Sabre Edge Features 
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Sabre Edge Features
Monica Wright, the Cavaliers' spectacular senior guard, and her teammates are excited about Sunday. Really excited. That's when Tennessee comes to town for a 4 p.m. tip-off on Hot Dog Day. More than 8,000 tickets have already been sold so the John Paul Jones Arena is expected to be an electric atmosphere for the contest. The Sabre caught up with Wright to make her the debut guest in a new basketball feature. Let's play a round of H-O-R-S-E with the Hoos' standout.
While Mike Scott served as the offensive catalyst, Tony Bennett's Pack-Line defense put the brakes on a previously full throttle Rider offense. The combination of the two resulted in an impressive, to say the least, 79-46 Virginia victory in the Cancun Challenge on Thursday. The 33-point victory is clearly the best performance to date in the early stages of Bennett's tenure at UVa.
The Virginia men's basketball team opened a new era under coach Tony Bennett with an 85-72 win against Longwood last Friday. The defense was a bit lackluster - as the Hoos found out against Southern Florida three days later - but for Wahoo fans, it was nice to see Virginia start 2009-10 on the right foot. Check out the EDGE photo gallery for images from the game!
Tony Bennett's arrival in Charlottesville has students on Grounds talking about basketball again. Especially following a disappointing football season, many students are placing hope in the new basketball coach and the rebuilding of the program at UVa. Excited and hopeful, students have faith that Bennett will bring necessary changes to UVa basketball.
"They call it a game of inches," Virginia coach Al Groh proclaimed. Six inches may have been the difference, but is shouldn't have been. The Cavalier defense held the Eagles to their third lowest offensive output of the season (303 yards), their second lowest point total and their third lowest third down conversion mark of 2009. But in what has become standard operating procedure for the boys in orange and blue, Virginia's anemic offense and anything but special teams found ways to lose. The biggest culprit on this afternoon? Untimely penalties and dropped passes.
As Virginia's losing streak has drawn on, all of these motivations have been posed to Cavalier players by reporters as possible reasons to keep playing hard. After the Hoos' loss to Boston College on Saturday, even a faint chance at bowl eligibility washed away. With no playoff aspirations, what do you play for? The players' most common answer, both this week and last, is pride. Virginia coach Al Groh, however, likes to think that this attitude is merely the status quo.
Like many teams that Virginia will play on its schedule, South Florida is not Longwood. Like the Longwood game, Virginia played a tough defensive first half. But, like the Longwood game, Virginia became porous in the second half - particularly inside - and committed turnovers at crucial moments. Add some cold UVa shooting and South Florida opened with a 17-5 run to start the second half, propelling the Bulls to a 66-49 victory in Tampa, Fla.
With Virginia's third-ever trip to the field hockey Final Four, head coach Michele Madison has come full circle. In Madison's 13 years at Michigan State prior to arriving at Virginia, she built the program from the ground up. On Saturday, as the second overall seed and host team for the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Cavaliers again arrived at the quarterfinals, searching for the elusive bid to the semifinal round. And they won to earn a berth in the Final Four.
When it comes to turnovers, Virginia looks like a team trying to shake a bad caffeine habit. Shaky at times. I don't really need to do this, but I could use the boost decisions. Hey, I know this is bad for me and I'm going to quit but I can't help myself moments.
The good news? The Hoos do indeed look like someone trying to shake the habit, not like someone hopelessly guzzling 32-ounce 7-11 Big Gulps. The bad news? It's a work in progress, something clear during Friday's opener with Longwood.
The Virginia men's basketball team tips off its season in just a few hours when Longwood visits the John Paul Jones Arena for a 7 p.m. contest. The Sabre sat down on Media Day last month with several players to talk about the Hoos and the upcoming season with new coach Tony Bennett. Check out these Quick Takes with Jerome Meyinsse, Mustapha Farrakhan and Thomas Kody.
There are a number of reasons why Sylven Landesberg might be due for what is commonly referred to as a "sophomore slump" - a down second year after a dynamite rookie season. After winning ACC Rookie of the Year last season, Landesberg is anything but a secret. His perimeter jumper and mid-range game were nothing to brag about a year ago, and opposing defenses will surely make him prove he can knock down a jumper before they let him even get a sniff of the lane.
Landesberg knows all of this. And that's why he put in the work over the offseason - so that it can't happen.
It's easy to forget, but Solomon Tat started 8 of Virginia's last 10 games last season. That's right, Tat started nearly one-third of the Cavaliers' contests a year ago. Viewed as a gimmick by some observers, to then-coach Dave Leitao the reasoning was simple. He thought the team needed more passion and energy. Tat delivers those things in heavy doses.
When discussing Boston College in his weekly press conference, Virginia coach Al Groh said that BC is a "visually pleasing team to watch play." For Cavalier fans, watching the Eagles on Saturday may be a little bit confusing. Why? Because if Boston College were wearing orange and blue, you'd swear that it could be the UVa teams of yesteryear.
With Saturday's football loss in South Florida, the Wahoo Nation should definitely welcome the start of the Tony Bennett era on Friday, Nov. 13. In future weeks, we'll analyze games, render opinions and hopefully have some teachable moments, but in this first column, a few season-opening comments about Coach Bennett himself and a season preview of the team.
As the Virginia football team dives lower and lower in the conference standings with each double-digit loss, the opposing teams on the slate don't get any easier. All three remaining teams on the Cavaliers' schedule currently have six wins or more, including Boston College, who comes to Scott Stadium this Saturday. That makes a total of eight Virginia opponents this season who have at least six wins - the Hoos' schedule currently ranks ninth nationally in the NCAA.
Saturday's game against Miami was every bit as ugly as the 35-point margin would suggest. The Wahoos' defensive struggles were matched on special teams and surpassed by the offense's ineptitude. Virginia, which entered the game ranked 116th out of 120 FBS teams in total offense, managed to actually drop in those rankings to 119th. Not surprisingly, for the third consecutive week and the fifth time this season, the offense's grade drops into the D or below range.
Every season, The Sabre likes to take a preseason look at 10 key questions facing the Virginia men's basketball team. On Friday, Part I considered turnovers, a potential 'X Factor' player for the team, and more. Part II of 10 Key Questions focuses on two of the important pieces in the Cavaliers' puzzle, defense, of course, and more.
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