Like father, unlike son.

Tony Bennett is his father’s son. But the Virginia basketball coach of the last seven years is not his father, and that’s perfectly all right with the father.

In fact, the last thing Dick Bennett, a renowned basketball coach of 28 years, ever wanted was for his son to be like him. Dick Bennett, who coached Tony in college and had him on staff as an assistant for several years, hoped his son would learn from the things he did wrong.

The similarities between father and son are difficult to ignore. Like the teams Dick always used to coach, defense is the foundation of Tony’s Virginia teams.

Like some of those teams Dick coached — particularly his Wisconsin 2000 Final Four group — Tony is subject to criticism for lack of style points.

Since when, in our win-first society, are style points deemed as important as the team winning?

In the end for Dick Bennett, that gray area drove him from coaching. Success became too difficult to define for him and he became swallowed up by the anxiety of expectations.

Bennett told The Post that “I pray daily’’ his son doesn’t fall prey to the same expectations.

Even though Dick, 72, is no longer coaching, that anxiety has not left him. In fact, it’s worse.

“I can’t watch his games,’’ Dick said. “I always had a very sick feeling on game days when I coached. When Tony started coaching, it was OK at first, but as he started becoming more successful, the anxiety grew for me.’’

Tony coached his No. 1 seeded Cavaliers to two wins last week in Raleigh, NC, a rout of Hampton and a gritty win over Butler to advance to his second Sweet 16 in the last three years.

His father did not watch a single play from either of those games on TV.

“Sometimes I’m a mess, so rather than bother anybody I go off by myself and don’t watch or listen and my wife calls me when it’s over,’’ Dick said.

Tony calls him after every game and sometimes asks him for advice.

“I just learned it’s easier for him to tell me about the game rather than me watching it and getting upset,” Dick said, “and then when we talk I say, ‘Well, why didn’t you … ?’ That’s he last thing me needs from me — second-guessing.’’

Dick said he left coaching after 2006 with Washington State “because I just didn’t handle it well, the expectations, and I stopped becoming a teacher in a way that I was for most of my career.’’

“At the end,’’ he said, “I wasn’t very proud of myself, and I don’t want Tony ever to become that way.’’

Dick said he “remembers the media room distinctly’’ from that 2000 Final Four with Wisconsin, moments that took the joy out of coaching.

“There were some hard questions about the ugliness of our style, and that I lived with that for a while, because I wanted to enjoy that experience and I really didn’t,’’ he said. “I know Tony’s style is compared to mine; we’re so similar in philosophy. But the game doesn’t allow you to hold onto the ball anymore. You get 30 seconds [on the shot clock]. If that’s boring then people don’t really appreciate the game.’’

Tony, who employs the similar “pack-five’’ defensive style Dick used, was a student manager on his father’s staff in 2000 and he remembers the negativity that engulfed the program because of its plodding style.

“Yeah, that kind of [criticism] comes with the territory with defensive teams,’’ Tony said. “I’m sure that people maybe think that about us. That’s always been talked about. It’s just about being as good as we can be and not what everyone else is thinking about how we should look.’’

Unless he’s hiding it pretty well, the one gene Tony did not get from his father was the fear-of-failure one.

“I remember his rookie NBA season with the Hornets — he played behind Muggsy Bogues — and he calls me all excited and says, ‘Dad, you won’t believe it. Muggsy is sick and I’m going to start tonight and I’m going to get the chance to play against [John] Stockton,’ ’’ Dick recalled. “My stomach just dropped. I thought, ‘Oh, what’s Stockton going to do to him?’ This kid’s excited about going against Stockton? Stockton will probably eat him alive.’’

Tony held his own against Stockton that night.

“He was so excited for that challenge. … I hope and I pray daily that he will carry that excitement until the day he’s done coaching,’’ Dick said. “Because I never learned to do that. I became a bit more fearful, and I wouldn’t wish that on any coach.’’