Virginia’s 74-54 defeat at the hands of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County was a long time coming.
It was the first time a No. 16 seed had beaten a No. 1 seed since the Division I men’s tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 — that is 33 years and 136 matchups of 16 vs. 1. The loss on Friday was also embedded in the very way that Virginia has played basketball under Coach Tony Bennett for the better part of the past decade.
There may not have been a better regular-season college basketball team over the past five years than Virginia.