I was recently asked whether the success that Tony Bennett has had with Virginia Cavaliers is sustainable. That's a good question. In college basketball, it is difficult to sustain success no matter where you coach. But it strikes me that Bennett's sustainability is in question every bit as much as Bo Ryan's or John Beilein's. Each of these guys has been categorized as a coach who does more with less. But in the Big Ten and the ACC, long-term success comes when you do more with more.
Bennett's Virginia team won the ACC regular-season title and ACC tournament in the conference's first season with Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame in the fold. For anyone to sustain that kind of success over time, especially given the ACC's complexion -- the best of the old Big East and the best of the ACC -- would be difficult to fathom. Of course, with the way Duke and North Carolina have dominated the top of the league seemingly forever and with Louisville joining the party this year, just finishing in the top half of the league can be considered an achievement.
But that could change soon.