The Virginia Cavaliers continually end up in the top 10 rankings for college basketball teams. They are seemingly always in the top three in the Atlantic Coast Conference alongside North Carolina and Duke. Yet time and time again they get overlooked. They get ignored due to their rather vanilla style of play and their low scoring games. However, Virginia might be the best they’ve been under head coach Tony Bennett.
Erasing the March Memory:
It wouldn’t be fair to pretend like last March never happened. In this case, the Cavaliers use that not so fond memory as fuel to their deep March run this season. Last March the Cavaliers, who were the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament lost in the round of 64 to UMBC or University of Maryland Baltimore County, marking the first time in NCAA history that a one seed has lost to a 16 seed. Many of the Cavaliers that return for this season were on the same team that had the let down last season. Those same memories will help this season’s team, compete for both an ACC crown and a deep NCAA Tournament run.
Continuing success:
The 2018-2019 Virginia Cavaliers have played some excellent basketball. They have knocked off four ranked teams, are 16-0 and sit atop the Atlantic Coast Conference. They are eyeing a Saturday matchup with Duke that will be a clash of styles. Duke is one of the most prolific offenses in all of college basketball with high flying dunks and fast-paced offense. Virginia is a slow, methodical team that wears your defense down and doesn’t ever turn the ball over. In other words, they make teams beat themselves. They are also an older team, and despite last year’s early NCAA tournament exit, a very experienced team.
Their top three scorers all average over 13 points per game, those three are junior guard, Kyle Guy, junior guard Ty Jerome and sophomore forward De’Andre Hunter. All three shoot over 41 percent from three, over 76 percent from the free throw line and over 42 percent from the field. They are all extremely efficient and anyone of them can take over a game at any time. To couple with that, Virginia is giving up just 51.7 points per game which is lowest in the country. They average outscoring their opponent by 22.7 points per game which is tops in the country. The team as a whole averages less than nine turnovers a game on average. which means they average less than a turnover per four minutes they play in a game.
The difference:
Last season the Cavaliers had no inside scoring, but with the emergence of Hunter, the Cavaliers are much more balanced than they were a year ago. They are also more experienced. The top three scorers were all key pieces in the NCAA Tournament run just a season ago. This seasons team has the ability to score, and score in bunches. They are led by upper classman guards and big men that can also score around the rim. It’s a team that doesn’t beat themselves and also has the ability to beat someone with their offense. If a team gets behind this Virginia team, much like the ones of past seasons, they’re in trouble. Virginia being up seven or eight points is like being up 20 for other teams. They take all 30 seconds of the shot clock and they still manage to get an above average shot.
Out of the Spotlight, but they probably shouldn’t be:
It almost feels like the loss to UMBC took Virginia right out of the spotlight when it probably shouldn’t have. They are still a fantastic team that can compete with division ones best. However, it seems like no one is talking about this Virginia team. This Virginia team may be the best in the ACC and could very well be the best in basketball. Duke without Tre Jones is going to struggle on the defensive end, North Carolina hasn’t found a way to stop people on defense when they need to, North Carolina State is struggling to get healthy and winning on the road. Virginia Tech, Clemson and Boston College have all lost by 11+ points to this same Virginia team. There is no doubt Virginia is one of the top tier teams in college basketball and could very well be the last team standing come April.
Featured image from Virginiasports.com.
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