Can Tony Bennett win this year with Dave Leitaos recruits?
John Gasaway: Tony Bennett can win this year with Dave Leitao’s recruits. More games than Leitao won last year anyway. Then again Leitao could win more games with these players this year. Virginia returns about 90 percent of its minutes from last last season. Teams that bring back this much experience and that were below-average but not downright DePaul-bad the previous year tend to improve very nicely, In the book the two teams from the past couple seasons that I compare Virginia to are Baylor in 2008 and South Carolina last year. Two years ago the Bears improved from 4-12 to 9-7 in the Big 12 and went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20 years. The Gamecocks were kind of like that too, bettering their mark from 5-11 to 10-6 in the SEC, though they just missed getting a bid to the tournament. Anyway, my prediction for the Cavaliers is 8-8 in the ACC. DOU: Given that the ACC features a variety of fast paced teams, do you see Bennett’s slow pace style being a detriment to Vir
