College Basketball: Historical Comparisons for This Season's Top-10 Teams

5. Virginia Cavaliers

nERD: 17.82

Historical Comp: 2014 Arizona Wildcats, 33-5, 1 seed, lost in Elite 8

Virginia is our top-ranked defense, and when coupled with an offense that ranks in the 20s, it makes them a solid comparison to the 2014 Arizona team that featured four NBA draft picks, including forward Aaron Gordon.

A slightly more efficient offense this season allowed for Virginia to have a comp other than past versions of themselves. The Cavaliers are well-known for slowing down the game while the vast majority of basketball is trying to play as fast as possible. This ideology leads the Cavaliers to rank dead last in pace with only 62.3 possessions per 40 minutes while the average team is around 71 possessions.

It is imperative to look at pace when comparing the Cavs to everyone else in the country. It is the only way to quantify how a team that ranks 267th in the nation in points per game and only has two players averaging 10-plus points can rank so highly amongst all the offenses in college basketball. Virginia is one of the best examples for why advanced analytics are so important when trying to compare 351 teams in the same sport.