Is This Year's Virginia Team Any Different?

Today was filled with plenty of crazy games. We saw Duke lose to North Carolina State, Xavier to Providence and Arizona to Colorado. We also saw Trae Young get somewhat shut down against a stifling West Virginia defense and Kentucky fall to Tennessee. There were a ton of fantastic storylines to take away from this Saturday, but I think the biggest one has to be Virginia.

Virginia welcomed North Carolina to the John Paul Jones Center this afternoon, but it wasn't a very nice one. The Cavaliers dominated the Tar Heels, and despite only a 61-49 victory, the game would suggest that the margin would be doubled.

I don't see how I slept so hard on Virginia. I don't think I would've had them in the top 25 at the beginning of the year. There were too many questions to deal with. We saw what the loss of Malcolm Brogdon did to them last year: I was afraid of what would happen to them this year with London Perrantes gone too. But they've actually been better than last year by a lot.

The defense has been as good as ever. I mean just look at today. Only giving up 49 points to the defending national champion? That's pretty damn good. You know what's better? The fact that's it's already happened seven times this season. 

But the defense isn't what has me so impressed about Virginia this year. It's the swagger they seem to have. Even when they were tearing up the ACC with Justin Anderson back in 2013, I don't remember a team with this much firepower and emotion as this one. A typical Tony Bennett team puts me to sleep, but against North Carolina, I couldn't stop watching. If I stopped, I might've missed a play like this by De'Andre Hunter. 

Kyle Guy (even without his manbun), Devon Hall, Nigel Johnson and Ty Jerome add an additional ounce of excitement to the Cavalier backcourt that Perrantes didn't really supply last season. It's almost like Tony Bennett has loosened the reigns on them a bit, and it's paid off. 

The frontcourt is also extremely deep. Isaiah Wilkins, Mamadi Diakite and Jack Salt together make up a tough, well-organized unit on both offense and defense. None of them average over 7 ppg, but they are always involved in something out there. 

The more I look at Virginia, the more I realize that they are a national title contender. I know their style of play hasn't really worked in previous tournaments, but I believe they have enough offensive firepower this year to overcome the significant deficits they may face in March.  Look at KenPom. Virginia is 1st in adjusted defensive efficiency and 36th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 3rd overall. The numbers have liked Virginia for awhile, and now my eyes do as well. 

Virginia? I'm buyin'.