And, in case no one noticed, in all those first round losses in the NCAAT, there were significant personnel losses preceding those games. Since 2012, Virginia has made the NCAAT nine of eleven times (no tournament in 2020). On the two occasions UVa missed the tournament, the team was full of players inexperienced with Coach Bennett's schemes. When the squad entered the tournament healthy (2014, 2016, & 2019), they made it to the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, and won the title. Injuries and illness were factors in all the other years. In 2012, Virginia had to burn Jesperson's redshirt just to get seven scholarship players on the floor, and Harris was starting with a cast on his left wrist. In 2015, Justin Anderson had just returned from both a wrist injury and an appendectomy and wasn't near 100% (but, they still won the first round game before losing to Michigan State). Isaiah Wilkins was out in 2017. DeAndre Hunter missed the tournament in 2018, and in 2021, Justin McKoy tested positive after UVa's first game in the ACCT, and Virginia was locked down until the morning of the loss to Ohio. Last year, the starting center, Vander Plas, was injured the day before Virginia's first game in the ACCT, and was done for the season. Part of the superior coaching, to which you refer, is that Virginia plays like a well oiled machine. All the parts have to be functioning properly. It does not do especially well if a key element is removed. If you want to predict UVa's success in the NCAAT, look to see if there are any significant injuries.
