NCAA Basketball: Buy or sell Gonzaga, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas Tech as national title contenders
By Brian Rauf
Virginia Cavaliers
Buy or Sell: Buy with caution
There are questions about Virginia’s potential in the NCAA Tournament? Really? Since when?
I’ve found that there are two types of people when it comes to UVA – you either think they’re a fraud and that loss to UMBC is indicative of who they are OR you think they’re the best team in the country and will cruise to a national championship.
Like most things in life, the Cavaliers fall somewhere in the middle.
There are absolutely logical questions about how Virginia’s style of play translates to NCAA Tournament play. Their methodical style of play doesn’t normally lend itself to blowouts, which inherently keeps lesser opponents in games longer than they should. And many credit that – plus a traditional lack of offensive explosiveness – as to why they usually fall short of expectations in March.
However, last year’s loss to UMBC has turned the Virginia narrative into something worse than what it actually is. They’ve made the second weekend in two of the last five years, including an Elite Eight appearance three years ago.
And this Virginia team is the best they’ve had under head coach Tony Bennett. We obviously know about Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, but the big difference in this year’s team is the emergence of De’Andre Hunter as one of the best two-way players in the country. He and Braxton Key have given UVA some versatile athletes on the wing – the kind Virginia hasn’t had in years past – and guard Kihei Clark gives them another fantastic perimeter defender.
You don’t win as many games as Virginia has without being a really good team. I feel confident in saying they will make a long run in the NCAA Tournament and they’re certainly good enough to win a national championship.
That said, as we saw twice against Duke, they aren’t great against elite athleticism. There are only a couple of teams in the country that have those kinds of athletes, so if UVA is in a region that avoids those, they’ll at least make the Final Four.