Back in February, a lot of us were looking at the team and what they were and were not doing well. There was a consensus the offense was excellent, but the defense was costing us games. I myself said it's hard for a team to significantly improve its defense in the middle of a season. And then they looked like a completely different unit the last couple weeks of the season leading into Cleveland.
So, did we actually get some help from the long pause between games? Did that give us the opportunity to work on what we were lacking? And would Virginia possibly derive a similar benefit?
Many people on this board playd high school basketball back in the day and for the most part, the regular season ran from right after Thanksgiving till the end of February for most teams. We played games for three short months. Today at the college level, games start in very early November and end in the second week in March. That's a long season. A break from travel and getting home at hours of the morning plus the less intense pressure of 20 some games vs. 30 had to have a positive effect on this team.