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Texas Tech vs Virginia: Key storylines for National Championship game

By Adam Childs

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 06: Kihei Clark #0 and Mamadi Diakite #25 of the Virginia Cavaliers react in the game against the Auburn Tigers during the 2019 NCAA Final Four semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 6, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 06: Kihei Clark #0 and Mamadi Diakite #25 of the Virginia Cavaliers react in the game against the Auburn Tigers during the 2019 NCAA Final Four semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 6, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 05: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on during practice prior to the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 05: Head coach Chris Beard of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on during practice prior to the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 5, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

2. First-time coaches

Chris Beard and Tony Bennett have both been coaching for a long time, but both had never been to a Final Four. They made the most of their first opportunity getting wins on Saturday night to make it to their first National Title game. It guaranteed that the coach that won, would be doing it for the first time. While most people will be talking about the defenses and rightfully so, this is another great story of two coaches doing it their way to get to the top.

Beard has paid his dues, working his way from assistant to head coach at a small school to associate head coach of Texas Tech under Bobby Knight. He would take some smaller school jobs before making a big name for himself at Little Rock which included upsetting Purdue in the NCAA tournament. That win helped propel him to get the Texas Tech job when it came open. For the last three years, he has built a defensive power and finally broke through this year winning a share of the Big 12 title and making his first Final Four. Beard has been the right guy for the job and has the Red Raiders in new territory.

Bennett has taken a little different route to the title game, but has built it about the same as Beard. He has built a great defense and slowly brought the offense up to speed. No one is going to confuse their offense for being great, but it doesn’t have to be with how good the defense is playing. This is his tenth year at Virginia and has won at least 20 games in his last eight years there and at least 30 wins four of the last six years. In those four years they have won 30 or more games they have won the ACC, that has so long been dominated by Duke and North Carolina. He has broken down their stranglehold on the conference and made the Cavaliers a national power.

No matter who wins the game on Monday, it will be handing the trophy over to a first-time winner and it couldn’t have happened to two better guys. Bennett and Beard have proven critics wrong and built their teams from the defense out and done it with guys that weren’t top recruits. It is a big change from the one-and-dones we are so used to hearing about. At the end of Monday one coach will join the ranks of national champions, the other will hope this is not his last chance.

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