Virginia Listed in "First Four Out" in Multiple March Madness Projections

Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports have the Cavaliers in the first four out in their latest bracketology projections

Matt Newton | Feb 8, 2022

At long last, Virginia has made an appearance in some March Madness bracketology projections.

After a three-game winning streak, which includes a 71-58 win over Miami and a 69-68 victory over No. 7 Duke at Cameron Indoor on a buzzer-beater by Reece Beekman, UVA has begun to pop up on the bubble of some NCAA Tournament forecasts.

Sports Illustrated's Kevin Sweeney has Virginia in his First Four Out in his latest bracket watch. Sweeney's NCAA Tournament bubble picture looks like this:

Last Four Byes: Oregon, Miami, BYU, North Carolina

Last Four In: Florida, Oklahoma, Creighton, San Diego State

First Four Out: Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Virginia, Belmont

Next Four Out: West Virginia, Michigan, UAB, St. Louis

Fox Sports' Mike DeCourcy also has Virginia in his First Four Out in his latest bracket forecast. DeCourcy's list of bubble teams is as follows:

Last Four In: BYU, Oklahoma, San Francisco, San Diego State,

First Four Out: Belmont, UAB, West Virginia, Virginia

Next Four Out: Buffalo, Kansas State, SMU, Florida

It has been a roller coaster season for Virginia basketball. The Cavaliers had a rough start to the year, losing two out of their first three games, including a home loss to Navy in the season opener. UVA strung together a four-game winning streak, including a 58-40 victory over a Providence team which is now ranked No. 11 in the country. But, UVA stumbled a couple more times and had a non-conference record of 6-4, including a loss at JMU.

ACC play has also been up-and-down for the Cavaliers. Before last week, Virginia had a nine-game streak of alternating wins and losses. Coming into the month of February, UVA was 12-9 (6-5 ACC) and had a NET ranking of 98. With nine games to play, Virginia's odds of making the NCAA Tournament were slim at best.

Three games later, the momentum has shifted drastically in favor of the Hoos, who just picked up a marquee victory on the road against No. 7 Duke to extend their winning streak to three games.

With a record of 15-9 (9-5 ACC), UVA now has a NET ranking of 80. Virginia is 2-4 against Quad 1 teams (wins against Providence and Duke), 4-2 against Quad 2, 2-3 against Quad 3, and 7-0 against Quad 4.

Virginia's six remaining games on the regular season schedule are against the following opponents: vs. Georgia Tech, at Virginia Tech, at Miami, vs. Duke, vs. Florida State, at Louisville.

UVA looks to match its season-best winning streak of four games on Saturday when the Cavaliers host Georgia Tech at 4pm at John Paul Jones Arena.

See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated

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Published Feb 8, 2022

MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.