Virginia won its 20th game of the season Tuesday night when it crushed Virginia Tech, 67-49. The milestone passed without much thought. The Hoos have achieved the feat in five straight seasons after all.
Such things shouldn’t be taken for granted, though. The UVA program has experienced that level of sustained success only twice before.
Terry Holland guided five straight teams to 20+ wins from 1979-1984. That was part of a seven-season stretch that saw six 20-win seasons and one 19-win season: 1977-78 (20-8), 1978-79 (19-10), 1979-80 (24-10), 1980-81 (29-4), 1981-82 (30-4), 1982-83 (29-5), and 1983-84 (21-12). Holland and Jeff Jones then led five straight teams to at least 20 wins from 1988-1993. That was part of another seven-season stretch with six 20+ win seasons: 1988-89 (22-11), 1989-90 (20-12), 1990-91 (21-12), 1991-92 (20-13), 1992-93 (21-10), and 1994-95 (25-9). With fewer regular season games in those years, half of those 12 seasons required postseason play to reach the 20-win plateau: 1979-80, 1983-84, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1991-92, and 1992-93.
After the 1994-95 season, the program fell on hard times. The Wahoos produced just two more seasons with 20+ wins over the next 16 seasons. In 2000-01, Pete Gillen’s club finished 20-9. In 2006-07, Dave Leitao’s team finished 21-11.
Enter Tony Bennett. In his seventh season, Virginia has produced five straight seasons with at least 20 wins: 2011-12 (22-10), 2012-13 (23-12), 2013-14 (30-7), 2014-15 (30-4), and 2015-16 (20-4 and counting). Unlike the two previous times the program reached that level, the Cavaliers have not needed postseason play to put this stretch together. While more regular season games have boosted the win totals overall, that has not been much of a factor in reaching the 20-win milestone. The 2011-12 team got there in the 26th game and the 2012-13 team got there in the 28th game, while the past three years have taken care of that marker early (in the 25th, 21st, and 24th game respectively over the last three seasons).
In other words, UVA is producing one of the greatest stretches of basketball that the program has ever played. Henry Lannigan’s teams probably deserve a hat tip here; some of his early teams lost just three games in three seasons – 1913-14 (12-1-1), 1914-15 (17-0), and 1915-16 (11-2) – while the 1927-28 squad was the first to win 20 games. And, of course, the Ralph Sampson era remains the pinnacle to date with an NIT Championship, Final Four, and Elite Eight stretch followed by another Final Four the year after he finished his career.
Beyond that, however, these days are truly golden ones for Cavalier fans. Enjoy them.
