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.

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

Last November, Sylven Landesberg’s stat line was borderline ridiculous.

“We’re just trying to work hard,” said Bennett, whose team opens its season against Longwood on Nov. 13. “We certainly have a lot of work to do. We’re just trying to get better every day.“

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.

Virginia sophomore guard Sylven Landesberg was one of 50 players named as preseason candidates for the men’s John R. Wooden Award, while senior guard Monica Wright was on the women’s list.

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.

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.

Fresh off a scintillating 23-point performance on Senior Day last Saturday, Mamadi Diane poured in a season-high 24 in the loss to Boston College on Thursday.

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.

On Tuesday, Landesberg beat out Davis, Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu and Florida State’s Solomon Alabi for the ACC rookie of the year award.

Virginia’s Sylven Landesberg and Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu were unanimous selections to the all-freshman team.

Virginia freshman Sylven Landesberg has never openly talked about leaving school early for the NBA or given any hints to the local media that he might be exploring the option.

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.

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.