The Virginia Cavaliers (29-3) have a right to gripe after being passed over for a #1 seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, but the ACC regular-season champions will have to settle on being the #2 in the East region and starting their march in Charlotte, NC, against the #15 Belmont Bruins.
What will it take for your Cavaliers to outdistance such potential landmines as #7 Michigan State & #1 Villanova to make it through to Indianapolis? Here's our list of the 3 Things Virginia Must Do To Make The Final Four.
1. Suffocate The %$#@ Out Of Teams On Defense
Virginia is the #1 defensive team in all of college basketball when it comes to points allowed per game, giving up just 50.8 per contest. The Cavaliers held 15 teams (!) under 50 points during the regular season, including fellow tourney teams Louisville, NC State, and Harvard. In fact, only three teams all year cracked 70 points on the Cavaliers (Davidson, Miami, North Carolina). UVA went 2-1 in those games, but they're still best served grinding the 35-second clock to dust on offense while flustering opposing offenses with smart-yet-aggressive defense.
2. Laugh In The Face Of The Word "Momentum"
The Wahoos lost two of their last three games (both to ranked teams) after starting the campaign 28-1. Virginia needs to spit out the bad taste in their mouths from its down-to-the-wire losses to #14 Louisville and eventual ACC Tournament champion #19 North Carolina, and focus on playing system basketball -- tough, hard-nosed, opportunistic, and at it's best, nearly unbeatable.
3. Dodge All Of The Landmines
On the other side of the East region, #1 Villanova seems to have a solid inside track to an Elite Eight berth thanks to the way the cards fell on the table. Virginia's side, however, is dotted with possible upset landmines as #7 Michigan State, #6 Providence, and even #11 Dayton if they can fend off Boise State in the First Four. Virginia would be favored in any of those matchups, but each of those games would present its own perplexing set of challenges. UVA head coach Tony Bennett will have to gameplan accordingly to facilitate a likely 1-2 showdown with Jay Wright's Wildcats.
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