Virginia’s defense isn’t No. 1, but it ain’t exactly bad either

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia’s defense for the 2020-21 season will never be mistaken for Detroit’s “Bad Boys.” It’s simply not in this team’s DNA.

It doesn’t have to be.

As hall of famer George Welsh used to say about different approaches to winning with different types of personnel, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Don’t know why anyone would ever want to skin a cat, but we get the gist of his message.

Nobody in basketball appreciates quality defense more than Tony Bennett, but he knew coming into the season that this was going to be a different Virginia team. He figured he was going to have more offensive firepower, more depth, and good _ not great _ defense.

Early season tests exposed to the rest of the college world what Bennett and his staff already knew. There were no Mamadi Diakite’s, Akil Mitchells, Darion Atkins’, Braxton Keys’ or Isiah Wilkins’ around. No WWE-styled bruisers down in the paint that would derail anyone invading their turf.

It would be a different defense, particularly around the rim where seven-footer Jay Huff would slap your shot into the rafters

“Obviously, we loved Akil and Darion and those guys, but they were tough guys … they had a little nastiness to them,” Bennett said Monday during the ACC coaches teleconference.

So, nasty is presently missing from the Cavaliers and that’s OK. Just because it isn’t the usual No. 1 defense in the country doesn’t mean the defense isn’t any good. It just isn’t as good.

Pitt coach Jeff Capel, who sat beside Krzyzewski and saw UVA’s defenses over a span of time, put it this way:

“This year, Virginia’s defense is different. It’s still elite, top 10, just not No. 1 anymore,” Capel said. “They have some new guys and Jay Huff is a different guy (than Diakite, Mitchell, Atkins, etc.).

“Their ball screen defense maybe isn’t as good as in the past, but the guys before were elite (defenders). Huff brings shot blocking. I think Huff will be a pro and be a pro for a while.”

During the ACC coaches call, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski said he didn’t see anything wrong with Virginia’s defense.

“When we played them last year Huff was pretty good on the backline … he had 10 or 11 blocks,” Krzyzewski said (it was 10 blocks). [Huff’s] maybe having an All-ACC year, maybe ACC Player of the Year year. I remember him blocking Vernon’s shot that could have won the game (last season), so he’s pretty good.”

With Huff, as Bennett will promptly point out, Virginia’s last line of defense isn’t bad, just different. It’s actually still very good in terms of scoring defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense where Kihei Clark, Reece Beekman and others throw opponents out of rhythm.

Virginia is No. 1 in the conference in scoring defense, No. 8 in the NCAA and No. 25 in Kenpom.com’s defensive efficiency analytics. The Cavaliers are surrendering 60.1 points per game.

That ties for the highest average by a UVA team since 2015-16, which happened to be 60.1 for the entire season and the most since 2010-11 (62.4). All the seasons in between then and now were under 60, the lowest being 51.5 in 2014-15.

While UVA is No. 91 in the NCAA (out of 341 teams) in field goal percentage defense (41.4), the Cavaliers are No. 6 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense (39.7) and No. 1 in the ACC  in defensive rebounding.

“For Jay, his evolution as a defensive player, he has to make his impact with positioning, his length, trying to bother shots, get on the glass and rebound,” Bennett said. “Mamadi was quick and athletic. We’re different this year. I think Sam (Hauser) is a position player, smart and heady. Jay is long.

“We don’t have elite athletic front court players, so we try to be good with our perimeter guys guarding the ball.”

Bennett believes Trey Murphy, who transferred in the offseason from Rice, could develop in that mold and perhaps seven-footer Kadin Shedrick, who has been sidelined with health issues for quite some time.

Mitchell didn’t arrive to Virginia as an elite defensive player. He envisioned himself as a scorer, but that changed quickly and he developed himself into an elite defender.

It’s not always a natural thing for most players to do. Defense is hard.

“Defense … you’ve got to make a decision at every practice, every game,” Bennett said. “We talk about you’ve got to play it with your heart, you’ve got to play with your hands, your feet. It requires an all-out effort. You ask any coach, it’s not naturel to play as hard [on defense] as you have to. You have to demand it and force it.

“Some guys are so athletic, they’re so strong, they can play in different ways. That’s why we have different guys. Poppy (Francisco Caffaro) is more physical like Jack (Salt) was. Jay is more skilled and long.”

The way the game is evolving with stretch 4’s and stretch 5’s, it is becoming increasingly challenging to play lock down defense. Bennett saw that coming, but he still believes defense has to be the No. 1 priority because shots don’t always fall.

“I think you need your defense to travel,” Bennett said. “We always say defense travels and it needs to be as steady as you can. You want it to be in your DNA. You try to foster it, knowing it can be a difference maker. The good teams, you know, usually the defense plays a huge role in it.”

There’s been instances this season where Virginia’s defense didn’t travel. Heck, it never even made it into the suitcase, leaving Bennett to suggest that his team played soft.

He took some of the edge off by describing is as “finesse-y,” but his players got the message.

They’ll have to carry that criticism on their shoulders the rest of the season if they want to live up to preseason expectations from their fans and national polls.

They don’t have to be the “Bad Boys.”

Maybe just the “Irritable Dudes” will work.

Just like Capel said, “top 10 ain’t bad.”