Originally Posted by
Patrick Yates
It is not just that UVA had a favorable schedule last year. Yes, that was a large part of the reason for their ACC co-championship season. Yes, last year was good and Leitao was duely rewarded. That is great. However, it should be noted that ALL, not some, or most, or the majority, but ALL the key players on that team were recruited by Gillem, not Leitao. The guy that followed Spurrier had a good couple of seasons before the Visor's kids worked their way out of shool.
Now Gillem's players are leaving. This year, UVA takes a big step back. I believe they will be in the middle third of the conference, and they will be at the bottom of that pack, completely out of postseason contention. Only Singletary, and that SF/SG whose name escapes me, were key players on last year's team. Reynolds will turn out to be a huge loss, as his outside shooting really kept opposing D's honest. This year, Singletary will again be great, but he is going to see more help defense becasue there are no other perimeter options for opposing D's to fear, nor many vaible options for him to pass the ball to inside.
If UVA takes a step back this year, what will happen when Singletary graduates this year? If UVA does not get Williams (only blinder wearing Wahoos would be delusional enough to think that any team but Tenn or Duke will get this kid), then UVA is almost entirely devoid of weapons next year. With WFU improving, it is not outside the realm of possibility that UVA is the worst team in conference next year, by a fairly wide margin.
Now, Leitao may be a great X's and O's coach, but that means nothing if you cannot get the players to seriously compete. Knight, arguably the best X's and O's mind in the modern era, saw his IU program collapse when his personality began to scare away elite recruits. Leitao, who is reportedly abrasive, may not have the necessary recruiting ability to sustain growth at a high major like UVA. This year and next year will tell.
If, and this is purely speculative, UVA nosedives next year, the seat will get warm. If Leitao fails to get recruits capable of delivering hope at the very least, then his seat has to get warm. Right now Leitao should feel no heat. But the stove is on. Heat builds over time, not instantaneously. Looking at the future, with his best [only decent or better] players ready to graduate, no replacements even on the horizon for said best players, lackluster recruiting, and the miss on a kid who was literally in their back yard, well, logic says this story probably won't have a happy ending.
Patrick Yates
ps I posted about this very topic months ago, and was roundly shouted down. Where is the DBR acknowledgement of my forward thinking?