M. Hoops | Philly Classic really just a Cavs homecoming

The ties between the Virginia and Penn basketball programs seem endless.

One connection includes a then-sophomore forward who made a lot out of his 12.4 minutes per game under Fran Dunphy. That would be Ryan Pettinella - now Virginia's powerful 6-foot-9 starting center.

After averaging 4.8 points and three rebounds per game, Pettinella transferred to Cincinnati to play under coach Bob Huggins. But when the legendary coach was forced out, Pettinella left for Monroe Community College to take classes while trying to find a new school at which to play. Last year, he brought his services to Virginia, where he is currently playing his senior season.

This weekend was Pettinella's homecoming, one he'd looked forward to for a while.

"I was hoping I'd get to play here again before my career was over, and to do it against Penn was kind of a weird situation, but it was great," Pettinella said. "When I looked at the schedule this was one of the games I [knew I'd get] hyped up for."

In town for Thanksgiving, Pettinella was able to see some of his former teammates afterwards, including Tim Begley, Jeff Schiffner.

Pettinella also got a chance to catch up with Brian Grandieri, who was a freshman on the 2004-05 squad when Petinella spent his last season in West Philadelphia.

"I really look up to those guys who were here when I was a young guy, and it's great to see Brian back out here; he's a great player," Petinella said.

But Grandieri couldn't wait until after the game to chat it up.

"When he went to the line I was telling him 'you don't want to shoot those foul shots,' and of course it almost shattered the backboard," Grandieri said, referring to Pettinella's perpetually ugly free throws. "There's always a joke when Ryan's around."

But Petinella wasn't the only one celebrating a homecoming - Virginia All-American Sean Singletary also made his return to Philadelphia after playing his high school ball in Philadelphia.

Grandieri is one that might not have been too happy about that, though.

Grandieri and Singletary played their high-school ball at rivals Malvern Prep and Penn Charter, respectively.

Both schools are in the Inter-Academic League (Inter-Ac), a conference that has seen increased success lately - sending players to Virgnia, Duke and North Carolina in just the last two years.

Grandieri and Singletary were put on other men Friday night, but the two of them know about each other's game from experience.

"We played each other twice every year, we used to go at it a little bit," Grandieri said.

In their senior seasons, Singletary and Grandieri averaged 22.9 and 19.7 points per game, respectively, getting them each on high school basketball guru Ted Silary's First-Team All-Inter-Ac list of the last 30 years.

Just like this year, though, in their final season Singletary got the best of Grandieri's squad, winning 56-47 and 69-49.

The sidelines featured a reunion as well, when Penn coach Glen Miller coached against Virginia's Dave Leitao. Both were assistant coaches under Connecticut's Jim Calhoun for seven years together, and coached against each other at the Palestra.

For Leitao, the experience was bittersweet.

"Those games are always difficult when you play against a friend, because it's two guys who love to compete, but don't necessarily want to compete against each other," Leitao said. "I've been on the losing side of it. Either way it doesn't give you a great feeling."

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