UVa Best Of The Year: #5 & #4

We are just plugging away with our Best of the Year.  Today we crack the top 5 with the "revenue" sports. Enjoy!

#5 Men’s Basketball: Virginia 57, Virginia Tech 54: Exorcising Demons & Virginia 61, Virginia Tech 54, A Dichotomy of a Team

You really could divide the Men’s Basketball team into 2 different seasons:  the games played with Mike Scott and the games played without Mike Scott.  And Virginia Tech was the one common opponent was subject to both versions this year. Before the January tilt, the Hoos were only 1-5 in the last 3 season against the Hokies and had an even worse record playing in Blacksburg.  But the Hoos opened up a 12 point halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 57-54 victory.  After Scott went down the team had to fall on the shoulders of their guards.  So in the second game with VT, Mustapha Farrakhan and Joe Harris had to come up big.  And they did.  Mu had 16 and Joe had 15 to blow past Tech 61-54.  What was important about these victories was the great coaching job Tony Bennett did to refocus the team to make it through the season and get some important victories over a rival. With another team with most of the core coming back, it will be hard to keep this team out of the NCAAs next year.

 

#4: Football: Virginia 24, Miami 19: First ACC win for London

The overall season was, well, what to be expected.  A coach out after poor performance leaves the cupboard bare for the next guy.  And when Mike London got to Virginia, he had to revamp and reprogram the players he was inheriting, starting with the 4-3 defense.  No more evident was this defensive philosophy executed than in the Miami game.  The defense picked off U of M quarterbacks 5 times, tying a school record, while knocking out starting quarterback Jacory Harris from the game.  This afforded a lot of short fields which lead to a 24-0 lead.  Backup QB Stephen Morris came in a started to play well, but too little time was left on the clock, and the Hoos walked away with a 24-19 victory.  While it was the only conference win for the Hoos this year, it showed that Mike London & Co. were on the right path and it was something to build on next season.