Landesberg suspended
Virginia announced moments ago that leading scorer Sylven Landesberg has been suspended for the remainder of the men’s basketball season “for failure to live up to academic obligations.”
Coach Tony Bennett said, “This is a very difficult decision. Sylven is a fine young man who I deeply care about, but our players need to take personal responsibility for their academic obligations.”
Landesberg is averaging 17.8 points per game, good for fourth in the ACC.
March 6, 2010 - 12:50 PM
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How about a little icing on the cake….!!!!
Have to wonder if he’ll ever play for Virginia again?
Doug,
I think we can safely assume SL has played his last game for Virginia. This has to be a UVA imposed suspension. What kind of NCAA requirement would have a mid semester measurement date? I wonder why we have problems recruiting talent?
Being a UVA fan is about as much fun as watching paint dry.
If Tony Bennett cares deeply about this young man then how in the world can his academics be so bad. Is it that hard to keep up with the academics of 14 young men. Hey Doug ( question for you ) Does the Admin. not allow the coaching staff to help these young men when it comes to the classroom? I know that you can’t hold them by the hand and make them go to class but come on this is not rocket science we’re talking about here.
Another recruited ” student athlete ” bombs out !! And they are supposed to recruit real students, well they go after the same players everybody in D-1 recruits. Ivy league, the hoos are not !!
Orrie feels the need to offer his services as a ” Tutor ” to the U .
Hey Tony from Roanoke, If he was at VT he would still be playing!
Hey Tony — you are probably right because Seth would have made sure he was working with the great academic support staff and monitoring his progress closely –
Excusse — meant to say “Hey Robert” …
Excuse… meant to say “Hey Robert”
I guess he could do nothing and let him flunk out of school.
He’s trying to help him by saving him before he gets in to academic trouble with the school and the NCAA. He wants him to concentrate only on academics.
What’s wrong with that?!
Am I nuts? Are is UVA a better team without Landesberg?
Tony Bennett is an awesome coach. He is the Lord’s gift. All arrows pointing north. Cat’s meow. Bees knees. All that (and a bag of chips). Midas touch. Man with the plan. Messiah. House cleaner. Savior. Best in show. Up and comer. Simply the best. Architect.
Stick a fork in the newest latest – he’s a fraud. Popped Baker, harpooned a solid winning streak, and glaucoma’d Landesberg’s academic standing. Al Groh without Parcells’ backing. In wayyyyyyy over his head. Not ACC caliber. And, sadly, dumb.
No reason to watch further; he’s two years and out, unless he was signed to another miracle contract.
No if he was at Tech he would not be still playing if he did not attend to Academics! If he was at VT Coach Greenberg would have made sure he went to class and attended to Academics – Don’t dream up something that you know nothing about – VT is not Florida State.
S–T happens! Suck it up wha Whos? -
Bob, he would still be playing, VT would wait until the end of the season to suspend him!
Theo you crack me up typical fair weather fan been dealing with your kind for 25yrs .what did you expect with 2 walkons playing and the rest of the team shows up to play every once in a while . let him get his type of players and then lets see how they do .have you watched Baker pout when he wasnt playing like i have ? he should wake up every morn and thank god he gets to be on a ACC basketball team much less play.
Is attendence required at VT’s Number One Athletes”s Major Apparel Management??? Needles & Thread only!!!
Michael
Not sure I can call myself any kind of “fan” right now. But if I were, I’d have to ask you: what, exactly, is the “fair weather” you’re referring to? Admittedly, UVA has had a few brushes with success at various points in the past decade, but only a person from South Greenland could call any of those moments “fair weather.” If one considers “fair weather” in NCAA D-1 basketball to be consecutive 20(or more) win seasons and no less than .500 ACC ball, then I certainly would like to think I’d be a “fan” in such times, but I frankly can’t recall needing any sun tan lotion for quite some time in dealing with that kind of climate.
No, I’ve been sporting the long johns, snow boots, heavy parka and skimask hat for at least 10 years — and frankly, it’s been longer than that buddy — waiting for the spring thaw that just won’t come. The last time we had any “fair weather” for anyone to be a “fan” for was when JJ was coach and we were beating Kansas to get to the Elite Eight. And yes, I miss JJ and would never, ever have fired him without giving him a season to get his act together. JJ was no fraud, like Tony “Way, Way Back in the Pack Line” Bennett, and he recruited, coached and got his team to play ball like you’re supposed to in the majors. Come to think of it, is that JJ — 100 stress-induced pounds later — putting tiny, afterthought, no blue chip American University in the NCAA tournament two consecutive years? Think so. Yep, same cast-off. Got a rod and reel in Belarus, Cote D’Ivoire, and Murfreesboro — which is just enough to do what UVA can’t even recall doing: win in-conference, close key games, inspire the talent to play at 100% for more than half the season, and break down the Door of 65. That’s “fair weather” for ya, and yes, I’m a deep-in-the-tank fan of Mr. Jeff Jones. (*And yes, as a Class of ’85 graduate of the Academical Village, I’m more than just a little partial to one of the best floor generals UVA ever had — but he deserves that partiality.)
No, with respect to UVA, I like to think of myself more as a heavily diluted owner. That is, I paid $50,000 in ’80s dollars to attend and graduate, pay the dues to be an alum, pay (when it’s economically feasible) for football season’s tickets, go to a few b-ball games a year, attend alumni events on grounds, take the kids to walk grounds and visit classrooms in case they want to apply when the time comes, stay in touch with my mates, and live in the Piedmont part of the Commonwealth out of which I pay the taxes associated with the blessings bestowed upon me. So, unlike a “fan”, I don’t just want wins, I demand to see accountable, sustainable performance in the marquee programs, and down the line. If UVA had no foundation to support that approach, I wouldn’t have it; I’d want to see building toward that. But we have everything in spades. And seeing Tony Bennett waste an 8 game winning streak and a 3-0 ACC start just to show a kid who’s boss (btw — Baker doesn’t have academic problems, but I guess that wasn’t the excuse for that player) is NOT the performance I’m interested in supporting. Not for a day, and certainly not for a season.
If he acknowledges his mistakes in handling success, I’m more than happy to let it go. But the way he lost the support of this team this year and his comments to date? Doesn’t look like timely self-reflection is in his repertoire. One would have to be fairly unintelligent to think this is progress. This particular stakeholder is not in the mood for ego on the bench; win first, Mr. Bennett, and then you can be the big man.
Toast.
I find the timing of this interesting. The students are midway through the semester. Given that SLandesberg didn’t attend a particular class even once this semester, why is it just now an issue? Or, even, why is it suddenly an issue? Is Bennett’s policy to wait until the midway point of a semester?
Not slinging arrows here, just trying to determine the unusual timing. To me, the timing says there is more to the story than what is being told from Cville. Thus my guess would be that SL is not a happy camper, and that he probably doesn’t return at all.
I don’t understand why people blame Bennett for this. Bottom line is it’s up to the student athlete to pull his weight in the classroom.
Way to go Bennett. Run SL out of Charlottesville, like he wasn’t looking for a reason to get out of Loserville. Like he couldn’t play anywhere in the country. What did you do to Mike Scott to make him quit playing? (He’s quit if you haven’t noticed.)Keep playing Calvin Baker, keep JJ and MF to 10 minutes each and keep losing. Same old UVA. You’re killing us, coach!!
Bill, Are you Drunk?
Landesberg’s suspension has nothing to do with Virginia Tech. Haha.
It would be great if Roanoke.com had comment areas after every Virginia Tech and UVa article so that we could comment here, instead of having to post on message boards on other internet sites. The Roanoke Times has better “inside” information on UVa and Tech basketball/football than any other internet source, in my opinion! I have asked the editors of Roanoke.com a couple of times!
Robert is typical of alot of know it all whiny ass UVA fans who run their mouth about academics in an attempt to deflect attention from their own programs deficiencies. I guess he didn’t see the recent stats on graduation rates as they pertain to UVA and Tech major athletics (yes Tech had higher grad rates in football and basketball)? I’m sure he would say that Tech passes them through, as he has to come up with something to justify UVA’s losing ways while cutting down a program that is busting it’s buns to suceed in a very competitive enviornment, and doing a pretty good job by many folks standards. And I guess Robert thinks Mike London has physically moved a football practice to the Tidewater area in an attempt to uncover some future Rhodes Scholars down in Portsmouth? A priority on student atheletes? What a frickin joke. The reasons for hiring London are so transparent they’re not even worth discussing. The only time clowns like Robert talk about academics is when they lose…..which is fairly often these days. It’s the standard default mode for the UVA fan when faced with reality on the court or playing field. Back to Landesberg, I bet he wishes he had never seen the Charlottesville City limit sign. If he’s smart he’ll avoid seeing it again.
JMU Grad, of course VT has higher Graduation rates, They take fingerpainting classes!
My guess is JMU grad was denied admissions to UVA.
Your reaction was just as I predicted in my post Robert. That’s all you got? Typical, but pathetic. Keep believing that crap Robert, and don’t forget to check back in and tell us how many student athletes London finds in Portsmouth this spring. Why don’t you just write your new President and tell her to suspend athletics as a show of support for the institutions unwillingness to comprimise it’s most superior academic requirements. That’s what most whiners do……just quit. And Joe, come on man, you’ve been ragging on your alma mater for years. The stats tell the tale; UVA’s football and basketball programs are in shambles and all you babies can come up with for an excuse is higher academic standards. Duke and UNC must really get a kick out of that.
Typical UVa fan comments -
‘We have more trouble winning because we have tougher admission standards, even though we recruit the same players as VaTech…’
‘We have more trouble keeping players eligible because we have tougher classroom demands…’
‘At The University, there are NO crib courses or easy majors, proof otherwise be damned…’
‘Landesberg was booted halfway through the semester, and at the virtual end of the season because he didn’t attend his Art class a single time this semester, and the class grade was only based on attendance, not achievement…’
‘Why do you call us whiny hypocrites?…’
UVA does not recruit the same players as VT, They cant, they submit a recruits GPA to UVA’s addmission dept, and they tell the coaches who has a shot to get in. UVA wanted Jeff Allen, but they did not waste their time on a player with his GPA. A. D. Vassallo couldn’t get into Richmond, but he gets into VT, all you need is a good 40 time to get into tech.
Last point….I have taken vacation time from work the past two years to travel to C’ville to watch ACC baseball even though I have no ties to the school and obviously am not a UVA fan in general. I have aleady made plans to do so this spring to take my Dad who lives in Fishersville and is a UVA fan. I go because they have a great coach, an exciting team with excellent sportsmanship and they play at a wonderful facility. I don’t sit and ponder how they’re doing in Klassroom Kwiz, and neither do most folks in the stands. Why? Because they came to see kids compete at a high level, and they rarely go home disapointed, even when they take a rare loss. The football and basketball coaches should pay attention to that fact and then maybe the fans would come back.
The first President Bush was asked to comment in his memoir on what happened to cost him the ’92 election. He has an 80% approval rating coming out of the spring Gulf War victory and, although the economy was sluggish (mild recession), he was not facing any heavyweights on the Dem side, was the popular incumbent, and had all the momentum needed to beat the Arkansas Kid. Although one might have expected Bush to finger the economy, or even his admitted lackluster campaign-style, etc for his loss, he didn’t. Instead, he focused in on an imperceptible, but pinpoint-accurate cause. He said: “I couldn’t get Greenspan to lower interest rates.”. He had been pressuring the Fed Chmn for many weeks to lower rates even a mere quarter point in order to spur consumer spending and the — then — austere Chmn refused. Scoff, but reconize that Bush II did NOT make that mistake and got plenty of traction from Greenspan when he needed it. That is, the Republicans properly identified the “but for” cause of the loss — the economy stupid — AND the proximate cause — a rogue (from their view) Fed Chief. And they didn’t let it happen again the next time (interest rates remain at unprecedented lows). The wailing about grades, academic rigors, “selfish players”, mediocre talent, new coach, and whatever else might be in the equation of our entrenched losing, but THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT MADE THIS SEASON GO TO POT. And if you can’t focus on proximate cause, then you can’t fix, and if you can’t fixn you stay a national and ACC punchline. I hope everyone saw, as I did, that UVA, in mid-season no less, had an 8-game winning streak, including three games against top 25 teams and were 3-0 in the ACC at that time. We were in FIRST place. Doesn’t matter if we were shocking people; the truth is, we were getting big production, team intensity and chemistry, and significant results, ie, WINS. And at the peak of that experience, instead of rolling with it, doubling down, stoking it, etc, the coach reached way down into the gift horse’s mouth and gave it a colonoscopy. Somehow, Doug, the commenters here just cannot see the proximate cause of THIS YEAR’S LOSING SKID. But you really just can’t miss it. The kid coach wrecked it — he was unprepared for success, at least by a bunch of guys he hadn’t recruited, and he panicked. Like a guy that somehow convinced the most beautiful woman on the planet to marry him — on a dare — and then started chasing strippers and other unworthies because he couldn’t handle it. It’s called being A FRAUD. And that’s our guy.
And another one bites the dust.
Theo….. YOU ARE A FRAUD! You’re probably the same person who laughed when UVA hired O’Connor as baseball coach. You’re also probably the same dude who cried bloody murder when the men’s soccer team had a few bad seasons. You’re also probably the same weirdo who wanted Debbie Ryan to retire years ago. Heck, you’re probably the first one who wanted George Welsh and Terry Holland to try their luck elsewhere. Get a grip dude! Tony Bennett is not the number one reason these Cavs have lost 9 in a row. Who is?? A team that have fans like you…. One who sits in his ski boots hiding the fact you’re a fan, and when they start winning show up and say I’ve been here the whole time. When UVA consistently ranks in the top 10, you’ll be the one who says. “See, I told you this Tony Bennett can coach.” You probably rolled your eyes when the Cavs signed Bryant Stith, and you are probably the same person who said that Sean Singletary was too short. I’m sure I can find your name on the New Jersey Nets blog site wondering why they haven’t won more than 9 games yet, and blame it on Kiki without thinking that the players on the court stink, and have no will or heart to win. Woo Hoo! We beat 3 ranked teams….. UAB? Where are they now? Miami? We finished higher than they did in the ACC. Ga. Tech? Sure that is probably the best win of the season, but they are definately not the “Great” team we all thought they were in the beginning of the season. What did Tony do with this bunch? Win 4 more games than Leitao did all of last season. Beat UNC in Chapel Hill when his predecessor couldn’t do it in 4 years. Sweep the Wolfpack (When was the last time they did that??) Haven’t you even read the article on Coach K’s record his first 4 years or so at Duke? You were also probably there throwing in your no cents of getting rid of him. Once UVA starts to win consistently again (And they will), I bet there will be no posts from you because you’ve moved on trying to convince others that your poetry and parables were the reason the Earth started to move backwards.
Call it a jinx. Call it a curse. UVA is both because they have fans like you.
“Tony Bennett is not the reason UVA has lost 9 games in a row.” I love that line too much to respond. I’m just going to head off to Fan Camp and learn how to chew cud like Dan. Hey Dan, do I have to supply my own bell, or do they have that at camp? I always thought they were yelling “moo” during those record-breaking double digit losses in that 9 game streak that wasn’t tony bennett’s fault, but after Dan’s sermon on fans, I now know it was encouragement all along. I know Frank Hereford was School President when I was there, but I think Dan is strictly a guernsey man. Ahh, to be a bovine in sheep’s clothing for Dan. I’m so sawwwy Dan, I’ll do a better moo next time. Hey, who’s O’Connor?
Seriously, Daniel, wasn’t that Bennett accepting the back slaps during the winning portion of his streak? But it’s bad fans like me that are responsible for the losing fat slice? I thought the “log” part of “Blog” stood for logic; so how did Dan get in? Is there a screener out there? Anywhere?
No screens. Just fans. And Dan is the fan, apparently, that the sh_t never ever hits.
Mooooooooooo.
Robert, you said “all you need is a good 40 time to get into tech”.
Of course Robert, that’s cute and we both know it’s untrue. But, it is true (verified from Hoo’ville) that all Landesberg had to do to pass his art class was SHOW UP. He couldn’t seem to do that. Now that is Rhodes Scholar material.
Robert, I love how quickly you run away from serious discussion in order to paint an ignorant (uninformed) lie about VaTech athletes.
Just a little note, here, no basketball coach in the country cares about 40 yd dash times, despite your myopic declarations to the opposite. Perhaps you should come out from behind the wall and look at the world in realistic terms.
Landesberg had to do nothing but show up for an art class to stay eligible. Eligible at UVa, where people like you pretend you don’t recruit the same (supposedly low) caliber of athletes, and pretend that there are no easy majors, and pretend that there are not even any easy classes, and pretend that your ‘type’ of athlete is totally virtuous, academically a genius, and socially perfect in every way.
All of which are lies, but you still hide behind such blather. Just as people like you defended AlGroh & Leitao until you finally understood what losers they were.
Hey, Robert, enjoy being the ONLY team in the ACC with a losing record. Enjoy your football team being totally inconsequential. And celebrate all of those wins your women’s softball team may produce as though they were equal to winning a BCS game.
Good luck with all that.
Theo shows his ignorance of Virginia Sports yet again…. Who’s O’Connor? Only the baseball coach that has led his team to an overall number 1 ranking. So enough said about Theo. I don’t have to listen to anything he ever says again because he doesn’t even know who the baseball coach is that took that team to a number one ranking! You just showed the whole Wahoo nation that you are truly NOT a fan of UVA sports Wow! Who’s mooing now?
Oh Bennett wasn’t accepting the back slaps, he was just getting them for a team that was picked dead last in the ACC (Finished 9th by the way)!
Dan, UVa should be proud of the progress made with their baseball team. O’Connor has proven to be a great hire. Not too sure I’d be so proud of finishing ninth in basketball in this years ACC. That’s the same as saying, “Hey, we didn’t suck as bad as Miami!!” Don’t think I’d be shouting that from the rooftops.
Hey Dan
I actually did know who O’Connor was. You kinda took some easy bait fella. Relax a little, and learn how to kibbutz. It’ll work wonders on your stress level.
And in case you don’t know what a kibbutz is, Dan, it’s like a playful needle to loosen things up.
I thought O’Connor’s team’s run last year was a true joy. That he was able to get back to Omaha as a “local kid does good” story was wonderful. I thought UVa was the rare team that actually played real baseball, the kind they only call “small ball” now, like it’s less good or something. But it’s steroid free, and it involves a 5′ 8″ shortstop that nobody can get out, putting pressure on pitchers to make them come over the plate, running the base paths intelligently (which, sadly, was a problem in our final game), and playing lights out defense. LSU was too much for us, but there’s no shame in that. The team was predicted to be the best in the nation for this year after the end of the CWS based on established players coming back, and there’s great proof already that it’s deserved.
But Dan, the point in saying: “who’s O’Connor” is two-fold: (1) I’m making a joke that, as good as O’Connor is, he doesn’t coach football or basketball and, thus, is not in charge of the marquee, revenue-generating, brand identified sports. Not his fault, but college baseball is capped exposure-wise, and I don’t think you would argue that. In any event, they don’t show college baseball games on five or six cable channels three or four nights a week and all day on weekends, and neither the regionals or even the CWS can hold a candle to March Madness, the big basketball conference tournaments or the major bowl games for revenue generation and eyeballs on the sets; and (2) what does UVa’s success in tennis, swimming, baseball, lacrosse and soccer (and UVa has long been a power in soccer, lacrosse and field hockey, btw) have to do with men’s basketball?
Dan, most of us are not blue and orange pom poms walking around looking for coaches to praise. When a coach blows it, you get to call him on it. You obviously disagree, but you’re being pretty nasty about it, and pretty weak in your arguments.
I’ll give you another chance, though, because you’re a human being and I assume you care about what you’re writing about. Do you not acknowledge that this team that has ended with a 9 (soon to be 10?) game losing streak, most of which were horrid losses, actually had an 8 game WINNING streak going just before the losing started?
If you can acknowledge just that fact, I think we’ve made progress beyond ad hominem, unilateral ranting toward something called a decent exchange of views.
All I am saying is that you can not blame the 9 losses in a row on Tony Bennett alone. I think we can keep going back and forth on this until we pass out, but though our different opinions are there we both can agree that yes! – This season has been very frustrating. If we’re all ready to give up on Tony now though we would be ludicrous. We should have kept Leitao if that is the case. I’ve ran this by several top writers of UVA sports and they disagree with me, but I still believe UVA football and men’s basketball is cursed! The Red Sox got out of theirs, so maybe one day the curse will be broken on us! So Theodore even though we disagree, we’ll still have one thing in common and that is pulling for our Wahoos forever!
41 reponses to “Landesberg Suspended” is great. The more the better on here!
roanoke.com needs a comment section after every article about uva or tech sports!
Regardless of Theo’s opinions, I have to like anyone who has posts as long and thought-out as his, better than one-sentence posts.
I have a feeling that Bennett knows that Landesberg had decided not to come back and to turn pro, and that’s why Landesburg had stopped attending a class.
I tiank that the suspension is Bennett’s way of saying, “So you quit? Well, you can’t quit! You’re fired!”
[ roanoke.com needs an edit button, like rivals.com and scout.com have! ]
Dan came through big time. Got a good thing going (and yes, the programs are “cursed” — I agree with you on that, Dan).
The compelling difference between the two marquee male sports programs — Football and B-Ball — and all the other sports is that culture, history and building/maintaining bridges are at a premium in the big two, and nowhere near so in the others. Holland, Welsh and even Jeff Jones had guys playing like family — not the Waltons or the Cosbys, mind you — but definitely not dysfunctional. They found a way to get that done that Groh, Gillen and Leitao definitely couldn’t find or sustain. We can be mad at Beamer and Greenberg all we want, but we would be terribly remiss if we don’t acknowledge that their teams play like there’s an honest closeness in the circle, and it’s more than something that one or two guys can destroy. The coaches are the ones responsible for that — they build the trust, establish the bond, and make guys connected and accountable to each other. When things get iffy, these coaches can rely on those ties to get things right again. They have their down spots, but those times don’t last, and they don’t fester. UVa, on the other hand, has very, very fragile team bonds. And when they need to come together to deal with adversity, they really fall off a cliff. Hate to say it, but the love isn’t there. I’m not going to fault Frank and Seth for having something better going on in Blacksburg; I just want to get some of that going in Charlottesville for Football and B-Ball.
I’m not mad at Tony Bennett — I know it looks that way — but I’m so, so frustrated. Frustrated. When you get a little flame going and the boys are playing together, sharing the basketball, helping on defense, and being family — and you see such positive results that only increase the bond — you just don’t want it to come down to the coach introducing schism and hitting still raw nerves trying to get Bub Evans more minutes for next year.
I just can’t get my arms around it fellas. I know the reasons, the analyses, the after-the-fact stuff. I’ve heard it, I’ve lived it, I’ve seen it. I get it. Baker has no fan loyalty — that’s on him. I understand. Landesberg didn’t go to Art class. That’s on him. I understand. But the question is, what happened to take the team we saw smack Georgia Tech, Miami, NCState and UAB en route to an 8 game winning streak and national buzz from those heights to the precipitous fall that still hasn’t ended? We can’t get this season over fast enough — and now we’ve lost (probably for good?) one of the best scorers we’ve ever had on top of it?
On what basis do we believe, rather, do we know, that Bennett can knit together a family-type team in Charlottesville that manages ups and downs together, in trust and with purpose? This season gives me many doubts — I don’t really feel up to waiting 4 years for the end I think I already see from here. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech gets stronger . . .
Theo, You make a very compelling point as to athletes playing for the team instead of themselves. It is a difficult problem in the age of ESPN. Showboat, put up the points and you might be on SportsCenter. Thanks for the kind words about Coaches Beamer and Greenberg. However, the Hokies haven’t been immune to this problem either. Back in 2003 the football team lost 4 out of it’s last 6 games. Some of this, but not all, was aided by prima donnas DeAngelo Hall and Kevin Jones. After Jones left for the NFL, he showed himself to me when he was asked what his fondest memory was while playing for the Hokies. He said it was setting the Va. Tech single game rushing record. He didn’t mention that the Hokies lost that game. He was part of some really great victories with the Hokies, but a losing game was his fondest memory. I was sooo glad his record didn’t last too long.
Theo,
I don’t think anyone can argue the TB’s coaching job this year was anything but dissappointing, however; it is not fair to write him off after one year. The talent level on this team is so low they have to reach up to flush the toilet. Three years from now we will have respectable teams that compete for a top four finish in the ACC.
Football is another story. I am afraid our football team is doomed to become the future Duke of the ACC. It will shock me if attendance this year can stabilize at last year’s level. No one cares about UVA football anymore and I cannot say I blame them.