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"This type of accomplishment requires a lot of people pulling in the same direction, and we're looking forward to continuing this incredible legacy," Williams told Virgi- niaSports.com. The Cavaliers captured three more ACC championships — in men's basketball, women's swimming and diving, and rowing — during the past year, running its league- best total since the spring of 2002 to 79. Twenty-three of Virginia's 27 varsity programs were represented in postseason competition by the team or individuals. That tally helped the Cavaliers compile 830 points in the Directors' Cup — 250.5 in the fall, 231.5 in the winter and 348 in the spring. The rowing team led the way, capping a strong spring for UVA by earning 77.5 points for its fifth-place showing at the NCAA Championships. Other high achiev- ers included women's swimming and diving (ninth place, 69 points), women's soccer (tied for ninth, 64) and men's cross country (16th, 58.5). TOP MEN'S TEAMS Prior to the start of the season, not much was expected from the men's basketball team. The Cavaliers were picked sixth in the ACC's preseason media poll and were unranked nationally. However, they went on to capture both the league's regular-season and tournament titles, posting a school-best 31-3 overall re- cord. Impressively, UVA won 20 of the 21 games it played versus ACC competition while earning a third outright conference reg- ular-season title in the last five seasons and second ACC Tournament title since 2014. Along the way, the Wahoos ascended all the way to No. 1 in the country for the first time since 1982, becoming only the fourth team in the top-25 era (1990 to present) to earn the top ranking after being unrated in the preseason (Kansas, 1990; Syracuse, 2010; and Baylor, 2017). "I think this team maxed out as much as any team that I've had," head coach Tony Bennett said after the season. The outstanding season netted the Cava- liers the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Although the campaign ended with a stunning defeat at the hands of No. 16-seeded UMBC, it does not erase what was accomplished over the previous four months. "I told these guys in the locker room, a week ago we were cutting down the nets at the ACC Tournament and how good that felt," Bennett said. "They had a historic sea- son. They really did. … Then, we had a his- toric loss being the first one seed to lose [to a 16]. That's life. We talk about it all the time. "In the end, it was a remarkable season, but we got thoroughly outplayed and that's the reality of it. I hate for this team to lose like this. [But] if you play this game and step into the arena, this stuff can happen." During the fall, both the men's cross coun- try and football programs experienced the most success they've had in recent seasons. Men's cross country finished fourth at the ACC Championships and 16th at the NCAA Championships. The latter was the second- best performance among ACC schools (Syracuse was 13th) and tops among teams in the Southeast region, and it marked the program's best finish since a 13th-place showing in 2013. On the gridiron, the Cavaliers won six games and made their first postseason ap- pearance since 2011, playing in the Military Bowl. The season ended with a tough defeat at the hands of Navy, but head coach Bronco Mendenhall engineered an ACC-best four- win improvement from the previous sea- son's 2-10 mark. Other notable accomplishments include men's soccer participating in the NCAA Tournament for the 37th consecutive sea- son, the longest current streak in the nation; men's lacrosse returning to NCAA Tourna- AUGUST 2018 13 The Cavaliers dominated the ACC, winning 20 of 21 games versus conference foes, en route to capturing both the regular-season and tournament crowns. PHOTO COURTESY UVA Rk.* School 1. Stanford 2. Florida 3. USC 4. UCLA 5. Texas Rk.* School 6. Ohio State 7. North Carolina 8. Michigan 9. Penn State 10. Virginia YAHOO SPORTS' RANKING OF THE TOP POWER FIVE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENTS * Based on the average standing in the Directors' Cup the past five years After winning the program's ninth straight ACC title and 18th in 19 years, the rowing squad posted UVA's 19th top-six finish (fifth) at the NCAA Championships in 22 years. PHOTO COURTESY UVA YEAR IN REVIEW