Cavs dive into meat of their schedule

Play time is over. Now the real basketball season begins.

While Virginia has experienced some brushes with good opponents such as Xavier, Syracuse, Minnesota and a questionable Georgia Tech squad, what looms ahead is somewhat imposing. It’s all ACC all the rest of the way, baby, and there’s little margin for error.

After a 74-50 warm-up victory over another Rent-a-Victim in Brown University on Tuesday night, the Cavaliers enter ACC play with a 1-0 record in the conference thanks to last month’s overtime win over the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta. Virginia is a not-so impressive 7-5 overall, but the most optimistic followers of the program believe there is hope because of the team’s youth.

They’re not alone.

Tomorrow’s stars today

Brown coach Jesse Agel said that what impressed him most in scouting Virginia on film was its young players, the freshmen and sophomores.

It should be noted that 39 of the team’s 60 starts so far this season have been by freshmen and sophomores and that coming into last night’s game, they accounted for 69.5 percent of the Cavaliers’ offense and 65.7 percent of its rebounds.

The team’s three most dynamic scorers have come from those ranks with freshman Sylven Landesberg (19.6) leading the way, followed by freshman Sammy Zeglinski (11.8) and sophomore Mike Scott (11.0). Scott and Zeglinski led the Cavs in scoring against Brown, while Landesberg, suffering from a head cold, was held to four points (all from the free throw line).

The test begins now

So, what about this team as it heads into the basketball-rich ACC? Can it survive off the energy of its youth? Can it hold up to ACC defenses? Can it score enough to be competitive?

Well, the Cavs managed to accomplish those things with an 88-84 overtime win at Georgia Tech, an impressive league road win.

The trick is, can they do it again? We’ll find out Saturday when they head into treacherous territory at Virginia Tech.

UVa coach Dave Leitao is clearly concerned with several facets of his team and with good reason. The Cavaliers are ranked between 10th and 12th in at least 11 statistical categories in the 12-team ACC.

Among those are red flag categories, such as field goal percentage defense, scoring defense, field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, blocked shots, assists, turnover margin and others. We could go on, but you get the point.

“I have a number of concerns,” Leitao said. “Defensively, we need to continue to get better, and rebounding, we need to get a whole lot better there.”

He also spoke of execution, complaining that the Cavs didn’t take the best shot on every possession against Brown.

“We really have to do that,” he said. “This team is going to have to do those things in order to be successful each and every night.”

Defensively, the Cavs suffered some mental lapses in the first half against the Bears, who shot 52.4 percent in the first half. After a halftime chew, that part of the game improved dramatically as Brown was held to 23.3 percent.

The rebounding stepped up, too, but it was against a team that lacked the size of ACC squads.

Leitao was also concerned about his team’s health. While there’s nothing major, the coach said the Cavs are nicked up with minor things, but that those things were affecting the rhythm of practice.

In fact, the team won’t practice today in order to give the squad some rest.

Then there’s the fact that some of these guys have very little experience, outside of their victory at Georgia Tech, to rely on. Playing in the ACC is a different animal.

“Some of our players are coming in from high school and haven’t really played much in games like they’re about to,” said senior Mamadi Diane, who scored seven points in the win over Brown. “The win at Georgia Tech probably helped a little, but I told them there will be a whole lot more hostile crowds and a lot worse environments than [Georgia Tech]. It’s going to be an actual fight every game.”

Ah, there’s the rub.

Critics of Virginia’s basketball program feel that some of the Cavaliers are soft, so the prospect of them holding up in an ACC street fight every night isn’t very promising.

“It’s definitely more physical in the ACC,” said Scott, who recorded his fifth double-double of the season.

Zeglinski said that if the Cavaliers focus on what Leitao has laid out for them, then they can compete in the league. Anything less and there could be a lot of long nights, such as Saturday’s game at rival Virginia Tech where the crowd will be every bit of what Diane described to his teammates.

“It’s a whole different level of basketball,” said Zeglinski, who viewed most of last season’s ACC games from the bench while sitting out as an injured freshman. “It’s real emotional and you’ve got to keep your poise throughout the whole game. Every possession matters and, defensively, you’ve got to be on your toes.”

He has a good grasp on what it takes. Now the Cavs need to go out and prove themselves.

Play time is over.