Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball

Virginia Cavaliers
2024–25 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team
UniversityUniversity of Virginia
First season1905–06
All-time record1719–1204–1 (.588)
Athletic directorCarla Williams
Head coachRyan Odom (1st season)
ConferenceAtlantic Coast Conference
LocationCharlottesville, Virginia
ArenaJohn Paul Jones Arena
(capacity: 14,623)
NicknameCavaliers (official)
Wahoos (unofficial)
Student sectionHoo Crew
ColorsOrange and blue
   
Uniforms
Home
Away
Alternate
NCAA tournament champions
2019
Other NCAA tournament results
Final Four1981, 1984, 2019
Elite Eight1981, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1995, 2016, 2019
Sweet Sixteen1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1993, 1995, 2014, 2016, 2019
Appearances1976, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2007, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024
Conference tournament champions
1976, 2014, 2018
Conference regular-season champions
1922, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023
NIT tournament champions
1980, 1992

The Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Virginia. The school competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Virginia won the NCAA Tournament Championship in 2019 and won the last ever NCAA Tournament third-place game in 1981. The Cavaliers have been ranked in the Top 5 of the AP Poll more than 100 times since 1980 and have earned seven No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. The team plays home games at the on-campus John Paul Jones Arena (14,623) which opened in 2006. They have been the Cavaliers since 1923, predating the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA by half a century.

Virginia was a top program in the early decades of college basketball under the tutelage of Pop Lannigan from 1905 to 1929 and a consistent winner under multi-sport coach Gus Tebell from 1930 to 1951, but the Cavaliers struggled through the 1950s and 1960s before Terry Holland arrived in 1974 to win their first ACC Championship and earn their first NCAA tournament appearance in just his second year. The program has since won 11 ACC season titles, third-most in conference history. Under Tony Bennett, Virginia had four out of five ACC teams to win 16 or more conference games in the 2010s and won its first NCAA Championship.

Many Virginia players have been recognized for their NCAA and NBA successes, with Ralph Sampson and Malcolm Brogdon being named NBA Rookie of the Year. Brogdon is the NBA's eighth 50–40–90 club member and was the NBA Sixth Man of the Year for the Celtics in 2023. Sampson was a multi-time NBA All–Star, the NBA All-Star Game MVP of 1985, and is now in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. At UVA he was the second (and ACC's only) three-time Naismith College Player of the Year. Trey Murphy III is the NCAA's eleventh and the ACC's only 50–40–90 club member. Brogdon and De'Andre Hunter were named NABC Defensive Player of the Year, Darion Atkins was awarded the Lefty Driesell Award, and Kyle Guy was named NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

Since 2014, Virginia has won one NCAA Tournament, two ACC Tournaments, and finished first (or tied for first) in conference standings six times—more than any other ACC men's program.