Bennett Eager for 'Hoos to Tip Off Hoops Season, Tony Bennett described his feelings about Friday's season opener for his Virginia men's basketball team with a chuckle Monday morning.
"Curious. That's it," Bennett told the television cameras gathered outside the basketball team's office. "You're certainly excited. You're a little worried. You think about that, "Boy, you go into a tough setting." All those things come into play, they're all in there."
No. 9 Virginia opens the season Friday night across the mountain in Harrisonburg against James Madison. The Cavaliers have already played a pair of preseason closed scrimmages against Marquette and Georgetown, with Bennett describing his feelings as "middle of the road" with his team's performances in those two games.
Now he says his players are ready to get down to business.
"Players love to play," he said. "As a coach, you wished they loved to practice nonstop. And they work hard, and we have a good group that way. But the excitement of playing, and testing yourself. And certainly with the excitement of the crowd, the ability to be in those settings. I know they're certainly looking forward to it, and know that we have some good challenges in front of us."
The Cavaliers will take the floor shorthanded Friday night, because of the one-game suspensions of guard London Perrantes and forward Evan Nolte, announced last week. Both players also missed the two preseason scrimmages, because of undisclosed violations of team rules.
Bennett wouldn't discuss those suspensions on Monday, but did say he thought his team had the depth to overcome the temporary losses. He pointed to redshirt freshman Devon Hall and first-year guards Marial Shayok and B.J. Stith as players who could pick up the slack, in addition to preseason All-ACC selection Malcolm Brogdon and reigning ACC sixth man of the year Justin Anderson.
"With Devon, and Malcolm, and Justin, and Marial and BJ, those five right now are guys right now that all can play those perimeter spots. You just look at our roster, that's what's there," he said. "And whether we go with all five of those in spots, we'll see."
JMU will also be without a pair of players on Friday night, because of last month's suspensions of junior guard Andre Nation and sophomore forward Tom Vodanovich.
A JMU spokesperson said Monday afternoon that tickets for Friday night's game were virtually sold out, with less than 50 remaining - and those seats only available to season ticket holders.
"We're without two of our guys. They're without two of their guys. There's the unknown of both teams. And it's going to be a road setting, a hostile environment," Bennett said of Friday's game. "Embrace that challenge. You're coming in, they're going to come after you. You're going to be the hunted, in a way. Embrace that challenge, get after it, and then you just deal appropriately with the aftermath."
The Cavaliers enter the season as the hunted after last year's 30-win performance that included ACC regular season and tournament titles, and a run to the Sweet 16 on the NCAA Tournament. The No. 9 ranking is the program's highest in the preseason Associated Press poll since 1982.
Expectations have been mounting for the Wahoos basically since last season ended with a loss to Michigan State at Madison Square Garden. Bennett has tried to downplay that excitement this preseason, and on Monday, he admitted he was happy to have upcoming games in the immediate future again, for his players to focus on.
"And that's the truth serum," Bennett said. "You can talk about all the excitement, and all the stuff surrounding it. But until you get in games, now we're going to get some feedback against other opponents. With the scoreboard. And again, it comes down to us playing as well as we can play, and being our best."
"But that is the report card, Bennett added. "Where do we need to improve? Where are we strong? What are the adjustments so we can keep getting better as the season progresses. And yeah, it's time for that."
