NCAA Tournament: Strengths and weaknesses of top 16 overall seeds

Virginia Cavaliers: 18-6 (13-4)

Weakness

To anybody who has paid any attention to a Tony Bennett-coached team, it should be no surprise that their weakness is scoring points and it is not even weakness perse, but almost a choice. The 2020-21 season saw the Cavaliers average just over 66 points per game in conference play. It is the why, however, that should be concerning.

One of the greatest sources of points is the free ones from the foul line, the Cavaliers, unfortunately, only attempted 11.6 per game which placed them ahead of only Iowa State who attempted 11.5 per game. In addition, their 5.5 offensive rebounds per game are the eleventh fewest in the nation, this, in turn, contributes to the Cavaliers being tied with Incarnate Word and Morehead State in the top 330 for field-goals attempted per game.

Strength

 As the only team in the ACC to not average double digits in the turnover category for the season, the Cavaliers may prefer to have fewer possessions, but they value each one. Only point guard Kihei Clark averages over two turnovers per game. The lack of turnovers allows the Cavaliers to control the pace of play to their liking.

Only in games versus Syracuse and Gonzaga did the possessions exceed 65. The Cavaliers averaged four possessions fewer than Clemson who average the second-fewest in the ACC.