Virginia Men’s Basketball Reveals Throwbacks

[Editor’s Note: Today we have a guest entry by our own Jamie Rathjen, who is also a UVA almunus, who’s here to discuss Virginia’s new hoops throwbacks. Enjoy! — PH]

Virginia spontaneously revealed throwbacks for its men’s basketball team on Wednesday. I don’t think they’re supposed to mimic any particular era. They appear to use the modern number font, after all, and the men’s team used a block font consistently from at least the ’70s through the mid-2000s. But the “Cavaliers” script and V logo on the shorts are both from a line of merch that has been around for a couple years but had not been converted into any uniforms until now.

This uniform conveniently addresses the biggest complaint about MBB’s look right now: the near-complete lack of orange. I have seen a lot of Penn State comparisons in the few years since the current very staid set was introduced: white at home, blue away, and absolutely no alternates. That’s while women’s basketball has no such problems, even getting their own orange alternates.

Part of the fanbase’s dislike for the current uniforms might be because of the success of the previous ones and that they were retired quickly, a year and a half, after the 2019 national championship when the entire athletic department got new uniforms. This throwback does have one quirk of that set’s white uniform, which is mismatched blue NOBs and orange numbers. And it seems appropriate: the blog Streaking the Lawn pointed out over the offseason that the most successful eras of Virginia MBB, including of course the championship-winning one, have worn orange numbers.

I feel like Virginia looks Just Right™, as Paul used to say, wearing orange no matter the sport, so this is at least a step in the right direction.

We might not be done with aesthetic changes for the men’s program, since the Dec. 18 game against Memphis is listed as an orange-out. Men’s basketball last wore one-time orange alternates Feb. 28, 2010, against Duke, so the fans have been asking and waiting for those to return for even longer than simple orange accents. Tyler Jones, UVa’s deputy athletic director for external operations, did say after the reveal that there is “more to come.”