Virginia Basketball: Keys for Cavaliers to become a contender in 2019-20
Conclusion
As always, Virginia should be a buzzsaw defensively, but things will be uncertain on offense. Even with a glass-half-full approach, it seems difficult to imagine the Cavaliers being near the same team offensively they were last season. Anything more than modest scoring increases seem unrealistic from returning players like Diakite, Key, Clark and Huff (Key has best chance among this group).
To prevent a significant falloff on offense, Tony Bennett needs one or both of Morsell and Woldetensae to meet and exceed expectations, averaging double-digits points per game for example. They each have arguably the most offensive upside of any players on the team.
Although Bennett should be able to put together at least an adequate offense, it’s not completely inconceivable that the offense ends up a “disaster.” There are a lot of places points could and even should come from, but Virginia can’t count on any player to score with extreme confidence. At the very least, there will undoubtedly be offensive stretches that are ugly to watch.
Next. Top returning player for each ACC team. dark
Taking everything into account, it’s hard to imagine the offense getting to the necessary level to make Virginia a top-five team. For this reason, their ceiling could be in the top 6-10. But even with potential offensive concerns, the expected elite defense should give the team a top 25 floor.