It's basically midnight as the waning moments of March 16, 2018 slip away. The interview space carved out deep underneath the Spectrum Center in Charlotte is quiet and bordering on mostly empty outside of a few scribes there to hear something (anything) that will shine some light on what exactly they just saw. But there's an odd energy in the room. It's beyond melancholy. But it's also intriguing in the way all big stories, even uncomfortable ones, usually are.
"If you play this game," Tony Bennett says not long after watching his top-seeded Cavaliers lose to UMBC, "and you step into the arena, this can happen...There's chances for wonderful things to happen but when you're in the arena, stuff like this can happen."
It's hard in that moment to think wonderful things are coming.
"We didn't do anything well tonight to be honest," a heartbroken Ty Jerome says. Kyle Guy, choking back tears, adds, "You don't want to be in this position."
"That's basketball," Jerome explains. "I don't have the answers."
The questions to those at the podium, at least on this night, are not plentiful. Some are basketball-focused. Most are trying to put some frame on how this happened.
And what happens next.
"I love Coach Bennett but there's really not a whole lot that can prepare you for this kind of feeling," Guy says. "He has instilled a lot humility and unity throughout our team, so it'll be easy for us to bounce back but there's really not an answer to what makes you feel better in this situation."
"The same people that will tell you how great you are and praise you when you're on top...are the same people who are going to kill you when you are at this point," Jerome confesses. "To be honest, I don't think this team has ever been worried about you guys, the media, the outside world. It just shows you that anybody can beat anybody and if you don't come to play you can get beat. That's basketball."
"One thing this team was really good at and built on was resiliency," Guy adds. "And I think bouncing back from something that's so heartbreaking will be a huge key for us."
Bouncing back, even then, was already their pursuit.
"They're strong-character guys and we have to bounce back," Bennett said. "Resiliency has been our strength and now it'll be tested in a way I don't think they thought it would have to be tested."
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The season is drawing near and this early-November day, even in a time when football dominates, allows for the focus to be on the beginning of what could be a compelling story.
Bennett sits at another podium, this time inside John Paul Jones Arena, and again he fields questions from interested observers. But these are about Braxton Key and De'Andre Hunter playing together, about Jay Huff and his potential, about how to replace Isaiah Wilkins and Devon Hall.
But the elephant in the room—if you can even call it that—is something else entirely and there are questions about that, too.
"What I think is important for this year," he said that afternoon, "is our theme is 'united pursuit.' It's a pursuit. When you pursue something or seek something, you have to do it with all your might. There's no question about it. It involves our pillar of passion, the pursuit. But it has to be united.
"Last year's team was so united and so collected," Bennett added, "and I like that as an idea. You've got to be united in your pursuit when you hit the rough spots, when you hit the good moments, and just that idea, recommitting to that. So, I like that. I like the imagery of it...I understand that that is such a key for our program over the years and will be this year, maybe even in a bigger way with all of the talent of our league, the games, people bringing up the expectations and what happened last year, we've got to be united in our pursuit of everything coming at us and pursue, pursue, pursue with all our might."
No one in the room that day last fall knew just how much "pursuit" there would end up being.
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It's 2:08 a.m. on Saturday night and a gentleman in a brown fedora and a long brown coat walks by as we are about to exit the light rail station at the Mall of America. He randomly exclaims "FINAL FOUR!" loudly as he walks past. I'm not entirely sure why he said it or what about us screamed "Guys who just covered UVa miraculously beating Auburn" but the moment is no less interesting without that intel.
Virginia has just defied logic. Again.
Last week, it was a perfect pass in the most pressure-packed moment when all seemed lost. At least until tonight, when three pressure-packed moments again came when all seemed lost.
There was no panic on those faces, though. How, I'm not real sure. They were not rattled. They were not deterred. They didn't even seem worried.
They just....pursued.
That gentleman was right. This is the Final Four. And UVa earned itself a chance to go win the whole thing.
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It's 1:53 a.m. and I'm finally on a Blue Line train headed southbound in Minneapolis after watching in awe as the Wahoos came back—again—to force overtime and ultimately win. Only this time, it's the NCAA Tournament title.
Having sat in that room in Charlotte a year ago, the contrast is so striking. The happiness and elation is beyond evident. From the players to the coaches to the managers to the fans in the stands at U.S. Bank Stadium to those who have followed this team, there's a vibe of total exhilaration.
There are two Texas Tech fans standing near a couple of Hoos and one of the former says to the latter "That was a great, great game." The UVa fan agrees, complimenting the Red Raiders for how good they were all year and how incredible the game was. "Your guys just kept making their free throws," the Texas Tech fan says. "They just kept coming."
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I said in this space barely a week ago that I had just experienced the greatest night of my professional life.
I was wrong.
Trying to compare any of these three wins is a fool's errand but this last one, on the absolute biggest stage against statistically speaking the toughest defense in years, it's simply remarkable.
"Forget last year," Jerome said following the title win, "this is everything you dream of since you're a little kid. I'm not even thinking about UMBC right now. I'm just thinking this is a dream come true and it's even more than that because you never even imagine you'll be able to spend a year with people you actually love, your teammates and your coaches. Not a lot of people get along like we do, so to share this moment with them is unbelievable."
"Coach Bennett always talks about staying faithful," he later explained, "and he told us 'Don't grow weary in doing good" and that's...an every-possession mindset. It's a life mindset. Just play till that buzzer sounds."
Pursue. Pursue. Pursue.
"Going through what we did last year," Bennett said, "it helped me as a coach. All the stuff that they talked about, I think, bought us a ticket to a National Championship. At the time, you wouldn't have thought it but they were battle tested...You can't go through the stuff that no one's experienced. Again, it's a game. We talked about it, but they had to deal with things, their own stuff inside and the opinion of others, and just come together and tighten in a way and they went after it in terms of developing their own game and then how they played."
Fans will never forget their pursuit. After years and years of seeing their teams get close without being able to take home the hardware, these last few weeks will live forever. Players will never forget their bond and their achievement. After years of work and a year of answering questions for which only results could truly provide an answer, these last few weeks are a validation that goes beyond the hardwood.
Joy came in the morning.
And for once, it did not leave.
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