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Tor-Leitao swirls as men's basketball season approaches

Just three weeks from tomorrow the Virginia men's basketball team opens its 2005-06 campaign at University Hall against Liberty. It seems only appropriate that the Cavaliers welcome in the players from Jerry Falwell's evangelical Christian institution to launch their prayer of a season.

As impressive as Dave Leitao's credentials are and as talented as returning point guard Sean Singletary is, the Cavaliers will need a little divine intervention if they want to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001. Virginia will be without its two leading scorers from last season (Elton Brown and Devin Smith) as well as highly-valued sixth man Gary Forbes.

One thing is for sure; you won't be able to fault Leitao for trying. In fact, it seems like the 45-year-old coach is taking a page out of Falwell's playbook with his no-nonsense, disciplinarian style.

Students at Falwell's university have a nightly curfew as early as 10:00 p.m. on weeknights. Leitao gets his team up at the crack of dawn for practice and workouts. At Liberty, students are forced to abide by a strict dress code. Leitao strongly encouraged Singletary and guard J.R. Reynolds to wear suits to ACC media day this past weekend. Liberty students must attend church every Sunday. The Cavaliers are brought to their knees with exhaustion after each Leitao practice.

Maybe that last parallel was a bit of a stretch, but not by much. Leitao has the Cavaliers running hard enough to drive any memory of Pete Gillen far out of their minds. The Tor-Leitao has swept in and the Cavaliers know they're not in Kansas anymore.

Singletary could be at Kansas right now. Or Kentucky, or Syracuse or UCLA for that matter. The standout point guard was recruited by several top-tier schools, but for some reason decided to come to Charlottesville to play for Gillen. A year later, the man who recruited Singletary is gone and he's stuck with a new coach and slim chances of winning any sort of championship. Singletary could have transferred to another program. After last year's performance on the court, I can't imagine that any Division I team would not welcome the chance to add Singletary to its squad. But Singletary is staying put, which speaks volumes for Leitao.

For someone who has so much to gain and little to lose by jumping ship, Singletary's presence means he is buying into Leitao's program. Singletary believes.

This is especially significant considering Leiato's style is so different from his predecessor's. A brief glimpse at the Leitao quotes in the Athletic Department-issued 2005-06 basketball prospectus reveals that this guy does not mess around.

"I believe most coaches have a better chance at having a successful season when the players allow the coach to just coach them," Leitao said. "They listen well and they believe. As long as we continue to treat each other with respect, that will happen."

Message to the Cavaliers: What Leitao says goes. The leprechaun has taken his pot of gold and abdicated his throne. No more going out and partying the night before games. Leitao is in charge now, and things are going to change. In fact, Leitao even used the D-word.

"From a basketball standpoint, I coach in a way where defense is important because that's a constant and more controllable part of the game," Leitao said.

What's this? Defense? The only time Elton Brown even came close to playing defense was after he pulled a gun on an unarmed man in the Fashion Square Mall parking lot this May. Brown found himself in court as a defendant facing concealed weapons charges. But really, how scared could you really be facing down an armed Elton Brown? Considering his free throw percentage, it's clear that aim is not the man's strong point.

Brown is part of the old era, in many ways a symbol of everything that Leitao wants to change about the Virginia program. The 6-foot-9 center, who refused to hustle and couldn't grab an offensive rebound if his life depended on it, wouldn't last 10 minutes with Leitao.

The good news is Leitao won't have to deal with Brown. The bad news is his corps of big men consists of Jason Cain, Donte Minter and Tunji Soroye. Lacking depth and experience at most possessions, Leitao and the Cavaliers will have a hard time reaching .500 this year.

You have to start somewhere, I guess. After all, as any Liberty student would tell you, even God didn't create the world overnight.

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