ESPN commentator Jay Bilas spent a good portion of tonight’s telecast of the ACC Tournament semifinal game between Virginia and North Carolina telling viewers what a great team the Cavaliers are. And he’s right, Virginia is a great team. But the Cavs are now 28-3 after a 71-67 loss to the Tar Heels, bouncing top-seeded UVA from the tournament.

The issue for Virginia isn’t how good they are, it’s how often the Cavaliers play to that level. In a quarterfinal win over Florida State on Thursday, Virginia was dominant in the first half, building a 17-point lead by the break and doubling up the Seminoles on the scoreboard at the break. But FSU closed that gap to five in the second half, as UVA struggled offensively for a bit before putting the game away.

Tonight, Virginia was slow out of the blocks in both halves and never led, getting to within one with the ball in the latter 20 minutes, but suffering a Malcolm Brogdon turnover on a drive in the lane with contact. The lackadaisical offense and missing rare open shots severely limited Virginia’s chances to win this game.

Most frustrating for Cavalier fans has to be the fact that once the foul count put Virginia in the bonus in the second half, the Cavaliers did exactly what should have been done — drive the lane for easy buckets and/or fouls. It makes you wonder where that aggressiveness was from the start. Multiple trips to the line in the first half would have slowed the game down, given the Cavaliers easy points even while they weren’t shooting well, and likely kept North Carolina from building what, at times, was a double-digit lead.

Virginia, with a healthy Justin Anderson, is good enough to make the Final Four and should still be a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. However, the long stretches of offensive futility have to be diminished. Driving and getting fouls and easier looks is the surest cure for that ill.

Anderson, meanwhile, clearly isn’t 100 percent as the repaired broken finger is causing him issues on the dribble and he’s yet to score a point in the two games since he returned. He brings some of the dynamic nature needed to Virginia’s offense, and he’s now got a few more days to rest before the Cavaliers play their first NCAA Tournament game on either Thursday or Friday at a site to be determined.

With or without Anderson, Virginia must be more aggressive and take the game to their opponents offensively. Even on the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, such long dry spells could leave the Cavaliers well short of this team’s potential.

Ed Morgans is an ACC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @writered21 and add him to your network on Google.