After an impressive 14-point ACC win at Syracuse to start the season Wednesday, No. 11 Virginia returns to Charlottesville for today’s home opener against in-state opponent James Madison (6 p.m., ESPNU).

Virginia fans, and even its coach wondered what this new version of the Cavaliers might be like heading into Wednesday night’s season-opening game at Syracuse.

When the proposal to open up the season with conference games for the first time in ACC history came up, Virginia coach Tony Bennett confessed there was a bit of a “fear factor” that raced through his thoughts.

Virginia got a pair of double-doubles, a solid defensive effort and an overall impressive ACC road win to start the 2019-20 campaign, walking out of the Carrier Dome with a 48-34 win against Syracuse.

Reigning national champion Virginia begins its 2019-20 season with an uncommon ACC road game tonight, as the 11th-ranked Cavaliers travel to Syracuse for a 9 p.m. tip on ACC Network.

No. 11 Virginia opens the 2019-20 season at Syracuse in ACC action on Wednesday. Tipoff at Carrier Dome is scheduled for 9 p.m.

Wahoo Nation held its collective breath last spring after three of its stars all jumped into the NBA draft, only to be followed by teammate Mamadi Diakite.

Only a week from the season-opening game at Syracuse, Tony Bennett addressed a number of topics about his Virginia basketball team, reigning national champions. We will write extensively about all those points throughout the week.

Unbelievable: Virginia’s Improbable Path To A Title will debut on ACC Network on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m.

Tony Bennett was graciously fielding questions from media at the ACC’s annual Operation Basketball last week in Charlotte.

Virginia fans got a look at the “new Cavaliers” on Saturday during the Blue-White scrimmage and had to like a lot of what they saw.

The Virginia men’s basketball team was selected fourth by a vote of the media in the ACC Operation Basketball 2019-20 Preseason Poll, announced Thursday.

Defending national champion Virginia will have a bit of a different look and feel to the roster with the departures of the “Big Three” of De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy, along with longtime starting center Jack Salt, all of whom will be playing professionally this fall.

In Octobers past, Tony Bennett would visit the city where he made an NBA team, the place he met his wife, the scene of perhaps his most disappointing moment as a coach, but also somewhere that he dreamed about taking Virginia back to college basketball’s apex.

UVA Basketball coach Tony Bennett and players Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key talk with reporters at ACC Operation Basketball.

National champion Virginia’s top-five recruiting class for 2020 could get a lot stronger if its newest target decides on Charlottesville as his future basketball home. On the eve of practice officially getting underway, Tony Bennett extended an offer to four-star power forward Jaemyn Brakefield of Huntington Prep in Huntington, W.Va.

We should all have the kind of year that Kyle Guy is having.

In a time when college basketball has dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons — shoe company scandals and coaches buying players — Tony Bennett is a breath of fresh air.