Thursday, January 17, 2008
First two Leitao classes not contributing much
What's with all the injuries?
Doug Doughty
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For the past two-three weeks, I have been aware of an online debate about Dave Leitao’s recruiting ability but not paid much attention to it.
Leitao had the reputation of a good recruiter before he took the Virginia job and I have never considered that reputation to be undeserved, not even now.
But, I can see why some people have their doubts, particularly after the Cavaliers’ performance Wednesday in a 70-69 overtime loss to visiting Virginia Tech.
This is Leitao’s third season as Virginia’s head coach and he has had two full recruiting classes, as represented by the freshmen and sophomores on this year’s team.
Those players accounted for five points against the Hokies – three points by freshman Mike Scott and a pair of free throws by classmate Jeff Jones.
The sophomore class of Jamil Tucker, Solomon Tat, Jerome Meyinsse and Will Harris did not have a single point.
In the sake of fairness, it should be noted that the 2007 class included a fifth recruit, Ryan Pettinella, who began his career at Pennsylvania and transferred to Virginia from Monroe (N.Y.) Community College, where he did not play.
Pettinella came off the bench to contribute six points against Virginia Tech and now has scored a total of 14 points in 38 minutes over the past two games. He also has made three straight free throws after going 1-for-13 from the line to start the season.
There is another regular contributor who has joined the program during the Leitao tenure, Calvin Baker, who has started the last two games at shooting guard. However, it is misleading to characterize Baker as a Leitao recruit because he initiated contact with the Cavaliers before transferring from William and Mary.
Basically, the issue is Virginia’s sophomore and freshman classes. On-line Leitao supporters say that players like J.R. Reynolds were not world-beaters as freshmen and that’s correct, but the sophomore class needs to step it up.
It should be mentioned that Harris and freshman Sammy Zeglinski were not in uniform Wednesday night. Neither were senior Tunji Soroye and junior Lauris Mikalauskas.
That’s another issue with this team: What’s with all the injuries? Why are they always breaking down?
Harris was projected by many to be the top recruit in the 2007 class and media gadfly Jeff White and I agree, if you put Harris on the floor and left him out there for 30 minutes, that he’d probably account for 15 points and eight rebounda a game.
He plays so infrequently now that he doesn’t seem to have any confidence, and the way he walked stiff-legged to the huddle during timeouts Wednesday, he looked like a candidate for the geriatric ward.
Tucker, a 6-9 forward with a nice 3-point stroke and decent athleticism, was a guy who could have made a difference Wednesday night but he took one shot in 12 minutes.
Tat played three minutes and did not have a stat of any kid, not even a foul.
Tat’s 12-point outing in 16 minutes of garbage time at Xavier no longer looks like a sign of things to come. Meyinsse was only on the floor for four minutes Wednesday, but if he can’t find a comfort level against the young, relatively undersized Hokies, how long will it be before he’s ready for a regular dose of ACC action?
Pettinella and Baker do not receive athletic grants, so the Cavaliers only used eight scholarship players against the Hokies. Of the five who did not play, four were injured and Mustapha Farrakhan was – what do they call it ? – a healthy scratch?
Remember what Leitao said about Farrakhan before the season: “What I've noticed from him is that he can really, really shoot the basketball. I mean really shoot the basketball.”
Farrakhan proceeded to miss his first seven 3-pointers of the season before finally connecting at Xavier. He looked unsure of himself when called upon to handle the ball late in Virginia’s game with Duke and is not really an option at this time.
For much of the 2006-2007 season, Leitao talked with reporters about a “third option” behind Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds. In Reynolds’ absence this season, there frequently has not been a second option behind Singletary, and certainly none out of the freshman and sophomore classes.
Three fall signees will at least constitute the nucleus of Leitao’s 2009 class, which looks to be a good one with mega-scorer Sylven Landesberg and big men John Brandenburg and Assane Sene. Leitao has missed on some national top 25 talent, but he’s gotten a lot of players in the 50-150 range.
Virginia should be able to thrive on players like that. Heck, Singletary and Reynolds weren’t McDonald’s or Parade All-Americans, but, after the last two classes, who knows?
Maybe the freshmen and sophomores will surprise us, but they’re not doing much right now.
