March Madness Team Betting Preview: Virginia Cavaliers
The 4-seed in the West Region of this year’s NCAA Tournament is the Virginia Cavaliers. UVA is one of seven ACC teams to qualify for March Madness, although none have more questions surrounding them than the Cavaliers. After winning the ACC regular-season title, Virginia was forced to forfeit in the conference tournament due to virus issues.
How the ensuing program shutdown and lack of practice before the NCAA Tournament affect Virginia remains to be seen. If they manage to overcome this hurdle, UVA brings a lot to the table and is not a team to be taken lightly. The following provides an overview of the Virginia Cavaliers and a prognosis for how they’ll fare in the NCAA Tournament.
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Virginia Cavaliers Betting Preview
Record: 18-6 overall, 13-4 ACC
ATS: 11-12-1
O/U: 14-10-0
Points Scored/Game: 68.8 (219th overall, 11th in ACC)
Points Allowed/Game: 60.2 (4th overall, 1st in ACC)
Outright Odds: +4000 (BettingPros Consensus)
Team Strengths
In typical fashion for Tony Bennett-coached teams, this year’s Virginia squad’s strength is the defense. The Cavaliers were easily the top scoring defense in the ACC and a top-5 team in the category nationally. Virginia slows games down and turns them into rock fights. Some teams might not be comfortable playing that way. The Cavs thrive on defensive slugfests.
Marquette transfer Sam Hauser has made a big impact at Virginia. He leads the team in scoring at 16.0 points per game. Fellow big man Jay Huff is not too far behind at 13.1 points per contest. Huff also grabbed a team-leading 7.1 rebounds per game this season.
Team Weaknesses
Can Virginia score enough to pose as a serious NCAA Tournament contender? This is a legitimate question and probably more so a concern heading into the Big Dance. Defense travels anywhere, but keep in mind that reduced crowd sizes and quieter arenas could lend to a scoring uptick in this year’s tournament.
The other concern with this Virginia team is depth. All five starters play big minutes regularly. The Cavaliers don’t have a ton of reliable bench depth behind them, particularly in the frontcourt. Should Hauser or Huff get into foul trouble, Tony Bennett could find himself in a jam in terms of playing matchups in a given game.
Why They’ll Win it All
As a program, Virginia obviously has a championship pedigree given that they won the most recent edition of the NCAA Tournament back in 2019. They will also go down in history as the first 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed in the year prior. This year’s UVA squad looks a lot different than the championship team from two years ago. It will take an incredible defensive performance and timely shot-making for the Hoos to defend their title successfully. Of course, if there’s any team capable of putting on a defensive clinic when they have to, it’s Virginia.
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Why They Won’t Win it All
To be frank, there are a whole lot of reasons. Will Virginia be healthy? After the virus issues in the ACC Tournament, the Cavs have had their NCAA Tournament prep thrown into complete chaos. Will they be able to score? And finally, they find themselves in the same region as the top overall seed, Gonzaga. The soonest Virginia could see the Bulldogs is in the Sweet 16, and that’s if they get through the opening weekend. Gonzaga stands to be a major roadblock to any team with championship aspirations should they cross paths, with Virginia being no exception.
Virginia Cavaliers March Madness Prediction
It’s impossible for me to believe Virginia has another championship run in them. This team just doesn’t have the same talent or depth as the 2019 Cavaliers. Add in the virus dilemma and the looming presence of Gonzaga in the West Region, and UVA faces an uphill battle all around. They’ll be fortunate to get through their First Round game against a pesky Ohio team, let alone the first weekend.
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Henry John is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Henry, check out his archive and follow him @HankTimeSports.