A funny thing has happened to Virginia fans, a change on display at the Greensboro Coliseum during the Cavaliers’ ACC tournament semifinal victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.
After a made basket, as the Cavaliers retreated on defense, the cheering swelled, the orange-shirted backers lusting for a defensive stop.
“They want offense normally,” former Virginia coach Terry Holland said. “I think they’ve grown to appreciate (defense).”
Historic success will engender a taste for just about anything, even defense. By happy coincidence, Holland was on the premises Saturday, honored as part of this year’s class of ACC legends. In a lounge under the arena stands, he recognized the greatness that the Cavaliers have claimed.
“This is the best that Virginia basketball’s ever been,” he said. “There’s no question about that, and I still think there’s room to grow.”
Given that Holland presided over Ralph Sampson’s four-year domination of college basketball, when the Cavaliers won or shared the ACC regular-season title and earned No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament from 1981-83 and Sampson won national player of the year in the same years, it was no small proclamation.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, acknowledging the greatness of the Sampson era, when the Cavaliers went 88-13 in his final three seasons, but notably did not win a national championship. “But, again, I think this team is deep from top to bottom. They’re very athletic. They play very, very hard, and there are no egos involved in anything they do at either end of the court.”
Virginia can confirm Holland’s assessment Sunday, when the No. 1-seed Cavaliers will play No. 3-seed Duke for the ACC championship. Virginia won the outright regular-season title for the first time since 1981. A tournament title would be the Cavaliers’ first since 1976 and second all-time. Since 1976, every other team in the longstanding eight-team configuration except for Clemson has hoisted the tournament trophy at least twice, plus Florida State and Miami.
“We don’t (think), ‘Oh, now we can be the second team ever at Virginia to win it,’” coach Tony Bennett said. “We’ll celebrate it if we do it, but the way we’re going to do it is just by locking in, being sound in the little areas, cleaning up some of the breakdowns in this game, and hopefully we have that opportunity.”
Bennett’s Pack-Line defense was at its frustrating best Saturday against Pitt, as the Cavaliers ground out a 51-48 win. In a meeting of two defense-minded teams, Virginia had the lowest score for a winning team in the ACC tournament’s shot-clock era (starting in 1983). From the 9:30 mark until 3:31 remained, Virginia didn’t score a point, but lost only five points off its lead because of its defensive efficiency.
“They pack it in on their defense,” Pitt guard Cameron Wright. “Every time we attempted to get a shot, their entire defense was right there contesting our shot.”
Virginia’s practitioners of the Pack-Line defense — its emphasis is to keep the ball out of an imaginary 16-foot arc around the basket with ball pressure and help defenders jumping into gaps to discourage penetration — have been unrelenting. Entering the tournament, the Cavaliers’ defense ranked first in the country in points per game, seventh in field-goal percentage and eighth in points per possession.
Virginia guard Malcolm Brogdon, a Greater Atlanta Christian grad, said the defense is not complicated, but relies upon a few non-negotiable principles.
“Keep your man in front, don’t let your man get past you and being in the gap, and then the last one is probably contesting every shot,” he said. “In the Pack-Line, while you do want to pack it inside, you want to contest every shot.”
Brogdon said that playing for a defense-first coach requires a change in mindset. But, in his fifth season, Bennett evidently has succeeded with priorities on selfless play and attention to detail.
“I think it’s a wonderful job that he’s done,” Holland said. “He’s earned it in every possible way. He’s a great human being, and he’s coaching those kids in every aspect of their lives.”
Duke will be a considerable impediment to Virginia’s championship aspirations. The Blue Devils reached the final by making 57.1 percent of their shots while N.C. State, playing their third game in less than 48 hours, wilted in the second half.
Four Blue Devils — Jabari Parker, Rasheed Sulaimon, Quinn Cook and Rodney Hood — scored in double figures. In their only meeting this season, Duke gave Virginia one of its two conference losses, knocking down 10 of 22 3-point tries.
“We just know that they’ve been great all year and been as consistent a team as there is in the country,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the Cavaliers. “We’ll study them (Saturday night), and hopefully we’ll be ready by 1 tomorrow.”
The Blue Devils will play for their 20th ACC title, 13 of them won under Krzyzewski. Virginia will play for No. 2. On Saturday, Bennett said he got a text from Wally Walker, MVP of Virginia’s only ACC tournament champions, before the team left campus for Greensboro.
“He said, ‘We want some company,’” Bennett said.
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