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Cardiac Hill ACC Preview: #4 Virginia Cavaliers

Virginia ranks number four in our ACC Basketball preview.

By JimHammett
Grant Halverson

Coach - Tony Bennett (Six seasons at UVA, 106-60 record, 2 NCAA tournament appearances)

Arena - John Paul Jones Arena (14,593 capacity)

2013-14 Record - 30-7 (16-2 ACC) Lost to Michigan State 61-59 in the Sweet 16.

Game with Pitt - @ Virginia Monday, February 16 7:00

Top Returning Players (Bold = projected starter)

-- Malcolm Brogdon 6'5" JR SG   12.7 PPG  5.4 RPG

-- Anthony Gill 6'8" JR PF  8.6 PPG  4.0 RPG

-- Justin Anderson 6'6" JR SF  7.8 PPG  3.2 RPG

-- Mike Tobey 6'11 JR C  6.4 PPG  3.8 RPG

-- London Perrantes 6'2" SO PG  5.5 PPG  3.8 APG

-- Darion Atkis 6'8" SR PF  3.0 PPG 2.2 RPG

Impact Newcomers

-- Isaiah Wilkins  6'8" FR PF  #101 Overall Recruit on RIvals

-- B.J. Stith 6'5" FR SG #65 Overall Recruit on RIvals

-- Jack Salt 7'0" C

The Scoop - Virginia returns plenty from a team that won the ACC regular season championship, and the ACC tournament championship. It is a rare feat to win both, but Virginia managed to pull off the sweep in somewhat of an upset.

The Cavs prematurely exited March in the Sweet 16 despite being a rated as a number one seed.  The Hoos will look to overcome the losses of Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell, but with nearly everyone else back, they should be in contention for the ACC title once again.

Malcolm Brogdon was the team's leading scorer last season, but will have a lot of focus on him without Harris helping on the perimeter. London Perrantes is back to run the offense in his sophomore campaign. Perrantes is not a great scorer, but makes good decisions and plays defense. Justin Anderson's role should grow into a starter this year, and will be asked to make up for the void left by Joe Harris.  Mike Tobey and Anthony Gill are back in the post, with Gill being the better of the two. Isaiah Wilkins is a well regarded true freshmen that could get minutes right away


Final Outlook - Virginia is a team that plays tough defense, grinds it out on offense, and genuinely makes it hard on the opponent on both sides. Tony Bennett's teams rarely makes mistakes, and they capitalize on the opposing teams' miscues. Virginia's biggest problem will be the same as last year, and that is scoring with teams. Virginia really thrives off the defense and taking long possessions. With the ACC being full of up-tempo teams, it is imperative for Virginia to control the pace. Virginia will play tough team defense and be a difficult team to beat, but I do not see them being quite as good as last season. Still, the Cavaliers should be ranked very highly all season long and be a tough out in the tournament.

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