Almost immediately after taking his seat at the podium for his post-game press conference on Friday night, Virginia coach Tony Bennett was asked about his team’s defensive letdown late in its easy 85-72 victory over Longwood.

On Tuesday, UVa senior Calvin Baker underwent arthroscopic surgery to clean out a loose piece of cartilage in his right knee.

Players have hit the Web, done their research and are now quite familiar — not to mention impressed — with the former Washington State coach, the national coach of the year in 2007-08.

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.

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.

A year later Leitao’s message has seemingly kicked in, as evidenced by Mustapha Farrakhan’s near perfect performance in UVa’s 78-75 loss to rival Virginia Tech.

The only thing more impressive than Mustapha Farrakhan’s career-high 12 points in the win at Georgia Tech on Sunday night was the size of his fan club.