Virginia, Stanford cross paths again

In a way, Virginia can thank Stanford for Tony Bennett’s decision to leave Washington State and come to Charlottesville.

Just after accepting the job, Bennett said that a big reason he decided to uproot was because of Virginia’s potential to be an East Coast version of Stanford. That is to say, a university with both strong academics and basketball.

“I saw what Mike Montgomery did at Stanford,” said Bennett, referring to the former Cardinal coach at his introductory press conference in April, “and I think the kind of student-athletes you can get in here are going to be the fun kind to coach. So, that was kind of the decision.”

Tonight, Virginia (3-1) takes on Stanford in the first of two games being played in Cancun, Mexico at the Cancun Challenge. Kentucky and Cleveland State meet in the other game in the bracket. The winners and losers will play each other on Wednesday.

After his team’s win over Oral Roberts on Saturday, Bennett said his squad wasn’t even thinking about the possibility of playing No. 5 Kentucky in the second game.

“All we’re worried about right now is Stanford,” Bennett said. “I’m pretty familiar with [Stanford swingman] Landry Fields. He is terrific.

“I watched the Stanford game [against Oral Roberts] and they were a bit off in that game, but they’re capable. They’ll be solid. They’re used to playing against good teams and hopefully we’ll play a solid brand of basketball.”

The Cardinal (2-2) lost to the University of San Diego and Oral Roberts before bouncing back with a win over Florida A&M on Saturday.

Since Montgomery left Stanford for the greener pastures of the NBA after the 2003-04 season, the Cardinal has made the NCAA tournament three times, qualifying for the NIT and the CBI the other two seasons.

Stanford, led by coach Trent Johnson, beat Virginia at home in Palo Alto, Calif., at the 2006 NIT, former UVa coach Dave Leitao’s first year at the helm.

The next season, the Cardinal, behind 7-foot twins Brook and Robin Lopez, went 18-13 and qualified for the NCAA tournament. One of the Cardinal’s wins came against Virginia in Charlottesville. It was UVa’s first and only loss at John Paul Jones Arena that season.

In 2007-08, Stanford made a lot of noise, going 28-8 and making the Sweet 16. After the season, Johnson left to become the coach at LSU and the Lopez brothers bolted for the NBA.

In came new coach Johnny Dawkins, who had been Mike Krzyzewski’s right-hand man at Duke for the better part of a decade. Dawkins went 20-14 in his first season last year and guided the Cardinal to the semifinals of the CBI.

Dawkins and Bennett are no strangers to each other. They split two meetings last year when Bennett was at WSU.

After a disappointing loss at South Florida eight days ago, Bennett’s new team has responded with solid home wins over Rider and Oral Roberts.

Now, it’s time to see what they can do south of the border.

“I’ve never been to a place like Cancun,” said Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski. “The only place I’ve been to out of the country is Canada, so it’s going to be nice.

“But at the same time, we’ve got Stanford ... they’re a good team. We’re going to have to come ready to play. It’s definitely a business trip. We’ve just got to keep playing defensively the way we’ve been playing.”

Dunks

Tonight’s game is the seventh all-time meeting between Virginia and Stanford, with the Cardinal leading the series 5-1. The Cardinal have won the last four games in the series, including a 76-75 win in 2006-07, Virginia’s first defeat in John Paul Jones Arena. ... Bennett was 2-5 vs. Stanford while at Washington State.