Attrition
Wednesday, March 24 2010 by Tim
So… it’s been an interesting couple of days for the revenue sports at Virginia. On Monday, we learned that Riko Smalls was leaving the football team and Tristan Spurlock was leaving the basketball team. Then yesterday, we learn that Sylven Landesberg is leaving the University.
So which athletic team wants to step up next and have a player leave. Women’s Basketball? I think there’s some people over here itching for the coach to leave. Oh wait, that’s every year for the past dozen or so…
Anyways, none of these moves are shockers. Folks have been saying for weeks that Spurlock might leave. I had hoped the rumors weren’t true (And that’s one reason why I never posted about them) but the sources of the rumors were fairly reliable. Landesberg not attending class seemed to be a signal that he’d be leaving for the NBA draft (or Europe) and it was only a matter of time before that announcement was made. Smalls might be the biggest surprise, but that’s not saying much. He redshirted in 2008, saw no PT in 2009 and wasn’t with the team for the spring so far.
I wish all three of these players the best of luck, unless we run into Spurlock or Smalls on the court/field again, in which case I hope they have a mild ankle sprain immediately before the game. Just kidding fellas ;) TS – please don’t tweet about that.
Also, best of luck to Tony Bennett, who now has to groom his players to fill some big shoes.