Flashback: The torment of March Madness still lingers for Kyle Guy

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a repost of the first story upon the official launch of JerryRatcliffe.com on Aug. 1, 2018. Ratcliffe was the first to write about Virginia guard Kyle Guy’s trauma from the UMBC loss and how the star sharp-shooter used that loss to motivate him, unaware at the time of the interview and story that the Cavaliers would go on to win the 2019 national championship. Here is a tribute to Guy with that original story. Please read an accompanying story on this site about our sixth anniversary and thank you for your support. Our readers mean the world to us.)

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The torment of March Madness still lingers for Kyle Guy, but Virginia’s sharpshooting guard has channeled that dark ending into a fervency for the coming season.

At last glance, the Cavaliers’ All-ACC guard was red-eyed, head in his hands, still numb from the nation’s No. 1-seeded team’s shocking loss to obscure 16th-seeded UMBC, the first upset of its kind in NCAA Tournament history. Such pain never completely vanishes but can enkindle renewal.

“To be honest, [the loss] hasn’t left,” Guy said this week. “I’ve just found different ways to cope with it. It hurt me a lot. Everyone says you need to try to forget it and move on. You can move on but you’re not going to forget about something like that. I guarantee there will be a “30 for 30” about us in the future, so there’s no way to escape it. You’ve just got to find a way to cope with it.”

The junior from Indianapolis hasn’t run away from the moment, but faced it head on. He took on social media criticism for as long as he could tolerate, then took Tony Bennett’s advice and put on blinders and used the defeat as motivation.

“It is absolutely engraved into my brain and into [backcourt mate] Ty’s [Jerome] also,” Guy said.

Walk into Virginia’s locker room and there’s no trace of that moment. No signs, nothing. No reason to dwell. Guy has his own reminders that fuels him every day.

“It’s not very hard to take your work ethic to a new level when you lose to a No. 16 seed for the first time in history,” Guy said. “You remind yourself every day of what that felt like.”

He still has the newspaper from the day after the game hung in his room. It’s also the screensaver on his phone. He chose to remember every day of why he must work hard in order to never allow that moment to return.

“It’s a positive now. I’ve found a way to turn a negative into a positive,” Guy said. “It’s part of my story and I get to choose how to react to it.”

The basketball world was in shock that night in Charlotte when a 31-2 Virginia team lost its way and didn’t resemble its former self. UMBC was both lucky and good and deserved the victory and label of giant killer. It was one of those sports moments that occur every blue moon.

“Yes, it was,” Guy said. “To be quite frank, we played like s**t, and [UMBC] played very well. We did not overlook them. A lot of people that don’t know us thought that we overlooked them but every day working up to the game, we were like, ‘we’re going to respect this team,’ and were excited for the opportunity to play them. They just came out and punched us in the mouth and we never punched back.”

That’s all the motivation an All-ACC player needs to make himself a better product in the offseason.

Every single day when he’s tired from conditioning and has to go one more rep, Guy doesn’t let up. He’s thinking he can’t let up because that would leave a window open for something like UMBC to happen again.

With that fire in his belly, Guy has labored to improve. A proponent of raising the bar on every facet of his game from his high efficiency as a shooter to finishing to being more disciplined and consistent, he’s excited to showcase those skills and others that outsiders may not have been aware.

“I’ve tried to make my shot as consistent as possible so that in a game, if I have to shoot a shot from NBA range with my feet near the sideline, I’m still able to do that because I know Coach trusts me to make the right plays,” Guy said. “There’s a lot of circumstances and situations in games you’re not prepared for, so I’m trying to be prepared for everything.”

Most of it comes down to simply hard work, no shortcuts. He’s been that way since the summer before his senior year at Lawrence Central back in Indy. His dream was to become a McDonald’s All-American. He had never thrown himself into such offseason work at that point of his young life, but he made it happen.

“I’ve been inconsistent before just like everybody else, so I didn’t want that to happen this summer and I didn’t let it,” Guy said of the past few months of labor.

Having been named an All-ACC guard as a sophomore only added to his motivation. He holds himself to standards and there’s no room in his future for anything less.

“If I were to be second team All-ACC next season or anything less, I’d be disappointed,” Guy said. “It’s not all about the accolades. Shoot, if we win the national championship, I could care less if I play five minutes a game.

“I don’t hang my hat on that stuff but it would be a disappointment because you have to be selfish in what’s best for you. My dream is to play at the next level whether that’s overseas or NBA. The No. 1 goal is NBA, so become first-team All-ACC or anything greater than that is only going to help me achieve those dreams.”

The 2017-18 postseason was somewhat of a whirlwind as the Cavaliers captured the ACC Tournament championship in Brooklyn, with Guy voted to he conference’s top five for the season. Then madness happened. He didn’t really have time to celebrate his successes, drowned by the sudden ending.

Looking back on his accolades, Guy was proud of gaining the endorsement of the league’s coaches and select media.

“It meant a lot knowing that I had played at a caliber to where I could be considered one of the top five players in the conference,” Guy said. “When I came [to UVa], I wanted to be ACC Player of the Year and I feel like this was a step in the right direction.”

Last season, he averaged 14.1 points per game, nearly double from his freshman campaign. His shooting numbers weren’t as high because he was attracting more defensive attention, connecting on .409 percent of his overall field goal attempts (.439 as a freshman), and .395 from beyond the arc (.495 the year before), but up at the free throw line, .837 (from .714).

There were times when he lit up opposing defenses like the career-high 29 he threw at VCU last November, the 22 at home against Syracuse, and 22 in the first of three games against Louisville.

He didn’t have to be as deadly last season because he had 3-point help from Jerome, who fearlessly hoisted daggers into the belly of Duke at Cameron, Boston College, Georgia Tech and others.

Both return for a third year together in the same backcourt, a fact most opponents will bemoan.

In an article produced by NCAA.com listing the nation’s top seven returning shooters, Guy was at the top of the list.

“I didn’t know that, but it makes me feel respected,” Guy said. “It’s always an honor to be recognized nationally. I don’t live and die for that, but it’s what I’ve worked for, so you might as well reap the rewards.

“I used to shoot with two hands in elementary school, so I’ve come a long way.”

Guy and Jerome are as formidable a backcourt as college basketball has to offer this coming season. Guy tries to remain unbiased, well sort of, when he tells people that Virginia boasts three of the best players at three different positions in the country in Jerome, himself, and 6-7 sophomore forward De’Andre Hunter, the ACC Rookie of the Year last season.

“Ty is one of the most vocal leaders I’ve ever been around. He has ice in his veins, he can shoot the three, he can bully boy you and post you up. He’s fantastic to be around. He’s always the first person to tell me to stay aggressive,” Guy said. “Dre’ (Hunter) is simply phenomenal.”

Guy and Jerome have become so close that they’ve been accused of sharing the same brain waves.

“Absolutely,” Guy said. “We definitely can finish each other’s sentences when we’re on the court, especially during games.”

In practice they will constantly compare notes. What were you thinking here? OK, I was thinking this.

“We’ll see both sides of it, and agree, we’re going to make it happen in the game,” Guy said. “There’s a little bit of eye contact [in games] just so we’re still on the same page.”

Guy thought he had a high basketball IQ, but said his can’t compare to Jerome’s the highest on the team.

“Ty sees things before they even happen.”

Of course, being so close, they also can get on each other’s nerves at times and the good-natured razzing never ceases.

When Jerome returned from Chris Paul’s Elite Guard Camp in Winston-Salem this summer, if he was expecting Guy to heap praise on his outstanding performance, he was way off.

“I was giving him crap because he wore his new Jordan gear every day, and I was like, ‘Where did you get that?’” Guy said.

Jerome tore it up at the camp with some eye-popping performances.

“Ty and Dre’ gang up on me all the time and I have to come back at them,” Guy said of the ribbings. “Those two together it’s just, ohhhh. But I’m always prepared.”

It takes a lot of effort to catch Guy unprepared. In fact, he’s already braced for an elevated role as one of the team leaders along with the fiery Jerome and big man Jack Salt, the Cavaliers’ bruising senior.

The transition into a leadership role will not be foreign to Guy.

“It’s pretty easy for me,” Guy explained, having been team captain of his high school squad all four years. The past two seasons at Virginia, he has been a leader but in a quiet form.

“When Devon [Hall] or London [Perrantes] got on somebody, I’d pull that guy to the side and said, ‘Hey, I know where your mind was at, so learn and listen from what they’re telling you because they have been here and we haven’t,’” Guy said. “This year, I’m much more vocal and being the guy who is telling them, ‘OK you guys can’t mess up like this,’ and I’m relying on Dre’, Mamadi [Diakite] and Marco [Anthony] to pull guys aside and tell them, listen to what he’s saying because he knows what he’s talking about … you have to trust him and don’t get down on yourself.

“It’s easy for me, especially when you have a seasoned leader like Jack and then Ty, who just likes to talk even if he’s not saying anything,” Guy jabbed.

Like every college team, the Cavaliers have played pickup games during the summer, and so Guy has liked what he’s seen.

“I like that we have so many options this year,” he said in reference to Virginia’s offense. “This year is probably a step up from last year, even if [Alabama transfer] Braxton Key is able or not able to play,” Guy said.

Key has applied for a hardship ruling that would allow him to become eligible immediately rather than sit out a season.

“Jay [Huff] is only getting better. Mamadi is the best I’ve ever seen him. Jack is working on his right hand and getting better and better. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t be able to not only defend, but score with anybody in the country.”

He also likes what he has seen from newcomers Kihei Clark, a point guard from Woodland Hills, Ca., and Kody Stattmann, a small forward from Queensland, Australia. Another incoming freshman, Francisco Caffaro, a seven-footer from Argentina, has not participated to this point, according to Guy.

“Kihei has a lot of fire in him and he’s cool with me calling him Kiwi,” Guy chuckled. “He’s quick as all get out. Kody can shoot the ball. He’s had a tougher transition but has shown resilience and tenacity. He’ll yell at himself, which I love.

“Braxton is a rookie here but he knows how the system works and how to get his buckets and pave the way form himself to get minutes on the court,” Guy said. “While Dre’ is probably our best defender, Braxton is up there, too.”

Guy is champing at the bit for the season to get here and make amends for March. Every team in the country enters the season believing it has a shot at doing something special, some even winning the natty.

“I truly believe that there’s nothing that this team can’t accomplish,” Guy said.

Daily reminders demand that attention and nourish the dream. Another March awaits.