Virginia Basketball: Cavaliers on the wrong side of history vs. UMBC
Virginia basketball became the first one seed ever to lose in the first round of the tournament. Where does that leave them in the pages of history?
“It’s never going to happen,” I said to my dad on Friday evening as we got into the car to go to dinner. “It will happen one day it has to,” he replied. “Maybe, but only if one day all those small little schools are eliminated from the tournament,” and with that our conversation moved on to other things as we headed off.
See, I am a fan of the never ever. I believed the Cubs would never ever win another World Series until they came back from a 3-1 deficit and beat the Indians to do it. I believed that Cleveland would never ever shed the factory of sadness moniker that had been placed on it until some things broke right and Lebron James delivered on his promise.
I believed that a No. 16 seed would never beat a 1 seed. It was why when Virginia was playing, I wasn’t home watching the game. I was out at a movie with a friend. It’s why when I checked into scores around midnight I was seeing if some of the other picks I had made happened. It is why I couldn’t believe that history had just happened.
Let’s give UMBC credit, they did the impossible. They didn’t just beat a one seed, they ran through them like a hot knife through butter. The Retrievers crushed the Cavaliers by 20 points. They did things to that defense that no other major program had come close to doing.
Their 74 points were the most points scored against a Virginia defense since February 12th, 2017 when Virginia Tech scored 80 in double overtime. The 53 second-half points were more points than Virginia had allowed total in 15 games this season.
UMBC will be remembered for all-time as the first, even if they aren’t the last, as they go down in the annals of history. But here is the funny thing about history, it doesn’t just happen in one way. See, the thing with the never ever is when it happens, there is the other side.
The Cavaliers will forever be known as the No. 1 seed that ended the run. They will always be seen as the Goliath to UMBC’s David. Fair or not, they too will be recorded in the history books, but for a completely different reason.
Players like Kyle Guy and Darren Hall won’t be cheered as they walk down the streets, they will be questioned, forced to live that moment over and over and over. Coach Tony Bennett may just have seen his chance at a blueblood school vanish, because who wants the coach who couldn’t do what the 135 other No. 1 seeds before him had done.
A season that saw the Cavaliers win 31 games, set an ACC record with 17 wins, win the ACC regular season by four games, and sweep the conference tournament will forever be remembered not for all the wins but for one of the three losses.
As the page turns for Virginia, questions will undoubtedly be raised. Fans will have nightmares and analysts will have to prepare material for the first ever 16 versus 9 matchup in the history of the tournament. Regardless, life goes on and though it might be tough now, one day all these guys will get up and get in a car and head off to dinner where they might say to their dad “Its never going to happen.”