What started out as a very promising season and debut for Tony Bennett turned ugly as they lost 10 of their last 11 games.
Now Sylven Landesberg the Cavs leading scorer has decided to leave the team. He was suspended by Bennett for academic reasons and now he has decided to leave. Bad move. This has failure written all over it for Sylven. He will just end up being one of those guys that plays in the developmental league or some place in Europa.
For the Cavs, it marks the latest shakeup for the Cavaliers. Bennett announced Monday that freshman swingman Tristan Spurlock wouldn't return by mutual agreement. Earlier this season forward Jamil Tucker was dismissed for academic reasons and guard Calvin Baker left the team because of an ill family member.
Center Assane Sene was suspended for three games at the start of the season for conduct detrimental to the team.
Virginia lost 10 of its final 11 games and fell to Duke in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to finish 15-16 in Bennett's first season.
WAHOO! One HellUVA joke!
6 comments:
Good! Bennett is doing it his way and if guys don't want to go to school they should leave.
Sylven Landesberg didn't go to class! What is Bennett to do - go to his professors and tell them to pass him?
Bennett is a great coach and he has a great recruiting class coming in next year. I didn't expect much this year and hope to see a good young team on the court next year.
In two years, I expect a team that is at least an NIT team and in the hunt for an NCAA bid.
Then, I expect the team to be a perennial winner in three years.
Why do you hate UVa?
Actually, my final comment in the post was a little extreme.
I actually think Bennett is a good coach and I think he will do good things for UVA. It's unfortunate how things unraveled at the end of the year after such a promising start but it's the guy's first year and I certainly think he is better than what was there before and needs time to build his team.
I don't really hate UVA. Frankly, I would love to see them become a force in the ACC.
That's better!
I think it says a lot that Bennett didn't bend standards for Landesberg. It sends a clear message that you have to be a student athlete and there are responsibilities that b-ball players have to get to class.
Surely, Bennett knew that the loss of Landesberg would hurt, but his position will be good for the program in the long haul.
This season was a lot like the 'Skins '08 season under Zorn. We started with a few good wins and found ourselves in good position at the mid-point, but it eventually became clear that we were in over our heads. A few tough losses turned into a few more bad losses, which turned into personnel issues and a lack of chemistry and a miserable ending to the season.
The jury is still out on Bennett being a "great" coach, but I do see a little more promise in Bennett than I did in Zorn. He has the team playing defense and he seemed to get a lot more out of his guys than expected. I think once he gets more of his guys on the court, we'll see more out of the Cavs.
The Landesberg situation sucks. The guy is good, and he would have had a chance at a great season next year, but he's not ready for the NBA. I agree. He'll be playing in some D-league or in China wearing Starbury shoes.
UVA has 6 guys coming in next year - from across the country. With the loss of Landesberg, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't add a 7th player. The team will be all new next year, but they will be guys that Bennett guys, so we will see how that goes.
My guess is that UVA will be much better next year.
As for Landesberg, the guy should have gone to class and built his rep/cred for the NBA. Now he will languish somewhere and probably won't make it.
We'll see if Tony Bennett can coach or if he should have stuck with singing.
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