CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Virginia All-American guard Kyle Guy stepped onto the hardwood at the Spectrum Center to field questions for ACC Operation Basketball Wednesday, a full 222 days after he and the Cavaliers became a part of history on the very same floor.

Every Wahoo fan knows what happened here back on March 16. Guy admitted that arriving in Charlotte wasn’t exactly easy, but a necessary step in exorcising the demons from the season-ending loss to UMBC.

When UVa head coach Tony Bennett was in the process of choosing which player would be joining the team’s lone senior, center Jack Salt, down in Charlotte, it came down to Guy, Ty Jerome or DeAndre Hunter.

“Coach came to me and said, ‘Do you want to go? You don’t have to,’” Guy recalled. “I said, ‘No, I want to be here.’”

The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder from Indianapolis admitted that he was understandably feeling down in the days after the loss.

One of Guy’s fiancé’s hobbies was writing in her journal, and she suggested he put his thoughts on paper. Shortly after, on a long flight, Guy did just that, in the form of a pair of letters to himself.

“The first one was ‘Dear Kyle,’ and that was – I wrote to myself right before the UMBC game, saying what I was thinking,” said Guy. “‘Don’t overlook [the Retrievers], they’re good,’ all this stuff, because we weren’t overlooking them. I think people think that [we were]. They just played better, that’s it.

“And then afterwards, I wrote how I was feeling and dealing with it and coping with it and how people could relate to me. And that was the best I’ve ever felt, honestly, being able to connect with people and help somebody that may be going through something. And no one’s really gone through what we went through.… I just think that I needed it for myself.”

He decided to share his inner thoughts, from how he was feeling heading into the Big Dance as ACC regular-season and Tournament champions with the No. 1 overall seed, compared to the agony felt after the loss.

In the first of the two letters, which he posted to social media for any and everyone to read, he described everything from the team’s goals before the season and how the ‘Hoos were overlooked, to his tattoo of David standing over Goliath, to his anxiety attacks throughout the season, among other things, leading up to March Madness.

“I didn’t know how it was going to be received,” Guy admitted when asked if he was hesitant to hit the send key. “I knew the faithful fans were going to be happy for it, but I said some things in there that I hadn’t really been open about before and now I am, so I’m really happy that I did hit send.”

Then the second letter, post-devastation. Six weeks after the loss, the reality of the aftermath of making history for the wrong reason, his faith, the postgame press conference, death threats, how he wouldn’t let the loss define him or the team, and the surprising outcome.

“It’s therapeutic for me,” Guy said of his now-regular journal entries, which he says he writes usually every Sunday. “Sometimes I can’t find the words to say. I still can’t really completely describe to you how I felt on that court when I was bent over crying my eyes out, but writing it down really helps me.”

Guy, an All-ACC first-team selection who averaged a team-high 14 points as a sophomore, said Wahoo Nation can expect more writing in the near future.

“To be honest, I’m probably going to write one more [letter] before the season. That’s really been weighing on me,” Guy told a reporter Wednesday. “I’ll be honest with you, I’m not completely past this. Like, just being here is a little bit eerie. I’m glad I’m here, but I think writing one more will be perfect for me before the season.”

Tuesday night, Guy, Salt and Coach Bennett even checked in to the Westin Hotel in Uptown Charlotte, which just so happens to be the same place the team stayed back in March.

“I walked into the hotel and a nice gentleman was holding the door and he goes, ‘Welcome back,’ and it just hits me…,” Guy said with a smile. “I am glad I’m back. This is therapeutic in a way also, and I’m just happy that [Bennett] chose me and thought that I would be strong enough — or responsible enough — to be here.”

It will be tough for Guy and this year’s team to follow last season’s program-record 31 wins, along with all the accolades and achievements they enjoyed. But Guy is ready for the challenge of getting back to the top of the college basketball world, and it should come as no surprise that he has been hard at work on improving every facet of his game.

Guy is using it all as motivation for the upcoming season – his Twitter profile pic still shows him in agony, hands on his knees at midcourt with UMBC players celebrating in the background – and while he can’t escape what happened here 222 days ago, he’s ready to move on to his junior year.

“For me, it’s never forgetting it, but definitely trying to move past it to where I’m not hanging my head on it,” said Guy. “I think it’s taken me a little bit longer than some of the other guys, but that’s just because I’m an emotional kid and I’m real passionate about things, and [the loss] cut me real deep.

“But Coach said something last night when we were meeting with him and Jack, and he said that courage is not the absence of fear, it’s moving forward in the face of fear, and I think that’s something that I’m gonna hold on to for the rest of my life.”

With Alabama transfer forward Braxton Key officially in the mix, along with the core group of returners and incoming talent, the fifth-ranked ‘Hoos will be gunning for another memorable campaign.

As for Guy’s future as a writer, he admits that his next “letter” is already written in his head and that he will “put it on paper soon.”

“I promise you this – I’m gonna write a book,” Guy revealed.

What will the book be about, one longtime reporter asked?

“I’m not gonna give you too much, it’s a secret,” Guy said with a huge grin.

How about the title, another member of the media prodded?

“That’s a secret too.”

Wahoo fans may have to wait for that secret title, but this much is for certain – Guy’s story as a Cavalier is far from over. The next chapter begins in a little less than two weeks at John Paul Jones Arena.