Season Preview: #7 Virginia

Games against 2012 NCAA Tournament teams: 8

Games against ACC top 4: 5

Games against ACC bottom 4: 7

Best non-conference game: 12/5 vs. Tennessee


Projected Starting Five:

F - Mike Tobey (Freshman)

F - Akil Mitchell (Junior)

F - Joe Harris (Junior)

G - Malcolm Brogdon (Sophomore)

G - Jontel Evans (Senior)


This is the year that we find out just how good a coach Tony Bennett is.  Last year Virginia came in with pretty high expectations, and they met them.  They started the season very well and ended up with a top four finish in the ACC and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.  That was with the man that I thought should have been the ACC Player of the Year: Mike Scott.  He's not there anymore.

One concerning aspect for Virginia fans is the way the team ended the season.  It seemed like they ran out of gas, and ended with a very poor performance in the NCAA Tournament against Florida.  Now you can say that they were pretty depleted - at times in the second half of the season they had basically a six man rotation.  So how does this year's team look?  They have two players that you know you can count on.  Joe Harris finished second in scoring last year despite being banged up.  He had the best three point percentage on the team.  Jontel Evans was a very solid point guard, a great distributor and strong defender.  He could make things happen, although he was not a great scorer.  If Virginia is going to be good this year, they will have to count on some young players.  Role players like Malcolm Brogdon and Akil Mitchell will have to step up and be more prominent scorers.  They do have a pretty well received freshman class, led by Mike Tobey, who should get in the starting lineup right away.

Virginia starts out with an intriguing game, on the road at George Mason.  After that they play a whole bunch of home games, but will play some challenging games.  They are in the preseason NIT tournament, and have to travel to Wisconsin in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.  The good thing for them is that their conference slate is one of the easiest.  They only play Duke and N.C. State once, and play BC, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech twice.

It's pretty hard to predict how the Cavaliers will do because you just don't know how they will be able to perform without Mike Scott.  They have a few decent players left, but they will be relying heavily on freshmen and sophomores.  I think they will struggle in the non-conference, but they will be battle tested by the time they get to conference play.  Coach Bennett's system will win some games.  You have to think there will be a drop off this year, but they should be able to make the NIT.