Each story recounting the impeccable trajectory of Virginia men’s basketball includes, at some point, the same one line: “The unbeaten Cavaliers are off to their best start since the 1980-81 season, when they started 23-0.”
Let me do the math for you: 1981 was 34 years ago. Ralph Sampson Jr. was the star of that 1980-81 team. Ralph Sampson III is now a professional basketball player. None of the players on Virginia’s current roster, nor many Cavalier fans, were even born 34 years ago.
Back then, Tony Bennett had not even hit puberty — he was only 10 years old. Hopefully by now you get the point: 34 years is a long time. So why is Virginia suddenly doing so well now, and why did it take so long for the team to once again become a relevant national powerhouse?
Ralph Sampson Jr. was one of the most heavily recruited players in the nation during his time, yet he chose the University, which had only made the NCAA Basketball Tournament once during coach Terry Holland’s five years at the helm.
But in those five years, Holland’s record was still an admirable 81-60. The Cavaliers hadn’t had a coach with a higher winning percentage since its first-ever head coach, Henry Lannigan who coached for more than 20 years at the start of the 20th century.
The Cavaliers were on the rise and Sampson no doubt helped Virginia get over the hump. In Sampson and Holland’s first season together, the Cavaliers won the NIT Championship before making three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four appearance the following year — Virginia’s best-ever finish in the postseason.
But it wasn’t all Sampson. In the first year after his departure the Cavaliers made the Final Four once again. During the 1987-88 season, the Cavaliers had their first losing season in 11 years, but they bounced right back the following two years, reaching the Elite Eight and second round of the tournament, respectively. When Holland left to become the athletic director at his alma mater Davidson College, he had accumulated the most wins in Virginia basketball history.
Holland’s assistant Jeff Jones continued the success of his predecessor with five straight winning seasons and an Elite Eight appearance in 1995, but during his eight seasons as head coach, his teams finished above .500 in conference play just twice. Even with the school’s all-time leader in points scored, Bryant Stith leading the team for Jones’ first two seasons, the Cavaliers finished with a 6-8 and 8-8 conference record in those two years. Jones resigned after the 1998 season, in which he went 11-19 and 3-13 in the ACC — his worst campaign at Virginia’s helm.
Pete Gillen succeeded Jones for the 1998-99 season. The Cavaliers had one sole senior on their roster in Gillen’s first season. More importantly, only seven of the players on the roster were scholarship players — the other seven were walk-ons. Gillen literally plucked five of them out of the student body during open tryouts.
During that season, the team also lost their starting center. Yet, the Cavaliers went 14-16 with upset wins against four ranked teams. The team improved the next two years making the tourney in the latter year, but it failed to do so again during Gillen’s seven-year reign. Like Jones, Gillen finished his tenure with a losing conference record. Dave Leitao took over for Gillen but failed to experience much success.
That brings us to the current regime. Bennett’s term started off iffy — with players constantly transferring out of the program, multiple losing seasons and disappointments (including a loss to Old Dominion three days before Christmas in 2012), it was hard to see if Bennett would actually be the team’s savior. But his teams improved year by year, and the players and fans who did stick around were rewarded last season — with an historic run I probably don’t need to tell you about.
Now that I’ve gone through a short history of Virginia basketball, I think the answer to my earlier question is obvious. When you look at the rise of the Virginia team, its success has to be attributed to a talented team, right? The great Ralph Sampson led the Cavaliers to the promised land, but what about the year after Ralph? The team that made it to the Final Four and had five players who could contribute on a daily basis: Othell Wilson, Rick Carlisle, Jimmy Miller, Kenton Edelin and Olden Polynice.
You probably don’t recognize any of those names other than Carlisle.
You can see the same trend in Virginia’s current starting lineup: unlike the Kentuckys, UNCs and Dukes, Virginia currently has no McDonald’s All American on its roster. What Virginia does have in common with those teams is a great coach. Because of the success of these past two seasons, Bennett is widely recognized as one of America’s best coaches and has amassed a better ACC record than Holland in the process.
Not only are Coach K and Roy Williams great coaches, but they are also consistent coaches who have been with their programs for a long time. Coach K’s 927 wins in his 34 years at Duke is amazing, but what is more impressive is the fact that he has not had a losing season in Durham for decades.
I’m hoping Tony Bennett can provide this type of consistent greatness for Virginia. If he does, you can bet Virginia fans won’t be waiting long for their team to contend for a national championship.
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