Over the coming weeks and months this blog will follow the University of Virginia’s quest to return to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I will recap the previous week’s games along with any other notable occurrences in the Atlantic Coast Conference. What I won’t do is regurgitate all the stats and play-by-play you have countless other sources to access.
I’ll tell you upfront I’m a big fan of Coach Tony Bennett. Three years ago I proclaimed it the "best hire" by Virginia in the 23 years I’ve been in Charlottesville (baseball, tennis, and lacrosse fans may disagree — in fact, with the coaches in place throughout UVA athletics currently it figures to be a prime topic at water coolers, bars, and gyms for years to come). But, that said, I won’t hesitate to question in-game decisions or the allotment of playing time should I see reason.
I hope to bring you a slightly different perspective, sprinkled with some facts or ideas you won’t find elsewhere. Mostly, I want this to be fun, for you and for me.
Let’s start with a quick review of the Cavaliers’ season to date:
Coach Tony Bennett, in his third season at UVA, returned a strong nucleus of seniors along with the four remaining players from his heralded recruiting class originally known as the "Six Shooters". Add to that a couple of promising freshmen and the battle for playing time figured to be intense.
The ‘Hoos "stepped on a pop top" early on in the Virgin Islands, losing to TCU, 57-55, in the Paradise Jam. But after that they reeled off 12 straight victories (their longest winning streak in 30 years) to go 14-1, the best start to a season since a tall, skinny guy named Sampson used to roam the Grounds.
Included in that run are a couple of notable victories including a 70-58 defeat of then #15 Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and a 57-52 win over LSU in Baton Rouge, the first road win over an SEC opponent in UVA history.
The ‘Hoos opened ACC play with a tense one-point win over Miami, a team that haunted UVA last season.
This past Thursday night the ‘Hoos traveled to what has been historically one of the most difficult venues for visiting teams to emerge from with a victory in the history of college basketball. Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University only holds 10,000 (notice I didn’t say "seats" and there are two reasons for that: First, the Duke students, known as the "Cameron Crazies" have a student section located at floor level that seats 1100 but, because no one EVER sits down has been known to contain as many as 1600 bouncing, jumping, yelling future captains of industry. And secondly because there actually is sufficient standing room for seven hundred people), but the proximity of the fans to the playing floor creates an atmosphere unlike any other in major college basketball.
UVA’s last win at Cameron came back in 1995 and is notable because it remains the largest half time deficit ever overcome in an Atlantic Coast Conference game. The Cavaliers trailed by 21 points, 40-19, before rallying to win in double overtime.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave you know by now that the ‘Hoos came tantalizingly close to snapping their 15 game losing streak at Duke and extending their own winning streak to 13 games before falling, 61-58.
This is a team that figures to be successful enough that no one left Durham thinking "moral victory".
But it is worth noting that the win was Duke’s 44th straight at home, a streak second in Division I only to the University of Kentucky’s. And, during that streak, their margin of victory has only been smaller than the other night’s one time. Lastly, although Tony Bennett is 0-5 versus the Blue Devils in his three seasons at UVA, he has managed to slow the Dookies down and be competitive. Over the past three years Duke is averaging just over 80 points a game against the rest of the world. "Bennettball" has held Duke to an average of under 63 points a game. That difference hasn’t gone unnoticed by the winningest college basketball coach in history. Duke’s Coach K has actually called Virginia’s defense "beautiful".
This Virginia basketball team is very easy to root for. Football is usually thought of as the ultimate team sport. In basketball or baseball one or two individuals can often make or break a team’s success. UVA basketball has such a talent in Mike Scott. I likely wouldn’t be writing this and you wouldn’t be reading it if he wasn’t a Cavalier. But Scott doesn’t handle the ball and is dependent upon his four teammates to get it to him where and when he wants it. The other seven or eight players in Bennett’s rotation range from useful to very good players. But make no mistake, as Coach Bennett has acknowledged, there are a number of teams in the ACC with better talent. But, there may not be a number who are actually better teams.
"Bennettball" emphasizes defense, not always a favorite aspect of the game for highly recruited high school stars. It also stresses sharing the ball and moving without it, two more things scorers aren’t always thrilled about. But this group has bought in to all the premises. They work extremely hard on defense, a defense, in case you don’t know, that was invented by Bennett’s dad, Dick (and is known as the "Pack Line"). Tony played for him in college and then sat next to him as an assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay and then Washington State before assuming the reins there. On the offensive end these Cavs are extremely unselfish. They share the ball, some might say, too much.
All these characteristics, as I’ve said, make this a very easy team to invest yourself in.
So, make a note to come along for the ride. It should be an exciting ten weeks.
This whole exercise will work best if there’s interaction. I want to hear from you. Whether it’s praise (my mom’s gone so I don’t get much of this), criticism (my wife isn’t so I have all I need, but don’t let that stop you), or just your opinions. Mi soapbox es su soapbox.
Catch ya along the way,
Rog