Sunday, March 11, 2012

Virginia faces tough road in NCAA tournament

Florida State got rewarded for winning the ACC championship over North Carolina on Sunday in Atlanta, but Virginia got punished for losing its ACC tournament opener against N.C. State on Friday.

All four of those ACC teams, and Duke, made the 68-team field for the NCAA tournament beginning Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.

But among the five ACC teams to land NCAA bids Sunday, no one fared worst in the draw than the Cavaliers (22-9).

Tony Bennett's team ended up with a 10th seed in the West Regional and will open in Omaha, Neb., against No. 7 Florida (23-10) of the SEC.

The Seminoles (23-9 after Sunday's 85-82 ACC title win over North Carolina) get to play in the inviting East Regional and will open in Nashville, Tenn., against a St. Bonaventure team (20-11) that N.C. State defeated.

Seeded third in the East Regional, Florida State needs only to get past only the Bonnies and then either No. 6 Cincinnati or No. 11 Texas to reach the regional semifinals in Boston.

Virginia, on the other hand, will have to deal with Missouri - the West Regional's second seed - if the deliberate Cavaliers can get past the Gators (23-10) in the opener.

The Tigers, coached by former Miami head coach Frank Haith, rate among the quickest teams in the country and force the sort of fast tempo that Virginia hopes to avoid.

- Caulton Tudor

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is UVA even in the tourney? They've collapsed in late Feb/early March yet again. They remind me of Gaudio's Wake teams from a couple years ago. Surefire first round exit.

Anonymous said...

22-9
9-7 in conference.
7 scholarship players
4 scholarship players out this year.
2nd in the nation points allowed per possession.
Read about it in SI this past week.
Bennett has done more with less ( his third season) than his coaching brethren.

Anonymous said...

...sounds like Virginia Tech's 2011 NIT squad.

Anonymous said...

...but Virginia knows how to schedule, guard people and they don't whine like Uncle Festus and VPI.