Story Links
March 8, 2007
Charlottesville, VA – The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has named Virginia men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao the District 5 Coach of the Year. Earlier this week Leitao was named the ACC Coach of the Year by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Yesterday the NABC named Virginia guard Sean Singletary to its third-team All-America squad.
In his second season at Virginia, Leitao led the Cavaliers to a tie for the 2006-07 ACC regular season championship with a conference record of 11-5 and compiled an overall record of 20-9. It’s the fifth time Virginia has won or shared the ACC regular season title and the first time since 1995. The team was picked to finish eighth in the ACC in the preseason.
UVa’s 11 conference victories are the most for the Cavaliers since they won 12 ACC games during the 1994-95 regular season and it’s the first time Virginia has won at least 20 games since the 2000-01 season.
The 2006-07 season is Leitao’s second as head coach of the Cavaliers. UVa finished tied for seventh in the ACC with a 7-9 conference record last season after being picked in the preseason to finish last in the 12-team conference. Virginia finished the season with an overall record of 15-15 and participated in the National Invitation Tournament.
Virginia begins play in the 2007 ACC Tournament in Tampa, Fla., with a quarterfinal game on Friday (March 9) at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers are seeded second in the tournament and have a first round bye. UVa will play the winner of a first round game between Duke and North Carolina State.
The NABC currently includes 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men’s basketball coaches. The organization was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas.
NABC District Coaches of the Year
District 1: Mike Lonergan, Vermont
District 2: Matt Brady, Marist College
District 3: James “Bruiser” Flint, Drexel
District 4: John Thompson III, Georgetown
District 5: Dave Leitao, Virginia
District 6: Billy Donovan, Florida
District 7: Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt
District 8: Orlando Early, Louisiana-Monroe
District 9: Billy Gillispie, Texas A&M
District 10: Brad Brownell, Wright State
District 11: Chris Lowery, Southern Illinois University
District 12: Bill Self, Kansas
District 13: Mark Fox, Nevada
District 14: Tony Bennett, Washington State
District 15: Ben Howland, UCLA