NCAA Basketball: UCLA’s rise, overrated Texas Tech, and more takeaways

5) Don’t look now, here comes Virginia

Remember a month ago when we were having a very legitimate conversation about whether Virginia was going to miss the NCAA Tournament or not?

That is no longer a question for the defending champs. The only question is which unlucky team (or teams) is going to have to play them during the first weekend.

With a win over Duke on Saturday, the Cavaliers have now won nine of their last 10 games to improve to 21-7 on the year and 13-5 in ACC play, putting them one game out of first place. After the game, head coach Tony Bennett reflected on UVA’s rise following their rocky start.

"“We’re playing better ball. Every game is so important for us. You want to play your best basketball at the right time. This league is so balanced…You have to be the best team and outplay from 6 pm to 8 pm.”"

The Cavaliers have been an elite defensive team all year long (as is tradition) but they’ve found some needed offense during this stretch. Freshman guard Tomas Woldetensae has stepped up and provided some perimeter shooting while Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key have provided consistency on that end. There are some games where Woldetensae goes off, some when Kihei Clark is a scoring threat, and some when Jay Huff plays well, which he did against the Blue Devils.

Virginia is still limited offensively to the point where they won’t make a run through the NCAA Tournament, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them win a game (or maybe two). No one is going to be excited about playing them.