference.

"We do have random class checks," Bennett said, "but there's always going to be loopholes. At my former school, the football team [at Washington State] made their players get something signed by the professor.

"Maybe that is something to consider. Maybe I'm too old-school in my thinking that, if you expect and demand your players to work hard on the practice floor and expect them to be at class and perform, then you have to able to take people on their word."

There was evidence that Landesberg was attending some classes regularly, "but, in one, it didn't happen," Bennett said, "and it was clear to the team that there was the potential for suspension or punishments."

Bennett said the players are asked to assess their academic progress on a weekly basis.

"Someone from my staff or the academic support staff asks them, 'How's the class going? Talk to me about how you're doing [and] what's going on,' " Bennett said. "There's a lot of communication, but ultimately the responsibility falls to the student-athlete."

Bennett added that "there's a lot of class checks early [in the] day," and that might have been the loophole to which he was referring. Landesberg may have been missing a class later in the day.

Regardless, Landesberg became the second UVa player to receive academic-related sanctions this season. Jamil Tucker, the top returning scorer from last season's junior class, was dismissed for academic reasons in December without playing in a game this season.

Al Skinner, the 13-year Boston College head coach whose Eagles will face UVa for the second time in 10 days, said that a representative of his staff checks on class attendance every day.

"I know we monitor and we check, but if a young man's not interested in getting his education, there's not a lot that you can do about it," Skinner said.

"There's an agreement between the university and the young man that, if he's going to participate in athletics, he's got to get an education.

"If he doesn't want to, I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do about it, other than to not allow him to participate."

Note

Bennett clarified that the technical foul he received with 38 seconds left Saturday against Maryland was his first as a head coach, assistant coach or player at any level. "I've been close to getting one; I've been warned," said Bennett, who said his father received his share of technicals at multiple coaching stops.