First, the good news about Virginia’s last two basketball games: Pete Gillen adjusted his strategy and made some shrewd moves. The Cavaliers played hard and smart. They didn’t fold when they fell behind. They played decent defense. They made an effort on the boards. And, most importantly, they won.

Now the bad news: All of those things seem remarkable.

That’s how dismal things have gotten for the Wahoos this season. Any semblance of defense, of fortitude, of coaching prowess, now qualifies as something of a shock.

To be honest, after last week, I thought the Cavs had given up. They all but laid down on defense, yielding 110 points to North Carolina, then 98 to Providence. At this time a week ago, they were 1-7 in the ACC, they weren’t responding to Gillen and there were signs of team dissension. It seemed possible, if not probable, that they would simply play out the string and lose the rest of their games.

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