When Dave Leitao arrived at Virginia in 2005, he met Sean Singletary, the point guard who, along with Leitao, would lead Virginia back into the national consciousness.

Singletary introduced Leitao to a term he called ‘Philly Tough.’

Whatever that meant, he thought.

It took Leitao all of one day. Then he saw what the young guard from Philadelphia meant.

‘It’s a mentality, a way of being, a way he plays the game,’ Leitao concluded after a day spent with Singletary.

When Singletary described this style, he used similar verbiage.

‘I play with a chip on my shoulder,’ the 6-foot, 185-pound senior said. ‘It’s a blue-collar mentality.’

And it would be easy to roll your eyes. You’ve heard it before, a point guard who is undersized and perhaps underestimated, yet his cliche explanation for success is as much about will as it is about skill.

But then watch Singletary play. Watch the Virginia guard rebound over power forwards. Watch him treat a standing-in-the-way defender like a squirrel on a freeway. Watch him lead a team that before he arrived figured the National Invitational Tournament was as much a part of March as St. Patrick’s Day.

Watch him tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. when Virginia (6-1) plays Syracuse (5-2) in a rare non-conference road game for the Orange, much less a non-conference road game against a school from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

It’s a school a year removed from the NCAA Tournament, with no first-round draft picks or McDonald’s All-Americans. Yet it’s a team that has achieved an unexpected level of success in large part due to a fiery point guard who could not get a first-round guarantee in last June’s NBA Draft, so instead decided to return to Charlottesville, Va., for his senior year.

It comes back to that style of play, which he told his coach is ‘Philly Tough,’ as if it’s something distinguishable to Singletary’s hometown where a brethren of accomplished point guards train together during the offseason. It’s an impressive group – former NBA guards Aaron McKie and Doug Overton, Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson, Syracuse guard Scoop Jardine, among others.

It’s a group bonded not just by their hometown but by the style of play their hometown breeds.

‘You can say it’s a Philadelphia thing,’ Singletary said, although he offered the notion that there are players around the country who come from tough neighborhoods and develop a toughness as a result.

Yet Singletary attributed these summer workouts and recreational leagues growing up to instilling an attitude. When Singletary played high school basketball at Penn Charter (Pa.) on a team that included Notre Dame power forward Rob Kurz, Boston College star quarterback Matt Ryan and Duke lacrosse standout Tony McDevitt, his principle adversary in Philadelphia was Kyle Lowry from cross-town Cardinal Dougherty. Lowry, formerly of Villanova and now on the Memphis Grizzlies, and Singletary had a memorable duel in their senior year with a standing-room-only crowd in a small Philadelphia-area college gym.

The game lived up to the billing of the top two Philadelphia point guards, with charges drawn and fighting words hurled, the crowd full of onlookers admiring the sheer tenacity of two players barely 6 feet tall.

It was the way Overton and McKie played. The way Nelson and Lowry play in the NBA. The way Singletary and Jardine play in college.

‘You see it in a lot of those guys across the country,’ Leitao said. ‘Scoop Jardine has that same edge for him. … It’s not just the way the guy plays. It’s the mentality. Sean has showed me what that is.’

It’s that style that has defined Singletary’s tenure at Virginia. He was not an All-American, although he was a major recruit who was weighing offers from schools in the ACC, Big East and Big 12. He chose Virginia – more an academic powerhouse than basketball powerhouse. Yet a funny thing happened on the way to the degree.

Singletary, in both numbers and play, was trumping some of his higher-recruited ACC contemporaries. Along with the help of Leitao, a former Connecticut assistant who came to Charlottesville from DePaul, Singletary helped to lead the Cavs to the front of the ACC.

UVa finished second in the conference last season at 11-5 (21-11 overall) and lost in a nail-biter to Tennessee, 77-74, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

‘When you take over a program and if not change, but implement your ideals, you need players to carry it out,’ Leitao said. ‘He allowed the program to distinguish itself. He’s a great player who makes it easier from a coach’s perspective.’

Leitao said Singletary has been instrumental off the court, too. Whenever a program tries to make the leap from mediocre to March Madness, it often needs the ambassador who can engineer support from students and alumni. At Virginia, that player has been Singletary.

His numbers have gone up every year – from 10.5 points per game in his freshman year to 17.7 to 19 to 20.4 this year – as have the Wahoo wins – from 14 to 15 to 21. He is no doubt one of the top point guards in college basketball season, though it’s a distinction that comes with the caveat that many of the top point guards from Singletary’s high school class are in the NBA.

It’s a place where Singletary tried to go after last season. He tested the waters and the feedback he heard from scouts placed him at the end of the first round or beginning of the second. Singletary was looking for a first-round guarantee, which is difficult to come by for a 6-foot player.

‘It wasn’t stable,’ Singletary said. ‘That’s a big decision, and I wasn’t sure.’

So he returned to school and is taking another crack at leading UVa to the NCAA Tournament and ready to graduate with a degree.

Then the sights are back on the NBA, where the first round will remain a challenge with a loaded point guard class. Yet he does not seem daunted by this. He already lifted a team up through the ACC and established himself as one of the top players in the country. The NBA might be tough. Then again, so is he.

Zach Berman is the featured sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his columns usually appear every Wednesday. He can be reached at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on December 3, 2007 at 12:00 pm