Virginia's Turnaround May Be an ACC First

After weeks of anxious scoreboard watching, clarity arrived for the Virginia men's basketball team Thursday night. The Cavaliers entered the night tied for first place in the ACC with Virginia Tech and North Carolina but trailing both in tiebreakers. In a matter of hours, Virginia beat the Hokies, then watched the Tar Heels lose to Georgia Tech.

Suddenly the future became clear: If the Cavaliers win at Wake Forest today, they will claim the ACC regular season championship outright for the first time in 26 years.

A victory would cap a turnaround that began with the Cavaliers at the bottom of the conference standings two seasons ago, having recorded only four league wins. It continued when Coach Dave Leitao took the helm and Virginia finished the ACC regular season last year with a 7-9 record. Now the Cavaliers have clinched at least a share of the conference division crown.

The last time an ACC men's basketball team finished with a sub-.500 record the year before sharing or winning the regular season title was 1985, when North Carolina State and Georgia Tech did so. Only one other team -- Wake Forest in 1960 -- pulled such a turnaround and it also tied for first.

Virginia, with a win today, will become the first team to go from a sub.-500 record to standing alone in first the following season.

Leitao spoke Thursday night after the Cavaliers defeated No. 21 Virginia Tech, 69-56, about his desire for the team to create a legacy in the first years at John Paul Jones Arena, which opened at the start of this season in Charlottesville. With the Cavaliers' victory over their in-state rival, they took a big step toward meeting their coach's goal.

Virginia last tied for an ACC title in 1995 and last won it outright in 1981. That team, led by sophomore Ralph Sampson, reached the Final Four. Having won 10 of their last 12 games, the Cavaliers say they are gaining confidence they can make another deep postseason run.

"When we have a great team effort like that I don't think there's anybody in the country that can beat us," point guard Sean Singletary said.

Singletary emphasized the word team, because he and back-court mate J.R. Reynolds received ample help, which has not always been the case this season. Mamadi Diane led the role players by rebounding from a dreadful five-game stretch with 13 points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range. He was backed by strong performances from several unheralded Cavaliers.

Jason Cain, playing his final home game, had nine rebounds and eight points, including a key, nifty spin move late in the second half. Center Tunji Soroye scored five points and kept the high-flying Hokies grounded with his interior defense. Adrian Joseph scored all seven of his points in the final 5 minutes 16 seconds of the first half, a span the Cavaliers used to take control of the game. Even freshman Jamil Tucker, mostly stuck on the bench of late, made a three-pointer.

Virginia Tech Coach Seth Greenberg said the play of the lesser-known Cavaliers demonstrated there is more to Virginia's team than Singletary and Reynolds.

"Those guys are ACC players," Greenberg said. "You guys want to trash them all the time, like it's a two-headed monster. It's not a two-headed monster. Those other guys contribute and put them in position to win games."

The production of everyone other than Reynolds and Singletary has been a recurring subplot of the season, a point not lost on Leitao. In a practice leading up to the game, he huddled his role players and asked, pointedly, "What have you contributed? What have you contributed?"

Virginia could be a dangerous team if its role players continue to play well.

While the Cavaliers readied themselves for what would be a historic turnaround, it's worth noting that Virginia played the easiest schedule in the ACC, as it was the only team to play bottom-feeders North Carolina State, Miami and Wake Forest twice. But if the Cavaliers can hang a conference championship banner in the expansive rafters of John Paul Jones Arena, that won't be remembered.

"It means something big, something special," Reynolds said. "All the hard work we put in in the summertime, it's paying off. But we got more game."