Are you sure? I have season tickets and can’t recall the last time that the Upper Bowl curtains were present. I distinctly remember them being rolled up for BYU, UCLA, Arizona, and Oregon at the very least…
Make it make sense? Virginia finished in 3rd place in the ACC during the regular season, won 23 games (including five away conference games), and lost a close ACC Tournament champioship game to NC State. Even with all of that, they just barely got in.
The ACC is not good this year. UVA got in because they are ACC in name (and yes, I know they made it to the *edit semifinal vs the 10 seed)- Oklahoma was more deserving and were left out because the big 12 already had 8 teams. Hell, if Utah didn’t s**t the bed (or have such a road heavy back half) at the end of the season, we would have a better case.
If Utah had a free throw percentage of, say 70 percent, they would have easily won four or five more games (home at Arizona, away to Oregon, away to Stanford, home to ASU, away to USC). They only have themselves to blame. And wouldn’t a 24-9 record be looking good for Smith?