On Saturday afternoon, the Virginia Cavaliers lost their fifth straight game, falling to the Louisville Cardinals 81-67. UVA had won nine straight and 18 of the last 19 against Louisville before now dropping two contests to the Cardinals by a combined 34 points in the last two weeks.

The result is another sign of how the UVA program is far from the essence of the Bennett era. It also represents how quickly a team can be rebuilt with the right coaching hire – which may provide some optimism for what’s to come for the Cavaliers.

Elijah Saunders led the ‘Hoos in scoring with 19 points in Louisville. He hit three triples while also grabbing 10 rebounds to keep Virginia somewhat competitive. Then, despite Isaac McKneely only making one of his last 13 three-pointers across the last three games, he still managed to chip in 10 points and four assists against the Cardinals.

Blake Buchanan and Anthony Robinson provided encouraging performances as the two young big men battled on the interior, displaying a degree of energy and effort that has been lacking for the team recently. Buchanan built off his quality showing versus SMU with nine points and five rebounds in 20 minutes. Robinson contributed another seven tallies and five boards as they both slammed home a thunderous dunk to get the Wahoo bench on its feet.

Otherwise, though, there was little for Virginia fans to get excited about. The talent differential between the Cardinals and the Cavaliers was evident from the jump. UVA is now 1-6 in the ACC, sitting 17th of 18 teams in the conference. If the season ended today, the team would miss the ACC Tournament entirely.

We’re reaching the point with this squad where there’s not much more to say. Unfortunately, the personnel isn’t enough to truly compete in the ACC. The effort on the floor is starting to come into question and, with it, fans, players, and administrators are likely starting to look ahead to what’s next.

That’s not to say there’s no shot at some sort of turnaround for this group – the ‘Hoos competed with SMU until the final buzzer on Wednesday and had a few good stretches versus Louisville. But any sort of revival would be far closer to finding a way into the ACC Tournament than coming anywhere near March Madness.

The ‘Hoos will look to get back on the right track towards the ACC tourney against Boston College on Tuesday at 7:00 PM ET.