U-Va., Virginia Tech Meet at Crucial Time

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Virginia Tech Coach Seth Greenberg refrained from offering his usual one-liners Thursday afternoon, moments before a practice during a week that might dictate the direction of the Hokies' season. One hundred and fifty miles up a pair of interstate highways, Virginia Coach Dave Leitao led a week of practices that might yield his eighth starting lineup of the season.

Virginia Tech hosts Virginia on Saturday in a game that could have a reverberating effect on both teams' seasons. The Hokies opened with NCAA tournament expectations, but the lack of marquee nonconference victories likely forces them to win at least nine or 10 games in the ACC. A home loss Saturday to a team predicted to finish last in the ACC would be costly.

The Cavaliers have been inconsistent through 12 games, but a win at Georgia Tech on Dec. 28 was an unexpected highlight. If Virginia can win in Blacksburg, it will bring a 2-0 conference record to John Paul Jones Arena when students return for a nationally televised game against North Carolina on Thursday. But losing to the Hokies could start a skid difficult to snap.

Greenberg ran four challenging practices following Sunday's 25-point loss to Duke. Instead of splitting the team by starters and substitutes, Greenberg mixed the groups. One player who talked back to an assistant coach during Tuesday's practice immediately ran sprints as punishment.

"I'm probably [tough] every week," Greenberg said, "but probably more this week."

Greenberg went as far as drafting a contract that each player needed to sign. The contract required a rededication to what he considers the core values of Virginia Tech's program.

He has used that tactic in the past. Last season, Greenberg asked the players to sign a contract following a big loss to North Carolina. The Hokies won their next four games. The contract explained the obvious -- practice harder, play tougher -- but this year's version is "more elaborate" and added a different wrinkle. Greenberg forbade cellphones from team functions.

"I want them to talk to each other rather than text each other," Greenberg said. "This is a problem in our society today. You can have families sitting at the same table texting each other."

Guard Malcolm Delaney said much of the contract focused on effort in practice. Greenberg told the players that practices would dictate playing time and that players cannot take their roles on the team for granted. Whether that affects Saturday's rotation has not yet been determined.

"We have two more days of practice," Greenberg said Thursday. "We'll find out."

Leitao has shown throughout the season that practice would determine not just the rotation, but also the starting five. The Cavaliers have used seven lineups this season, which says more about the questions surrounding many of Virginia's players than it does about the Cavaliers' depth.

Ten players have been starters this season, and only one -- sophomore forward Mike Scott -- has started every game. Virginia guard Mustapha Farrakhan said Leitao emphasized that practice will count and said consistently playing means more than consistently starting. Sammy Zeglinski said by practicing with different lineups, he acquires enough of a taste of his teammates' styles that it does not disrupt on-court chemistry.

Senior Mamadi Diane started Tuesday's win over Brown after being a reserve in the previous seven games. Diane, who entered the season as the Cavaliers' top returning scorer, started 22 of 33 games last season after starting all 32 in 2006-07.

"I think every coach would prefer and every player probably needs to know if they're going to play this amount of time, start, come off the bench, this amount of minutes, but we're not right now constructed like that and we got to use practice as a proving ground," Leitao said. "The better you practice, the more consistent you are, the more time you get."

Leitao could have been speaking about his team or his opponent down the interstates. Whichever team best receives the message will end up making the biggest statement.

"They feel that it's an important one -- they're just coming off a loss to Duke -- and we feel it's important to us," Leitao said. "As with each one of the games we played thus far in the 3 1/2 years I've been around, they've been very close and it comes down to a possession here and a possession there, so we got to be ready."