Tony Bennett and his Virginia team experienced the lowest of lows in last year’s NCAA Tournament, yet showed the ultimate in class and perspective in handling bitter disappointment and the many, many questions they received.
One year later, the Cavaliers have exorcised essentially every criticism they’ve ever received (and there have been quite a few, for a program that has been so successful in Bennett’s 10-year tenure). It’s hard not to be happy for them, after UVA outlasted Purdue 80-75 in overtime Saturday night in the South Regional final in Louisville.
If ever a coach and a team deserved to make a Final Four for their maturity and perspective, it was this Virginia team, which was as stand-up as can be after its loss in the first round as the tourney’s overall No. 1 seed to 16th-seeded UMBC last year. Bennett and his group could’ve been surly or avoided the topic, but they never ran from the defeat. They owned it, faced it and learned from it, but refused to let it define them.
Life doesn’t always work out that people receive what outsiders might think is deserved, of course, and least of all in a single-elimination basketball tournament. It did this time as Bennett will make his first Final Four trip and the Wahoos are headed to the national semifinals for the first time since 1984.
With the win, Tony Bennett and his father Dick-who coached most notably at Wisconsin-Green Bay and later at Wisconsin-join a very exclusive club, as just the second father-son duo to make the Final Four. John Thompson II and John Thompson III were the first, both doing so at Georgetown, and Tony Bennett follows into the Final Four his father, who led Wisconsin to the sport’s biggest stage in 2000.
Virginia had to withstand a second-half onslaught by Purdue’s Carsen Edwards, who scored 42 points and by himself nearly took the Boilermakers to coach Matt Painter’s first Final Four. The Cavaliers continued to answer, though, with Kyle Guy-in a shooting slump since the end of the regular season-finally heating up (25 points including five three-pointers, plus 10 assists) and Ty Jerome adding 24 points plus seven assists.
Virginia also needed heroics and a little luck just to get to overtime. The ol’ foul-up-three plan failed Purdue in this one, as Jerome missed the second of two free throws in the final seconds, but Mamadi Diakite tapped out the rebound, then received a pass and shot a 12-footer quickly just before the buzzer to tie it and send the game to overtime. The extra session remained close, but UVA guard Kihei Clark was another of the heroes as he limited Edwards to just two points in overtime, a big turning point at the end.
The Cavaliers have also been criticized for their style of play for years, yet in this one proved they’re fully capable of winning even in the sport’s current parameters.
This one was modern college basketball to the max. The second half was essentially Guy and Jerome against Edwards, with the three conducting a three-point shooting contest, and anywhere inside the arc seeming to contain an electric field allowing only restricted entry. Purdue stayed in this game almost entirely on the three-pointer and on Edwards’ shot-making. The Boilermakers attempted 55 shots; nearly 60% of them-32-were three-pointers. Their 27 made field goals included just nine assists. Their offense was essentially 1-on-5 for much of the second half, but Edwards made so many that it still worked. Until Clark locked him up in overtime, the real best strategy for guarding Edwards might have been as suggested on Twitter by hoops writer Brian Mull:
Maybe with 2 players. He has 0 assists.
— Brian Mull (@BGMull) March 31, 2019
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Edwards wound up making 10 three-pointers, the second-most ever by an individual in an NCAA Tournament game, behind only Jeff Fryer’s memorable 11 triples in Loyola Marymount’s destruction of defending national champion Michigan in the second round of the 1990 NCAAs. Indeed, this was won not by Virginia’s defense but its offense. The Cavaliers hit nine three-pointers of their own, 17 of 20 from the free throw line, grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and committed just five turnovers. UVA may not have been quite as flashy, but the net product was good enough to still defeat a massive individual effort.
It’s hard to think what other questions can be left for this team. Virginia lost both of its games against Duke this year, and there’s the distinct possibility of a third meeting in the national championship game. That may be the only way that Virginia could craft an even better ending to a season that already has been a wonderful testament to all the Cavaliers program is about.
Side Dishes:
- Defense still can win in college basketball at the highest level. We saw as much in the West Regional final, as Texas Tech frustrated Gonzaga with its D and hit daggers at the end of the clock on the other end in a 75-69 win to advance to its first-ever Final Four. The Red Raiders forced 16 turnovers with their attacking, aggressive defense, and the Bulldogs grew visibly exasperated as it went on as their attempts to pound the ball inside were fruitless. (Side note: can we finally admit, once and for all, that all the talk the last couple years about calling the NCAA Tournament the same as the regular season is a load of baloney? Whether it’s officials simply easing up or directives from rich and powerful TV networks to keep games within broadcast windows, it’s been beyond obvious the game of the last two weeks is a completely different one from November through February, and that freedom of movement is but a dream.) All that aside, Tech won not just due of its defense but also because it hit big shots, none bigger than Davide Moretti’s two three-pointers at the end of the shot clock in the final minutes. It’s been quite the rapid rise for the Red Raiders in Chris Beard’s three years, and as a team like Virginia that plays D and knocks down shots late in the shot clock, they certainly are capable of going all the way.
Today’s Menu:
- The final two regional finals take place. First up is an all-Southeastern Conference matchup where red-hot shooting Auburn takes on Kentucky (2:20 p.m. Eastern, CBS) in the Midwest Regional final. Will the Tigers ever cool down in this tourney? If not, can the Wildcats keep up with them better than North Carolina did?
- The second game is the East final with Michigan State against Duke (5:05 p.m., CBS). It feels like the Blue Devils have been playing with fire in this tourney, while the Spartans have rolled, but that means little heading into this one.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
