Virginia 73, Virginia Tech 55
2+1 = 3 and 1+2 = 3, it doesn't much matter how you get there. On Tuesday at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia held Virginia Tech's Erick Green to one point in the first half while the rest of the team scored 22 points.
In the second half, Green went off for 21 points, but his teammates managed just 11 points. It added up to a convincing, 73-55 victory for the 'Hoos over the Hokies. Virginia, which also beat Tech this year 74-58 in Blacksburg, swept the series for the second time in three years. The Cavs also won both contests in 2010-11.
Despite Green scoring a lot in the second half, most of his points came from free throws. He made just 4 of his 17 shots. Jontel Evans hounded Green all game long in what was Evans' best game of the year and maybe the best of his career. Virginia's senior point guard finished with eight points, seven rebounds, six assists, and just one turnover.
Akil Mitchell also had a terrific game with 17 points and eight rebounds. He provided the highlight of the game late in the second half when Justin Anderson threw him a lob and Mitchell dunked home the alley-oop.
The story of the game, though, was Joe Harris. Virginia's sharp-shooting forward went off for a career-high 26 points and made five of seven 3-pointers. He made all five of his 3-point attempts in the first half in a remarkable display of accuracy. Harris is now fourth in the ACC in scoring (16.3 ppg) and is way ahead in first place in 3-point percentage (48.4 percent; second is UNC's Reggie Bullock at 44.6 percent). Despite taking most of his shots away from the rim, Harris is fifth in the league in overall field goal percentage (49.1 percent).
Incredibly, Harris has now made 8 of his last 11 3-pointers over the past two games. I think he really should be getting serious consideration for first-team All-ACC. It is going to be tough. I would consider Green and Duke's Miles Plumlee locks for the first team. That leaves three spots and there are lots of good candidates. In addition to Harris, I think you can make a case for Duke's Seth Curry, Miami's Shane Larkin, Durand Scott, or Kenny Kadji, N.C. State's C.J. Leslie, Boston College's Ryan Anderson, or even Wake Forest's C.J. McKie. And you would have to think a North Carolina player is going to make it because that usually is the case so one of James Michael McAdoo or Reggie Bullock will probably make it from the Tar Heels. It is going to be close, but if Harris can keep playing at this clip (he has gone over 20 points for three straight games -- first 'Hoo to do that since Sylven Landesberg a few years ago), or even close to this clip, he should have a good shot.
An interesting question at this point in the season is does Harris have a better shot at making the first team or does UVa have a better shot at making the NCAA tournament? You can tell me what you think in the poll on the right side of the page.
ESPN currently has Virginia ranked with the 72nd best RPI in the country. That is still pretty low to try to get an at-large bid for the tourney. Of course, the Cavs could make it easy on themselves and win the ACC tournament to get an automatic bid but I think we have to assume that won't happen -- Virginia hasn't even gotten to the semifinals of the ACC tourney since 1995. Generally, at-large teams don't have a very good chance of making it unless there RPI is in the 50s so Virginia has some work to do. The good news is that UVa is on the rise. The Daily Progress' Jerry Ratcliffe wrote in a column published today that the Cavaliers' RPI was 145 on Jan. 22.
Two main things are holding down Virginia and they are sort of tied together: a terrible non-conference strength of schedule and six bad losses. The non-conference schedule can improve if lots of teams on the Cavs' schedule finish their seasons strong. You have to think that would end up being a zero-sum proposition, however. Virginia's overall strength of schedule will continue to get better and that is a good thing RPI-wise, but maybe not wins-wise. The Cavs are at North Carolina on Saturday, and also still have to play Duke at home and Miami on the road.
The thing that makes Virginia so fascinating is that it is the only team in America that is undefeated vs. top-100 RPI teams at 6-0. That's crazy. And yet, the Wahoos lost to Old Dominion, a team which has three wins.
Such is the life of a Cavalier fan: They will always leave you guessing. Virginia can take another step toward looking more attractive to the NCAA selection committee in its next game Saturday at North Carolina, a team that is ranked higher than the 'Hoos in RPI.
2+1 = 3 and 1+2 = 3, it doesn't much matter how you get there. On Tuesday at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia held Virginia Tech's Erick Green to one point in the first half while the rest of the team scored 22 points.
In the second half, Green went off for 21 points, but his teammates managed just 11 points. It added up to a convincing, 73-55 victory for the 'Hoos over the Hokies. Virginia, which also beat Tech this year 74-58 in Blacksburg, swept the series for the second time in three years. The Cavs also won both contests in 2010-11.
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| UVa senior Jontel Evans |
Akil Mitchell also had a terrific game with 17 points and eight rebounds. He provided the highlight of the game late in the second half when Justin Anderson threw him a lob and Mitchell dunked home the alley-oop.
The story of the game, though, was Joe Harris. Virginia's sharp-shooting forward went off for a career-high 26 points and made five of seven 3-pointers. He made all five of his 3-point attempts in the first half in a remarkable display of accuracy. Harris is now fourth in the ACC in scoring (16.3 ppg) and is way ahead in first place in 3-point percentage (48.4 percent; second is UNC's Reggie Bullock at 44.6 percent). Despite taking most of his shots away from the rim, Harris is fifth in the league in overall field goal percentage (49.1 percent).
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| UVa junior Joe Harris |
An interesting question at this point in the season is does Harris have a better shot at making the first team or does UVa have a better shot at making the NCAA tournament? You can tell me what you think in the poll on the right side of the page.
ESPN currently has Virginia ranked with the 72nd best RPI in the country. That is still pretty low to try to get an at-large bid for the tourney. Of course, the Cavs could make it easy on themselves and win the ACC tournament to get an automatic bid but I think we have to assume that won't happen -- Virginia hasn't even gotten to the semifinals of the ACC tourney since 1995. Generally, at-large teams don't have a very good chance of making it unless there RPI is in the 50s so Virginia has some work to do. The good news is that UVa is on the rise. The Daily Progress' Jerry Ratcliffe wrote in a column published today that the Cavaliers' RPI was 145 on Jan. 22.
Two main things are holding down Virginia and they are sort of tied together: a terrible non-conference strength of schedule and six bad losses. The non-conference schedule can improve if lots of teams on the Cavs' schedule finish their seasons strong. You have to think that would end up being a zero-sum proposition, however. Virginia's overall strength of schedule will continue to get better and that is a good thing RPI-wise, but maybe not wins-wise. The Cavs are at North Carolina on Saturday, and also still have to play Duke at home and Miami on the road.
The thing that makes Virginia so fascinating is that it is the only team in America that is undefeated vs. top-100 RPI teams at 6-0. That's crazy. And yet, the Wahoos lost to Old Dominion, a team which has three wins.
Such is the life of a Cavalier fan: They will always leave you guessing. Virginia can take another step toward looking more attractive to the NCAA selection committee in its next game Saturday at North Carolina, a team that is ranked higher than the 'Hoos in RPI.
I think the Cavs can make the tourney, provided they have one "good" win and no "bad" losses. Another mistake against Georgia Tech would likely push them off the bubble, while a win against either UNC, Miami, or Duke should boost their resume enough to get in. The Selection Committee tends to put a lot of stock in a team's "trend," so wins at the end of the year and at least one win in the ACC Tournament should help make up for the 0-3 CAA record.
ReplyDeleteAaron-- what do you think about Miami still being ranked below Duke despite their rout of the Blue Devils in their memorable match-up a few weeks ago?
Yeah, plus, the committee will take injuries into account and we didn't have Jontel for the first three losses.
ReplyDeleteI think Miami should be ahead of Duke. They have similar resumes, Miami actually has one more win in the top 100. Or they did before the UNC game last night. And Duke had one more loss in the top 50 I think. And Miami completely crushed them. But they will settle this eventually in a few weeks cuz Miami is playing at Cameron on March 2. We actually get Duke Feb. 28, right before their rematch with the Canes so I think that works in our favor a little bit.
Yeah, we could catch Duke looking ahead and get a big signature win.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of it like this: if we win 2 of the next 3 at home (Duke being a likely L), beat BC on the road, then win one of the last 3 road games (UNC, Miami, FSU), then we get to 12-6, the plateau that you said we probably needed for inclusion. I like our chances... we haven't been giving away as many games as our team matures.
Personally, I think Joe Harris would have to go absolutely unconscious (like Michael Jordan-level) for a few games to even get considered for all-ACC first team. Too much Duke-UNC-NC State bias at the top will probably squeeze him out no matter how deserving he is. I bet he makes second team though.
Yeah I agree JP. Duke will get one, maybe two, Id think UNC will get one, and I bet State gets one unless they fall off dramatically. Probably Lorenzo Brown or CJ Leslie. And then Miami will get at least one if they go undefeated in the ACC. The amazing thing is the Canes are such a great "team." No individual player stands out immensely. But you have to give them one because of their record.
ReplyDeleteYeah if we can beat Ga Tech and Maryland at home, that is 10 wins. Hopefully we dont drop one of those. That would make it real tough. Then we need to find two wins in UNC, FSU, BC, Duke and Miami to get to 12.