Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball

Led by Coach Terry Holland, National Player of the Year Ralph Sampson and his first team All-ACC teammate Jeff Lamp, the Cavaliers rolled to their best season in school history. After beginning the season with a 23–0 record, the Cavaliers would claim the ACC Regular Season title before falling in the ACC Tournament Semifinals. Despite the loss, UVA still entered the NCAA tournament as the 1 seed in the East Regional of the 1981 NCAA Tournament.

UVA received a first-round bye and squeaked by Villanova 54–50 in the 2nd round. They would then handle both Tennessee and Brigham Young by 14 points each in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 respectively to clinch a berth in the program's first ever Final Four in Philadelphia. Despite sweeping North Carolina in the ACC regular season, the rival Tar Heels would defeat the Cavaliers in the National Semifinals. Virginia would close the season on a high note, however, defeating Louisiana State in the National Third Place game to cap the program's most successful season to that point.

Following the loss of their vaunted All-American in Sampson, the Virginia basketball team took a step back in 1983–84, at least in the regular season. The Cavaliers limped into the ACC tournament with a 17–10 (6–8) record, promptly falling to Wake Forest in the first round. Their record was good enough to ensure them an NCAA Tournament invite and they were awarded the 7-seed in the East Regional.

After escaping 10th-seeded Iona 58–57 in the first round, Virginia drew Southwest Conference champion and 2nd-seeded Arkansas in the 2nd round. The Cavaliers dispatched the Razorbacks 53–51 in an overtime affair before cruising past 3rd-seeded Syracuse 63–55 in the Sweet Sixteen. In a low-scoring, defensive affair, the Cavaliers defeated Bobby Knight's 4th-seeded Indiana Hoosiers 50–48 in the Elite Eight to clinch the school's second Final Four appearance in 4 seasons.

In the National Semifinals, Virginia drew the Hakeem Olajuwon-led Houston Cougars at the Kingdome in Seattle. The Cavaliers gave the vaunted Phi Slama Jama lineup all they could handle, but eventually fell 49–47 in overtime, ending a surprisingly-successful postseason run.

See also: 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game.

See also: 2018–19: National Championship section of Tony Bennett.

Kyle Guy converted all three free throws with less than a second left in the Final Four game against Auburn; UVA won by one point.

This Virginia team featured a vaunted Bennett defense along with the three-pronged offensive attack of De'Andre Hunter, Kyle Guy, and Ty Jerome,[13] also known as the "Big Three." The Cavaliers began and ended the season ranked in the AP Top 5 with a 28–2 regular season.[14][15] In the ACC Tournament, Virginia defeated bubble team NC State 76–56 before being physically overpowered by a very athletic Florida State team, 69–59.[16][17] The two UVA–Duke matchups during the ACC regular season were the most watched college basketball games of the regular season with 3.8 million and 3.3 million viewers for their games in Durham and Charlottesville respectively.[18] Entering the NCAA Tournament, Virginia was a number 1 seed in the South region, Duke was the number one overall seed and placed in the East regional while North Carolina also received a No. 1 seed in the Midwest region. The only No. 1 seed from outside the ACC was Gonzaga in the West, later to be defeated by Texas Tech in the Elite Eight.

Virginia in fact became the only No. 1 seed of the tournament to advance to the Final Four and did so in electrifying fashion over Purdue. After first defeating Gardner-Webb, Oklahoma, and Oregon, they met the red-hot Boilermakers who had taken out defending champion Villanova and No. 2 seed Tennessee. Virginia would get out to a ten-point lead before Carsen Edwards started making one 27-foot to 28-foot three-pointer after another, and there was no answer Virginia could come up with to stop him. He scored 42 points (after also scoring 42 against Villanova), by far a record against a Bennett-coached team.[19][20] Down by three points with 5.9 seconds to play, Ty Jerome stepped to the line for two free throws.[20] He made the first but missed the second, yet Mamadi Diakite backtapped the ball into the backcourt where Kihei Clark recovered and sent a bullet pass back to Diakite with only one second remaining in the game.[20] Diakite immediately shot, the ball went through, and the game went into an improbable overtime.[20] Virginia then outscored Purdue 10–5 in the extra period to advance. Jerome, Diakite, and Kyle Guy each made the South Regional All-Tournament team.

De'Andre Hunter shut down Jarrett Culver and scored a career-high 27 points in the National Championship Game; he soon was the No. 4 pick of the 2019 NBA draft.

In the Final Four, Virginia met the Auburn Tigers who had already dispatched of Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky to get there.[21] This game was a back-and-forth battle as Virginia trailed the Tigers at halftime, 31–28. Virginia made a convincing comeback in the second half and led 57–47 before Auburn made their own as Bryce Brown and Jared Harper hit three-point shots and the Tigers went on a 14-point run.[21] Down 61–57 with 7.7 seconds remaining, Guy nailed a three-point shot from the right corner.[21] Harper then converted one of two free throws to lead 62–60.[21] The referees missed a clear reach-in foul on Auburn before missing another double dribble by Jerome, then Auburn was called for a foul with 1.5 seconds remaining.[21][22] On the in-bounds play Jerome found Guy, again for the corner three, but Guy missed as an Auburn player fouled him by undercutting his lower body. Videos of Auburn fans who pre-maturely celebrated without realizing a foul had been committed were widely circulated and became part of Jimmy Kimmel Live! the following night.[23] Guy drained all three free throws to put Virginia into the 2019 NCAA Tournament Championship Game.[23]

The National Championship match was headlined by two of the top defenses in college basketball, Virginia and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.[24] Virginia didn't allow Texas Tech to score a field goal until 7½ minutes into the first half, but a barrage of three-point field goals by the Red Raiders allowed them to catch up and even lead the 'Hoos 25–22.[24] Virginia then tightened up and scored some of their own to lead at halftime, 32–29.[24] Eventual top-10 picks in the subsequent NBA draft De'Andre Hunter and Jarrett Culver shot 1-for-8 and 0-for-6 from the field in the first half respectively, but Hunter came roaring out for the second half and shot 7-for-8 to end with a career-high 27 points while the NABC Defensive Player of the Year sophomore limited Culver to 5-for-22 shooting and a 15-point total.[25] Texas Tech again rallied from a deficit to take a lead, and Virginia again matched them as the game went into overtime.[24] Virginia was too much for the Red Raiders in the overtime period, outscoring them 17–9 to win their first national title 85–77.[24]

Virginia ended the season with a 35–3 record, shattering the previous record for single-season wins at Virginia.[24] The team was 29–0 after leading at halftime.[24] The Cavaliers were the first first-time champions of the NCAA Tournament since the University of Florida thirteen years earlier.[24]

The 1975-76 Cavalier season was largely disappointing as they finished 13–11 overall (4–8, ACC) and limped into the ACC Tournament as the 6th seed. Played at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, the tournament was the first in ACC history to be played outside the state of North Carolina.

Despite falling to NC State twice during the regular season, the Cavaliers upset the 3rd-seeded Wolfpack 75–63. The Cavaliers then drew 2-seed Maryland, longtime border rivals that had just defeated UVA five days earlier at Cole Fieldhouse. Virginia defeated the #9 ranked Terrapins before dispatching top-seeded and 4th-ranked North Carolina 67–62 in the championship game. It marked the first conference tournament title and NCAA appearance for Virginia, as well as only the 3rd time a non-North Carolina-based team won the conference title (following Maryland in 1958 and South Carolina in 1971). Wally Walker scored 21 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in the title game, being named tournament MVP in the process.

Virginia was awarded the East Region's 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to 2nd-seeded DePaul in the first round.

Darion Atkins with the Cavaliers in November 2014

After a few years of steady improvement, Tony Bennett finally had a team he had fully recruited and coached. The Cavaliers got off to a forgettable 9–4 start, punctuated by a 35-point road loss at Tennessee. Following a pivotal conversation between star G/F Joe Harris and Bennett, UVA got on track and rolled through the ACC. On March 1, the 12th ranked Cavaliers would defeat #4 Syracuse at John Paul Jones Arena to clinch the ACC regular season title outright for the first time since 1981, allowing them to enter the 2014 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament as the 1-seed.

After cruising against 8th seeded Florida State, Virginia held off 4th-seeded Pittsburgh in the final seconds of the seminfinal, setting up a championship game against 3rd seeded Duke at Greensboro Coliseum. The Cavaliers would exact revenge for a regular season loss to the Blue Devils, defeating them 72-63 and claiming their first ACC tournament title in 38 years. Joe Harris was named tournament MVP while Malcolm Brogdon joined him as a 1st team selection. In the process, UVA defeated every ACC opponent at least once in a season for the first time since 1982.

After losing all-conference point guard London Perrantes to graduation and the Cleveland Cavaliers, many expected 2017-18 to be a rebuilding year for Virginia basketball. The team would start the season unranked before getting off to an 11–1 non-conference start and climbing up to #13 in the country at the start of conference play. Virginia would then become the first team to go 17–1 in conference play, notably snapping a long losing streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Duke, scoring 5 points in 0.9 seconds to stun Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center, and only losing one conference game by a single point in overtime.

They would open the ACC tournament by routing 9th-seeded Louisville 75–58 in the quarterfinals before dispatching 4th-seeded Clemson 64–58 in the semis. They would then rematch with a North Carolina team they had defeated earlier in Charlottesville and claim the ACC championship with a 71–63 win. Kyle Guy was named tournament MVP and was joined on the First team by Devon Hall as the Cavaliers gave Tony Bennett his second ACC tournament title in 5 seasons.

The Cavaliers have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 23 times. Their combined record is 35–22. They were national champions in 2019.

Virginia is one of five NCAA programs to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament seven or more times.[4]

The NCAA began seeding the NCAA Tournament with the 1979 edition.[26] The 64-team field started in 1985, which guaranteed that a championship team had to win six games.[27]

The Cavaliers have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 13 times. Their combined record is 17–11. They were NIT champions in 1980 and 1992.

The Cavaliers have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) once, in 2008. Their record is 2–1.

Following conference realignment, the Cardinals moved from the Big East to the ACC and were designated UVA's home-and-away rivals. The two teams had previously met for four straight years outside of their conferences in the 1980s during an era both programs were highly ranked. The Cavaliers won each of those games in 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985. In the ACC, the two teams have acted as spoilers to the other with a Cardinal win in 2015 and a 2017 Cavalier win delaying or preventing an ACC regular season title, while an injury to star player Justin Anderson during the 2015 matchup derailed UVA's national championship aspirations. The March 2018 matchup between the two teams ended with Virginia scoring five points in the final 0.9 seconds and dealing what proved to be a mortal blow to Louisville's NCAA tournament hopes. Both teams won recent NCAA Championships — Louisville in 2013 and Virginia in 2019. UVA leads the all-time series 16–5.

As the two Power Conference teams in the Commonwealth, the Cavaliers and Hokies have a long-standing rivalry. While the intensity has picked up since Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2004, the all-time series record is well in favor of UVA, with the Cavaliers leading the series 95–56.

As the two oldest universities of the ACC, the UVA–UNC rivalry spans many sports and has persisted to varying degrees since the late 1800s. The early 1980s were a particular highlight for the basketball series as all-time greats Ralph Sampson and Michael Jordan led two Top 5 programs of the era. The Tar Heels have dominated much of the all-time series and lead 131–59, but Virginia is 10–4 against the Heels since the Cavaliers began their rise back to national prominence under Tony Bennett in the 2012–13 season. The two teams defeated each other for ACC Tournament Championships in 2016 and 2018, and the winner of those conference title matches went on to win NCAA Championships the following year (UNC in 2017 and UVA in 2019).

Thanks to the proximity of these two long-time ACC members, and their status as Tobacco Road outsiders, Maryland and Virginia have a long-standing rivalry that spans many decades. Traditionally, these two schools would meet in the last game of the season, and acted as spoilers to each other as they sought ACC season championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. This rivalry has been diminished in recent years, thanks to Maryland's move to the Big Ten Conference. They did match up in the 2014 and 2018 ACC-Big Ten Challenges, ending in 76–65 and 76–71 victories both won by Virginia on the road in College Park.

University Hall, UVA's home court from 1965 until 2006

Ralph Sampson, Virginia's most decorated player

^* Consensus First-Team All-American.

^** AP Honorable-Mention All-American.

Malcolm Brogdon, the most recent Cavalier to have his number retired, went on to win the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

The Cavaliers have retired eight numbers to date:[30]

The University of Virginia's athletic department has issued the following statement distinguishing "retired jerseys" from "retired numbers": "Jersey retirement honors Virginia players who have significantly impacted the program. Individuals recognized in this way will have their jerseys retired, but their number will remain active."[31]

See also: Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball statistical leaders