Virginia game bigger than it first appeared

ZAGS

When the schedule came out prior to the season, tonight’s game (6; ESPN2; 1510-AM) at Virginia didn’t seem like a big deal. After the December GU had scheduled, an early January non-conference game with an average ACC team probably ranked pretty low in the grand scheme.

But now, it may be the most important game the Zags play all year.

After losing three consecutive games for the first time in years, the Bulldogs can ill afford to enter West Coast Conference play on a four-game slide. And, after dropping out of the national poll picture, another loss would strike a huge blow at the Zag’s national prominence – unless of course they defeat Memphis in February (the WCC schedule won’t help in that arena). But most importantly, Virginia will probably end up in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference pack, so a loss would undercut GU’s chances for a decent NCAA seed come March.

With all that on the line, the road-weary Bulldogs will probably put together one of their best efforts of the season and make a statement.

At least that seems to be the worry of Virginia coach Dave Leitao, as expressed in this morning’s story by Steve Bergum. The same piece is posted on Steve’s blog.

He also express that feeling to the Virginian-Pilot in this story, which includes the news UVA’s starting center Ryan Pettinella will miss the game with a knee injury.

We’ll be on-line tonight with a pre-game report and a quick link to the game story, then follow up later in the evening with some commentary. Check in then. If you want to ask questions or interject comments, go ahead and click the comments link and type away.