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Oxygen. We need it to live. The Virginia Cavaliers didn’t seem to be taking in much oxygen in the first 25 minutes of their NCAA Tournament first-round game against Gardner-Webb on Friday in Columbia, South Carolina. The Cavaliers took the memories of their historic loss to UMBC — the first and only 1-versus-16 upset in the history of the men’s NCAA Tournament — and carried them onto the floor.
The baggage weighed a ton.
When you carry a ton of material, you will need to catch your breath… and the Hoos didn’t take the time to do that.
They were nervous. They should have been. I would have been. You would have been. This was a game Virginia waited for all year, but it waited all year for this game not with a sense of certainty about the outcome; Virginia waited for this game hoping it would be able to master the moment. Virginia stepped into this game not knowing how it would respond.
When Gardner-Webb went up 30-16, everyone in America — not just on that Virginia bench — was asking the same question: AGAIN? REALLY?
Virginia never did fully settle down against UMBC. It panicked. Players got out of their roles and comfort zones. A key point, though: De’Andre Hunter didn’t play in that game. He played in this game against Gardner-Webb.
Virginia stabilized. Hunter helped the Hoos get to that point and find the oxygen tank.
The Cavaliers had scrambled back to a place of manageable discomfort at the half, down only six, then caught the Runnin’ Bulldogs a few minutes into the second half… and then pulled away, their defense catching on to Gardner-Webb’s small lineup and confident 3-point shooting.
Whew.
Oxygen rushed back into the Hoos lungs. Normal coloring returned to their faces.
Virginia was able to breathe and ultimately exhale after a relatively stressful — but not supremely scary — first-round game in which the outcome had been decided many minutes before the final horn.
No 1-over-16 upset for the second year in a row. That storyline is gone.
Is Virginia in the clear now? Will this team relax?
It might… but let’s be very honest about what’s going on here, and before Virginia fans get upset, I’m sure Tony Bennett himself is telling his team something akin to this:
The narratives, the stories, the expectations — those are external realities and forces. All Virginia has to do is play liberated, focused basketball, locking in on every possession and shooting with confidence.
Virginia’s bracket path in the South Region has opened wide. It won’t have to face March giant-killer Kermit Davis and Ole Miss because the Lon-Mower at Oklahoma cut the Rebels like the 18th fairway at Augusta National. Fifth seed Wisconsin and fourth seed Kansas State were taken out. Virginia could not have asked for a better path to the Elite Eight.
All the Hoos have to do is focus on the task and enjoy the process of pursuing it. It’s not easy to do — no one is suggesting that it is — but the point is that Virginia has to find a way to embrace the competition itself instead of getting caught up in these narratives.
With each screen, pass and cut; with each defensive rotation or blockout or hedge; with each shooting stroke or shot-block attempt, Virginia has to worry about what it can control on the court. What writers or commentators say, or what fans think — that is all white noise. The Hoos were incredibly good this season against teams not named Duke. They won’t have to play Duke until the national championship game.
Play ball. Relish the competition. Go get ’em.
That’s a variation on the basic message Bennett is surely giving to his players.
If Virginia follows that message, the Hoos should be in the Elite Eight one week from today, playing for the dream they established as soon as that loss to UMBC became final.
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