Bennett prefers defense

It isn't often Tony Bennett shows off his shooting skills to his new Virginia team - just enough to show he still has it.

"It's just like a glimpse," Virginia guard Sylven Landesberg said, "like: 'I've got it, but that's all you'll see.' "

Still, they know. They can't miss the pictures of Bennett's days as a high-scoring guard playing for father Dick at Wisconsin-Green Bay or shooting 3-pointers for the Charlotte Hornets.

If he isn't making an example of himself, it's because that isn't what Bennett is trying to teach the Cavaliers. For one thing, Landesberg doesn't need much tutelage. Only a sophomore, he's third among returning scorers in the ACC. For another, that isn't what a Bennett-coached team has ever been about.

"I will ask every one of these guys to lay it on the line on the defensive end," Bennett said. "It doesn't happen overnight."

On paper, it's difficult to reconcile the two new faces of the Virginia program. Landesberg was fourth among freshmen nationally at 16.6 points per game last season; Bennett's Washington State team was 314th in the NCAA at 59.2 points per game.

In that sense, it's an experiment. But Bennett also has a pretty good role model for Landesberg: himself.

Bennett flourished as a scorer under his father, who preached the same principles at UWGB and Wisconsin that Bennett teaches now, and he averaged more than 19 points per game over his career despite facing the same defensive responsibilities as his teammates. Even the coach's son couldn't skimp at that end of the court.

"I got better," Bennett said. "It depends who you ask. If you ask my dad, I was good on the ball and lazy off the ball, so I know what to watch for in a good scorer. But that was a constant: 'Dad, you're asking me to go out and score 20 and run me off these screens, I have to rest on that end.' But I learned, and that's why we won."

Those are the same lessons he's trying to teach Landesberg, whose array of drives and mid-range shots made him a dangerous scorer, even as Landesberg admits he forced up too many shots.

But Bennett is less concerned with Landesberg's offense - that will come, no matter what - than his willingness to be just as valuable at the defensive end.

"He's working at it, because he has to," Bennett said. "There's no choice on that. That's a constant. You're going to work hard at it. Does it become natural to most prolific scorers? No. But he is working at it, and he has a chance to really help his team in that way."

Very little is expected from the Cavaliers, who were at best a disorganized mess under former coach Dave Leitao, at least in terms of wins. But at the very least they can be expected to take better care of the ball on offense and be fundamentally sound defensively.

"It's definitely going to be a lot harder to penetrate our defense," Landesberg said. "Getting to the lane and the basket, there's a lot more help on defense. We should force a lot more bad shots and turnovers."

That's the goal of any Bennett-coached team. Last year, no team in the country gave up fewer points than Washington State. Whether his best player will be a help or a hindrance, getting there may determine if the Cavaliers overachieve their preseason prediction of 11th place or this is merely Year 1 of a rebuilding process in Charlottesville.

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