Virginia Basketball: UNC win proves Cavaliers are National Championship ready

The Virginia Cavaliers dominated the North Carolina Tar Heels in a 12-point victory. It might be time to look at UVA as one of the best teams in college basketball.

Defense wins championships – at least that’s what they say.

Unfortunately for Tony Bennett and the Virginia Cavaliers, that has not seemed to be the case over the past few seasons for one of the most consistently elite defenses in college basketball.

But maybe, just maybe, defense and offense win championships; something that the Cavaliers can finally say they have this season, as shown in their impressive 61-49 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Virginia forced 19 turnovers from the No. 12 team in college basketball while turning the ball over 11 times themselves. That’s a 12-point victory in a game that the No. 1 team in terms of limiting turnovers turned the ball over 11 times.

This defense is elite but, if the offense can still have success when they are turning the ball over more than usual, then this team is a legitimate National Championship contender – no matter what anyone might say.

I get it. Virginia has disappointed in March time and time again, and it is hard to trust them. But this team has rarely had the offensive trio of Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, and Devon Hall, any one of whom could legitimately go off for 30 points on any given night. When one of them has an off night, another steps up – the perfect formula for a National Championship run.

Next: How does this team look in our current bracketology?

It’s still pretty early, but it’s time this team moved into the top 5 and we stopped talking about the Cavaliers as if all they can do is play defense.