Landesberg earns ACC hardware

North Carolina’s Ed Davis, the in-state product from up the road in Richmond, was the McDonald’s All-American who most Virginia fans were obsessed with getting ever since coach Dave Leitao came aboard prior to the 2005-06 season.

But it was Sylven Landesberg, the McDonald’s All-American from Queens, N.Y., that they wound up with.

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.

Landesberg received 55 votes, followed by Aminu (20) and Alabi (1). Davis, who happens to be good friends with Landesberg from their McDonald’s days, didn’t receive any votes.

The ultra-competitive Landesberg was pleased when notified by Leitao that he had won the award. Well, for about two minutes.

“When coach Leitao told me that I won this award, I was happy,” Landesberg said. “But then he also told me that I was also honorable mention for [the]

All-ACC team…that’s what really stood out to me. I wasn’t happy about that.

“He told me that there were 18 people on that. I just started thinking, ‘If people think there’s 18 people better than me than I have a lot of work to do.’ After that, I totally forgot about the rookie of the year award.”

Landesberg, one of the lone bright spots this season for Virginia fans, became the fourth UVa men’s basketball player to be named ACC rookie of the year, joining Ralph Sampson (1980), Bryant Stith (1989) and Chris Williams (1999).

Landesberg leads ACC freshmen in scoring (16.8 ppg) and minutes played (34.1 mpg). He is ranked third among conference rookies in rebounding (6.0 per game) and assists (2.7 per game). Landesberg was named ACC rookie of the week six times this season, a total that is tied for third-most in conference history.

He has scored in double figures 22 times and his 12 20-point games are a UVa freshman record.

From the season-opening game against VMI, Landesberg has been easily Virginia’s best player. Landesberg had 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in his college debut.

In the upset win over Clemson on Feb. 15, Landesberg hit a clutch driving layup to force overtime and helped the Cavaliers snap an eight-game losing streak.

“I think that was a pretty big win,” Landesberg said. “Our whole team stepped up in overtime and late in the game. It was just a great feeling with all the fans getting into it.”

In the last few games, Landesberg has slumped as opposing teams have begun to focus entirely on him. The freshman, however, showed signs of breaking out of it with a 14-point outing in a win over Maryland on Saturday.

Recently, there had been some speculation that Landesberg might explore his NBA draft options. However, Landesberg, once again, shot that idea down.

“I don’t think I accomplished anything for me to leave,” he said. “As a team, we didn’t have a successful season. In the ACC, I want to have a winning record and be in at least the top four teams. I want to be able to go to NCAAs.

“There are a lot of things I want to accomplish before I leave school, so I’m coming back.”

Virginia fans are certainly happy about that — even if he wasn’t their No. 1 recruiting choice.