No. 1 overall seed in NCAA tourney just got dealt some brutal news
No team has played more consistent quality basketball than the Virginia Cavaliers. Their top-notch play has given them the well-deserved distinction of being the top-seeded team in the entire NCAA men’s basketball championship tournament.
A big part of their success has been their depth. The team plays a legitimate eight-man rotation, with those eight players all averaging at least 15 minutes per game.
Over the grind of a regular season, having a deeper team is a huge boon.
Coaches can monitor their players’ health, avoid any significant wear and tear, and have the freedom to experiment with their role players when the starters are missing a certain zip on an off night.
The one-and-done nature of March Madness mitigates some those advantages. After all, with no “next game” after a loss, coaches are going to ride their best players as hard as they can. Oftentimes coaches will truncate rotations to feature only their top-tier players while phasing out their mid-tier players.
Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, they just lost one of their top-tier players for the entire tournament.
Standout freshman big man De’Andre Hunter will miss all of March Madness after being diagnosed with a broken left wrist.
ACC Sixth Man of the Year De'Andre Hunter to Miss NCAA Tournament with Broken Wrist https://t.co/yMjSeppKEF pic.twitter.com/9aVlTYtws6
— Virginia Men's Basketball (@UVAMensHoops) March 13, 2018
Figuratively and literally, this is not a small loss for Virginia.
At 6 feet 7, Hunter filled the role of the modern “Stretch-4” big man, meaning he has the size to play a traditional big man role while also having the shooting range to hit 3-pointers.
Hunter was the team’s fourth-leading scorer with 9.2 points per game. That might not seem like much, but none of the players behind him scored more than 6 points per game. It’s a stark drop-off.
The domino effect of losing Hunter will also be felt in the rotation. All of a sudden, players will be asked to fill roles that they previously haven’t had to. Losing the team’s fourth-best scorer could stretch an end-of-rotation player past his means.
The bad news for Virginia fans and head coach Tony Bennett came suddenly.
Hunter played as recently as the ACC championship game against North Carolina, notching 10 points in Cavaliers’ 71-63 win.
Virginia’s Deandre Hunter will miss the NCAA tournament after breaking his wrist, which is just a crushing blow to their Final Four hopes. Hunter has been a breakout star this year.
— Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) March 13, 2018
The injury occurred sometime during the conference tournament, according to the school, but further details on the injury have not been disclosed.
Hunter was an All-ACC Freshman and was named the conference’s Sixth Man of the Year.
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