Virginia Basketball Double Bonus: Virginia Tech

Virginia still took over the nation's No. 1 ranking.
Virginia didn’t get many shots near the rim and lost a close one to Virginia Tech. ~ Mike Ingalls

With ESPN College Gameday in town earlier in the day, a jam-packed John Paul Jones Arena raised the noise level to impressive heights Saturday when Virginia took on Virginia Tech. The anticipation of a possible No. 1 national ranking heightened the hype level too. So when the Hoos fell 61-60 in overtime, no one could really blame Hoo fans for feeling a bit deflated from the experience.

Fortunately, Sunday’s NCAA Tournament standings and Monday’s Associated Press poll wiped away many of those dejected feelings. The Wahoos took the No. 1 spot in both.

Still, Saturday’s loss held some lessons and some interesting subplots. The Double Bonus is back for a close look.

Sluggish Offense & Adjustments That Didn’t Work

Both live and on further review of the replay, it felt like UVA fell into “These are good shots, I just have to make one” mode on offense. Shooters do that sometimes. I think two kinds of shooters in particular can fall into that trap: confident ones and tired ones. Yes, you could say those are on the opposite ends of the spectrum theoretically. Fans can burn up the message boards for days debating if fatigue played a role or not.

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