Only three games remain, and at 9-16 overall, 3-11 in the ACC our beloved Cavaliers are all-but-assured of the program's worst season of the modern era. Three losses, and Virginia finishes 9-19, 3-13, which would be the first team since 1967-68 to fail to crack double digits in the win column, and it will take two victories to reach 11 - the current modern lowest win total set in 1997-98. Thirteen conference losses also would tie '97-98 for the worst in school history.
Remaining is Clemson on the road, Maryland at home and the opening round of the league tournament - most likely against Clemson or Boston College. Could the Cavaliers win one of those games? Sure. And thanks to the debacle that is Paul Hewitt in Atlanta, they won't even finish last in the regular-season standings. So, there's that. As if anyone cares.
The bigger story, from a Virginia perspective, is that this season marks a new low in a long decline that has seen Virginia basketball win 20 games twice in the last 14 years - and counting - with a combined league record (assuming the Cavs lose their final two of '08-09) of 87-137. That would be a winning percentage of 38.8 percent for those of you keeping score at home, which means that Virginia beats an ACC opponent about as often as Sammy Zeglinski makes a shot.
Yeah, it's that bad bad.
Meanwhile, Virginia is 3-11 in the ACC tournament over that span (thank God for conference expansion because all three of those wins came either in the play-in game or the first round) and 1-2 in two NCAA tournament appearances. Ladies and gentlemen, I officially give you the worst program in the ACC.
But we're here to look at the bright side, and the bright side is that as bad as things have gotten it's still a long way from as bad as it has been in Charlottesville. I did a little research, and let's just say that Virginia has a long tradition of not exactly being a powerhouse. Check this out:
The ACC began in 1954. From 1954 until 1977 Virginia finished last or next-to-last 13 times. In the glorious 1960s, beginning with the 1959-60 campaign, the Cavs were dead last in the standings for five straight seasons. Then, they finished seventh of eight teams for the next four seasons.
It wasn't until '68-69 that they won even 10 games (going 10-15), and it wasn't until '70-71 that they had their first winning seasoon (15-11) since 1953-54. Along the way, Virginia had such memorable hits as 6-19 in '56-57, 6-18 in '59-60, 5-18 in '61-62, 5-20 in '62-63 and, the granddaddy of them all, 3-23 in '60-61 that has been matched only by Clemson's 2-21 showing in '54-55 as the all-time standard for ACC putridity.
Wow. I guess this really leaves only one question: Why have I been rooting for this program for so long? Clearly, there's a psychological explanation and most likely a disorder that needs to be addressed, stemming from a dysfunctional relationship with my father.
Of course, that's another column. The lessons here are two-fold: Dave Leitao isn't as bad as he could be, and there is no rational reason to think Virginia should ever be any better than they are - at least for any extended period of time.
Marinate in that one for a while.
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