Part of Virginia coach Dave Leitao's strategy for improving the basketball program has been to recruit players who can make an immediate contribution. This year, four freshmen and a transfer from William & Mary are looking to do just that.
Leitao followed up his solid year of recruiting in 2006 with another strong group of recruits in 2007. Three guards are a part of that recruiting class: Philadelphia's Sammy Zeglinski, Chicagoland's Mustapha Farrakhan and Jeff Jones, who hails from the Philadelphia area. In addition to these three, Mike Scott, a Chesapeake, Va. native and former player at Hargrave Military Academy, was also a member of the 2007 recruiting class.
"We needed help in the backcourt, and Sammy, Mustapha and Jeff all provide different aspects of help in ball-handling, shooting skill, athleticism," Leitao said. "Mike Scott will help our frontcourt with his athleticism and his ability to score."
Joining these four newcomers is sophomore guard Calvin Baker. Baker, a native of Newport News, Va., transferred from William & Mary after leading the Tribe in scoring, assists and minutes played as a freshman. Unable to play last season due to NCAA rules regarding transferring, Baker is excited to be able to step onto the court this year.
"It was hard [sitting out]," Baker said. "We had such a great season last year and won a lot of close games, and it was a special year, and I really wanted to be part of it, but that was the sacrifice I was willing to make when I transferred, so I knew how it was going to be."
One year of collegiate basketball and practice with the team last year, however, gets Baker off to an auspicious start, as he will be able to step in right away and contribute.
"His year of college basketball at William & Mary and his year of sitting out and understanding what we do and what we're asking for are huge, particularly with the loss of J.R.," Leitao said. "Having somebody with some experience that can fill that void, so especially early he'll have an advantage over everybody else."
Besides getting used to the team, something the incoming recruits will have to adjust to is playing ACC-caliber defense. Often times, it's not a lack of offensive production that causes a freshman to play limited minutes; rather, it's a lack of production on the defensive end.
The freshman players "don't know a whole lot yet about how to defend, how to play team defense and how to fit themselves in that way," Leitao said. "I always temper ... my statements of either expectation or talking about their attributes, because none of that will matter unless they get this other part of the game down."
One thing Leitao mentioned is how skilled the newcomers are. Baker was named to the Colonial Athletic Association's 2006 All-Rookie Team while attending William & Mary. Jones broke the Philadelphia Catholic League's scoring record. Farrakhan, Zeglinski and Scott were first-team All-State honorees in their respective states.
"When you say contribution, people probably usually just think scoring, but a lot of ways, we've got some good leaders in the freshman class," Singletary said. "In more ways than scoring they can help us, but they will be able to contribute immediately."
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