In this year’s ACC, it seems like Virginia is a little bit of a forgotten team. UNC was the nation’s #1 pre-season team and despite an uneven start still looks like they can make a deep tournament run when they are right. Duke is also talented, but inconsistent. Miami has great individual players, and Clemson is the conference’s biggest surprise. You don’t hear about Virginia being talked about with the Purdues and Alabamas of the college basketball world either.
Where does Virginia fit in?
Clemson might be leading the ACC, and that is a good basketball team. Brad Brownell is probably your ACC COY at this point, but Virginia is the conference’s best team.
Their makeup is approaching some of Tony Bennett’s best teams.
When Virginia averages over 70 points a game, they are at their most dangerous.
In the 2015-2016 season, Virginia averaged 71 ppg. That year they won 29 games and went to the regional finals.
In the 2018-2019 season, Virginia acreage was 71.4 ppg. That year they won 35 games and won the national title.
This season? Virginia is averaging 70.3 ppg. That is the 3rd highest of the Tony Bennett era. You know the defense will be there, but when the Hoos can supplement that defense with some scoring they can be really good.
Virginia’s 3 losses are all when they scored 65 points or less, and they are 11-0 when they score over 70.
Saturday it was a 76-57 win over Boston College.
Quietly Virginia is the ACC’s leading 3-point shooting team, and in the top 15 in the country. They’ve already beat Baylor, Illinois, and Michigan to prove their worth OOC too.
You’ve got one of the best coaches in the country—a savvy experienced PG in Kihei Clark. There is size, and depth, and now the Hoos have 6 games in a row.
If you want to keep ignoring Virginia or criticize the offense which seems like a fashionable thing to do when Virginia goes two possessions without scoring go ahead.
This is a team that can play well into March.
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