GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tony Bennett had been asked so frequently by the media about Wally Walker that it had become a running joke. The Virginia coach was well aware that it had been nearly 40 years — 38, to be exact — since Walker’s Cavaliers had won the ACC Tournament, and his team had the first opportunity to match the 1976 team’s feat in 20 years.
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Dick Bennett, who rarely watches or attends Virginia games, promised his son Tony that he would watch the Cavaliers’ ACC Tournament opener against Florida State.
Up 51-48 with nine second left to play in their ACC semifinal game against Pittsburgh, the Virginia men’s basketball team’s lead was not looking particularly safe.
If the No. 6 Virginia men’s basketball team needed any additional motivation entering its ACC Tournament Quarterfinals matchup against Florida State, Seminole senior forward Okaro White generously provided the gasoline for its fire.
Joe Harris said going into the postseason that he wanted to be more aggressive on offense. If Friday’s debut game in the ACC Tournament was any indication, the senior guard meant it.
The Virginia baseball team rocked James Madison, 13-2, Tuesday afternoon in Charlottesville, Va. The No. 5 Cavaliers tormented the Dukes’ pitching staff with 16 hits and five walks in 47 plate appearances to finish with their second-highest run total of the season.
The No. 3 Virginia baseball team won two of three games against Duke this weekend in Durham, N.C. in the first conference series of the year for each ball club.
Maryland students stormed Gary Williams Court at the Comcast Center as the Terrapins left the ACC in dramatic fashion, winning their final conference regular season game in overtime against No. 5 Virginia, 75-69.
“The Skinny” on matchups for baseball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s tennis, swim and dive, track and field, softball and women’s golf.
The Virginia women’s basketball team bowed out of the ACC Tournament Thursday night in Greensboro, N.C. The No. 10 Cavaliers battled to the end against No. 7 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets but came up just short in the end, falling 77-76.
Racing for the first time since November, the No. 5 Virginia women’s rowing team hits the water March 15 at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational to open the spring season. Two years removed from a national championship, the Cavaliers will try to make a statement against a field of teams which includes three other top-20 teams.
The No. 12 Virginia wrestling team will travel to Blacksburg, Va. for the ACC Championship tournament this Saturday. At stake will be 34 stamped tickets to Oklahoma City for the NCAA Championship the following week, a great deal of pride and the illustrious ACC Championship trophy.
The past week has been nothing short of sensational for the No. 5 Virginia men’s basketball team. After earning its first outright regular season ACC championship since 1981 with a dominant win over Syracuse, Virginia claimed its first top-five ranking in over a decade. To top it off, on Monday redshirt sophomore guard Malcolm Brogdon was named co-ACC player of the week after scoring a career-high 19 points against then-No. 4 Syracuse, the first such honor for any Cavalier this season.
The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team hits the road Thursday, travelling to Los Angeles for a pair of matches against No. 3 UCLA and Loyola Marymount. The Cavaliers defeated No. 13 Baylor and No. 9 Notre Dame last weekend in Charlottesville, each by a score of 6-1, to bounce back from a 4-3 loss at the hands of No. 1 Ohio State in the ITA Indoor Semifinals.
Wednesday afternoon in Greensboro, N.C., the Virginia women’s basketball team defeated Boston College, 74-59, in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers snapped a four-game losing streak to earn a second-round matchup with seventh-seeded Georgia Tech on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The No. 9 Virginia men’s golf team finished qualifying Sunday just in time to avoid the snow and will head south next week, teeing off in competition for the first time since October. The Cavaliers will travel to Aiken, SC to compete in the Palmetto Intercollegiate March 10 and 11, followed by the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, Ga. from March 14-16.
March 1 has come and gone, and there’s a new top dog in the ACC this week. Surprisingly, though, Virginia beating Syracuse for the ACC regular season title wasn’t even my favorite story out of Charlottesville that day. Jim Boeheim is the gift that keeps on giving.
This Wednesday afternoon, the Virginia women’s basketball team will match up with Boston College at Greensboro Coliseum in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
By some combination of luck, good timing, inspired athletic performances, and help from the UVA Shots system, I’ve managed to rush something — the court, the field — each of my four years here.
