Record: 35-3, 16-2 (1st place tie)
ACC Tournament: Lost in semifinal
NCAA Tournament: Won
Final AP Ranking: 2
All-ACC Players: Kyle Guy (1st), De’Andre Hunter (1st), Ty Jerome (2nd)
All-Americans: None
The 2018 loss to UMBC must have shaken the Virginia program to its core. But Tony Bennett is a high character guy and a great coach, and I’m guessing that once he was able to gain some perspective and look dispassionately at the situation, he realized that loss happened because his team needed to get better.
In particular, the 2018 team was not great on offense. Their Effective FG% was only 98th in D-1. They were not a good offensive rebounding team. Their defense was so good that it bailed them out of some pedestrian offensive performances. When their defense inexplicably broke down against UMBC, they had no answers on offense.
What changed in 2019? Actually, not that much from a personnel perspective. Devon Hall and Isaiah Wilkins graduated and were replaced by freshman Kihei Clark and transfer Braxton Key, respectively. But the biggest change was that the core three – Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, and De’Andre Hunter – got a year older and a year better. Hunter, in particular, took a major step forward from a key reserve in 2018 to a star in 2019.
Don’t be fooled by their points per game stats. Guy, Jerome, and Hunter averaged “only” 44 points collectively, but that’s because of Virginia’s slow tempo. They were actually incredibly efficient offensive players – arguably the best trio of offensive players of any team in the country.
Virginia’s only two losses in the regular season were to #43 Duke, whom they battled all year for the top spot in the polls. After a disappointing loss in the ACC Tournament semis to Florida State, the Cavaliers headed to the South region as the top seed.
I had forgotten that they were down fourteen to Gardner-Webb in the first round. After what had happened with UMBC the year before, there must have been thoughts of “here we go again”, but to their credit, the Cavaliers steadied themselves and dominated to second half to win going away. Breathing a little easier, they dismantled Oklahoma in the second round with little trouble.
It was tight the rest of the way. In the regionals, they survived an ugly game against Oregon where neither team could make shots. That set up the unforgettable regional final with Purdue. Purdue’s Carsen Edwards was absolutely on fire, hitting 10 threes and putting the Boilermakers in position to win with five seconds left when Jerome was fouled and went to the line for a one-and-one. He left it way short (gotta say, it looked like a choke), but Virginia’s Mamadi Diakite did a great job getting a hand on the rebound and tapping it back. He tapped it so hard that Kihei Clark had to run back to three-quarter court to retrieve the ball. Clark had the presence of mind not to panic but to pass it back to Diakite, who hit a 10-footer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime where Virginia pulled out a five-point victory.
The national semifinal against Auburn was, if possible, even more dramatic. The Tigers mounted a furious second-half comeback and had opened up a four-point lead when Guy hit a tough three to cut it to one. A Virginia foul sent Auburn to the line where they made the first but missed the second. Auburn had fouls to give and used them effectively, forcing Virginia to inbound with just 1.5 seconds left. Guy got a decent look at a three and missed, which would have ended the game, but the officials called a controversial (but correct, in my opinion) foul. Guy, to his eternal credit, made all three free throws, and after Auburn’s desperation attempt failed, the Cavaliers were headed for the final versus Texas Tech.
How about one more nail-biter for good measure? This was a well-played, back-and-forth affair. Hunter hit the biggest shot, a three to tie the game at the end of regulation and send it to overtime. By this point, Virginia had played and won so many close games that they were ready for the moment. Five minutes later, the Cavaliers were national champions.
1983 NC State may have been the Cardiac Pack, but this Virginia team takes a back seat to no one when it comes to I-can’t-bear-to-watch moments. Their last three tournament games were as close as close could be – two decided in overtime, the other a one-point game that was snatched from the jaws of defeat in the final seconds.
Interesting fact: since 2007, five teams have finished in the kenpom top 5 in both offensive and defensive efficiency: 2008 Kansas, 2010 Duke, 2016 Villanova, 2019 Virginia, and 2024 UConn. All five won the national championship.