Cavaliers finally hit their stride

What a difference a week makes. Just ask Dave Leitao and Seth Greenberg.

A week ago, Greenberg’s Virginia Tech team was steaming toward a likely NCAA Tournament bid, sitting at 6-3 in the ACC and fresh off wins against N.C. State and Georgia Tech.

By contrast, Leitao’s Virginia squad appeared doomed, dead in the water. They were tied for last in the league and sinking fast. Fans were booing at halftime and scrambling for exits in the final minutes as if there were a bomb scare.

Since then, things have changed for each of the archest of rivals.

Leitao’s Cavaliers have risen from the dead. Going back to the basics, his team finally started playing the way he had intended all along: solid defense and rebounding.

As a result, UVa has been the hottest team in the conference over the past eight days, knocking off 12th-ranked Clemson on Sunday, then ending a drought against Virginia Tech on Wednesday night with a 75-61 triumph.

Playing for pride

It was a huge win for Leitao, who had come under fire from Wahoo Nation after a horrendous 7-13 start, fueled by an eight-game ACC losing streak. While his Cavaliers are likely not going anywhere, standing at 9-13 (3-8 in the league), they have salvaged their self-pride.

The pressure was enormous for UVa coming into the game. Leitao’s teams had lost three straight to Tech.

Fairly or unfairly, Leitao was on the receiving end of every Wahoo fans’ frustration over Virginia’s shortcomings against its state rival in his own sport and football, where the Cavs have lost seven of the last eight.

While Tech has dominated the football series, at least UVa fans had always been able to point to basketball as a measure of revenge. Until last year when the Hokies swept the series, both wins in overtime, then won this year’s first meeting in Blacksburg.

Do or die

Last night, the Wahoos had to stop the bleeding or it was going to get ugly, especially with Tech showing up at less that full strength due to the one-game suspension of power forward Jeff Allen for flipping off Maryland fans last weekend.

Meanwhile, the Hokies have to be sweating bullets about their immediate future.

This was a game Tech could not afford to lose. Sitting at 6-5 in the ACC and 16-9 overall, it doesn’t get any easier for the Hokies. Their remaining five games are all killers: two games with surging Florida State, a game at Clemson, then home contests against the league’s perennial giants, North Carolina and Duke.

Maybe Virginia isn’t going anywhere, but it can take solace in perhaps ruining its greatest rival’s season.