Toward the end of practice on Saturday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia coach Dave Leitao decided it was time to see what his players were really made of.

“We’re OK. We’re not 100 percent,“ Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

Not too many people would have wanted to be in Jim Hobgood’s shoes on a December afternoon in Puerto Rico nearly two years ago.

Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao announced Wednesday that Tim Mein has been named assistant director of operations/video coordinator for the UVa men’s basketball program.

“When I found out [12] days ago, it was a really sad situation,” Mikalauskas said. “I felt terrible, but at the same time I’m excited to become a professional now.”

UVa’s most notable non-conference games are back-to-back road affairs. The Cavaliers play at Syracuse the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), then travel to take on Minnesota in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge four days later (Dec. 2).

On Thursday, big man Lars Mikalauskas made his first public comments since Monday’s announcement that he had been booted from the Virginia basketball team. As Mikalauskas talked during a brief interview, one thing was obvious — he was still in shock.

On Tuesday, a day after UVa coach Dave Leitao announced that Mikalauskas would no longer be a member of the program, sources told The Daily Progress that “The Pride of Lithuania” planned to return to the states early next week and go through an appeals process with the university. The exact nature of his appeal is not known.

The Virginia men’s basketball team has an absolute steal in Tristan Spurlock, who committed to the program late Wednesday night.

Tristan Spurlock, a small forward from Montrose Christian, is set to become a Cavalier.

On Wednesday, sources told The Daily Progress that Virginia center Tunji Soroye has informed several people close to him that he is strongly considering transferring to another school.

Will Harris’ days at Virginia could be over.

UVa will play three exhibition games within a two-day span, beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday, Aug. 30. The Cavaliers will take on St. Lawrence University in the morning and then play Concordia University in the afternoon. The games will take place at Concordia, which is located about 20 minutes north of Montreal.

On Friday, the Hampton native gave his verbal commitment to play for UVa beginning in 2009. The 5-foot-11 Bethel High star, who is heading into his senior year, picked Virginia over a host of schools, including Marquette, N.C. State and Virginia Tech.

“That sticks with me because it’s not something that you see every day on television or read about in the newspapers,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.