Winning is Hard Rant Plus UVA Baseball Off to a Hot Start Podcast
At the beginning of the season, if I told you Virginia would be in first place in the ACC, along with non-conference wins against Baylor, Illinois, and Michigan, you’d be pretty happy. And you’d say we’re a title contender. Especially when you see that the only losses came on the road (three losses) and at home against No. 1 Houston by single digits.
Yet that’s not the case. The analytics from the conference have brought Virginia from No. 5 KenPom at the start of the year to No. 23 currently — despite going 21-4 with zero losses outside the Top 70. And so much lately has been made about how many points we’re winning by. Focusing more on covering the spread than winning outright. Winning in conference play is hard, flat out.
So many top-level teams are struggling with just winning right now, not winning by X-amount of points. Now, did Virginia underperform against Louisville and Notre Dame, sure. But did those teams also play great basketball against Virginia? Yes. Ask Clemson about Louisville, by the way. And a little let down week from UVA can be expected after beating Duke in a highly emotional game.
More ranting in the podcast below, plus UVA baseball off to a hot start!