UVA Men's Hoops - From worst to first

[CameronDuke]

It's very early in the season, but do not sleep on Virginia this season in ACC Men's Hoops. Picked dead last in the ACC in the preseason poll this season, the Wahoos are off to a 2-0 start and are up 12 at home right now at the half vs. Miami. Assuming they hold on to their game tonight, that puts them at 3-0 and at least halfway to as many victories that many "experts" had them winning the entire conference season. Tony Bennett, known at Washington State for his stingy defense, has the Hoos playing team defense finally, and they are leading the conference in points allowed per game. Am I worried we will lose to them? Heck no, but this is a team that is making some noise early on that I sure didn't expect to be 2-0 and well on their way to 3-0. I don't particularly like them, but I'll respect them from here on out.

[jipops]

It's very early in the season, but do not sleep on Virginia this season in ACC Men's Hoops. Picked dead last in the ACC in the preseason poll this season, the Wahoos are off to a 2-0 start and are up 12 at home right now at the half vs. Miami. Assuming they hold on to their game tonight, that puts them at 3-0 and at least halfway to as many victories that many "experts" had them winning the entire conference season. Tony Bennett, known at Washington State for his stingy defense, has the Hoos playing team defense finally, and they are leading the conference in points allowed per game. Am I worried we will lose to them? Heck no, but this is a team that is making some noise early on that I sure didn't expect to be 2-0 and well on their way to 3-0. I don't particularly like them, but I'll respect them from here on out.

We have a long history of rough games in Charlottesville. Remember our title team in 2001 lost up there. So given the fact that they're defense is playing so well, no conference win in Led Zep's Bass Player arena should come as a shock.

[Newton_14]

We have a long history of rough games in Charlottesville. Remember our title team in 2001 lost up there. So given the fact that they're defense is playing so well, no conference win in Led Zep's Bass Player arena should come as a shock.

Indeed they did. And that was after beating 10th ranked UVA 103-61 in Cameron. A month later playing 12th ranked UVA on the road, they fell 91-89. Just bizarre.

As for this UVA team, what Bennett has done is amazing given they really on have 2 ACC Caliber players in Landesburg and Scott. They are getting it done.

[weezie]

Sure, getting it done as long as they don't have to play defense.

[tbyers11]

Virginia's 3-0 start is pretty amazing. Interestingly, according to Pomeroy their offense is actually playing much more efficiently (#24 before today's game) than their defense (#118). Even with the 3-0 start I doubt they make a serious run at 8-8 but the ACC schedule plays out real nice for them. They play what most considered the top 4 teams going into the season (Duke, Clemson, GT and UNC) only once each and they have already beaten GT.

[Olympic Fan]

Indeed, the schedule does appear to break for the Cavs, not only do they play almost the weakest possible ACC lineup, the next week or so sets up beautifully for them.

They play UNC Wilmington at home Monday night, then get five days off to prepare for a trip to Wake Forest. I'm not saying that's easy or anything, but the Deacs play Duke tonight, then play at UNC Wednesday -- two huge games for them -- before the Cavs come calling Saturday. It could be an emotional trap game for them.

If the Cavs manage to survive Wake, they get VPI at home the next Wednesday before a Sunday night trip to UNC. Again, a rivalry game, but against a second-division team at home.

I'm not predicting it or anything, but Virginia could conceivably be 5-0 in th ACC and riding a 10-game winning streak when they take on the Heels.

Realistically, I agree they aren't going to be ACC contenders and even 8-8 is an extreme longshot -- and even if they did that, with their weak pre-ACC performance and their weakest-possible ACC slate, they're still be unlikely to be an NCAA team.

Still, Bennett is doing a great job so far. Got to give him props.

[ice-9]

So much for my predictions about an obvious ACC bottom tier!
- NC State and UVA are much stronger than expected.
- Maryland is annoyingly winning ACC games after losing all their significant non-conference ones.
- And then all the teams I thought were solid -- Georgia Tech, UNC, FSU -- lose games they're not supposed to.

It looks like the ACC is relatively even this season top to bottom; that doesn't bode well for the number of tournament teams.

[CameronDuke]

The schedule definitely is in their favor this season in the ACC. Something similar to this happened back in 2007 when Dave Leitao led the Cavs to a tie for the regular season ACC Championship and Leitao also received Coach of the Year honors in the ACC. They played the top teams in the league only once, but the biggest thing was that there were no truly dominant teams in the ACC that year and so much parity existed. I think Duke could be labeled as a dominant team this year (although they lost to GT), but still, the John Paul Jones Arena is going to be rocking when Duke goes to Charlottesville this year. I think it seats around 15,000 and I believe the game is already sold out. This is the only game we play them this year too so if we drop that game (which I highly doubt, but they do play good defense) and no other teams step up and take care of business against the Hoos (see GT last week), UVA could take the ACC Championship for the regular season again! Coach of the Year honors would undoubtedly go to Tony Bennett. Do I think this will happen? Heck no, but I am not sleeping on this team anymore. They are night and day from where I thought they would be this year. I honestly had them at 5-11 in the ACC this year but I now would put them at 8-8 or 9-7. I honestly think they have a good shot at 9-7 and an NCAA berth if they take care of a win or two in the ACC Tournament. From worst to NCAA berth in C'ville.

[CameronBornAndBred]

It looks like the ACC is relatively even this season top to bottom; that doesn't bode well for the number of tournament teams.

Nope. Once the ACC starts beating each other up, we are usually left with 5-6 teams going instead of 7-8, even though those outside two could do well in the first weekend of the tourney.

[Duvall]

Nope. Once the ACC starts beating each other up, we are usually left with 5-6 teams going instead of 7-8, even though those outside two could do well in the first weekend of the tourney.

Pretty sure that was his point, that Virginia, N.C. State and Maryland aren't giving up the easy wins that would allow the league to get eight teams in.

[camion]

Pretty sure that was his point, that Virginia, N.C. State and Maryland aren't giving up the easy wins that would allow the league to get eight teams in.

Yep, to maximize the number of teams in the big dance you need a couple of patsies at the bottom to give everyone else some easy wins. The bottom of the ACC is just not bad enough.

[pfrduke]

Yep, to maximize the number of teams in the big dance you need a couple of patsies at the bottom to give everyone else some easy wins. The bottom of the ACC is just not bad enough.

I wouldn't count out BC, NC State, and Virginia Tech being a bad enough bottom three. None of those teams should win more than 5 conference games on the season.

[pfrduke]

I wouldn't count out BC, NC State, and Virginia Tech being a bad enough bottom three. None of those teams should win more than 5 conference games on the season.

Also Miami. They racked up a lot of pre-conference wins against the little sisters of the poor, but they've played worse in conference and don't have as much ACC-level talent to be regularly competitive. If their threes are falling, they may be dangerous, but if not, it's a bad team.