It's been a few weeks now and I think I am ready to look back at the UVa basketball season. It's taken me awhile because the season ended badly compared to the rest of the season even though just a couple years ago, I would've taken one win in the NCAA tournament as a real stride. Add on 30 wins again and a second straight ACC regular-season title? Wow. Perspective is an invaluable tool when evaluating the season. But, the program has reached heights now and winning just one NCAA tournament game this year ended up being a disappointment (even though in my preview for the season I said I wasn't sure the team could be as good or get as far as the 2013-14 team.
I won't be looking forward too much, though, because a huge piece of that puzzle still needs to be figured out. Will he stay or will he go? Justin Anderson has until the April 26 deadline to decide whether to forgo his senior season and declare for the NBA draft. I did not think there was a huge reason to think he would leave a few weeks ago, especially after he got hurt and did not come back looking like himself. However, recent knowledgeable sources are saying he is leaning to go. Obviously, that would have significant ramifications for next season. With him, the team could be truly special. Without him, it might just be good.
There isn't too much to break down about the beginning of the season. Virginia got off to a rip-roaring start, crushing JMU, Norfolk State, and South Carolina State. The Cavs barely trailed until facing George Washington at home. The Colonials gave them some trouble, leading 26-22 at halftime. However, Virginia dominated the second half, suffocated the Colonials' offense to just 16 points, and won 59-42. It was the first of several impressive defensive performances on the year.
After blowing past Tennessee State at JPJ, Virginia headed to Brooklyn for the Barclays Center Classic. In game one, UVa built an 18-point lead on La Salle but the Explorers closed the lead to single digits. UVa closed out a 64-56 win, though. In the championship game, the Cavs struggled on offense in the first half against Rutgers and were behind, 18-17, at halftime. Virginia embarrassed the Scarlet Knights in the second half, though, holding them to just eight points. UVa went on to a 45-26 victory.
Next up were a pair of games against non-conference rivals. Virginia got revenge in both of them. At Maryland, UVa topped the Terrapins less than a year after losing to them in the same arena in the last ACC meeting between the two schools. Virginia is 1-0 against the Big Ten-version of Maryland. The next win was perhaps even sweeter. The year before, VCU had come into JPJ and ripped the Cavaliers' hearts out with a last-second, three-point win. This year, though, the Wahoos took care of business at the Siegel Center in Richmond, playing in a close game against the Rams until a late run gave the 'Hoos a decisive 74-59 win. After this game, UVa hit its exam break.
Virginia got off to a little bit of a slow start after the exam break but soon picked up the pace. The Cavs struggled a bit in beating Cleveland State by 16 but then came the 'Hoos' most magnificent performance of the season, and one of the most superb performances in all of college basketball this season, period. Harvard, a team which ended up going 22-8 and almost won its first NCAA
tournament game against North Carolina, was absolutely demolished by the Cavaliers on a Sunday afternoon at JPJ a few days before Christmas. The score was 39-8 at halftime as the Crimson was held to one first-half field goal. The final was 76-27. That was the first game where I feel like the college basketball world took notice of how good UVa could be.
Virginia was challenged by Davidson in its final non-conference tilt, but survived, and then opened ACC play at Miami. Virginia built an 18-point halftime lead but gave it all back -- a troubling trend UVa did a few times this year -- and went to OT with the Hurricanes. UVa should have lost in the first OT but somehow tied it up, and then pulled away in the second overtime to remain undefeated and move to 1-0 in the conference.
The Cavaliers then rattled off six more ACC wins over N.C. State, Notre Dame, Clemson, Boston College, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech. The run did not come without challenges. N.C. State used hot 3-point shooting to rally to within one point at halftime. Notre Dame was more than game and gave a great test in South Bend. Boston College, despite a poor record, hung with UVa for the majority of the game. And Virginia Tech had an eight-point lead early in the second half. Perhaps in that one, UVa was looking about a week ahead to its clash with Duke.
The Duke game came with lots of fanfare. "College GameDay" made its first visit to Grounds and the atmosphere did not disappoint. The game seemed like it wasn't going to either. UVa was down slightly at halftime but built up an 11-point lead with eight minutes left. The future NCAA champions battled behind a barrage of 3-pointers, however, to topple the Cavs and hand them their first loss of the season, 69-63.
UVa recovered nicely, beating UNC, 75-64, on the road. Trouble followed, however. UVa battled Louisville tooth and nail in a defensive slugfest and won but paid for it. Anderson broke his left pinkie finger trying to grab a rebound. What didn't seem like a huge injury at the time might have set the season off course.
Virginia survived without Anderson but wasn't playing all that well when compared to the beginning of the season. The offense was not nearly as efficient. However, UVa kept winning after the Duke loss. Sans Anderson, UVa beat N.C. State, Wake Forest (twice), Pittsburgh, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Syracuse. The Syracuse victory clinched Virginia's second straight ACC regular-season title. In the regular-season finale, Virginia dropped a hard-fought contest at Louisville by two points.
In the ACC tournament, Virginia wasn't playing its best ball. UVa got past Florida State in the quarterfinals as Anderson worked his way back into the lineup. He didn't score. Against UNC in the semifinals, UVa fell too far behind to recover and lost, 71-67. The defense failed UVa but the offense was also hiccuping, perhaps thrown off the by the re-introduction of Anderson into the rotation.
In the NCAA tournament, Virginia earned a No. 2 seed in the East Region and had to face a spunky No. 15 seed in Belmont in the second round. A large contingency of fans was upset and thought UVa deserved a No. 1 seed over Duke, which did not win the ACC regular season or tournament. UVa played pretty well against Belmont, coring 79 points, one of the Cavaliers' best
offensive games in awhile. The Bruins fought hard and closed the game to within two points late in the second half, but UVa ended up pulling away for a 79-67 win. In the next round, UVa's offense sputtered again. The defense played well enough but Michigan State ousted the Cavs for a second consecutive year in the tournament, this time a round earlier and by a 60-54 score.
Evaluation
It hasn't taken long, but I think we might be a little spoiled as a fanbase.
Just six years ago, Virginia had concluded a 10-win mark in Dave Leitao's last season as coach. Ten. T-e-n. 10! And now this year, which finished with an ACC regular-season crown, 30 wins, and a third-round NCAA tournament exit (short of the Sweet 16), felt a little disappointing with the way it concluded. Not so much because of when it ended, but because of how it ended. The game against MSU did not represent the best Virginia had to offer this year and the fans knew that and the smart part of the college basketball world knew it, too, not the part that thought the Cavs were boring or bad for college basketball. (Since when did smart offense, sharing the ball, and great defense become "bad?")
There was a time, probably around the Harvard win, when a few national analysts and writers thought UVa was No. 1 in the country and not Kentucky. High, very high, praise. Virginia started the season 19-0, the second-best start in school history, and tied a record for best 29-game mark at 28-1. This team was devastatingly good at its peak, probably better than the best effort last season's team, led by Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell, gave. But, this season's team was not playing nearly as well as last season's down the stretch and that is why we as fans were left with a disappointing taste in our mouths. This team was capable of a Final Four run and maybe more.
One pinkie finger might have thrown it all off. The team never quite looked right with Anderson out of the lineup, save for an odd, 70-38 beatdown at Wake Forest. For the most part, the team struggled to beat lower-tier teams without Anderson. And then, when he came back, the chemistry might have been thrown off, or flow, rhythm -- whatever you want to call it. The team, and especially offense, just didn't get all its mojo back. The amazing thing is -- as bad as the offense was against the Spartans -- the Wahoos lost that game by just six points. And MSU went to the Final Four. You got the sense that if Virginia could have put together five good minutes consecutively, it would have gotten ahead of MSU and won. And then who knows what would have happened? With Anderson back for more than three full games at that point, maybe the team would have re-jelled and found its former self. Alas, it was not to be.
MVP: Malcolm Brogdon. Last year, I made Brogdon the MVP over Joe Harris, a debatable move since Harris will go down in Wahoo lore for the kind of value and leadership he provided to that Sweet 16, ACC tournament-winning team. I am making Brogdon the MVP over Anderson this year, even though we saw the team play not as well without Anderson, proving his value. Anderson helped
take the top off defenses much like a good receiver would on a football team. His shooting ability and athleticism at the rim really was valuable to the offense. But I came to realize that Brogdon is just that steady, cool-hand Luke guy that almost always has a good, if not great, game. It doesn't seem
like he's been doing anything in a game and boom, you look up and he has 14 points to go along with four boards, a couple assists, and a steal while also running the point for the offense several times per game. And he always played lockdown defense on one of the other team's best players, too. He is wise beyond his years, could end up being the president of the United States one day, and just gives everything he has every game without much fanfare.
Most improved: Darion Atkins, who was last season's most disappointing player. Mike Tobey played better, and definitely improved his rebounding, but was still not that consistent. Anthony Gill became an every-game threat to carry the team. Justin Anderson probably would have gotten this award based on his jump in 3-point shooting alone had he played the whole year. But his 3-point shooting decreased in ACC play and he missed a big chunk of the season. So I am going with the team's only scholarship senior. It was a joy to watch Atkins have a breakout campaign finally in his fourth year. He showed flashes of it at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, but could not sustain it through an injury. This year, he ended up showing a solid low-post game, major shot-blocking ability, and filled in very well the role left by Mitchell's absence in the Pack-Line defense. For his efforts, he was named the ACC's defensive player of the year.
Most disappointing player: Evan Nolte. The season started badly for the junior with an offseason arrest and mug shot in an ugly shirt in the summer and he never quite recovered. He played more minutes than last season, mostly because of Anderson's injury, when he slid into the starting lineup, but he was still unable to shoot as well as he did as a freshman (38.9 percent from 3). In fact, he
keeps steadily declining. He was at 33.3 percent last year and ended up at 27.6 percent this year. And while he does seem to be a nice glue guy on defense and made a superb diving steal against VCU, he just doesn't seem to do much else out on the floor. If he isn't shooting well, he seems to provide little value, especially on the offensive end of the floor. Hopefully, like Atkins, he can have a renaissance as a senior.
Best freshman: Marial Shayok. Isaiah Wilkins had some really nice, active moments that don't show up on the score sheet but the best freshman all-around was definitely Shayok, the lanky wing from Canada. He showcased a penchant for tight on-ball defense, shot 38 percent from 3, and showed the ability in the open court to slash to and finish at the rim. His future is bright. B.J. Stith didn't see the floor much and unfortunately, just wasn't that good as a freshman, declined to be redshirted, and is now transferring to Old Dominion. Devon Hall did not have the breakout season we were hoping for but there's still time, as he has three years left, provided he sticks around.
Best win: Last year, the win over Memphis that sent the team to the Sweet 16 and the ACC-clinching win against Syracuse in front of a raucous JPJ crowd were fine candidates for this award, but the ACC tournament title game win over Duke had to be it. This year, I think it is less clear cut. Virginia got sweet revenge against Maryland and VCU, demolished Harvard in the most impressive display of basketball prowess of the season, responded to the first loss of the season to Duke by handling UNC at the Dean Dome, and won at Syracuse to wrap up another ACC first-place finish. But Virginia also won early in the ACC season at Notre Dame, a team that ended up winning the ACC tournament, made the Elite Eight, and just about knocked off Kentucky. The Fighting Irish were very good this year and I think that was lost on me a little bit at that point in the season. Very, very good win in South Bend.
Worst loss: With only four, it should be fairly easy to choose, but three stand out. The Duke loss was a gut punch. The UNC ACC tourney game was frustrating. The Louisville loss was not significant in the standings, but you feel like had UVa won it, and really either of the other two, too, it could have been a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance instead of Duke (especially if that one more win had been over Duke) and the Cavaliers could have avoided what I think was the worst loss of the season to MSU. It just left a bad lingering taste and it left us knowing that this team was capable of much more.
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| Not much use in talking about next season until Justin Anderson decides if he is going to skip his senior season or not. |
There isn't too much to break down about the beginning of the season. Virginia got off to a rip-roaring start, crushing JMU, Norfolk State, and South Carolina State. The Cavs barely trailed until facing George Washington at home. The Colonials gave them some trouble, leading 26-22 at halftime. However, Virginia dominated the second half, suffocated the Colonials' offense to just 16 points, and won 59-42. It was the first of several impressive defensive performances on the year.
After blowing past Tennessee State at JPJ, Virginia headed to Brooklyn for the Barclays Center Classic. In game one, UVa built an 18-point lead on La Salle but the Explorers closed the lead to single digits. UVa closed out a 64-56 win, though. In the championship game, the Cavs struggled on offense in the first half against Rutgers and were behind, 18-17, at halftime. Virginia embarrassed the Scarlet Knights in the second half, though, holding them to just eight points. UVa went on to a 45-26 victory.
Next up were a pair of games against non-conference rivals. Virginia got revenge in both of them. At Maryland, UVa topped the Terrapins less than a year after losing to them in the same arena in the last ACC meeting between the two schools. Virginia is 1-0 against the Big Ten-version of Maryland. The next win was perhaps even sweeter. The year before, VCU had come into JPJ and ripped the Cavaliers' hearts out with a last-second, three-point win. This year, though, the Wahoos took care of business at the Siegel Center in Richmond, playing in a close game against the Rams until a late run gave the 'Hoos a decisive 74-59 win. After this game, UVa hit its exam break.
Virginia got off to a little bit of a slow start after the exam break but soon picked up the pace. The Cavs struggled a bit in beating Cleveland State by 16 but then came the 'Hoos' most magnificent performance of the season, and one of the most superb performances in all of college basketball this season, period. Harvard, a team which ended up going 22-8 and almost won its first NCAA
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| "Nolte Face" and all, Evan Nolte made a great steal of an unsuspecting Briante Weber during the VCU game. |
Virginia was challenged by Davidson in its final non-conference tilt, but survived, and then opened ACC play at Miami. Virginia built an 18-point halftime lead but gave it all back -- a troubling trend UVa did a few times this year -- and went to OT with the Hurricanes. UVa should have lost in the first OT but somehow tied it up, and then pulled away in the second overtime to remain undefeated and move to 1-0 in the conference.
The Cavaliers then rattled off six more ACC wins over N.C. State, Notre Dame, Clemson, Boston College, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech. The run did not come without challenges. N.C. State used hot 3-point shooting to rally to within one point at halftime. Notre Dame was more than game and gave a great test in South Bend. Boston College, despite a poor record, hung with UVa for the majority of the game. And Virginia Tech had an eight-point lead early in the second half. Perhaps in that one, UVa was looking about a week ahead to its clash with Duke.
The Duke game came with lots of fanfare. "College GameDay" made its first visit to Grounds and the atmosphere did not disappoint. The game seemed like it wasn't going to either. UVa was down slightly at halftime but built up an 11-point lead with eight minutes left. The future NCAA champions battled behind a barrage of 3-pointers, however, to topple the Cavs and hand them their first loss of the season, 69-63.
UVa recovered nicely, beating UNC, 75-64, on the road. Trouble followed, however. UVa battled Louisville tooth and nail in a defensive slugfest and won but paid for it. Anderson broke his left pinkie finger trying to grab a rebound. What didn't seem like a huge injury at the time might have set the season off course.
Virginia survived without Anderson but wasn't playing all that well when compared to the beginning of the season. The offense was not nearly as efficient. However, UVa kept winning after the Duke loss. Sans Anderson, UVa beat N.C. State, Wake Forest (twice), Pittsburgh, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Syracuse. The Syracuse victory clinched Virginia's second straight ACC regular-season title. In the regular-season finale, Virginia dropped a hard-fought contest at Louisville by two points.
In the ACC tournament, Virginia wasn't playing its best ball. UVa got past Florida State in the quarterfinals as Anderson worked his way back into the lineup. He didn't score. Against UNC in the semifinals, UVa fell too far behind to recover and lost, 71-67. The defense failed UVa but the offense was also hiccuping, perhaps thrown off the by the re-introduction of Anderson into the rotation.
In the NCAA tournament, Virginia earned a No. 2 seed in the East Region and had to face a spunky No. 15 seed in Belmont in the second round. A large contingency of fans was upset and thought UVa deserved a No. 1 seed over Duke, which did not win the ACC regular season or tournament. UVa played pretty well against Belmont, coring 79 points, one of the Cavaliers' best
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| Travis Trice and the Spartans did enough to spoil the Wahoos' year. |
Evaluation
It hasn't taken long, but I think we might be a little spoiled as a fanbase.
Just six years ago, Virginia had concluded a 10-win mark in Dave Leitao's last season as coach. Ten. T-e-n. 10! And now this year, which finished with an ACC regular-season crown, 30 wins, and a third-round NCAA tournament exit (short of the Sweet 16), felt a little disappointing with the way it concluded. Not so much because of when it ended, but because of how it ended. The game against MSU did not represent the best Virginia had to offer this year and the fans knew that and the smart part of the college basketball world knew it, too, not the part that thought the Cavs were boring or bad for college basketball. (Since when did smart offense, sharing the ball, and great defense become "bad?")
There was a time, probably around the Harvard win, when a few national analysts and writers thought UVa was No. 1 in the country and not Kentucky. High, very high, praise. Virginia started the season 19-0, the second-best start in school history, and tied a record for best 29-game mark at 28-1. This team was devastatingly good at its peak, probably better than the best effort last season's team, led by Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell, gave. But, this season's team was not playing nearly as well as last season's down the stretch and that is why we as fans were left with a disappointing taste in our mouths. This team was capable of a Final Four run and maybe more.
One pinkie finger might have thrown it all off. The team never quite looked right with Anderson out of the lineup, save for an odd, 70-38 beatdown at Wake Forest. For the most part, the team struggled to beat lower-tier teams without Anderson. And then, when he came back, the chemistry might have been thrown off, or flow, rhythm -- whatever you want to call it. The team, and especially offense, just didn't get all its mojo back. The amazing thing is -- as bad as the offense was against the Spartans -- the Wahoos lost that game by just six points. And MSU went to the Final Four. You got the sense that if Virginia could have put together five good minutes consecutively, it would have gotten ahead of MSU and won. And then who knows what would have happened? With Anderson back for more than three full games at that point, maybe the team would have re-jelled and found its former self. Alas, it was not to be.
MVP: Malcolm Brogdon. Last year, I made Brogdon the MVP over Joe Harris, a debatable move since Harris will go down in Wahoo lore for the kind of value and leadership he provided to that Sweet 16, ACC tournament-winning team. I am making Brogdon the MVP over Anderson this year, even though we saw the team play not as well without Anderson, proving his value. Anderson helped
take the top off defenses much like a good receiver would on a football team. His shooting ability and athleticism at the rim really was valuable to the offense. But I came to realize that Brogdon is just that steady, cool-hand Luke guy that almost always has a good, if not great, game. It doesn't seem
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| "Uncle Malcolm" Brogdon earns my MVP award for the second season in a row. |
Most improved: Darion Atkins, who was last season's most disappointing player. Mike Tobey played better, and definitely improved his rebounding, but was still not that consistent. Anthony Gill became an every-game threat to carry the team. Justin Anderson probably would have gotten this award based on his jump in 3-point shooting alone had he played the whole year. But his 3-point shooting decreased in ACC play and he missed a big chunk of the season. So I am going with the team's only scholarship senior. It was a joy to watch Atkins have a breakout campaign finally in his fourth year. He showed flashes of it at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, but could not sustain it through an injury. This year, he ended up showing a solid low-post game, major shot-blocking ability, and filled in very well the role left by Mitchell's absence in the Pack-Line defense. For his efforts, he was named the ACC's defensive player of the year.
Most disappointing player: Evan Nolte. The season started badly for the junior with an offseason arrest and mug shot in an ugly shirt in the summer and he never quite recovered. He played more minutes than last season, mostly because of Anderson's injury, when he slid into the starting lineup, but he was still unable to shoot as well as he did as a freshman (38.9 percent from 3). In fact, he
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| A year after complaining about not getting enough playing time, Darion Atkins blossomed, especially in the second half of the season. |
Best freshman: Marial Shayok. Isaiah Wilkins had some really nice, active moments that don't show up on the score sheet but the best freshman all-around was definitely Shayok, the lanky wing from Canada. He showcased a penchant for tight on-ball defense, shot 38 percent from 3, and showed the ability in the open court to slash to and finish at the rim. His future is bright. B.J. Stith didn't see the floor much and unfortunately, just wasn't that good as a freshman, declined to be redshirted, and is now transferring to Old Dominion. Devon Hall did not have the breakout season we were hoping for but there's still time, as he has three years left, provided he sticks around.
Best win: Last year, the win over Memphis that sent the team to the Sweet 16 and the ACC-clinching win against Syracuse in front of a raucous JPJ crowd were fine candidates for this award, but the ACC tournament title game win over Duke had to be it. This year, I think it is less clear cut. Virginia got sweet revenge against Maryland and VCU, demolished Harvard in the most impressive display of basketball prowess of the season, responded to the first loss of the season to Duke by handling UNC at the Dean Dome, and won at Syracuse to wrap up another ACC first-place finish. But Virginia also won early in the ACC season at Notre Dame, a team that ended up winning the ACC tournament, made the Elite Eight, and just about knocked off Kentucky. The Fighting Irish were very good this year and I think that was lost on me a little bit at that point in the season. Very, very good win in South Bend.
Worst loss: With only four, it should be fairly easy to choose, but three stand out. The Duke loss was a gut punch. The UNC ACC tourney game was frustrating. The Louisville loss was not significant in the standings, but you feel like had UVa won it, and really either of the other two, too, it could have been a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance instead of Duke (especially if that one more win had been over Duke) and the Cavaliers could have avoided what I think was the worst loss of the season to MSU. It just left a bad lingering taste and it left us knowing that this team was capable of much more.
I agree with your selection of Brogdon as the MVP. He was consistent as you say, but was also capable of taking the team on his back and willing them to win, as he did a few times when we struggled against top-tier teams when Anderson was out.
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