Congratulations to Tony Bennett and his Virginia Cavaliers on another ACC Title. It was their 2nd in 5 years. Virginia has now won 30+ games 3 of the last 5 years. The “down years” they won 29 and 23 games. Virginia has become the biggest threat to North Carolina and Duke ACC basketball dominance since the Gary Williams’s Maryland teams of the late 90s and early 2000s.
Some people still think, though UVa is something of a flash in the pan…
This is just wrong… Tony Bennett has built one of the best basketball programs in the country – that’s going to be really good as long as he is there. This isn’t a now or never season. https://t.co/jLumpSpOAD
— Jeff or Jeffrey Fann (@TalkinACCSports) March 11, 2018
The next tournament is going to be all about Virginia — style of play, way of life. ACC regular-season champs, ACC tournament champs, overall No. 1 seed — it’s now or arguably never for the Cavaliers.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) March 11, 2018
As you can see I had to respond to that tweet from Yahoo’s Pat Forde. Even if Virginia doesn’t reach the Final 4 and win a national title this year, they will eventually. Bo Ryan was widely criticized at Wisconsin for their style of play. Ryan had 11 NCAA tournament seasons at Wisconsin before reaching the Final 4 in back to back years.
Even Virginia fans will admit that the Hoos need to cash in on all this regular season success or questions nationally will remain. It’s not really fair, but teams are judged by the March success. That said as I wrote in my tweet, Virginia has established itself as one of the best 5 or 6 best basketball programs in the country. You really think at just age 48 Tony Bennett isn’t going to get Virginia to the Final 4 at some point if he’s there another 10 years? Really? After all the wins of the last several years?
Come on, good luck with that argument. Virginia basketball is built to last, and it should give hope to programs around the rest of the country. In the one and done era, Bennett has rebuilt Virginia basketball into a national power without a roster of McDonald’s All Americans. Virginia is the model most schools should be following. There are few teams that can recruit like Duke and Kentucky.
It wouldn’t shock me if this is Bennett’s first Final 4 team at Virginia though. The Hoos went an astonishing 17-1 in a conference that will have at least 8 NCAA teams. Bennett went 3-0 against UNC and Duke. Dismiss this year’s Virginia team and their program as a whole at your own risk.
