Method to the Madness — Virginia’s style meant as much as its victory

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The bottom-line reality — that the Virginia Cavaliers won and crossed the finish line, finally returning to the Final Four for the first time since 1984 — mattered more than almost anything else for the Hoos, coach Tony Bennett, and their fans on Saturday night in Louisville. To be sure, the old expression, “Better to win an ugly game than lose a pretty one,” is a widely accepted part of a sports fan’s experience. Virginia fans would have signed on the dotted line for a win if it had meant that the Hoos would have played an ugly 48-42 game, a game resembling their Sweet 16 victory over Oregon this past Thursday.

Who cares — just get us to the Final Four.

Yet, after defeating the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime in an instantly iconic South Regional final, Virginia and its fans have to admit that while the bottom-line reality of snapping a 35-year Final Four drought is the most important fact of all, one other fact is equally important: the manner in which Virginia won this game.

As Kenny Smith said on TBS after this memorable game was over, Virginia perfectly executed an endgame play coaches have their teams practice, in order to make sure they are ready when the time comes.

“Aww, c’mon coach, why do we practice this when it might happen just once or twice per season?”

You saw why at the end of regulation time in Cavaliers-Boilermakers.

Virginia stayed in this game with backtapped offensive rebounds, so it was only fitting that after a purposefully missed free throw in a game Purdue led, 70-68 in the final six seconds, one more successful backtap gave Virginia one more chance at saving its season and reaching the goal it absolutely needed to attain.

There was just one problem: the backtap was almost too good, since the ball bounded into the backcourt with a ticking time clock. Kihei Clark had roughly three seconds on the clock when he was near midcourt. He had to make a very quick decision with the ball, and many of us — if thrown into that cauldron — would have tried to heave a 40-footer. Clark was not only willing to give up the ball, but he threw a fast and accurate one-handed whip pass. Had he thrown the ball with less speed or accuracy, Mamadi Diakite’s mid-range jumper might have occurred after the buzzer. Clark truly threaded the needle — not just in terms of precision, but in terms of doing his deed before deadline. Virginia made the perfect pass and the perfectly immediate adjustment in the nick of time, beating both Purdue’s defense and the clock in equal measure.

This was a magnificent offensive play, capped by Diakite’s astute awareness that he did not have enough time to bring the ball down and regather himself. Diakite knew he had to immediately turn and fire.

The play contained several small but decisive layers of awareness and attention to detail, things a well-coached team displays under pressure. Virginia created a masterful offensive sequence, a work of true art just when the moment demanded something special.

Let’s repeat that for those in the back of the room:

Virginia created a masterful offensive sequence, a work of true art just when the moment demanded something special.

For all the years Tony Bennett and Virginia basketball have been bashed for being ugly or slow or boring, this was the best revenge: not making the Final Four in a tedious and uninteresting rock fight, but in a classic game marked by an incredible offensive play. Kihei Clark’s one-hand pass, much like Ty Jerome’s steal and Kyle Guy’s behind-the-back assist pass on that memorable sequence from the round of 32 against Oklahoma, was a 1990s Utah Jazz moment cut straight from John Stockton’s library of nifty maneuvers.

I don’t need to tell you how important it was that Virginia won. Jeffrey Fann did that in this piece at All Sports Discussion.

I need to tell you that as hugely significant as it was — and is — for UVA to have finally returned to the Final Four, it is just as important on a national level that Virginia redeemed the memory of the UMBC loss by orchestrating one of the most unforgettable offensive plays the NCAA Tournament has ever seen.

It was one thing to doubt Virginia’s raw ability to succeed in March — that’s fine. Until teams break through, questions will always linger and remain legitimate. It is a fact of life that you need to make a Final Four to validate your program at the highest level, much as a tennis or golf player needs to win a major championship to validate a career at the highest level. If you keep losing before the Final Four in college hoops, you will hear about it and will have to face the music until you cross the threshold.

Yet, what was so unfair about the Virginia basketball experience the past few years is was not the avalanche of questions about the program’s ability to take the next step; it was the accompanying tsunami of derisive statements about how ugly the Cavaliers played, and how awful their style of play was for the sport.

To be sure, the Thursday win over Oregon was an eyesore of a game. Yet, Virginia is not — and has not been — the sole provider of rock fights in college basketball over the past several years. UVA is not uniquely responsible for negative trends in the sport. Rock fights and eight-minute scoring droughts pervaded the sport long before Tony Bennett arrived, and they will continue to emerge in the future. Gonzaga made three field goals in a 12-minute span against Texas Tech on Saturday in the other regional final, the one which was overshadowed by Virginia-Purdue. Is anyone saying how terrible Texas Tech is for college basketball?

Virginia was singled out, in many ways because it used its defensive mastery to finish as the ACC regular-season champion in four of the past six seasons and grab three separate No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

When Kentucky or Duke or North Carolina get No. 1 seeds, it’s because they have electric players such as Anthony Davis, Zion Williamson, or Justin Jackson or Joel Berry.

Virginia? That boring system, man.

Well, that “boring system” created an iconic offensive play; a brilliant shooting display from Kyle Guy; an amazingly resourceful offensive game from Ty Jerome; and a college basketball experience which soared and hit many high notes.

Virginia didn’t just make the Final Four. It won in style.

Virginia didn’t bury only the demons attached to past losses and inadequate March results; the Hoos buried the demons which sprang from each and every attack on their methods and maneuvers.

There is a method to the Madness of March. It was so much more than just an ability to play defense. Virginia making the Final Four on the strength of a brilliant offensive sequence is a reality which means more than one can adequately express to the people of Charlottesville and all who care about UVA hoops.

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