In a conversation held far before he actually arrived on Grounds as an official member of the UVa basketball family, Kyle Guy listened as Tony Bennett told him that he thought the program could “touch greatness” if the Indiana native chose the Wahoos.

I was reminded of that tidbit on Saturday as Bennett stood at midcourt, microphone in hand, with Guy and fellow 2016 recruiting class members Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter standing on the other side. There were fellow former Hoos around them, of course, from Jack Salt and Evan Nolte to Jontel Evans, Isaiah Wilkins, and Will Sherrill, among others, some of the many faces that made the Bennett era what it was for both players and fans alike.

As Bennett spoke amid the crescendo of a celebration held in his honor, he once again mentioned the idea that he shared with Guy (and likely other future Wahoos as well) about his vision for the potential time ahead and the possibilities therein.

It was, Bennett revealed, something his father had told him about originally taking the job in Charlottesville.

That moment, of course, was more than 15 years ago. And the one with Guy? I wrote about it (somehow) more than a decade ago.

As the celebration ended and the photos were taken and the music swelled, that’s where my mind drifted: Time truly is undefeated.

What Bennett built in Charlottesville, a program that “lasts” as he famously said during his introductory press conference, will stand the test of such time. The banners, be it for the national title the Hoos won in 2019 or the one raised Saturday in honor of the 15-year tenure that ended last fall, will remain.

We are all now the keepers of the memories those times produced.

And regardless of how it ended or when it ended or anything of the sort, we owe it to not just him and the players that made those memories but to all of us who experienced them along the way to remember that.

To appreciate it. To savor it. To appreciate it all.

And as the words that played over the tribute video made clear: The credit belongs to those actually In the arena.

The running joke in our family is that on the day word broke that UVa was hiring the Washington State coach, my dad’s best friend called him and said only, “Tony #$%& Bennett?!” in disbelief. How could he have known how wrong he would be in time? He reveled in it for years and revels in it still. It will go down as the strongest of old takes exposed.

As someone who was there in Greensboro for Joe Harris' fist pump, was in NYC for the Teven shove, who was in Brooklyn before that night Charlotte, who was in Columbia and then Louisville and Minneapolis thereafter, talking about the Bennett era in the past tense still feels odd. No matter how the rest of UVa’s season goes from here, no matter the wins or losses, it will still feel strange to not have the resolute yet fiery coach manning the sidelines of a court which should eventually bare his name.

Virginia basketball and Tony Bennett just fit. And we are all lucky to have been here for the ride. It was one that made such a connection so natural, and the separation of those two things feel so bizarre.

“But who does actually strive to do the deeds,” the voiceover's dulcet tones bellowed, reading from Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘Man In The Arena’ during the tribute video. “Who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Bennett sure knew the value of defeat and the joy that came with learning its lessons and rebounding in kind. He surely knew the ways devotion, enthusiasm, and daring could lead one to touch greatness, especially if you kept humility, passion, unity, servanthood and thankfulness clearly within sight.

He did what few could and dared do it a way no one else would.

We are lucky that Bennett chose to enter John Paul Jones Arena, not only on Saturday night but so many times over those 15 years: To thunderous applause.