Krzyzewski: It would be a sin if Virginia isn’t in the NCAA tournament

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Maybe the NET rankings and other analytics don’t believe Virginia deserves a bid to next month’s NCAA Tournament, but the all-time winningest coach in the game said the Cavaliers belong.

“There’s no question that Virginia is an NCAA tournament team,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after his team eked out a 65-61 win over the Cavaliers in Charlottesville on Wednesday night. “[With] so many of these numbers, you have to be careful. You need to give the eye test, too.”

Virginia dropped to 17-11 overall and 11-7 in ACC play, but all the computer analytics project the Cavaliers to be on the outside looking in unless they can make some magic in the ACC Tournament.

Krzyzewski, making his last stop at John Paul Jones Arena before he retires after the season, begged to differ.

“They’ve been playing as well as anyone in our conference right now and have been for about a month,” Coach K said about Cavaliers. “They had back-to-back Miami games and back-to-back Duke games. The two of us are two of the top four teams, record-wise, and they’re 3-1.

“It would be a sin if they’re not in the NCAA tournament. They have to be in. I mean, they’re that good. They’re that good. They really are that good and Tony [Bennett] is that good, too.”