UVA basketball loses two recruits

By Whitey Reid
Charlottesville Daily Progress
Published: May 2, 2008

Current members of the Virginia men’s basketball team can take a deep sigh of relief. It appears as though their scholarships are safe.

On Thursday, Wesley Witherspoon and Paul McCoy - two players UVa was recruiting heavily for its incoming class - elected to sign elsewhere.

Witherspoon, a 4-out-of-5 star recruit according to Rivals.com, picked Memphis. McCoy, a 3-star recruit, chose Southern Methodist.

Virginia was a dark horse all along for the services of 6-foot-8 swingman Witherspoon, who chose the Tigers over UVa, Texas and Colorado.

McCoy’s decision, however, came as a bit of a surprise. The point guard’s final choices were thought to be Virginia and Kentucky.

UVa was recruiting both players hard despite the fact the program was already at the limit of 13 scholarships. If either player had committed, a player would have had to leave coach Dave Leitao’s program.

After a disappointing season that ended with a loss to Bradley in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational, Leitao was clearly looking to shake his roster up. Shortly after the team’s CBI loss, sources say, Leitao told all of his players that their scholarships were not safe.

Even without Witherspoon or McCoy, Leitao still has a nice crop of recruits, headlined by guard Sylven Landesberg, a McDonald’s All-American. The class also features 6-foot-11-inch post players John Brandenburg and Assane Sene.