Leitao, Hewitt imposing figures

The tradeoff for Bobcats Arena’s small capacity (20,035 for the ACC tournament, more than 3,700 fewer than Greensboro) is that almost all the seats in Charlotte are good ones.

In fact, the worst seats all day Thursday were behind the bench for the Georgia Tech-Virginia game that began the night session. That’s because Dave Leitao of Virginia and Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech are the tallest coaches in the ACC, and they spend much of the game standing.

Leitao stands about 6-foot-7 and stands much of the time with his hands on his hips. Hewitt is about an inch shorter and stands with arms folded. A lot of people say Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina’s Roy Williams try to intimidate referees.

If I were a ref, I’d be more intimidated by Leitao and Hewitt just because of their sheer physical size.

Incidentally, the first half of Virginia-Georgia Tech on Thursday night was infinitely more entertaining than either of the games in the afternoon session.

Mamadi Diane made all five of his shots, including four 3-pointers, off the bench for Virginia. Maurice Miller sank all four of his field goal attempts and made three 3-pointers for Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets led 44-42 at halftime, and for the first time in the tournament it appeared certain the game’s loser would score more than 60 points. – Ken Tysiac