Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
For whatever reason, the Virginia Cavaliers did not make the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Why is that again?
Any time a team beats both North Carolina and Duke in the same season, they deserve some credit. Virginia managed that feat this season. The Cavaliers also beat No. 19 North Carolina State (at the time). Add a victory against Tennessee and Maryland (twice) and this team should have been dancing.
The ACC may have been a little down this season–just for the fact that North Carolina wasn’t one of the best teams–but it wasn’t that bad. Miami and Duke did play in it and both teams were consistently ranked in the top 10 this season. A win against the Hurricanes would have surely put Virginia into the tournament field, but that did not happen.
Virginia was still 21-11 entering tournament time and had a conference record of 11-7. Most years that is definitely enough for any ACC team to dance.
Just about every other mid-major on the bubble made it. These mid-major teams beat out power conference teams, which is fine if the mid-major teams are truly better, but with Virginia and at least one other bubble team, that was not the case this season.
The Cavaliers did not win the NIT or anything, but that is not what it is about. They put together a great resume and were turned down by the tournament committee all because the ACC had a “down” year. It should not be considered a down year every time that either Duke and North Carolina is not the best teams in college basketball. If that is going to be the case, then maybe the ACC should not be considered as a power conference. I for one think it should be a power conference for many reasons, but Duke and North Carolina are not the only teams in this conference.
Whether the case, Virginia should have been dancing, but it had to settle for the NIT for whatever reason.
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