Up-and-down Cavs

Bennett: ‘Still trying to find out’ about ballclub

Story by Chris Graham
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The signature win – over #24 Alabama-Birmingham – is in the bag. One more tuneup, and then it’s welcome-to-the-ACC time for UVa. basketball coach Tony Bennett.

“We’re still trying to find out stuff about our ballclub,” Bennett told reporters on his weekly teleconference call Monday afternoon.

The 7-4 Cavs host Texas-Pan American Tuesday night, then open ACC play on Saturday at North Carolina State. The 72-63 win over UAB last week in Charlottesville vaulted the unheralded ‘Hoos up the RPI ratings – with statistician Ken Pomeroy’s RPI putting UVa. at #58 in the country.

It’s way, way too early to get too hyped up about RPI, of course. The ACC can be a hard lesson in that respect.

“I think as our team and as our coaching staff learns each other more and more, we’re realizing how there’s just a small margin of error for us. And when we’re executing well on both ends of the floor, I think there’s some confidence that we can compete with a lot of teams,” Bennett said.

“We’re very realistic about how solid we have to be as a ballclub to compete against the kind of competition we play,” Bennett said. “We’re just trying to knock on that door and reach our full potential, knowing that there’s some room for improvement.”