The Virginia men's basketball team set a program record by going 16-1 at home in their first season at John Paul Jones Arena and played their way into a share of the regular season conference championship by winning all eight of their conference games at JPJ.
Virginia coach Dave Leitao said while last season's success was special, he focused more on the impact such success has on future seasons.
"I think it raises everybody's awareness as to who we are," Leitao said. "More specifically, the consciousness of a young high school kid who we're trying to recruit now knows and can identify visually with who we are."
The message last year's team sent to recruits seemed to be that while Virginia may not be in the national championship hunt in the 2007-08 season, this is a program that will compete at the conference and national levels year in, year out.
Senior guard Sean Singletary pointed to Leitao's coaching abilities when asked about what brought the team together last season. Leitao was named the 2007 ACC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year for his work in turning the 15-15 2005-06 team into the team that won a share of the ACC title the next year.
Another key contributor to last season's team was former guard J.R. Reynolds, the yang to Singletary's yin.
"I really appreciated ... his development over the years," Singletary said. "And just to come to a new gym and bring excitement back to the town, that was big."
The two guards led the team in points in all but two of its 32 games. When the team closed out the regular season by winning nine of 11 games, either Reynolds or Singletary led the team in points in 10 of those games.
"I was real happy to play with J.R.," Singletary said.
The strength of their guard play allowed the Cavaliers to put up points and control the tempo of the game. Reynolds and Singletary's ability to score from beyond the arc and create space by driving into the lane took pressure off of the frontcourt.
Leitao stressed the strides the Cavaliers took last season to improve their defense after their trip to Puerto Rico.
"We rededicated ourselves after that to being better defensively," Leitao said. "It told me ... what I had already known, that defense has to be ... a major part of what we do."
The Cavalier defense ranked 40th nationally and second in the ACC in field goal percentage defense (40.8) last season. Beneath the glass, Virginia ranked 44th in rebound margin (4.5) largely because of former center Jason Cain, who pulled down 6.3 rebounds per game and 7.1 rebounds per conference game.
"No matter ... how much we have on the offensive end ... it's not going to matter nearly as much as having the guys understand the importance of defending every day," Leitao said. "That will carry on, it has carried on, and we have some tangible things that we can look at last year that proved themselves to be true"
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