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What a week it was for Virginia fans.
Rapid Fire
-Former Virginia football players Cedric Peerman (Cincinnati) and Branden Albert (Miami) represented their teams (and the Wahoos!) in yesterday's Pro Bowl. Congrats, guys!
-Tony Tchani (2009) made his debut for the USMNT in their friendly against Iceland.
-The 2015 National Champion Virginia Baseball team received their championship rings this weekend...they're pretty sweet. Let's get a matching one this year, yeah?
Here you have it: the 2015 #UVABase National Championship ring! pic.twitter.com/PPGSsmModh
— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) January 31, 2016
-Streaking the Lawn's Paul Wiley had a solid week playing Madden, and we're all very proud of him.
-Reigning National Champion Virginia Men's Tennis got their 2016 campaign off to a solid start with dominating wins over Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky. The Hoos took down the Wildcats 6-1 and the Colonels 7-0. Next up, the top-ranked Cavaliers host Elon and Furman at Boar's Head at noon.
-Women's Swim and Dive, currently ranked No.8, defeated ACC foes NC State and North Carolina this weekend. The Cavalier ladies finished with an 8-0 record through the dual-meet season, and the ACC tournament is coming up 17-20 February.
HOO-mongous Wins
-Wow, basketball. By now, you've surely seen Darius Thompson "Going Hot Donuts" (h/t to Twitter fan @rmj_equals_hero for that phrase in reference to Anthony Gill's mom bringing the team Krispy Kreme they would only eat if they won) to win a crazy game for the Hoos at Wake Forest. No, you haven't? You have? Don't care. Let's see it again!
The win probability charts for the game were almost as insane as that shot.
Let's take a look at that UVA/Wake win probability graph. pic.twitter.com/u299Qy8eO6
— Jon Pence (@scacchoops) January 27, 2016
Although Virginia should not have had to win like that at Wake Forest, I give the team, and Coach Bennett, a ton of credit for never giving up. Down 10 points after Devin Thomas converted the and-one of a posterizing dunk on Malcolm Brogdon, the Hoos put their heads down and made it happen. Armed with the knowledge that Wake was a 60% free throw shooting team in ACC play up until that point, the Hoos made tough shots as the Deacs missed just enough from the line to give Virginia the improbable (seemingly impossible) comeback.
One of the things that impresses me most about Brogdon is that he stays even keel, no matter the situation. He did not drop his head after getting dunked on, nor did he get mad at teammates whose miscommunication led to Thomas being wide open for the dunk. Instead he hit two tough three pointers - alternating with triples from Marial Shayok and Darius Thompson - to will Virginia back into the game.
Yes, I hear you all. They shouldn't start slow. They should tighten up on defense. They should come out with more energy. I don't disagree. But, it's impressive what those guys pulled off, and it looks as though it awakened the Virginia beast of seasons past...
Saturday, Virginia traveled to No.16 Louisville to face what many believe to be the toughest defense in the country. Instead of letting the Cardinals' defense get to them, the Cavaliers utterly dominated Louisville, leading to a 63-47 drubbing at the KFC Yum! Center. The Hoos were balanced offensively, led by Gill (13 points, 6 rebounds), Brogdon (13 pts, 3 assists, 2 steals), and London Perrantes and Mike Tobey with nine points apiece.
Defensively, the Hoos held Louisville's dynamic duo of Damion Lee and Trey Lewis to just 10 points, all in the second half. Hopefully, Virginia can take this momentum moving forward as they host Boston College on Wednesday night and then travel to Pitt, where the last game ended with a Brogdon three pointer to win.
Check out highlights from Louisville. It's a masterpiece.
Go Hoos!