UVA heads to NCAA Tournament short-handed facing long odds

Senior forward Mike Scott has been UVA’s “big horse” all year long, finishing second in the vote for ACC Player of the Year and being named first team All-ACC. (Photo by Matt Riley)

 Sunday evening’s announcement that the University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team was returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007 was met with excitement on most fronts, and a huge sigh of relief on others.

For seniors Mike Scott and Sammy Zeglinski, it was the culmination of a determined effort that in each case, due to injuries and medical red-shirts granted by the NCAA, stretched over five years. For junior guard Jontel Evans, it was certification that his decision to come to UVA after the coach who recruited him was fired was the right choice. And for the coach, who led a team of veterans, misfits, and new recruits through a season of injuries and squad turmoil, it was proof that a style of basketball unfamiliar to the ACC can be effective anywhere.
That coach, Tony Bennett, is only in his sixth year as a head coach in what figures to be a long and successful career. But even if that career takes on Paterno-like proportions, it’s unlikely he’ll ever forget this team or contingent of players.

It’s rare that an incoming coach has much success with his predecessor’s players. Generally, new coaches sign contracts long enough to insure that they will have enough time to cycle through at least one class of their own recruits. The reasons are obvious. Basketball is a game of systems. While it’s true that the best of players will likely succeed on an individual basis wherever they go, most coaches seek out players who will fit in to a particular style of play.

It’s a testament to the character and determination of Scott, Zeglinski, Evans, and the last holdover, Assane Sene, that they could adapt to “Bennettball,” a style of play that stresses relentless work on every basketball player’s least favorite end of the floor, the one where the other team has the ball. It’s also a testament to Bennett, himself, that he could take, and teach, and lead a group of kids he basically had nothing to do with assembling. Despite the transition, hopes were high at the start of the season that the Cavaliers could contend for an ACC championship and nab the NCAA tournament bid that had eluded the program for five years.

And why not? Scott has turned himself into one of the best, if not the best, player in the conference (last week he was named to the All-ACC first team and finished second in the voting for ACC Player of the Year to North Carolina’s Tyler Zeller).

The hard-nosed Zeglinski was coming off a solid season, and Evans had turned out to be a perfect fit for Bennett’s “Pack Line” defense, as well as an excellent ball handler. The most improved player, though, was probably Assane Sene, whose skill level and ability to catch the ball had made quantum leaps forward. Add to those ingredients the four remaining players from Bennett’s first full recruiting class, dubbed the “Six-Shooters” by local media, and in particular Joe Harris—a player who had committed to Bennett while he was still coach at Washington State and chose to follow him cross-country—and all the ingredients seemed in place for a very good year.

As a last, pleasant surprise Malcolm Brogdon, a true freshman, proved early that he was capable of stepping in and making valuable contributions. As Christmas approached, things looked rosy around Mr. Jefferson’s University.

Bouncing back
If you’ve read this much of the story, you likely already know the various calamities that have befallen the team since then. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version: three broken bones, two defections, and one suspension.

Disaster, right? Well, not quite. Granted, the team has lost seven times by three or less points. But it’s also won 22 games, the most by a UVA team this century (sounds pretty neat like that, huh?)

And now, there’s the opportunity for an even bigger prize.

Virginia received the No. 10 seed in the West Regional bracket of the Big Dance and is scheduled to play No.7-seeded University of Florida this Friday in Omaha. (It occurred to me that another Virginia program on the rise has recently seen its post-season conclude with a loss in Omaha.) The winner of that game will face the winner of No. 2 Missouri and another state of Virginia contender, No.15 Norfolk State (VCU is the third team from the Commonwealth in the tournament this year).

Head Coach Tony Bennett, in his third season at UVA, has led a team of over-achievers through a season fraught with injuries, defections, and suspensions to the NCAA Tournament and a fourth-place finish in the ACC regular season by employing a system that prioritizes defense and rebounding. (Photo by Matt Riley)

The good news for the Cavaliers is that both Florida and the next round’s almost-certain-opponent, Missouri, are guard-oriented teams. Basketball is often about how teams match up against each other. The ’Hoos have had difficulty against long, tall teams. And it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the reason. With no one taller than 6’8" available, and with the third tallest player on the floor barely 6’6", UVA has had to rebound as a team. That has taken its toll in a number of games.

While Coach Billy Donovan’s Florida roster has plenty of height on it, he has elected to play a guard-dominated offense. In fact, the leading rebounder on the team is a 6’3" freshman guard. That’s the good news. The bad news is all five starters can score, each averaging in double figures. And that’s a luxury Virginia doesn’t enjoy.

Should the Cavs get by Florida, they’ll likely earn a date with the Big 12 tournament champs, the Missouri Tigers. Again, the good news is that Frank Haith’s team plays a four-guard offense. This time the bad news is there may not be a hotter team in the country. So the question inquiring minds want answered is: Can what’s left of a Cavaliers team that has been decimated by injuries, defections, and the suspension of their one true big man, put together 40 full minutes of “Bennettball” not once, but twice this weekend?

If the team can, in a season during which too much attention has already been paid to the fractured feet of its players, the eyes of the Cavalier faithful and the nation, may be focused on those same feet, but this time to admire their glass slippers.