Virginia Cavaliers
* Record: 17-0 (5-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference) * AP Ranking: 2 * NCAA RPI: 2 * Best win: 62-56 at current No. 8 Notre Dame * Best stat: Despite standing 308th in steals (5 per game) and having no players average as much as one steal per game, the Cavaliers are second in scoring defense (50.5 papg) to Kentucky (50.4). * Difference maker: Junior wing Justin Anderson not only leads the Cavs in scoring at 14.5 ppg, but he actually hits better from the 3-point line (52.7 percent) than from the field in general (50.6 percent). Throw in his 79.7 percent free-throw accuracy, his 4.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists a game, it’s hard to find a more balanced perimeter threat anywhere. * Reason to doubt: Not much. Virginia has size (six of its first seven are 6-foot-5 or taller, including a 7-footer) and experience (five of the first seven are juniors or seniors). As long as this group stays healthy, it seems to be an almost perfectly built team. * Will be trendy in Indy at the Final Four if … the Cavs continue to play as they are now. This team is solid in all phases of the game and spectacular on defense and rebounding. * Prediction: Final Four * Coachspeak: “Virginia is skilled, talented, very smart and incredibly well-coached with great discipline.”– Davidson’s Bob McKillop after his Wildcats lost 83-72 at UVa
Virginia guard Malcolm Brogdon dribbles up court in an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, in South Bend, Ind.Ten days ago, his undefeated Virginia basketball team trailing Notre Dame by three points at halftime, Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett walked into the visitors locker room in South Bend, Ind., and told his players, “You guys look so finesse.”
It wasn’t a compliment.
Bennett’s criticism was effective, however. Returning to its blue-collar roots of rebounding and defense, Virginia outscored the Fighting Irish 38-29 over the final 20 minutes and won 62-56.
“They played like a team that’s won a championship when they had to down the stretch,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said, noting that the Cavs won both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament crowns last season.
Added Irish player Pat Connaughton: “They’re a great defensive team. They got the timely stops that they needed and the timely offensive rebounds that they needed, and they hit big shots. I don’t think it was us losing the game as much as it was them winning the game.”
That Virginia has won all 17 of its games by an average of 19.5 points is beginning not only to earn the No. 2 Cavs at least a couple of No. 1 votes in the latest Associated Press poll but also starting to make people wonder if they can’t reach the Final Four for the first time since 1984.
“I was an assistant coach at Wichita State for a couple years, the year before we went to the Final Four, and I see a lot of similarities because of the size around the rim,” Tennessee State coach Dana Ford said after a 79-36 loss to the Cavs this season.
“(On offense) you only get one shot at it. They’re unbelievably disciplined, unbelievably tough, and they don’t beat themselves. I’m not going to say they’re going to go to the Final Four because it’s really hard to do, but that is definitely the best team we will play this year, and probably in the next four or five years.”
Almost every statistical category supports Ford’s belief. Especially on defense, where the Cavs are second to top-ranked Kentucky in scoring margin (50.5 to 50.4), third nationally in field-goal defense and rebounding margin and in the top 26 offensively in both free-throw percentage and field-goal percentage.
To those ends, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas told the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader last week, “They don’t let anybody take them out of their style. They’re going to get the shot they want. And they’re going to guard you five-as-one every possession.”
That style is pure Bennett. It’s the formula Dick Bennett used for guiding Wisconsin to the 2000 Final Four. With a wee bit more offensive pop, it’s the formula his son has chosen to build the Cavs into a Final Four favorite in his sixth season in Charlottesville.
And for anyone who thinks the Cavs can’t knock off UK’s Wildcats in the NCAA tournament, we give you Dave Odom, the former UVa assistant and Wake Forest and South Carolina head coach.
“I don’t think there’s ever been two programs doing as well as they’re doing, and doing it as differently as they appear to be doing it,” Odom told the Herald-Leader.
The fact that UK has its usual crop of youngsters while the Cavs count five juniors and seniors among their first seven was part of Odom’s argument. But so were the defensive principles embraced by each team.
“Virginia is very adept at protecting the inside and forcing you to the outside,” he said. “Kentucky does the opposite. They go hard at you on the perimeter, forcing you inside where you have to face their size.”
One other difference between the Cats and Cavs is that Virginia’s offense can stifle the opponent’s offense as much as its defense can.
Noted Clemson’s Brad Brownell after a 65-42 loss to Virginia this month: “Their offensive execution keeps them from getting in defensive transition, which is the easiest way to score in college. Certainly they are very good in the defensive half of the court, but they are exceptional at offensive execution, so they don’t don’t turn the ball over to help you score.”
Their experience certainly helps. But so does their talent, beginning with leading scorer Justin Anderson, who averages 14.5 points a game and hits 52.7 percent of his 3-pointers and 79.7 percent of his free throws.
“Justin Anderson’s as good as anyone in the country at his position,” Virginia Commonwealth coach Shaka Smart said after a 74-57 loss in which the junior six of seven shots from the field and all six of his free throws and pulled down eight rebounds. “He’ll be in the NBA.”
It isn’t Anderson only. Ten Cavs average at least 10 minutes a game. Redshirt junior guard Malcolm Brogdon backs up Anderson with 13.6 ppg and a calming influence in any storm. Then there’s the Board Brothers trio of 7-footer Mike Tobey, 6-8 Anthony Gill and 6-8 Darion Atkins, who each averages more than six rebounds a game.
“Brogdon’s never too high or too low,” Smart said. “He makes sure everyone sticks to the process.”
Though the Cavaliers have yet to face ACC beasts Duke, Louisville and North Carolina, that process is starting to make them look like no worse than the second pick to win it all come the first Monday in April.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.