Heading into this season, it was widely assumed that Virginia would start Jeff Jones, Sammy Zeglinski or Sylven Landesberg in the backcourt alongside Calvin Baker.

Toward the end of practice on Saturday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia coach Dave Leitao decided it was time to see what his players were really made of.

Jones, who last season led the Eagles to the NCAA tournament for the first time as a Division I school, has signed a six-year contract extension that would keep in northwest Washington through the 2013-14 season.

Will Harris’ 2007-08 campaign subsequently went up in smoke, with the Queens, N.Y., native reduced to spot duty. He had to watch as Virginia stumbled to a 17-16 season that culminated in a semifinal loss to Bradley in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.

The good doctor served not only the University of Virginia’s athletic teams and the general community here over that span, but also made regular trips to William & Mary, Richmond, VMI, even what was then Ferrum Junior College many moons ago. He would travel the state helping high school and college athletes recover from serious injuries suffered in their respective sports.

You don’t need to be John Wooden or even Isiah Thomas to figure out where things went wrong for the Virginia men’s basketball team in 2007-08.