Recapping '05 and Lookin' Ahead -- Vuhjinyuh

Some seasons are best left in the past...and this is definitely one of them. But hey, I'm not a UVA fan, so I think I can stand to look back.

Virginia finished the season 14-15, 4-12--dead last in the ACC. This after an 8-1 start and a brief visit to the top 25.

They weren't very good at the offensive end (8th in the ACC in offensive efficiency), and to make matters worse, they had the conference's worst defense.

Of course, none of their problems stopped them from beating NC State in Raleigh, which was the Cavs' only road conference win. Sigh...

A look at how UVA compared to other ACC teams in the Four Factors should give you an idea why they had such a poor season:

AdjFG%: 9th
TO Rate: 4th
OReb Rate: 10th
FTA/FGA: 9th

Holy smokes, Virginia did something well! While the team's turnover rate was admirable (Singletary and Reynolds were both steady), it obviously wasn't enough to overcome the rest of the team's problems. Virginia missed a lot of shots, as indicated by its low adjusted field goal percentage, and because the team was terrible on the offensive glass, it didn't get many second chances.

See, this is how you lose a bunch of games: Virginia shot 46.6% (adjusted!) in conference games, while its conference foes shot 54.1%. Toss in an inability to get offensive rebounds with a terrible field goal percentage and you've got a recipe for disaster. Ouch, dudes.

At least the Cavs were bad enough to get Pete Gillen fired (excuse me, to compel him to step down), and that, if nothing else, is worth celebrating. Dave Leitao has plenty of work ahead of him.

Some of the following numbers defined.

Cavaliers 2004-2005PlayerO Rtg% PossMin/GPPGFG%3FG%Floor %Pts Prod/GPPFGADevin Smith11123.2%31.816.544.835.40.4814.31.14Elton Brown10024.4%28.612.847.814.30.5112.21.01JR Reynolds10417.1%32.310.736.334.70.4410.11.02Sean Singletary10221.4%29.910.538.532.10.4511.41.01Gary Forbes9922.6%22.49.446.629.90.478.81.05Jason Clark11812.7%26.26.761.700.586.81.26TJ Bannister9116.2%22.64.32918.80.425.90.97Adrian Joseph10015.5%144.239.834.10.433.80.98Jason Cain9614.4%11.92.648.9250.482.91.06

After two decades of service, Elton Brown is finally leaving Charlottesville. Now he can sit back and let that pension kick in. Brown was the best rebounder on a poor rebounding team, and not much else sticks out about him.

Devin Smith was the team's most consistent offensive threat (Jason Clark only played in 13 games), but alas, he too is graduating. Smith's departure is likely to be more painful for UVA than Brown's, though both players were good in areas in which the rest of the team stunk.

JR Reynolds and Sean Singletary will be the foundations of Leitao's first couple of Virginia teams. Both guys had some pretty exciting individual performances this past season, but neither of them were consistent from the field. Virginia desperately needs those guys to score with greater efficiency, because they will probably be heavily relied upon next season.