Thursday, March 1, 2007

'Hoos in First Place... Control Own Destiny


Big win for for UVa... has them in sole possession of first place. With a win against Wake Forest this weekend, they will clinch the ACC Regular Season Title. Also, a great opening season for John Paul Jones Arena. Virgina is the only ACC team to go 8-0 at home in league play. Overall, the 'Hoos finished the season 16-1 at home, with their only loss being a 76-75 heart-breaker against Stanford on January 7.

The Cavaliers have not had as many as 11 wins in conference play since the 1995 team posted a 12-4 record and finished in a 4-way tie for first place in the regular season. This is only the 5th time that the 'Hoos have won as many as 11 games in League play. Prior to 1995, Virginia went 12-4 in both 1982 and 1983. Their best regular season was in 1981 when they compiled a 13-1 record.

Doing well in the regular season does not necessarily mean tournament success for Virginia. Their only ACC Tournament championship was in 1976 when a 4-8 squad led by Wally Walker swept through NC State, Maryland and Carolina to capture the leagues automatic bid the the NCAA's.

This win should put Dave Leitao in the driver's seat for coach of the year honors. The 'Hoos should be heavily favored to win at Wake Forest on Saturday. BC has lost steam of late, hurting Al Skinner's chances and the Ga Tech game is looking tougher by the minute. Seth Greenburg has an outside shot at winning, but like Va Tech's regular season title hopes, he's going to need a lot of help.

1 comments:

Ken White said...

Nice article. I made it to the new arena early in the year when the Pack visited. It is a great building. Seemed slightly smaller and similar to comcast center at Maryland, but I liked it better. I think it and this years success should really help virginia in recruiting. Now they just have to figure out how to get Singletary to stay one more year.