This hasn't been a very good week for Virginia athletics. After a monumental collapse in the Gator Bowl, the 'Hoos just got absolutely hammered by Xavier in Cincinnati, 108-70.
| ACC Standings | ||||
| Boston College | 1-0 | 1.000 | 10-2 | .833 |
| Wake Forest | 1-0 | 1.000 | 10-3 | .769 |
| Florida State | 1-0 | 1.000 | 11-4 | .733 |
| North Carolina | 0-0 | .000 | 14-0 | 1.000 |
| Miami | 0-0 | .000 | 13-1 | .929 |
| Clemson | 0-0 | .000 | 12-1 | .923 |
| Duke | 0-0 | .000 | 10-1 | .909 |
| Virginia | 0-0 | .000 | 10-3 | .769 |
| NC State | 0-0 | .000 | 9-3 | .750 |
| Maryland | 0-1 | .000 | 8-6 | .571 |
| Virginia Tech | 0-1 | .000 | 8-6 | .571 |
| Georgia Tech | 0-1 | .000 | 6-6 | .500 |
We caught part of a discussion on Dave Glenn's radio show about whether Jay Bilas had underrated Virginia (Glenn thought he had).
We discussed this the other day, saying that Virginia had played a mostly pathetic schedule, and that we weren't sure it had prepared them for much of anything, a thought which Xavier seems to have underscored.
Dave Leitao, who has periodically displayed a volcanic personality when things don't go his way, was not pleased, saying "[t]hey're a team that was very ready and very good, against a team that was not very ready and right now is not very good."
He also said that "[t]he difference is you've got a guy like Lavender who is willing to get everybody involved," which may not have pleased Sean Singletary, who lost the point guard battle to his diminutive foe (Drew Lavender is about 5-7, but he's a natural point guard and leader).
Throughout his career, Singletary has carried much of the load for Virginia. But against Xavier, he was only 5-12 and got limited support from his teammates, so down went the 'Hoos.
Virginia Tech lost to Richmond at Richmond, 52-49. What's worse is that in both halves, they held Richmond scoreless for the first seven minutes. Tech's offense isn't going to win any awards, so whatever they accomplish this year they'll accomplish on the back of their defense. Letting a team like Richmond back into it was a bad precedent. Virginia Tech had 24 turnovers and only managed 38.6% against Richmond, and this is not the Richmond of John Beilein or Dick Tarrant.
One more non-con and the ACC looms, with Maryland, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Duke, and B.C. lined up.
Seth Greenberg bashed the scorer's table in disgust at one point. He may be doing that a lot more in a few weeks.
Frank Dascenzo poo-poos the notion that Ty Lawson could get worn down in the absence of Bobby Frasor.