Friday night will mark the beginning of the Dave Leitao era at the University of Virginia as the Hoos host the Liberty Flames at University Hall. The game will be Leitao's first official game as head coach.
After a thorough exhibition game last week the Virginia Cavaliers now get to play someone besides one another in practice. The Hoos are looking forward to getting the season underway just as Hoo fans are to see how the team performs under the new staff's direction. It appears the starting lineup for the Cavaliers will be Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds in the backcourt while Mamadi Diane, Laurynas Mikalauskas, and Tunji Soroye will be the frontcourt starters.
Yes the two freshman (Diane and Mikalauskas)will probably get the nod as they've been running with the first team throughout practice over the last few days and Leitao obviously likes what the two youngsters bring to the team. Diane has shown flashes of being a great all around player at the small forward and shooting guard positions. His shooting ability remains his key strength but the former DeMatha Catholic star posesses great rebounding, passing, and ballhandling abilities as well.
Mikalauskas some feel is just what the Cavaliers needed and many wish he would've been available last season because the 6'8 250 lber. from Lithuania can bang with the best of them on the boards and provides all out hustle while in the game. One area to keep an eye on will be Laurynas' ability to stay out of foul trouble, his aggressiveness sometimes leads to foul problems but the coaching staff loves the youngster's motor.
Sean Singletary is coming off a great freshman season and after successful shoulder surgery lots of people feel he's one of the best if not the best point guard in the ACC this season. Sean displayed a tremendous amount of heart last season playing through the pain of his shoulder. Now that his shoulder is completely healthy many see him filling the stat box even more in his sophomore campaign.
Singletary's running mate, J.R. Reynolds, will once again be counted on to help stretch oppposing defenses with strong perimeter shooting. Last year some felt Reynolds' game slipped a little but reports all summer have been that Reynolds very well could be Hoos' leading scorer and challenge for all conference honors.
Center Tunji Soroye saw significant action finally last season in the ACC tournament and he didn't disappoint in the time he was on the court. Dave Leitao and staff are looking to him to build on those performances after an offseason of adding muscle and some offensive moves to his repertoire. Soroye like Mikalauskas will have to try and stay out of foul trouble as he'll be counted upon to anchor the defense with his tremendous shot blocking ability.
For the Liberty Flames guard Larry Blair leads the charge. The junior guard averaged 16.6 points a game last season and will be counted upon heavily as the Flames' squad has no seniors. The team comprises mostly of freshmen and sophomores so the Hoo coaching staff will have to adjust on the fly as a lot of the Flames players are seeing their first major minutes.
Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM at University Hall.