I didn’t know.

That’s the thing I’ve been kicking around in my head quite a bit since I left Greensboro unexpectedly on Thursday afternoon, the eery feeling of anxiety meshed against the blue sky and the deceptive calm in the air.

See, before UVa left for the ACC Tournament-That-Wasn’t, media members got a chance to talk to Tony Bennett and some of the players prior to start of practice on Tuesday.

I talked to Sam Hauser and then Kadin Shedrick, my thought process being that redshirts always make for interesting interviews and I wasn’t sure when I’d have access to them again. Then I talked to Kihei Clark and Tomas Woldetensae. I had a couple of minutes left and I’m sure I could’ve made it to Mamadi Diakite or Braxton Key.

But, I thought to myself, I’ll be able to talk to them in Greensboro or beyond.

As you certainly know by now, that never came to pass. The ACC canceled its tournament Thursday just before the quarterfinal round was about to tip. A few hours later, the NCAA made official what we all feared, that it too was canceling.

And with that, UVa’s 2019-2020 season ended with the reigning national champions on an eight-game winning streak never able to play a postseason minute. Regardless of what transpired in the Coliseum, the Wahoos would’ve likely gone into the Big Dance as a No. 5 or No. 6 seed. Undoubtedly, as most things are with this group, it would’ve been interesting to watch as they put their last-minute chops to the test once and for all.

Basketball will be back, obviously. Maybe not this season but it’ll be back eventually. The sadness everyone feels about missing out on March Madness will fade.

But Diakite and Key? Unless the NCAA decides to give seniors the option of returning for an extra year of eligibility—it absolutely should, by the way, though I’m unsure of how many, including Diakite and Key, would use it—the college careers of those two players are now over.

I just didn’t know.

I’ve known Diakite since he was a kid. Literally. He hadn’t long arrived at Blue Ridge when it became clear that he was going to be a major target on UVa’s radar. I remember watching him at an Elite Camp in August 2014 and waiting for an hour or more as he, Bennett, and Jason Williford talked in coach’s office—I believe that conversation may have even included a call to Diakite’s father as well—before he left JPJ uncommitted. He’d stay that way (publicly at least) for a year.

Not only would he go on to be one of the most beloved Wahoos of all time, but he made arguably the biggest shot in school history in last year’s thriller over Purdue. “The Play” will never, ever be forgotten.

I hate that his Virginia career ended without him having the chance to do what he said after the Louisville game he wanted to do.

“It’s been changing a lot, from my first-year to now,” Diakite explained last weekend. “I can’t believe that I played with Malcolm (Brogdon). He’s going into, what his fourth year now in the NBA now?…Again, I’m seeing the big picture. I’m trying to go as far as this team can go. We’re trying to go together and write history.

“When you do it one time,” he added, “to people it’s always over. It’s not over. It’s more pressure than the year before but you have to do more in order to get there. So, we know what’s ahead of us. We’re not done. That was a win. We’re happy about it. But we’ve got to turn the page and focus on the next game.”

It feels like actual years have passed since he said those words following then No. 22 UVa’s 57-54 win over the 10th-ranked Cards to close the regular season. Technically, I guess, the “regular” part there is redundant now.

So much has happened in the days since. And surely more is to come. Many of us (sports writers included) feel so uncertain right now and frankly, a bit lost as well.

I’m not sure why my mind won’t let this part go, why I continue to think about UVa’s two seniors.

That 2016 class, which really did start with Diakite, eventually included Key as well. That it goes out this way, with three members playing professionally, two having their senior years thwarted by this virus, and the final signee waiting for basketball to return so he can play out his fifth year, is so weird to me. They put a banner up and obviously that matters on an entirely different level. But the disjointedness of the way it ended for what was an all-time great group of recruits, it’s as unfortunate as it is heartbreaking.

If I had Tuesday to do over again, I would’ve gone back and talked to them. Seen if maybe I could get Key to give me one more very skilled non-answer, to see if maybe Diakite would flash that smile.

I would have. I wish I had.

I just didn’t know.

“Not only JPJ but the people around JPJ meant a lot to me,” Diakite said on Saturday night. “Smiling, just like me. Nice, approaching you every time. I like that. When I was coming here, I had an offer and I hadn’t committed yet, but I knew this was where I was going to come. Great place. I knew they were going to get me ready for the future.

“I’m old,” he added. “I’ve got to get out, alright.”

That’s one of the last quotes that Diakite gave us. There should’ve been more. There could have been.

We just didn’t know.

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