NCAA Basketball: Overrated Kansas, dominant Virginia, and more takeaways
By Brian Rauf
2) Virginia is Final Four-caliber good and might be the best team in the country
On the flip side of that spectrum, Virginia is No. 4 and still might be underrated.
No one really talks about the Cavaliers nationally and there are reasons for that. They play slow, have no real stars, and we’ve seen them fall flat in the NCAA Tournament on more than one occasion.
However, you might want to go ahead and get your UMBC jokes out now – this UVA team is for real and will be around for a long run in March.
Virginia is playing their usual suffocating defense but this year’s might be better than some in the past. They’re experienced in the system, have an NBA-level wing defender in De’Andre Hunter who can guard the other team’s best player no matter the position, and they have a quick guard in Kihei Clark who bothers the opposing team’s point guard for 94 feet.
But, this year, their offense is the best it has been under head coach Tony Bennett. UVA ranks ninth nationally in offensive efficiency and has eclipsed the 70-point mark (a good number considering their style of play) eight times in 13 games. In fact, this group has put up 97 and 100-point performances, showing they have the potential to go off on that end of the court.
Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome are still doing their part but Hunter’s emergence as a scoring threat on the wing, coupled with the arrival of Braxton Key, gives the Cavaliers four players capable of scoring 20+ points any given night. Hunter and Key are also versatile, athletic scorers Virginia hasn’t had in the past.
Virginia has seen their weaknesses be exposed in March and have drastically improved in all of those areas. This Wahoo team is different.