Furman got an awesome draw here. Furman ranks 33rd in offensive efficiency. They shoot the ball well from outside, but because they play 5 out, they often find easy buckets when teams come out to defend. They are likely to struggle against teams that have elite athletes who can just smash them on the offensive glass, but that is not UVA at all. UVA wants to get back and play defense, so there aren’t a lot of second chances for UVA.

UVA is going to pack in defensively and dare you to shoot over them, and Furman will do just that. They have a senior point guard in Mike Bothwell who makes almost no mistakes with the basketball. They have a wing in Jalen Slawson who is probably one of the 10 best low-major players in the country.

Virginia is a bad free throw shooting team, so even if this thing is close I think Furman can hang. Furman has proven they can hang with high major talent if the game is slow (see the Penn State game that played around 60 possessions), and UVA is one of the 5 slowest teams in the country.

Virginia is overseeded because they went 25-7 in a super weak ACC, and 3 of those 7 losses came to teams that didn’t even make the tourney field. I love Furman’s shot at an upset here.