The Monkey’s Gone As Virginia Heads to Louisville

By Jerry Ratcliffe

COLUMBIA, S.C. — No team in college basketball history had endured what Virginia lived through the past 12 months, and that showed Friday night when the Cavaliers struggled for a half before taking care of business against yet another No. 16 seed, Gardner-Webb.

No. 1 seed Virginia looked tight, played tight as it trailed at the half. Was the loss to UMBC in the Cavaliers’ collective heads? Most likely and understandably. Same scenario, No. 1 vs. No. 16 seed. Gardner-Webb was making tough shots just as UMBC did last March when it became the first 16 in the tournament’s history to knock off a No. 1.

The basketball world wouldn’t let UVA forget. Everywhere the Cavaliers played this season there were reminders, signs, chants, reporters’ questions, dudes sporting UMBC jerseys for goodness sakes.

Sunday night, having shaken the 600-pound gorilla off its back, Virginia returned to normal, sending Oklahoma packing with a 63-51 victory. The win vaults the 31-3 Cavaliers into the Sweet Sixteen for the 10th time in program history, and a first for everyone on the team except for senior Jack Salt.

Virginia played relaxed or “free” as Coach Tony Bennett likes to say, using an 18-2 run midway through the first half to pull away from the Sooners and never look back.

Once again, the Cavaliers relied on smothering defense to handcuff Oklahoma, a team that put up 95 on Ole Miss on Friday. The Sooners (20-14) barely got half that against the defensive-minded Wahoos, and were held to 36.5 percent shooting (19 for 52).

Part of that was again, the brilliance of Bennett. After deliberating overnight and through Sunday morning, Bennett decided to start 6-foot-9 jumping jack Mamadi Diakite in order to limit OU’s Kristian Doolittle, who finished with eight points (Diakite posted 14, plus nine rebounds, plus three blocked shots).

Meanwhile, at halftime, Bennett switched De’Andre Hunter, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, onto the Sooners’ Brady Manek, who had 13 of OU’s 22 first-half points. Manek finished with 13. He was Oh-for-5 the second half.

All of Bennett’s moves weren’t just X’s and O’s. He knows how to slip into Dr. Phil mode when needed.

“Only the guys in the locker room and the coaching staff who were part of last year’s team and this year’s team can truly appreciate and understand,” Bennett said, stopping his thought about last year’s misery and this year’s revival.

“We tried to get back to this spot, even to be a [No.] 1 seed, and then to have to go into the situation and to be down in [the Gardner-Webb] game, definitely pressure in terms of the game. That was real. You could feel it. And to show the resilience to kind of get through that …”

Again, he didn’t finish his thought. He didn’t have to. The whole basketball world was watching. Most of that world was cheering because of the way Bennett and his team handled last year’s shock and awe with poise and dignity.

The NCAA Tournament brings its own automatic pressure. Lose and go home. Dreams are squashed, directions of programs can be altered, lives can be haunted.

Parlay that with UVA’s nightmare from a year ago, and it’s a credit to the Cavaliers’ character to fight their way to this point, having posted a a 61-6 record over the past two seasons.

“There’s pressure and excitement and tension to try to advance in this tournament,” Bennett said. “That’s always there. To be in this situation again, you talk about trying to focus (vs. Gardner-Webb on Friday), and then getting down. It was real. Our guys will have that as something they can always draw upon to say we faced a giant and battled through it.”

One of UVA’s leaders, junior guard Kyle Guy, said after Sunday night’s win that Bennett has done a superb job of calming the team all year, to have the proper mindset when the ball has been tipped.

“Frankly he didn’t have to say much before tonight’s game,” Guy said. “It’s March, it’s the Round of 32. None of us have ever been beyond that before except for Jack [Salt]. You don’t need much [motivation]. Coach knew the monkey was off our back, he knew what we were thinking.”

The proverbial monkey may have disappeared for most of the team, but not for Guy. There’s a screensaver on his phone of him on his knees, weeping after last year’s loss to UMBC, the No. 16 seed celebrating in the background. It has been a daily reminder, a driving force behind Guy’s determination to get back to this place.

“It’s gone for some people,” Guy said. “I’m never going to forget.”

It wasn’t the pressure of the moment that affected his shooting performance in eliminating the Sooners. He was 0 for 10 from the arc, and scored four points, but had five rebounds and three assists, including a crowd-pleasing, behind-the-back pass under the basket to teammate Braxton Key.

“I think we only played our hardest for 30 or 32 minutes on Friday (against Gardner-Webb),” Guy said. “Tonight we played for the full 40 and that’s what it’s going to take. It’s going to be a battle of wills for the rest of the way. We played our asses off tonight.”

Guy pointed out that if just the pressure of opening the tournament with the UMBC thing hanging over Virginia, the fact that Gardner-Webb made some tough shots the first half reminded the Cavaliers of last year when UMBC made everything it tossed up.

“We made some mistakes against Gardner-Webb, and we made some tonight, too, but Oklahoma didn’t make as many shots as Gardner-Webb,” Guy said.

Sooners coach Lon Kruger and his players said that Virginia’s defensive intensity took them out of their rhythm and made it difficult to score.

Considering the Cavaliers were offensively efficient, and it was a done deal.

“I thought [UVA] did what it wanted to on their offensive end,” Kruger said. “They dictate to you, and we didn’t fight that quite well enough.”

Now, it’s on to Louisville and the Sweet Sixteen for a late-night Thursday game against a 12th-seeded Oregon team, that defeated UC-Irvine.

“Survive and advance,” Guy smiled.

Oklahoma’s best player, Christian James, said Virginia looked like a Final Four team.

“They’re going to the Sweet Sixteen,” James said. “Anything can happen from there. It’s March, and it’s all about who wants it more. [Virginia] did a great job. That’s why they’re the Number One seed.”

Maybe Guy should change his screen saver. The monkey’s gone.