 Sean Singletary has scored 2,002 career points, made 550 free throws, dished out 556 assists and nabbed 192 steals. But the number he cares most about, wins, wasn’t as high as he’d have liked this year. |
The regular season is over. With the UVA women preparing for a probable NCAA tournament bid and the men’s team preparing for this weekend’s ACC tournament—where UVA will have to beat the Dukes and Carolinas of the world to make it to the NCAA tournament—it’s time to review the season that was.
Men’s grade: C-
Record: 15-14 (5-11 ACC)
Best of times: November 17, beat No. 17 Arizona 75-72 in Tucson
Worst of times: February 7, blown-out at home by Clemson 82-51
We predicted: UVA rides the bubble and makes the NCAA tournament.
What actually happened: A seven-game losing streak kills at-large chances of NCAA bid.
The basketball team had the opposite fortune of this year’s football team, which managed somehow to scrape together five close wins to earn a New Year’s bowl berth. The basketball Cavaliers, however, dropped five games either in overtime or by two points or less. Coach Dave Leitao has bemoaned his squad’s lack of defensive intensity, and Virginia never had a solid second scorer step up to support Sean Singletary, who scored his 2,000th career point against Maryland on Sunday and also had his jersey honorarily retired. The Cavs also missed Laurynas “Lars” Mikalauskas, who sat out the first half of ACC play because of a shoulder injury, but are 4-3 since he returned to the lineup. UVA’s only chance of making the NCAA is to win the ACC tournament this weekend. If UVA can finish with a winning record, there could be a bid from the NIT or from the newly created 16-team “College Basketball Invitational.”
Women’s grade: A-
Record: 23-9 (10-4 ACC)
Best of times: March 2, outlast Georgia Tech at the JPJ in double overtime 103-101
Worst of times: December 5, crushed at No. 2 Connecticut 75-45
We predicted: Cavs get back into the Dance with an at-large bid after strong ACC play.
What actually happened: UVA is a virtual lock to return to the Dance for the first time since 2005 after strong ACC play.
After a slow nonconference start that included losses to South Carolina and Hartford, Virginia tightened up and finished fourth in the ACC. A lot of credit for this team’s performance goes to leading scorers Monica Wright (second team All-ACC) and Lyndra Littles (third team All-ACC), but they wouldn’t have been able to do their work without another third team All-ACC teammate, point guard Sharneé Zoll, who set the ACC career assist record with 778 to date. The worst that can be said for the squad of the soon-to-be Hall of Fame Coach Debbie Ryan is that it never won the big game this season when up against top tier ACC teams UNC, Maryland and Duke. None of them were blow-outs, but to get past the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, UVA will have to find a way to get a “w” in those situations.
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