Double Bonus: NIT

Tony Bennett’s teams at UVa have increased in wins each season.

The Virginia men’s basketball team wrapped up its season with a disappointing 75-64 loss against Iowa in the NIT. The defeat snapped a 19-game winning streak at the John Paul Jones Arena and prevented a trip to New York for the NIT Semifinals. Still, these Cavaliers succeeded quite a bit during the 2012-2013 schedule and the “Double Bonus” kicks off with a look at a few of those accomplishments.

Let’s start with the postseason. Virginia made back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since the 2007 NCAA Tournament and the 2008 CBI as part of a three-year stretch that included the 2006 NIT. Prior to that, you have to dig all the way back to a five-year run for Pete Gillen’s teams (2000 NIT, 2001 NCAA Tournament, 2002 NIT, 2003 NIT, 2004 NIT). This year’s UVa squad also captured consecutive postseason wins for the first time since the 2008 team won two games in the CBI. Before that, the last group of Cavaliers to claim more than one postseason victory was the 1995 NCAA Tournament team.

...