- The Washington Times - Monday, March 9, 2015

Format and seeds have shifted in the ACC men’s basketball tournament this season. The championship game will be in primetime Saturday night, as opposed to the traditional Sunday showing. Syracuse has recused itself from the proceedings with a self-imposed postseason ban that bumped half of the teams in the conference up a spot. But, Virginia, it remains the same. The Cavaliers’ lockstep defense has produced a second consecutive regular-season conference title, 16-2 conference record and top seed heading into the tournament.

Another similarity for the Cavaliers from last season: Virginia lost its final regular-season game. Last year, Maryland, since relocated to the Big Ten in a tradition-trampling move, beat the Cavaliers in overtime. This season, Louisville scrapped to a two-point win last Saturday to produce Virginia’s second loss of the season. Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett is using the loss as a message amplifier.

“I think we learned a valuable lesson against Louisville,” Bennett told reporters Monday. “We’ve got to be better than that if we want to advance. We understand that. We’ve got to learn from that, be thankful for what it taught us. … That game showed us a few things we need to tighten up.

“Who knows if we won that game if our guys would not understand it as clearly. I think we understand that clearly now. Now, we have to do something about it.”

There are still questions about when vital Justin Anderson will be helping them refine the necessary precision to advance. He missed seven games because of a fractured finger. Then, set to come back Saturday, Anderson was stalled by an appendectomy March 5. Anderson’s legs are in shape, Bennett said, and he did some light moving and shooting Monday. Next is a visit to a doctor Tuesday. Bennett is “hopeful” about Anderson’s return and just as general about when that may be.

“If the doctors let him, if they let him do some things, I want to see him like last in practice,” Bennett said. “I’m not ruling out anything. I’ve heard stories of this where you can play in a week or it’s a couple weeks. It just depends what he’s cleared to do. Hopefully, he’s going to play — if not the ACC tournament — then the NCAA tournament. That would be my hope.”

Despite missing three-plus weeks and counting, Anderson finished as the Cavaliers’ second-leading scorer. He was their best 3-point shooter among the rotation regulars. Anderson also has other layers to his game that are less quantifiable. Virginia has a set play to throw him an alley-oop. He’s emotional. He’s their best athlete. In short, Anderson is the jolt for an otherwise bland yet effective style of basketball coming out of Charlottesville.

“I think we missed that a little bit,” Bennett said.

Virginia’s double-bye in the ACC tournament gives Anderson more time to recoup. The Cavaliers don’t play until Thursday, a week since the appendectomy. Clemson and Florida State play Wednesday for the chance to face Virginia. If seeds hold, the Cavaliers will again play Louisville in the semifinals. No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 seed Notre Dame are the heavies in the bottom half of the bracket. The earliest Virginia will play an NCAA tournament game is March 19.

A problem last Saturday against Louisville was turnovers. This is rare for Virginia’s stoic and steady offense. Point guard London Perrantes came into Saturday with a robotic 38 turnovers in 29 games. He tied a season high with four turnovers against the Cardinals.

That again leaves Bennett trying to cash in on the step back with force of message. Louisville’s home arena is massive and manic — “Is the crowd always like this? Because if it is, my goodness,” Bennett said after the game — and the Cardinals play a pressing style few others in America do. Losing gave the meticulous Bennett specifics to fix. It also provided a broader point days before the postseason.

“If you’re not ready, it gets over pretty quick,” Bennett said.

• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.

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