Virginia Basketball: Dealing with the “Cavalier Conundrum”

Virginia basketball historically dropped their opening game in the NCAA Tournament last season. What will be different this time around?

The date is March 16th, 2018 and the overall No. 1 seed University of Virginia Cavaliers are about to kick off their 2018 March Madness with Final Four aspirations. Less than two hours after the start of Virginia’s match up against the 16-seed University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers, the impossible happens: a 16-seed has upset a 1-seed for the first time in March Madness tournament history.

Everyone has seen numerous tournament upsets: the oddly frequent 12-seed defeating a 5-seed, even a rare 15-seed beating a 2-seed. However, the one constant was the 1-seed versus the 16-seed who, until the Cavaliers loss, held a 105-0 record in such tournament games. As the Cavaliers are leading the Atlantic Coast Conference again in 2019, and are almost guaranteed 1-seed for the second straight year, it bears the question, what will be different this year?

Virginia has only lost two games this season and both are to an in-conference rival, the Duke Blue Devils. In theory, if they could avoid Duke in the NCAA Tournament they have a very high chance of making a championship run since no other team in the country has been able to beat the Cavaliers. With Zion’s health in question and the Blue Devils struggling to find an offensive identity, specifically behind the three-point line, maybe Virginia now has a pretty good chance to beat Duke if they played.

The Cavaliers play stifling defense and thrive in the half-court offense. Their gameplay is fundamental and would make Gregg Popovich extremely proud. Casual viewers and some media outlets have a different opinion, basically implying they would rather watch paint dry than a full UVA basketball game. Yet, the NCAA Tournament generally favors a slower game with stronger defensive teams advancing the majority of the time. Truly watching the precision and skill that Tony Bennett instills in his teams year over year is something intriguing to take in.

Now, after building up the case for the Cavaliers above, I will play a little devil’s advocate on possible roadblocks they may see in the Tournament. If Duke and UNC advance to the ACC Finals and Virginia does not, there is potential for UVA to drop off of the 1-seed line and become a 2-seed making the road to the Final Four more difficult. Additionally, I know everyone thinks because of the loss to a 16-seed last year, that the Cavaliers will blow away the school they play in the first round.

But, does anyone see the possibility for another upset or at least a close contest? Virginia could be playing nervous and try to avoid mistakes rather than play their game and focusing on defense. Honestly, I go back and forth on Virginia and their potential in the NCAA Tournament this year, which is why I have dubbed it the Cavalier Conundrum. Do you have faith in UVA to win it all?