Most of Pete Gillen’s week-long goodwill trip to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan had gone about as well as could be expected until the ride back from Bagram Air Base to Kabul.

If it’s true that the third time is the charm, then former Virginia basketball player Jason Williford is in business.

Craig Littlepage was put on the spot a few times during a short chat with sportswriters following the press conference where Tony Bennett was officially introduced as Virginia’s new basketball coach.

In former coach Dave Leitao’s four years at the helm, one could make the case that very few Virginia players received the consistent playing time that was needed to maximize their potential.

When Virginia players received a text message early Monday from the coaching staff requesting their presence at a meeting in the locker room at John Paul Jones Arena, they figured it was time to go over offseason goals or workout routines.

For roughly 39 minutes and 10 seconds, Virginia was masterful in its defense of Miami’s Jack McClinton on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena. The Hurricanes star was practically invisible.

This afternoon in Raleigh, N.C., the Wahoos (9-13, 3-8 ACC) — flying high after back-to-back wins — take on N.C. State.

“There are no breaks in this league, man,” Jones said. “Every game is tough. There are no breaks.”

Yes, things certainly have the potential to get ugly when Virginia (7-9, 1-4 ACC) travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium this afternoon to play No. 1 Duke at 2 p.m.

After peeling off his warm-ups in the second half, Jeff Jones was one of the few UVa players who showed any semblance of a shooting touch.

“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.

Heading into this season, it was widely assumed that Virginia would start Jeff Jones, Sammy Zeglinski or Sylven Landesberg in the backcourt alongside Calvin Baker.

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.

Jones, who last season led the Eagles to the NCAA tournament for the first time as a Division I school, has signed a six-year contract extension that would keep in northwest Washington through the 2013-14 season.