NCAA Basketball: Butler, Gonzaga among teams under most pressure to win this week

Virginia Cavaliers - 20-8 (11-6 ACC)

It’s been a game of runs that have put Virginia into a sticky situation heading into this week. They lost three straight games by 16+ points early on in ACC play to not even look like an NCAA Tournament team. To their credit, they managed to win eight straight games, including a win over Clemson. The problem is that none of the other wins were against NCAAT teams.

So a losing skid could put UVA back in danger. And that’s what happened in the last couple of weeks, having lost 3 of the last 4 games. They lost to Pittsburgh at home and failed to score 50 points in losses to Virginia Tech and UNC, causing the metrics to take a hit as well.

And things can get even dicier in the next week, having two true games on the road. The first is at Boston College, a team that’s played much better as of late. And then there’s a massive opportunity on Saturday against Duke, a game that could propel them safely into the NCAA Tournament field. 

However, a sweep would suddenly put Virginia on the cutline. They’re under .500 against Quad 1/2 opponents and have a Quad 3 defeat to Notre Dame, which is biting them in the behind right now. The Cavaliers have bounced back before to get back to their winning ways, they’ll have to find a way to do it again, this time, on the road.