Virginia head coach Tony Bennett was named the USBWA Coach of the Year on Monday.
The Cavaliers had a terrific season, going 29-2 in the regular season before bowing out North Carolina in the ACC tournament and, on Sunday, No. 7 Michigan State in the Round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.
Now, if we’re going to be fair — which a lot of people haven’t been — the Cavaliers lost their all-american wing and best three point shooter, Justin Anderson, to both a fractured finger and an appendectomy in February. With him, they were arguably the best non-Kentucky team in the country. Without him, they were still good, but their offensive droughts eventually did the Cavaliers in.
That’s not Bennett’s fault, unless you blame him for an ill-timed case of appendicitis, but it was his doing turning a team that did not include one top 50 recruit into a legitimate national title contender.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.