“This is nothing,” said Sene, following Virginia’s 76-55 win over Oral Roberts in the Cancun Challenge. “I know I can do better.”

It was over the summer in the Big Apple when Sylven Landesberg began to see just how much potential teammate Assane Sene really had.

Just six days from the season opener and the start of the Tony Bennett era, the Virginia men’s basketball program has suffered a big loss.

Bennett has been pleased with the offseason work that his new charges have put in, most notably that of ACC rookie of the year Sylven Landesberg.

If you need to know how excited Virginia’s freshmen are for their first ACC tournament experience tonight in the Georgia Dome, just check out their stubble.

Well, save for freshman Sylven Landesberg, Leitao may want to his reassess the unit that started the Cavaliers’ 72-67 loss in front of a crowd of 16,353 at the RBC Center.

During the Dave Leitao era, the Cavaliers have a 1-8 record in games played in Florida, California and Puerto Rico.

On Sunday, both Williams and Plumlee showed flashes of why they were considered two of the best prospects at their respective positions in the country.

Landesberg’s distinction is important when you consider his mindset heading into tonight’s game versus fifth-ranked North Carolina at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Cavaliers, bidding to win their first two ACC games to start a season since the 1994-95 campaign, were able to cut the lead all the way down to a point.

If Virginia freshman John Brandenburg doesn’t have a nickname yet, maybe teammates should start calling him “Kareem.”

The Cavaliers (6-5) host Brown in their final non-conference game. UVa has defeated its last 12 Ivy League opponents, dating back to 1979.

For the second straight game, the Virginia player who seemed to play with the most energy and passion was 7-foot freshman Assane Sene.

“He has really long arms,” marveled Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski. “I think he’s starting to get comfortable out there and is going to have a lot more blocks.”

In the season opener versus VMI, Jeff Jones was solid. His pair of 3-pointers late in the second half propelled Virginia to victory.
However, in his next four games — against USF, Radford, Liberty and Syracuse — Jones was just 7 of 28 from the field, including 4 of 17 from 3-point range.