NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: West Virginia rises, Louisville falls

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MARCH 13: Head coach Bob Huggins of the West Virginia Mountaineers coaches from the bench during the first round game of the Big 12 Basketball Tournament against the Oklahoma Sooners at the Sprint Center on March 13, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – DECEMBER 29: Diakite of the Cavaliers shoots. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /

player. 446. . . . Virginia Cavaliers. 25

Virginia continues to be one of the most disappointing teams in the country. During this past week, I was expecting to see the Cavaliers respond from their loss to South Carolina by eviscerating Navy and asserting that they belong as a Top 25 team. Yet, they allowed the Midshipmen to hang around for the majority of that contest. Even though Virginia wound up holding serve and walked away with a nine-point win, it should have been a much bigger blowout than that.

To put it simply, Virginia just hasn’t been very good this season. And now that the year is essentially one-third complete, it’s time to wonder if this is just who the Cavaliers are going to be this season. They are wildly inconsistent on the offensive end of the floor and one of the best defensive teams. Head coach Tony Bennett’s team is going to win its fair share of games due to that latter thought, but will also lose plenty due to the former.

Considering the ACC is extremely down this season compared to usual standards, on the whole, Virginia should be able to collect enough wins to safely reach the NCAA Tournament but will have a difficult bolstering its resume. To this point in the year, the Cavaliers’ best win might actually be a road victory over Syracuse in their season-opener. They also already have a relatively ugly home loss to South Carolina.

Virginia will need to flip an offensive switch soon if it wants to land a high seed in the Big Dance.

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