Virginia comes through with first ACC title in 38 years

Two weeks ago, I wrote about being a long-time fan of Virginia basketball.

It isn't quite as bad as being a Cubs fan, but there are certainly similarities. For much of the last 40 years, the Cavaliers have been a middle-of-the-pack team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Sometimes better, sometimes worse, but rarely if ever on top of the heap.

The only time in their 60 years as an ACC member that they won the league championship in basketball was 1976, when they upset North Carolina State, Maryland and North Carolina in consecutive games to win the title at the Capital Centre in Landover, Md.

You see, the ACC is one of the few leagues that crowns the champion of the postseason tournament as the league winner. Virginia won in 1976 -- and never won again.

Until today.

Akili Mitchell and Justin Anderson celebrate Virginia's victory.

With everything on the line in Greensboro, playing against one of the truly storied programs, Virginia beat Duke, 72-63, and cut down the nets.

It's a very strange feeling. If you're a fan of Virginia basketball, you're always waiting for the bubble to burst. The 1980-81 team, probably the most talented ever, breezed through the ACC schedule 13-1 but was blown out by Maryland in the semifinals of the tournament.

With NCAA player of the year Ralph Sampson at center and second-team All-American Jeff Lamp at guard, the Wahoos went all the way to the Final Four, only to lose in the national semifinals to a North Carolina team they had already beaten twice.

In Sampson's next two seasons, they neither won the tournament or reached the Final Four. In fact, they won 88 games and lost only 14 in those three years and had no championships to show for it.

That's why no matter how good they are, fans are always holding their breath and waiting for the Cavs to stumble. This year's team was ranked in the top 25 in preseason and was expected to be top four in the conference. But just like nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, nobody could have expected the season they had.

They didn't play that well in November and December, finishing the pre-ACC part of their schedule 9-5 with a humiliating 35-point loss at Tennessee.

But then they started winning, home and away. They beat everyone who came to Charlottesville and they won all their road games except Duke and a meaningless last game at Maryland.

They beat a Syracuse team that had been No. 1 in the country for much of the season and had a road victory against a tough Pittsburgh team. They beat North Carolina by 15 points and handled everyone else in the league pretty easily.

The victory over Duke today left them 28-6 heading into the NCAA tournament. They should have a 1 or 2 seed in whatever regional they're sent to, and if all goes well, they should be playing for at least two more weekends.

It certainly would be wonderful to see them in the Final Four, but the real miracle has already happened.

ACC champs.

Wow!