The postseason has arrived for the Virginia women's basketball team. Yes, it's that time of year again -- the ACC tournament is here. Virginia finished the season with a 5-9 record in the ACC and earned the No. 9 seed. The Cavaliers will face No. 8 seed Boston College in the first round of the ACC tournament at 11 a.m. today in Greensboro, N.C.
Virginia played Boston College in Boston earlier this year and lost 57-43. Head coach Debbie Ryan remembers the team's poor play during the game and is confident the team will be able to play at a much higher level this time.
"They're a very good defensive and rebounding team," Ryan said. "However, we got 18 more shots than [Boston College] did in that game. We're a better offensive team now than we were then, we just have to hope we bring our better offensive team and not the one we brought in the game in Boston."
Ryan figures Boston College to be a tough matchup. The Eagles were ranked in the top 25 nationally at one point earlier in the season; however, they lost a couple of close games and finished the season as the conference's eighth-ranked team.
"I think Boston College is one of the top four teams in the conference," Ryan said. "They're a very tough team and very difficult to play against."
Luckily, the Cavaliers are riding a four-game winning streak going into the tournament.
"We've gotten a lot more confident and everyone has been shooting the ball much better," junior guard Brenna McGuire said. "Winning these past four games has really improved our game and confidence, as a team."
Virginia is optimistic it can translate its recent success into tournament success.
"It's just great to be coming off this four-game stretch going into the ACC tournament," senior forward Tiffany Sardin said. "We played Boston College at Boston College and now we get a chance to play them at a neutral site. This is a payback game for us and hopefully our momentum will continue into the tournament."
However, the team is still fairly young and inexperienced and is unaccustomed to the atmosphere that the ACC tournament provides. Virginia's veterans have been instructing the younger players about the spectacle.
"There's going to be big crowds and it's going to be a great atmosphere," McGuire said. "Everyone is cheering for everyone else and it's a lot of fun. But you can't let that take anything away from the importance of the game."
Virginia's first-round matchup with Boston College is a game of monumental proportions because it is likely to determine the Cavaliers' postseason implications.
"In order to make the NCAA tournament, we have to beat Boston College," McGuire said. "From there if we beat North Carolina, I think we will easily get in."
The Cavaliers will focus on defense and rebounding, first and foremost, to beat Boston College. They hope that if they play better defense, they will have more opportunities to score at the other end of the court.
"We need to play better defense and rebound the ball better," Sardin said. "Then, we can get out and run the floor. We can run this team and do what we do best. In order to win, we need to focus on what we can control and that's defense and rebounding."
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