University of Virginia head coach Tony Bennett has achieved a great deal while leading the Cavaliers.
He's won 364 games, six ACC regular season championships and a national title in 15 years.
But after losing 67-42 to No. 10 Colorado State at the First Four in Dayton on Tuesday night, with an in-game scoring drought of 12:43 and just 14 points in the first half, he should absolutely be on the hot seat.
"[The committee] made a mistake putting Virginia into the NCAA Tournament. Every bracketologist was saying it. They go out and play like this. It's unwatchable basketball the way they played today on national TV."
— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) March 20, 2024
—@wallyball pic.twitter.com/QwfrZgz86X
"There's a question of whether Virginia basketball is outdated," said CBS Sports college basketball analyst Chris Walker after the debacle.
The question is fair.
Winning a national title will rightfully give any coach a longer leash, but without that title Bennett's tournament resume would be woeful. In 2018, the Cavaliers famously were the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 when they fell to UMBC.
They did return to win the whole event in 2019, but Tuesday night's loss was UVA's third consecutive time exiting the NCAA Tournament in their first game at the hands of a double-digit seed. In the previous two tournaments, Virginia lost to 13-seeds as a 4-seed. Bennett and Co. haven't won a single game in the tournament since winning it all.
While defense has always been the Cavaliers calling card under Bennett, over the past few seasons the offense as gone from relatively boring to downright putrid, finishing this season ranked 356th out of 363 teams in points per game (62.9). Tuesday night's loss to the Rams was the seventh game Virginia failed to reach 50 points this season, while they reached 80 just four times the entire year and once after the New Year.
"It is a hard way to go out, there's no question about that. ... It is a hard Tournament to qualify and you want to be playing your best when you get into it and obviously we did not do that."
— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) March 20, 2024
—Virginia head coach Tony Bennett pic.twitter.com/6lkFdZr48r
"When teams have taken out Reece [Beekman] and Isaac [McNeely], its been very difficult for us to score," Bennett said after the game.
"We don't have a lot of other options scoring wise."
Thanks to the transfer portal, rebuilding for a program with UVA's pedigree can happen in a single offseason. But the Cavaliers need to focus on bringing in proven scorers, or they can expect another early exit from the NCAA Tournament once again next year.
If that happens, the pressure will really start to ramp up in Charlottesville.
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