ACC: Virginia Takes it Slow

ByAndrew Snyder|

Feb 7, 2015; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers forward Darion Atkins (5) celebrates on the court against the Louisville Cardinals in the second half at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers won 52-47. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Recall for a moment that old, creepy saying your grandmother probably used to say to you when you asked why she wasn’t cutting the crusts of your peanut butter and jelly sandwich like your mom does; there’s more than one way to skin a cat. When you cut through the weird cat imagery, you’re left with a simple truth. There is never one set way of having success.

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That’s true in life, and it’s also true in basketball. Teams like Duke and Notre Dame are winning with high paced dominant offenses, while Wisconsin and Virginia like to slow it down. Both ways work, it is just a matter of preference.

That slowed down pace has been Virginia’s bread and butter for all of the Tony Bennett era. Last season it paid off, to the tune of an ACC regular season championship, and an ACC tournament championship.

Virginia basketball can be defined by deliberate, careful offense, and absolutely stifling defense. Of course, it all starts with that defense.

You can’t watch a Virginia game without the broadcasters mentioning their famous “pack line” defense. But what does that actually mean? It’s simple, really.

Contain dribble penetration by playing good help defense, clamp down on your opponent’s post game by limiting inside touches, lure your opponent into relying on long two-point jumpers, and limit second chances through dominant defensive rebounds.

Virginia performs all these duties to the fullest extent, and even adds a few wrinkles of their own. They are great at defending the pick and roll by hedging their big men and recovering better than any team in the country. Darion Atkins, Anthony Gill, and Mike Tobey have gotten very good at this.

They also double-team frequently on interior passes. This was most prominent against Duke with Jahlil Okafor. Early in the game Okafor struggled with that constant pressure, leading to five turnovers.

Eventually, he started to pass out of the double-teams, leading to open three-pointers for the Blue Devils, but not many big men have the basketball IQ or passing ability that Okafor does. More often than not, this strategy wreaks havoc on the opposing team.

Virginia also limits open three-point shots by hedging on shooters that curl off screens on the perimeter. This was on full display against NC State. The Wolfpack ran sharpshooter Ralston Turner off of screens all night, but a Virginia defender was always waiting for him at the end of it.

Turner finished the night 0-for-6 from three-point range, and as a team NC State shot 3-for-17 from outside in Virginia’s gritty 51-49 victory.

This clip from their 45-26 (yes they allowed only 26 points in a game) win over Rutgers shows just how difficult it can be to score against their defense.

Quick guards, knock-down outside shooting, and good ball movement can throw a wrench into Virginia’s defensive plans, but not many teams can play at the elite level it takes to do all those things successfully. In Virginia’s only loss, Duke caught fire in the last five minutes, making five three-point shots to overcome an eight point deficit.

Virginia currently holds the third-best defensive rating in the country (85.8), and allow the fewest points per game in the nation at 50.5. Their defense is without a doubt their greatest asset, but that doesn’t mean their offensive is not effective.

The Cavaliers play efficient offense, it just doesn’t have the run and gun flash of some of their counterparts.Virginia elects to take it slow. The idea being that longer possessions on their end lead to less possessions for their opponent. Also, a slower, deliberate offense generally leads to fewer turnovers, which limits the other team getting quick buckets in transition.

It may not be pretty to watch, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good.

Each Virginia possession seems to begin the same way. London Perrantes slowly brings the ball up the court before whipping a pass to Malcolm Brogdon or Justin Anderson (when healthy) on the wing. Like a slower version of Wisconsin, they continue passing the ball around the perimeter as the shot clock ticks down.

Eventually, they will get into their offensive sets, but not until some clock has been killed, and not until they have gotten what they deem to be the highest percentage shot. However, it’s not as though they’re playing Dean Smith’s old “four corners” offense. There is constant screening and movement off the ball to loosen up the defense until they are ready to strike.

The best looks usually come at the hands of Brogdon (13.7 points per game, Virginia’s leading scorer), or Anderson (shooting 48.1 percent from three-point range), but Perrantes, Gill, Atkins, and Tobey are all capable scorers within their respective roles. They are a balanced team, with those six players averaging between 5.6 and 13.7 points per game.

On rare occasions, they’ll play for a quick shot to catch the defense sleeping, but those instances are few and far between.

Like any offense, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. They sometimes struggle against zone defenses when they elect to place Mike Tobey in the middle rather than Anderson or Brogdon, but with only a single loss this season, even those type of struggles have not kept the Cavs from winning games.

Despite playing slow, even ugly at times, Virginia has the 17th-best offensive rating in the country, scoring 113.6 points per 100 possessions. Their 117th-ranked 66.9 points per game is misleading due to the snail-like pace they play. In conference play, they have the third-best offensive rating, and the best defensive rating, for a league best net rating of 39.64.

The Wahoos are legit no matter how you slice it.

So, now you know. Just because they win ugly, low scoring games doesn’t mean Virginia is a bad offensive team. However, since Anderson’s injury they have struggled a bit. They shot 37.3 percent against NC State, before bouncing back to shoot 45.3 percent against Wake Forest.

Both games were nail-biting, close wins that made it clear how much they need Anderson on both ends of the court.

This style of play has led to a 23-1 record (11-1 in the ACC), and they are still ranked as the second-best team in the country, behind undefeated Kentucky. Even if it doesn’t please the eye, you sure can’t argue with the results.

Whether or not this style can win in March, and April, remains to be seen.

Next: ACC Power Rankings

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