A day after suffering a defeat in the ACC championship against North Carolina, Virginia is likely feeling better about itself. Not only did the loss come against an NCAA No. 1 seed, but the Cavaliers earned a No. 1 seed themselves.
The NCAA selection committee announced Sunday evening that Virginia earned the third-overall seed in the NCAA tournament, behind Kansas and North Carolina, respectively. Oregon, who trounced Utah, 88-57, Saturday for the Pac-12 title, earned the tournament’s fourth No. 1 seed.
The Cavaliers (26-7) will begin play Thursday against Hampton (21-10) in Raleigh, N.C. at PNC Arena, home of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes and conference rival North Carolina State men’s basketball team. Tipoff is scheduled for 20 minutes following the Butler-Texas Tech matchup, which begins at 12:40pm.
The Cavaliers were one of seven ACC teams to make the big dance.
Despite earning a No. 1 seed, Virginia coach Tony Bennett is wary of the challenges that lie ahead for his team, which must earn six wins to earn a national championship, especially given the parity in college basketball this season.
“It’s just that way now,” Bennett said. “You gotta be playing good basketball coming into this because no one is untouchable.”
Michigan State, despite defeating Purdue Sunday for the Big-10 championship and its 29-5 record, was bumped out by Oregon for the tournament’s No. 1 seed. The Spartans were put as the No. 2 seed in Virginia’s Midwest-region bracket.
Michigan State has defeated Virginia two consecutive seasons in the NCAA tournament. In 2014, the top-seeded Cavaliers lost to the fourth-seeded Spartans, 61-59, in the Sweet 16.
Last season, Michigan State – a No. 7 seed – topped second-seeded Virginia, 60-54, in the round-of-32. Now-senior forward Anthony Gill led Virginia with 11 points, while then-senior forward Darion Atkins added 10 points and 14 rebounds. The Cavaliers shot just 29.8 percent from the floor, including a 2-of-17 effort from three.
Still, Virginia is cautious to look too far ahead to the potential Elite-Eight matchup.
“You just hope you’re fortunate enough and you’re playing well enough to get to that game,” Bennett said. “That’s all you can hope for. You’d be foolish to look too far ahead.”
Virginia, which is third in the RPI rankings, was likely rewarded for boasting the nation’s strongest schedule. Nine Cavalier opponents made the tournament, including out of conference foes Villanova, West Virginia and California — No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively.
Additionally, North Carolina, Miami, Duke, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse made the tournament. The Cavaliers defeated all nine of these opponents at least once, with the exception of Duke.
A No. 1 seed has never lost its first round game against a No. 16 seed, although Hampton is a different squad than most 16th-seed.
The Pirates, which earned an automatic bid with an 81-69 win against South Carolina State Saturday in the MEAC championship, won its NCAA tournament play-in game last year against Manhattan before falling to then-undefeated Kentucky.
Five of Hampton’s top six leading scorers are seniors, with guard Reginald Johnson, Jr. leading the team with 18.3 points per game. Guard Quinton Chievous, who played with Virginia sophomore guard Darius Thompson at Tennessee, scores 17 points per game and grabs a team-high 11 rebounds per contest.
“You learn quickly that seeding does not matter whatsoever,” senior forward Evan Nolte said after the North Carolina game Saturday.
Virginia earned its second No. 1 seed in three years and its fifth in program history. The Cavaliers are making their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since 1993-95.
After several years of mediocrity throughout the Pete Gillen and Dave Leitao eras, Virginia is thankful to be in its position today.
“When Mike Tobey was on our radio show a couple weeks ago, they asked him what’s changed from your first year to now,” Bennett said. “He said, and I thought it was well said, our first year, we were watching bracketology, and are we on the bubble? Are we the last four in, last four out? Where are we at? Now, we’re wondering whether we’re going to be a one or two seed. That is appreciative to be in that spot.”
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