Tony Bennett on the NIT: “We’re in it to win it”

By Jerry Ratcliffe

1. If there was any doubt about the approach  Tony Bennett’s team would take into the NIT, the Virginia coach ended that speculation on Monday.

“Play it to win it,” Bennett said.

Skeptics thought the Cavaliers, having not made the 68-team NCAA field, might just go through the motions, or perhaps give younger players more court time for their development. Not so with Bennett, although he’s willing to give more playing time to anyone who steps up in practice.

“Give yourself the best chance to play and see,” Bennett said. “This year we’ve had a tight rotation. Maybe someone can give us another lift, and so there are still open opportunities.”

The UVA coach said his main group won 19 games, 12 in the ACC, so he plans to stick with those players, but if a bench player can show in practice that he could provide a boost for the team, there’s playing time. Still, Bennett’s plan is to go as far in the 32-team NIT as possible.

“We get a chance to play and try to win and advance and keep going,” Bennett said. “That would be my mindset and that’s their mindset. A lot depends on how our young men are and how hungry they are and how we prepare these two days and then read what’s going on in the game and go from there.”

Virginia hosts No. 3 seed Mississippi State from the SEC on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. (ESPN2). MSU was supposed to host the game but couldn’t because renovations to its home arena, Humphrey Coliseum, are scheduled to begin.

It is somewhat a mystery that UVA, which finished 19-13 overall, was not among the 16 seeded teams in the NIT. Mississippi State finished 18-15 and only 1-9 on the road (14-3 at home), so advantage Cavaliers in that category. The Bulldogs’ best two wins this season came over Arkansas and Alabama, both in Starksville. They fell to eventual SEC champ Tennessee in the SEC quarterfinals (72-59) Friday.

While UVA’s Bennett said his philosophy is to try to win the NIT, he must wonder which one of his teams will show up. The one that knocked off Duke on the road, swept Miami, split with Virginia Tech, or the one that lost at home to Florida State in the final week of the regular season and got blown out for a second time by North Carolina in the ACC quarterfinals.

Bennett said he wants more tournament experience, playing experience for his team and for them to play as well as they can. The Cavaliers struggled with consistency most of the season but improved down the stretch.

“The reality of our team this year, we’re that team that when we’ve played tough and well, have been able to win some really exciting games against tough opponents, on the road and at home,” Bennett said. “And, they’ve usually been close. Then at times where the team has struggled and we’ve gotten separated. You’ve seen it against Carolina and some of those teams.

“I told our guys that the reality is you’re both of those teams. You’ve just got to fight and choose to try to be the one that has shown that, so here you get an opportunity in a one-and-done situation to play against a good team. You get to grow in these experiences  and try to win and advance. You’ve got to move past not getting an NCAA bid and getting beat in the second round (of the ACC tournament) in the way we did.”

According to the Jackson Clarion Ledger, Mississippi State has not made a decision on Bulldogs’ coach Ben Howland’s future with the program, but that the school’s athletic director John Cohen said Howland will coach the team in the NIT. Howland, who had served as head coach at UCLA and Pittsburgh, went up against some of Bennett’s teams at Washington State prior to Bennett’s arrival in Charlottesville.

Bennett was pleased the game was shifted to John Paul Jones Arena. In fact, when the NIT pairing was first announced, Bennett assumed the Cavaliers were going to be headed to Starkesville.

“I’m like, well, OK, we’re going to Mississippi State,” Bennett said of the moment prior to the announcement that the Bulldogs couldn’t host. He told a story about his playing days at Green Bay and the NIT.

“As a player, we got into the NIT and we were all excited, but there was a home and garden show in the Brown County arena (in Green Bay), and we didn’t get to host, and I remember looking at my dad, like, are you serious?” Bennett said.

Mississippi State, which was runner-up in the NIT title game last season to Memphis, boasts three players with double-figures scoring averages led by 6-foot-3 junior point guard Iverson Molinar (17.6 ppg), 6-11 junior Tolu Smith (14.1) and former North Carolina star Garrison Brooks (10.3). Brooks, who is 6-9, is a graduate transfer from the Tar Heels to the Bulldogs.

Then there’s 6-7 junior D.J. Jeffries (9.2) and 6-1 sophomore Shakeel Moore (8.8).

“Ben’s a terrific coach,” Bennett said of the Bulldogs. “They are physical, they actually have some guys from the ACC in Brooks, whose father is on the [MSU] staff and Moore.

“They are very athletic, tough defensively, physical on the glass and had some tough games in the SEC, a talented league, and they either took some teams to overtime or had some wins against some of the best in that league.”

Bennett said that Howland’s teams always defended well in their old Pac-12 games, something he likes to refer to as “knuckle busters.”

According to Draft Kings oddsmakers, Virginia is a 1.5 point favorite.