As with last Friday, decided to go with another Week in Review to talk about some of the new offers that have gone out, most of them in the last 24 hours or so.

Login to view embedded media

They just lost to Minnesotta by 5. I know the rankings don't really mean anything, but it sure would feel good in the DMV to finally be ahead of them.

nm

Realistically, there are 9 teams that have a shot at ending up in first at end of regular season, and 8 of those that can get the 1 seed. Here is a quick run down of the current standings and games remaining for each team versus the other 8.

Miami 10-3: 5 games remaining, 4 against top 9 (@UNC and ND, home UVA Louisville)
UNC 10-3: 5 games remaining, 4 against top 9 (@UVA and Duke, home Miami Syracuse)
UVA 10-4: 4 games remaining, 4 against top 9 (@Miami and Clemson, home UNC Louisville)
ND 9-4: 5 games remaining, 1 against top 9 (home Miami)
Louisville 9-4: 5 games remaining, 4 against top 9 (@Pitt, Miami and UVA, home Duke)
Duke 9-4: 5 games remaining, 3 against top 9 (@Louis and Pitt, home UNC)
Clemson 9-5: 4 games remaining, 1 against top 9 (home UVA)
Syracuse 8-6: 4 games remaining, 2 against top 9 (@UNC, home Pitt)
Pitt 7-6: 5 games remaining, 3 against top 9 (@Syracuse, home Lville, Duke)

So, Notre Dame has the easiest route to a share of the regular season. UVA plays all 4 games against the top 7. UNC, Miami and Louisville have the toughest schedules.

I do not think that I will ever tire seeing them lose.

Looking at how some of the playing time is divvied out right now and with the guys coming in it might be inevitable for someone to get lost in the shuffle.

London
Hall
MS or Thompson
Wilkins
Austin

I would guess that is the starting lineup to begin the year unless something happens.

Salt
Thompson or MS
Guy
Reuter
Diakite
Jerome RS
Hunter
Huff RS

When I put the roster like that maybe no one's the odd man out to be honest, but Thompson hasn't seemed to find his role this year, but may be needed more next year. Salt will help but there's no way you cut into Austin's time unless he's in foul trouble or injured. Reuter obviously will play himself into a backup at the four.

Best case-

Jerome
Huff shirt
Or Hunter

Huff or Hunter may both play. Jerome will depend on health.

If everyone obviously sticks around this will be a surprise come March. I don't expect us to be better early but it was huge getting Austin to help alleviate the losses.

I know looking ahead is a little presumptuous but it's kind of fun because of what we've built into a national staying power. If our next two classes could be top 20 and we get a transfer here or there, there's a national title coming soon.

Joey Brackets has us as a 1-seed now ... that's been the kiss of death for any team not named Villanova the last few weeks ... of course Sparty is in the bracket.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Any idea how the tiebreaker works? Seems likely that several teams will be tied and teams will have multiple wins against each other that doesn't allow for a simple who beat who program.

by 20. Duke is playing with just six players and is not getting all the calls, and the Heels are just up by two with five minutes to play.

I know some expected otherwise but this just never seemed like a thing that would actually happen for UVa.

Login to view embedded media

The people who I'm addressing know who they are. Are you really going to cheer against Duke tonight, knowing that if they win, UVA once again controls its own destiny?

here you go...now have a drink

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/02/grayson-allen-duke-buzzer-beater-virginia-video

He plays the toughest guard and still manages to lead us in scoring. That is really tough to do. You expend so much energy on D that often it takes away from your offense but he continues to be the best player in the league. We are really going to miss him next year and I know we all hope KJ will pick up the reigns but as a freshman he will struggle at times. That is why we need for LP and DH and MS to take up some of that scoring next year. I think AN will be as good as AG but replacing Malcolm will have to be a team effort.

In my opinion, kenpom is the best gauge for measuring the level at which teams are playing. So, needless to say, I am excited to see us ranked second there, behind only Villanova, by 1/1000th ( yes 1 one thousandth) of a point, .9425 to .9415. Our offensive efficiency is 12th (117.2 pts per 100 poss) and 9th in adjusted D (92.1 pts per 100 poss). In addition, we have played the 9th toughest schedule in the country. Just FYI, Wake has played the toughest, according to kenpom. FWIW, they project us to finish 24-8 and 13-5, with a loss coming at Miami (48% chance for us to win) and wins against UNC (72%), Clemson (68%) and Ville(74%). That projection, along with their others, put us finishing 1 game behind a 14-4 UNC for seond in the ACC. Remember when we would be ecstatic at the thought of that finish? The good news? Two wins and we are in the ACC Championship and 5 more put us in the national championship. SO, as long as TB can continue his streak of winning at least as many as the year before, we should have at least 6 post season wins. That could mean an appearance in the ACC finals (2 wins)AND the FF (4 wins)or get at least one win in either of those I just want to see a deep tourney run.

And been allowed to do whatever comes next? Any rumblings?

With the way LP has been playing, what are the odds that he turns pro this year if he has a breakout run in the tourney? Maybe I am looking through wahoo eyeglasses, but LP’s total floor game seems better than the FR point guard from Syracuse who came in the same class as LP or the Duke point guard from last year. Now before you blow me in place, the Duke point guard couldn’t run a team like LP can now and LP’s shot is pure even three steps behind the NBA 3 point line. Just my thoughts.

I haven't heard anything on him lately. Does anyone know if he is going to be eligible to play this year?

On this day, Feb. 17, in 2014, UVA was looking back on its game on the road with Clemson on Feb. 15, having used Malcolm Brogdon's 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the final 1:21 to escape with a 63-58 win. That improved UVA's overall record to 21-5 (hmmm, sound familiar?) On this day last, year, UVA was learning to play its first games without Justin Anderson, and came off a week that saw them squeeze by on the road at N.C. State (51-47 win), avoid an upset loss at home to Wake Forest when Codi Miller-McIntire turned the ball over by dribbling it into Malcolm Brogdon with 2 seconds to go to salvage a one-point win for the Hoos (61-60), then pull it together for a nice road win over Pitt on 2/16/15 by the score of 61-49. The lineups for those games looked the same as this year's lineup with the exception of Darion Atkins. That Pitt victory improved the Hoos record to 24-1.
I thought it interesting to look back on the past two years to compare where we are now, and, given our tougher schedule this year, I think, considering the overall body of work to this point in time, this team has performed as well as those teams. Something to think about while we're waiting a week for another game.

The week without a game comes at a really good time IMO. The starting 5 needs the rest and focus to play hard and Win at Miami.

As we near the end of the regular season, who do we root for?
Notre Dame has 4 losses and their last 5 games are very winnable so they are looking very good, if not the odds on favorite to win the regular season.
That leaves Miami, Duke, UNC, Clemson, and Virginia for the final three spots.
So who do we pull for?
Obviously, if we win out we will be in and probably be tied for first, if we root for Duke, at least once over UNC. Or do we root for UNC to put Duke out, even though it may mean they win the regular season.
The most important thing is we must, must beat Miami Monday night or we may be on the outside looking in.
Just food for thought!

On 2-12 Lawrence Central won 72-51 over Garden Grove as Guy scored 15 points and added 2 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. The following night they defeated Mt. Vernon 74-64. Guy scored 25 points and had 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 2 rebounds. On 2-10 Voyager Academy defeated East Wake Academy 84-26. Huff scored 10 points and had 1 rebound, assist, block, and steal. The next day they defeated Roxboro Community 77-31. Huff had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block. I am guessing that based on the scores of these two games, Huff had limited playing time