NBC29Tony Bennett Makes UVA Coaching Debut

Tony Bennett Makes UVA Coaching Debut

Tony Bennett makes his UVA coaching debut when the 'Hoos host Longwood in the season opener. He inherits a Cavalier team that is picked to finish 11th in the ACC and coming off its worst season in 40-years.

Bennett does have ACC Freshman of the Year, Sylven Landesberg. NBC29’s Marty Hudtloff sat down with Virginia’s new coach to talk about the upcoming season. 

Marty: Now that you've had a few weeks to work with the guys. What is your impression of the guys you have to work with?

Bennett: We've had some good practices and some not so good ones, but up to this point the guys have been working hard. We'll have some interesting combinations this year, sometimes we'll probably play with a smaller lineup and other time go bigger. I think until we get under the lights and play in some games, it'll reveal a lot more, but they're a good spirited group, we've been challenging and pushing them hard and I know they want to try to prove the predictions wrong.

Marty: You've challenged Sylven Landesberg to make this team and his teammates better. How's that going in practice?

Bennett: Good, and I mean challenge in a good way. Sylven's a talented player and he's only a 2nd year player, he's only a sophomore and he has so much hype and expectations surrounding him. I want him to throw himself into the team because he's going to be a marked man. My hope is that is ability to make the extra pass at times when the defense is ganging up on him and certainly having a good individual season is important, but I just say another challenge for you is making your teammates better.

Marty: If you don't want to predict wins and losses, how will you measure success this season?

Bennett: I don't think there are too many coaches who will ever predict wins and loses for a year, and I don't think I ever will, but we talk about being competitive and having success in the areas that are important for us. Really a big one for me is not beating ourselves, we talk about eliminating losing. I wish we could snap our fingers and make that happen, those areas of the soundness and toughness that we work on, if we can get better at that, I think that will be real significant.

Marty: Have you thought about what life is going to be like in the ACC this season, and the places you'll go?

Bennett: In the Spring and Summer its real exciting to think about all those places and then I might get into the season and be like, what I am doing, this is going to be intense, but its one of the reasons I came to Virginia to coach in a league like this and its my hope that if we keep improving the product on the floor and get better and better, we'll be able to compete at a high level in this league. I can't think of anything better than taking a program like Virginia and building it back up.

Marty: What makes you believe this team can exceed expectations?

Bennett: You always have to be hopeful, you have to be realistic too, but you have to hopeful. I hope that the experience some of our guys have with a couple seasons under their belt in the ACC. If we're throwing ourselves into us reaching our full potential, results will take care of themselves. There is a learning curve being a new coach, and somewhat of a new style, I think will take time. But I just hope we improve as the season progresses, that's real important to me.

Coach Bennett has an incoming recruiting class that's ranked as one of the top 20 best in the country. UVA's home opener against Longwood tips off at 7 p.m. November 13th.

Reported by Marty Hudtloff
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