Key Takeaways from the 2023-2024 Virginia Men's Basketball Schedule

Breaking down the good and the bad of the 2023-2024 UVA men's basketball schedule

At long last, the complete schedule for the 2023-2024 Virginia men's basketball season was revealed on Tuesday night (click here to see the full 31-game slate). As we march towards the beginning of another highly-anticipated season of UVA basketball, which begins in less than six weeks, let's take a deeper look at the newly-released schedule and break down some key takeaways - both the good and the bad - from this year's Virginia men's basketball schedule:

Non-Conference Summary

UVA announced its 11-game non-conference schedule over the summer, but now we can place it in the context of the entire season. There's certainly no shortage of tune-up games, which will be important for a team with lots of new faces that need to learn to play together. But there is also potential for some significant resume-building games. Last season, we knew Virginia had a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule with Baylor, Illinois, Houston, and Michigan. The difficulty of UVA's non-conference schedule is less certain this time around, as we won't really know how tough it is until we see how good teams like Florida, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, and Memphis are by the end of the season. 

Opportunity for Good Start to ACC Play

Based off of recent history, none of the toughest ACC opponents Virginia will face appear on the schedule until February. As we mentioned before, this is a team that has a lot of work to do in terms of building chemistry between new pieces. It's advantageous that the Cavaliers get three full months to play together before their (expected) most difficult challenges against teams like Duke and Miami. 

Tough Draw for ACC Home Games

Every ACC team gets to host 10 conference games every year. Fans of those teams are generally most interested in how those games are allotted in terms of weekday and tipoff time and, simply put, a lot of UVA fans are quite unhappy with Virginia's draw this year. The Cavaliers host their ACC opener against Syracuse on Saturday, December 2nd, but then they won't play at home on a Saturday until two and a half months later, playing seven-straight road Saturday games until mid-February. Of Virginia's 10 ACC games that will be played within the friendly confines of John Paul Jones Arena, only four of them are on Saturdays. That's undoubtedly a frustrating outcome for UVA fans, especially those who travel from afar to attend Virginia's home games. 

Lots of Home Games in Final Stretch

On the other hand, that means Virginia plays plenty of home games in the final stretch of the regular season, which could be crucial as the Cavaliers look to solidify their NCAA Tournament resume and (ideally) position themselves in the ACC regular season title race. Only three of UVA's final seven games are on the road. 

Unbalanced Schedule Might be in Virginia's Favor?

As always, it's difficult to project the strength of a team's schedule, as we really won't know for sure who the class of the ACC is until the end of the season. With that said, the rotation of Virginia's conference opponents has the potential to be quite favorable for the Cavaliers. The historical big names of the conference - Duke and North Carolina - only appear on UVA's schedule one time each. The Cavaliers host the Tar Heels on February 24th and visit the Blue Devils in Durham on March 2nd. Virginia also only plays Miami, the team UVA shared the ACC regular season title with last year, once and that will also be a home game for the Cavaliers on February 5th. Based on last year's final ACC standings, Virginia plays each of the top five teams in the conference only once this season, while four of UVA's home-and-home opponents (teams the Cavaliers face twice this season) are teams that finished in the bottom third of the ACC last year. Obviously, there is likely to be some deviation from last season as some ACC teams improve while others regress. But for now, it seems this schedule gives the Hoos a good chance to chase what would be their seventh ACC regular season title in the last 11 years. 

Notes on Quick Turnarounds and Tipoff Times

And finally, when the schedule is released, we always look to see how many times Virginia will have to play two games in a 48-hour span. In ACC play, Virginia has two instances of the dreaded Saturday-Monday turnaround. First, UVA will play at Clemson on February 3rd before returning home for a game against Miami on the 5th. A couple weeks later, the Cavaliers will host Wake Forest on February 17th before making the short trip to Virginia Tech on the 19th. UVA will also play two games 48 hours apart at the Fort Myers Tip-Off on the week of Thanksgiving. That all seems relatively manageable. 

Additionally, there are five games on Virginia's schedule with tipoff times still to be announced. But as it stands, there is only one 9pm weeknight tipoff (Wednesday, February 28th at Boston College). Hopefully, it stays that way as fewer 9pm tipoffs is always a good thing for players, coaches, media, and fans. 

See the full schedule for the upcoming Virginia basketball season here: 2023-2024 Virginia Men's Basketball Schedule Released

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