Landesberg: Hot Topic at ACC Tourney
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March 12, 2010
8:21 a.m.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — During the press conference that followed the opening game of the ACC tournament Thursday, Tony Bennett fielded several questions about Sylven Landesberg.
No surprise there. Landesberg has been one of the league’s better players for two seasons. The ACC rookie of the year in 2008-09, Landesberg was second-team all-conference as a sophomore this season. But the 6-6 swingman from Queens, N.Y., is not, as UVa fans know, with his team in Greensboro.
Bennett suspended Landesberg last weekend for what the Cavaliers’ first-year coach called “failure to live up to his academic obligations.”
“We have some standards with our guys,” Bennett told reporters Thursday after UVa’s first-round win over Boston College. “No matter who you are, if those standards aren’t met, there’s going to be consequences.”
Bennett called Landesberg a “good kid” and said, as he had in Charlottesville, that the decision to suspend his leading scorer wasn’t easy.
“A lot of us are parents are in here, and you know, sometimes you have to do those things, because you care for your kids,” Bennett said. “It’s about the big picture here. It’s about establishing the way that we want to do things.
“Look, I’ve been forgiven many times and made a lot of mistakes. And all of us have. My hope, as I’ve said before, is that Sylven learns from it and the rest of our players do and it establishes what will matter for our program, for the University of Virginia, and I don’t want to make too big of a deal out of this … You guys know what happened. It’s done with, it’s over, he’s forgiven, he’s paying the price for it, and hopefully it’ll work out.”
Landesberg has yet to publicly address the suspension or say if he hopes to return to UVa in 2010-11.