It was in the spring of 2005 when Virginia had Tubby Smith in its sights to be its next basketball coach.

In two-plus years at Virginia, Meyinsse had compiled very few highlights — until Friday.

Freshman Whitny Edwards scored 15 points to help No. 16 Virginia defeat Utah 65-57 Friday in the first game of the three-day WBCA Classic.

Down the stretch, the Orange awoke from their malaise, handing UVa a bitter 73-70 defeat in front of a crowd of 22,096 at the Carrier Dome.

Sprinting past her teammates on countless occasions, Chelsea Shine had a revelation.

Tonight, if UVa doesn’t snap out of its funk, things could get uglier.

Like many coaches, Dave Leitao despises silver linings — but it was hard to ignore the great play of Sam Zeglinski.

Liberty, behind 26 points apiece from freshman Seth Curry and Kyle Ohman, shocked Virginia, 86-82, in front of a crowd of 9,263.

“Our whole focus was to really put a lot of pressure on them from start to finish,” Ryan said. “We never stopped being aggressive and we used every player on the bench. That was a really good thing also.

One thing opposing coaches have quickly recognized is the talent of fellow freshmen Sylven Landesberg, who has averaged a team-leading 23.7 points.

Common sense would indicate that Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, a 1989 graduate of Virginia, would steal a page from Old Dominion’s cheat sheet in her return trip to Charlottesville tonight.

His two free throws with 29 seconds left propelled Virginia to a 68-66 win in front of 10,311 at John Paul Jones Arena.

Old Dominion took full advantage of the Cavaliers’ sloppy performance and foul trouble woes, beating No. 16 Virginia 78-70 in front of a rowdy crowd of 5,016 at the Ted Constant Center.

Tonight, Virginia (2-0) will be looking for another good performance out of one of its elder statesmen when it hosts Radford at 7 p.m.

Virginia (2-0) marches on this evening, completing one of the toughest weeks of the season — the 16th-ranked Cavaliers play at No. 25 Old Dominion (2-1) at 7 p.m.

Nobody expected Sylven Landesberg to walk into college hoops and take up where he left off as one of New York City’s most prolific scorers in schoolboy history.

For much of Wednesday night’s game against South Florida, very little of what Calvin Baker did on the court was very pretty or seemed to come easy.

When UVa takes the floor against South Florida at John Paul Jones Arena, the tempo of the game figures to be more conventional.

In the wee hours of the morning Tuesday, former Virginia point guard Sharnee Zoll rolled out of bed and turned on her computer.

The Virginia player whom VMI coach Duggar Baucom was talking about first in the wake of his team’s 107-97 loss on Sunday was Sammy Zeglinski.

Monday night, Debbie Ryan’s Cavaliers staged an 83-82 win coup over the defending national champions on their own court.

Virginia, behind a school freshman record 28 points from Sylven Landesberg and a career-high 26 points and 18 rebounds from sophomore Mike Scott, held off pesky VMI in front of 9,955 fans to win its 11th straight season opener.

For three years, Leitao and an army of UVa fans have been waiting for Diane to step up, take charge and not be afraid to fail.

Since coming to Charlottesville three years ago, Virginia coach Dave Leitao has been able to recruit a stable of three- and four-star prospects to his program.

When Virginia’s basketball schedule first came out, the season-opening game versus VMI probably wasn’t a very big topic of discussion around the water cooler.

Yes, for the last three years — ever since coach Dave Leitao came aboard — Virginia has been blessed with one of the best players in the conference.

No. 15 Virginia used an impressive debut performance from its freshmen and a solid second half from Wooden Award candidate Monica Wright, rolling past High Point 78-48 in the season opener at John Paul Jones Arena on Friday night.

Monica Wright could not help but laugh.

In the waning moments of last Sunday’s exhibition game at John Paul Jones Arena, Sylven Landesberg soared majestically toward the basket.

For three years, Virginia — for various reasons — hasn’t subscribed to it. Instead of working inside-out, UVa has attempted to go outside-in.