Virginia Basketball: Cavaliers poised to move past March woes in 2019

By Brian Rauf | Jan 9, 2019

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - NOVEMBER 16: Kihei Clark #0 of the Virginia Cavaliers and teammates cheer from the bench after a late three-point shot in the second half during a game against the Coppin State Eagles at John Paul Jones Arena on November 16, 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – DECEMBER 09: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers points out a play in the second half during a game against the VCU Rams at John Paul Jones Arena on December 9, 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /

Virginia Basketball’s regular season success has failed to translate into long NCAA Tournament runs under head coach Tony Bennett, but there’s reason to believe this year is different.

Is it foolish to believe in Virginia? Again?

Maybe.

There’s no denying that Virginia has largely underachieved in NCAA Tournament play under head coach Tony Bennett. He quickly turned the Cavaliers into a regular season power after three years at Washington State, winning three of the last five ACC regular-season championships (winning at least 16 conference games each time) and making the Big Dance in six of the last seven seasons.

They have won at least 29 games four times – the kind of mark that normally signals NCAA Tournament success.

Obviously, that has escaped them. They’ve only advanced past the first weekend on two of their six appearances and have made the Elite Eight just once. That came in 2016 when they lost to a No. 10-seeded Syracuse team they had beaten during the regular season.

That’s the common theme among those tournament trips. UVA has been upset four times by teams seeded lower than them (along with two losses to higher-seeded teams, both of which were 26-point defeats) with the most notable being his historic loss to No. 16-seed UMBC this past March.

Bennett (and everyone else) had a hard time processing that loss, but he did offer this up a few days after that loss.

"“We’ll grow from the struggle of that NCAA Tournament game.”"

Virginia is doing their thing again in 2018-19 by dominating the regular season. They’re one of three undefeated teams remaining and entered ACC play as essentially co-favorites with a Duke team headlined by three projected top-five picks.

This team is good. Really good. But that hasn’t mattered in past NCAA Tournaments – they’ve all met the same fate.

This team, however, is different.

This team has what it takes to make the first Final Four under Tony Bennett and the program’s first since 1984. Here’s why this team is different.

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