As some sites kicked off the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, the Virginia basketball team worked through its final preparations in Philadelphia. While the madness hadn't really arrived yet - High Point's upset of Wisconsin and Duke's scare came later in the day - the Cavaliers didn't need any reminders that you have to be locked in to advance.
UVA faces Wright State on Friday at 1:50 p.m. in the Midwest Region. The Hoos are the third seed, while the Raiders enters as the 14 seed.
"They have our full attention, and we know that we're going to have to play well in order to win," Virginia coach Ryan Odom said.
Odom has reiterated that level of respect throughout the week, noting that teams in the NCAA Tournament have won a lot of games to get into the field. That's true of Wright State. The Raiders swept the Horizon League regular season and tournament titles on the way to a 23-11 record. They won 18 of their final 22 games before the Big Dance.
Much of that success has been fueled by the offensive end where WSU averages 80.5 points per game. Freshman guard Michael Cooper leads the team at 13.4 points per game, while sophomore guard TJ Burch averages 12.3 points and 3.5 assists. Michael Imariagbe adds 11.8 points and 7.0 rebounds. Defensively, the Raiders can bother some shots as they have a 7.5% block rate that's tied for 39th nationally.
Virginia sees Wright State's ability to play through different players, find cutters, and put pressure on the paint as a challenge.
"We know that they're a great team that moves the ball, likes to play through their bigs, an organized team that likes to cut," UVA guard Malik Thomas said. "So we're just going to continue to learn more and more about them, and just like Dallin [Hall] and everybody has said, just come in with that intensity knowing that this team is going to be on the court with us, just wanting to compete, wanting their chance and wanting to bring the energy from their program and their school, so we're just going to continue to do what we do best and stick to our process."
"They know how they need to play on offense and defense in order to be successful," Odom said. "They put pressure on you at the rim, whether by the drive or the post-up. They're a really good passing team and cutting team. They cut behind the defense a ton to get easy baskets, and they defend really, really well. When you have that balance on both sides of the ball, you have a chance to advance in this tournament."
The prime question about the matchup once the brackets came out has focused on whether those shots near the rim will materialize against the Wahoos. The Raiders do connect on 36.1% of their 3-pointers (48th nationally), but their volume on offense comes inside the arc. WSU attempts 66.3% of its shots on 2-pointers. Virginia counters with the No. 7 2-point shooting defense in the nation after allowing just 44.7% shooting on those shots this season. The Hoos, behind dual shot blockers Ugo Onyenso and Johann Grünloh, rank No. 1 nationally in block rate at 10.9%.
In other words, UVA's defensive strength vs. Wright State's offensive strength likely will be a key tale in the outcome.
The Raiders are not shying away from the challenge.
"It definitely changes a little bit because they've got really big size," Burch, listed at 6'1" on the roster, said. "We're used to size a little bit because of our conference. ACC is a whole 'nother level. We made the adjustments. We'll be ready."
"From start to finish, they have been pretty consistent, and it looks like they really understand their role and they play hard," Wright State coach Clint Sargent said. "Within the basketball [part itself], their rim protection - nine blocks against Duke, we don't see that every day in the Horizon League. We're not going to tiptoe around with that. We have to make aggressive decisions, but also intelligently understand where we can get great shots. We have to get our defense set. A lot of that is going to be with how we play offense."
ACC Tournament Lesson
Virginia brought in 12 new players this offseason along with Odom and a new coaching staff. As Sargent noted, however, the roster overhaul for the program did not lead to much inconsistency. The Cavaliers have lost just one game per month this season on the way to a 29-5 record and they've dropped just 2 losses in the last 15 games, both to overall No. 1 seed Duke.
With that said, the Hoos believe they still picked up some valuable experience in the ACC Tournament. They defeated NC State and Miami, both NCAA Tournament teams, on the way to the ACC Tournament Championship Game. Then in the title matchup with Duke, Virginia battled to the wire in a 74-70 loss.
While fans and others think that showing can lead to confidence for the Cavaliers, what exactly did the run in the ACC Tournament teach them? Virginia senior guard Dallin Hall, who played in the Sweet 16 last season with BYU, said the level of "physicality and desperation" that teams show in a tournament setting is something that can translate directly from last week to this week and that it was "important" to have experienced that before the opening game in the NCAA Tournament.
"Ultimately, I try to tell them the intensity level, the focus level, the physicality level is very similar to what we just experienced in the conference tournament, every game, and you have to come out and dominate every possession from the start," Hall said. "And these guys have responded all year, like, that's what we've done. We answered when things haven't gone our way or we lost a tough one. We're excited to get out there and put our best foot forward and I know our guys are ready for it."
Odom has said throughout the year that the "shared experiences" that you go through during the season is what builds that team's character and collective ability to respond. He pointed to that again on Thursday in Philadelphia, recalling a moment during the ACC title game showdown with Duke where Hall reminded his team to stay in the moment and keep playing with confidence.
"Even in the championship game the other day, one of the timeouts, Dallin Hall was just making sure that the guys were present," Odom said. "There was some frustration at times that we weren't playing a little bit better than we had hoped to play. He just said, 'Hey, boys, we're in the championship right now against the number one team in the country. Like, let's go. This is fun. Let's just attack it, and do the best that we can.' And so if you have that mindset and you have that type of leadership in your huddles and in the locker rooms, you have a fighting chance."
Odom On Expansion
With people around the country diving into March Madness, college basketball fans shared excitement for their favorite time of year. Of course, that also brings up a regularly debated question of late. Should the NCAA Tournament expand?
The field shifted to 68 teams in 2011 when the First Four games were introduced. That opened up four additional slots. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been on record in support of expansion, while some well-known voices in college basketball - ESPN personality Dick Vitale as recently as a First Four broadcast this week and U.S. Basketball Writers Association President Matt Norlander previously - have pushed back on the idea.
It's naturally been a topic again this week at the start of the tournament (The Athletic released this article for example) and Odom was asked about expansion Thursday with this question: "Is there any way that we can satisfy everybody in this tournament and create a situation where a lot of these mid-majors just don't go away?"
Odom said: "Yeah, I think expansion can help with that. There's no question about it, regardless of where you sit, for or against, I don't think anybody wants to see the mid-majors go away from our tournament. It provides opportunities for young people to play at the highest level and compete at the highest level. Why wouldn't [you] want that? Certainly, I think if you find a way to do the expansion, and it doesn't mess with the integrity of the game and competitiveness of the games, I'm all for it. I know a lot of people aren't. I'm not mad at them for it, but I do agree. I'm all for giving more opportunities to the student-athletes to play in this great tournament."
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