Tony Bennett should be on the hot seat after embarrassing First Four loss

"There's a question of whether Virginia basketball is outdated," said CBS Sports college basketball analyst Chris Walker after the debacle. 

The question is fair. 

Winning a national title will rightfully give any coach a longer leash, but without that title Bennett's tournament resume would be woeful. In 2018, the Cavaliers famously were the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 when they fell to UMBC. 

They did return to win the whole event in 2019, but Tuesday night's loss was UVA's third consecutive time exiting the NCAA Tournament in their first game at the hands of a double-digit seed. In the previous two tournaments, Virginia lost to 13-seeds as a 4-seed. Bennett and Co. haven't won a single game in the tournament since winning it all.

While defense has always been the Cavaliers calling card under Bennett, over the past few seasons the offense as gone from relatively boring to downright putrid, finishing this season ranked 356th out of 363 teams in points per game (62.9). Tuesday night's loss to the Rams was the seventh game Virginia failed to reach 50 points this season, while they reached 80 just four times the entire year and once after the New Year. 

"When teams have taken out Reece [Beekman] and Isaac [McNeely], its been very difficult for us to score," Bennett said after the game. 

"We don't have a lot of other options scoring wise."

Thanks to the transfer portal, rebuilding for a program with UVA's pedigree can happen in a single offseason. But the Cavaliers need to focus on bringing in proven scorers, or they can expect another early exit from the NCAA Tournament once again next year. 

If that happens, the pressure will really start to ramp up in Charlottesville.