The conversation around this year's Virginia basketball team shifted in a hurry after the Hoos beat Miami at home and then Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium in a three-day span.

Suddenly, talk of an NCAA Tournament berth isn’t nearly as far-fetched as it would have been even a week ago. Now 9-5 in the ACC (15-9 overall) and with more chances to gain ground in the standings down the schedule’s final six-game stretch, a top-four seed in Brooklyn is very much in play as well.

In the short term, the Hoos seem to be coming together just in time to make a late-season push for the postseason. Led by Armaan Franklin’s 22-point performance, the Hoos shot 60 percent from the floor and 53.3 percent from beyond the arc against the Hurricanes. Miami struggled to get open looks at the other end and managed to shoot just 23.5 percent from 3-point range.

At Duke, UVa limited the ACC’s top-scoring team to just 68 points. They outscored the Blue Devils 52-28 in the paint and 20-2 off turnovers. The Hoos only turned it over five times. Kihei Clark commanded the offense, finishing with eight points and a season-high nine assists. Jayden Gardner scored 17, and helped the Hoos limit Duke’s high-scoring freshman Paolo Banchero to a season-low nine points one 3-9 shooting.

UVa coach Tony Bennett doesn’t look beyond that short-term, next-game prism. His sole focus is on Saturday’s game at John Paul Jones Arena against Georgia Tech. But from a big picture perspective, there have also been reasons for Virginia fans to become increasingly optimistic about not just this year’s final few weeks, but also the foundation that’s being built for a future that will soon be augmented by the No. 14 recruiting class in the country.

Specifically, both second-year guard Reece Beekman and redshirt sophomore forward Kadin Shedrick have touched new levels of consistency in their development as the Hoos approach the three-quarter pole of the regular season schedule.

Beekman etched his name in UVa basketball lore (again) with his game-winning 3-pointer at Cameron on Monday. It served as a highlight-reel billboard for the steps he has taken in his second year at UVa, even if the soft-spoken point guard has done most of his emerging in ways beyond putting points on the board.

The 6-foot-3 Beekman is second in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.75). He leads the ACC in steals (52) and is second in the league with 120 assists. In his first 41 games at UVa, Beekman had seven games of at least six assists. He has five in the Hoos’ last eight. That includes a career-best 11 in last month’s win against Louisville and 10 against Miami. Bennett called his sophomore guard “kind of the maestro” of the UVa offense following a zero-point, seven-assist night in last week’s 12-point win against Boston College.

According to KenPom, Beekman has been the Hoos’ most efficient offensive player in ACC play. He’s been more assertive in conference play, a trend that first emerged back in mid-December when Beekman scored 20 points for the only time in his UVa career. He hit a career-high three 3-pointers in that game, a total he matched as part of a 19-point performance in the win at Pitt last month. In 14 ACC games, Beekman is shooting an even 50 percent (51-102) from the floor, including a team-best 43. 3 percent (13-30) from beyond the arc.

Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech will be the 50th of Beekman’s UVa career. He’s second on the team behind Clark in minutes played this season, averaging 34.5 per game. Following the win against Miami last weekend, Beekman agreed with the suggestion that the game has slowed down thanks to all of that experience on the court.

“Just all the different matchups, going against different teams, it’s kind of given me different views of the game,” he said, “and just learning stuff from practice and stuff. I felt like that helped us as well. As time goes on I feel like I’m getting more comfortable and comfortable.”

Despite being in the program a year longer than Beekman, Shedrick is still accumulating that same in-game experience. After redshirting as a freshman then enduring a bout with mononucleosis last season, he entered the season with just 11 career games appearances.

He has played in all 24 this year, beginning the season in the starting five before moving to the bench eight games ago in place of redshirt junior Francisco Caffaro. UVa is 5-3 with wins in its last three games since that lineup change, and Caffaro’s minutes (from 15.8 to 21.3), points (from 4.0 to 6.4) and rebounds (from 3.3 to 6.3) per game are all up.

Shedrick’s minutes (from 21.5 to 19.9) and rebounding (from 5.3 to 5.0) are down slightly coming off the bench, but his scoring has taken a jump. The 6-foot-11 forward was averaging 5.9 ppg as a starter; that average is up to 9.0 ppg off the bench. His shooting percentage has taken a bigger leap, from 56.9 percent as a starter to 72.1 percent the last eight games. Shedrick scored in double figures three times in 16 starts; he’s done it three times off the bench. His 13 points against Boston College were a career high until two games later, when he scored 16 on 8-8 shooting at Duke on Monday night.

Like Beekman, Shedrick has grown more assertive around the rim offensively. His KenPom offensive efficiency rating is just behind Beekman’s for second on the team in ACC play. Shedrick seemed to be maturing by the possession against Louisville, as his dunks on back-to-back possessions helped the Hoos re-extend a late lead that had shrunk to five points. He made another statement while scoring 10 of his 16 points in the second half on Monday, with four more emphatic dunks that all extended one-possession UVa leads back to at least three points.

In a way, the move to the bench has also made Shedrick more available for the Hoos—by corralling his issues with foul trouble. Shedrick picked up at least three fouls in 12 of his 16 starts, including five games with four. He’s only picked up four fouls once coming off the bench—when he fouled out for the lone time this season at Pitt.

That ability to stay on the floor and become more of a presence at the offensive end has boosted Shedrick’s confidence.

“Last year, being sick most of the year, that kind of hurt me mentally,” he admitted following the Louisville win. “So this year, especially 2022, I’m trying to keep my confidence up, thinking more about the good than the bad and trying to grow as a player.”

Six games remain before the Hoos head to Brooklyn. With a strong finish, UVa can play its way back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble or even into the bracket, especially if it’s supplemented by a run at the ACC Tournament. A trip to the Big Dance would bring These next few weeks will ultimately define how this season is remembered—while also continuing to lay the foundation for the next few seasons to come.

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