"I'm sure I'll play somewhere else," senior Sean Singletary said following a 94-76 loss to Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC Tournament. "It's tough not playing in a program and a family that we built for these three years."
Beginning tonight, however, Singletary will get at least one more opportunity not only to put on a Virginia jersey but to perform in front of his home fans. At 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia (15-15, 5-11 ACC) hosts Richmond in round one of the new College Basketball Invitational.
In its inaugural season, the CBI is a third-tier postseason tournament, inferior to both the NCAA and NIT Tournaments. Established by the Gazelle Group, the CBI contains 16 teams and is divided into four regions, each of which contains four teams seeded 1 to 4. Like the NIT, in which the higher seed plays at its home site in every round, the higher-seeded team will serve as host for the first two rounds of each region and the semifinals of the tournament.
Virginia is the top seed in the East region, which also contains Old Dominion, Rider and Virginia's first-round opponent Richmond -- the second, third and fourth seeds, respectively in the East. John Paul Jones Arena will be the host arena for the Cavaliers' game against the Spiders, and Old Dominion will host Rider at 7 p.m. tonight.
Other teams to receive top seeds include Washington (West region), Bradley (Midwest) and Texas-El Paso (South). The four teams that advance from each region will be reseeded 1 through 4 for the semifinals, and predictably seeds 1 and 4, and 2 and 3 will square off, with the higher seed hosting at its home site for each semifinal.
The most unique aspect of this tournament in comparison to the other two is in its finals. Unlike the NCAA or NIT tournaments, the CBI Championship is determined by a best-of-three series between the two finalists. The higher seed, as determined by the reseeding in the semifinals, will host game one and game three, if necessary, and the lower seed will host game two.
Virginia's first-round opponent, in-state rival Richmond (16-14, 9-7 Atlantic 10), finished sixth in the Atlantic 10 and lost in the quarterfinals of its conference tournament to eventual Atlantic 10 Tournament runner-up St. Joseph's. The only 2007-08 opponents that the two teams have in common are Virginia Tech and Xavier. The Spiders defeated the Hokies 52-49 in January, while the Cavaliers were edged by Virginia Tech twice in overtime. Both Virginia and Richmond were blown out by No. 10 Xavier; Richmond 86-61 March 8 and Virginia 108-70 Jan. 3.
Virginia's loss to Xavier and its most recent defeat by Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament are two of many examples of poor defensive efforts on the Cavaliers' part. Georgia Tech shot a whopping 54.2 percent from the 3-point line and 57.9 percent overall Thursday while getting numerous open looks inside, on the perimeter and in transition.
To start the game, "we gave up 24 points in about eight minutes," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "We were playing uphill from there mentally."
The Spiders have three players who average in double figures scoring, two of whom received All-Atlantic 10 honors. Sophomore forward Dan Geriot is Richmond's leading scorer (14 points per game) and received third-team All-Atlantic-10 honors, and freshman guard Kevin Anderson was named the conference's Rookie of the Year after scoring 10.7 points per game and leading the Spiders with 3 assists per game.
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