Raftery was right: What a difference a month makes for Virginia basketball

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Humble Pie is not on Tony Bennett’s menu, but a slice every few years doesn’t hurt. Well, maybe it hurts for a little while.

A couple days shy of a month ago, Bennett was served a huge portion much to his dislike when No. 1 Gonzaga pummeled Virginia, 98-75.

Remember what Bennett said?

“You always have a choice: stay the same, which won’t be good enough; or, you can go the other direction. We must improve. If we don’t, it will be a very, very hard year.”

Remember what longtime CBS Sports basketball analyst Bill Raftery, a former coach, said? It was somewhat prophetic.

“Raf,” as he’s known to friends, said during Virginia’s derailment, that he wanted to see the Cavaliers a month from that game once Bennett had figured out his personnel, chemistry, deep bench and once the newer faces on the team learned UVA’s system.

That was on Dec. 26, almost a month ago from Saturday night’s Virginia home contest against a good Georgia Tech team (8 p.m., ACC Sports Network). I’ll bet Raf would be impressed.

The loss sent the Cavaliers spiraling in the AP Top 25 poll, dropping to No. 23 with a 4-2 record. The Zags also exposed some of UVA’s warts, the then-inability for the Cavaliers big men to defend to the bar set before them, and influenced Bennett to inject true freshman Reece Beekman into the lineup as a second point guard alongside Kihei Clark.

Not only did that help the defense _ Beekman has great hands and uses those hands to lead the team in steals _ but also gave Virginia two decision makers that could not only create offense for themselves, but also create offense for teammates on the floor. Bennett had done that before with London Perrantes/Malcolm Brogdon and Ty Jerome/Kihei Clark.

Those are just a couple of tweaks that Bennett would probably have made earlier in a normal season when he scrimmages against high-profile opponents such as Villanova, West Virginia, and others, while also using early nonconference games to experiment.

Fast forward to Jan. 22. Virginia has advanced from 4-2 to 9-2 and is unbeaten and atop the ACC standings. The Cavaliers are No. 13 nationally and are scoring at the highest clip of the Bennett era. The defense has come along, too.

According to Kenpom.com, UVA rates as the No. 7 team in the nation and boasts not only the 10th-best offensive efficiency numbers in the country, but also the ninth-best defensive rating.

As of Friday, Virginia ranked like this in the nation’s various ratings:

• AP Poll: 13
• Coaches Poll: 12
• NET: 7
• Sagarin: 7
• BPI: 4
• KenPom: 7
• Barttorvik: 6
• BracketMatrix: #4 seed

We remember some UVA players mentioning a month ago that they were still trying to figure out or fit into their roles. Well, now they have. Rotations have pretty well been set, although Covid has had some influence on lineups.

Bennett seems most comfortable with a starting lineup of Jay Huff, Sam Hauser, Kihei Clark, Reece Beekman and Trey Murphy III (shooting a team-leading 52 percent on 3-pointers), although could start Casey Morsell or Justin McKoy for matchup purposes, even Tomas Woldetensae, who could be that scoring spark off the bench.

“Just another weapon, that fourth scorer makes a difference,” Bennett said.

Heck, most teams are looking for a dependable third scorer. Bennett has an embarrassment of offensive riches, and we saw a healthy taste of that at Clemson last Saturday agains the then-No. 1 defensive efficiency team in the nation.

Speaking of defense, Virginia is guarding the ball better, almost a game-by-game improvement and that’s the improvement Bennett is most proud. Better on ball defense. When Clark is locked in on the opposing point guard, then Beekman (team-leading 19 steals) and Murphy are set defending the perimeter, Virginia becomes a challenge to score on.

We heard Clark barking after that Gonzaga loss that some of the players were playing selfishly on defense and not covering for teammates who were beaten on plays. That’s the sign of a good leader, and taken to heart. For the most part that fault has been corrected.

After watching Virginia take apart a perhaps somewhat overrated Clemson team, it left Wahoo Nation thirsting for another game. Alas, NC State reported in Covid and the midweek game was postponed to Lord knows when.

Saturday night’s game with Georgia Tech is another test. The Jackets dispatched No. 20 Clemson (Tigers were No. 12 when they fell to UVA) a couple of nights ago and are capable.

Georgia Tech has been better offensively this season than in years past under Josh Pastner, but in the win over Clemson, the Jackets got nasty on defense forcing 20 turnovers on 60 possessions and converting those miscues into 30 points.

“They really swarm to the ball,” said Clemson coach Brad Brownell.

Because the Jackets don’t feature the usual rim defenders as in the past, it will be interesting to see how Bennett decides to attack Tech with seven-footer Huff and 6-9 Hauser, and even 5-9 Clark, who has discovered a new way to jab opposing defenses with his ability to drive, draw and dish in the paint.

Pastner views it as a trade off, giving up rim protection for forcing more turnovers and scoring transition baskets, something that Bennett detests. Virginia is No. 2 nationally in not turning the ball over, so the perimeter matchups could be a game within a game.

Tech comes into JPJ leading the ACC in points per game (80.4), which will test Virginia’s ever-improving defense.

“Going into the game, we know Virginia, obviously, won’t beat themselves,” said Tech senior guard Jose Alvarado (17.1 ppg). “We’ve got to go there and play a really good game, and that’s what our plan is.”

Tech, 7-3/3-1, has lost its last six in a row to Virginia, and the Cavaliers have won 14 of the last 16 meetings. In last year’s meeting, Huff and Mamadi Diakite each scored 17 points in a 63-58 win in Atlanta.

Virginia opened as a 9-point favorite in the game.

My what a difference a month makes. Raf was right on the money.