These Hoos Bennett’s Best At Exam Break

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Virginia handled road tests at Maryland and VCU last week. The Hoos are ranked as high as No. 5 in the polls.  ~ Mike Ingalls

A popular question among Virginia basketball fans these days: is this year’s team better than last year’s double ACC Champion version?

While the long-term answer to that question remains to be seen, the early December answer is an easy one. Looking at the two teams at the exam break, it’s really not even close. While both teams won a preseason tournament title (Corpus Christi Challenge in 2013 and Barclays Center Classic in 2014), last year’s squad entered the exam break with a 7-3 record. That included back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Green Bay, the former an offensive struggle with a lack of identity and the latter a defensive struggle with a lack of cohesion. Those two things only got worse later in December in wins against Norfolk State and a blowout loss to Tennessee.

This year’s team on the other hand has no such problems. The Hoos are 9-0 entering the exam break and coming off their two most impressive wins of the season. They won 76-65 at Maryland and 74-57 at VCU, two teams that have been in the top 25 rankings this season. There is no identity crisis on offense as the Cavaliers have kept last season’s post-December changes intact while adding wrinkles to it. Defensively, there are some weaknesses but cohesion does not appear to be one of them.

Last year’s team fell out of the top 25. This year’s team just climbed to No. 5 in the USA Today coaches’ poll.

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