We’re probably going to be a bit higher on Virginia than most entering the year, but the pitch is pretty easy. Over the last three years, Virginia got away from what made it a premier program. The Cavaliers finished 36th, 59th, and 25th in adjusted defensive rating in each of the last three seasons — numbers that would be solid for most high-major programs, but egregious for this one under Tony Bennett. From 2014 to 2020, Virginia never finished worse than seventh nationally in those seven seasons. It says something that a bad three-year run for Virginia at this point still results in two top-four NCAA Tournament seeds and two shared regular-season ACC titles (in 2021 and 2023). Yeah, the standards are just ridiculously high in Charlottesville at this point.​

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Over those three seasons, Virginia generally played a bit smaller in the backcourt and without as much athleticism across the wings and the frontcourt. This season though, that will change. With ACC Defensive Player of the Year Reece Beekman spearheading the point-of-attack defense, Virginia has an ideal roster to run Bennett’s pack-line defense. Merrimack transfer Jordan Minor won the NEC Defensive Player of the Year as a mobile big who can really rotate around the interior within a scheme that requires a lot of active post doubles on the block and showing-and-recovering in ball screens. And potential breakout sophomore Ryan Dunn is a long, active, athletic wing at 6-foot-8 who can cover a ton of ground. He is next in the long line of Virginia wings to morph into NBA prospects, following in the footsteps of Trey Murphy and De’Andre Hunter.​

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The team also brought in one of our favorite transfers in the country in Andrew Rohde, a 6-foot-5 scoring guard who can slash to the rim and knock down shots from distance. He’s also not a sieve on defense and knows where he needs to be. It’s not like Virginia left, necessarily. But this is a team that is much more well-suited to success with Virginia’s scheme and for a deeper run.​

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Strengths​

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