
Going into the tourney, many people doubted the Virginia Cavaliers. Last year ended horribly when they were the first one seed to be upset in the first round by a sixteen seed. Their season ended as a huge disappointment. They were predicted to choke again in this tournament. But, they’ve made it this far. I’d say that’s an accomplishment for them and their coach, Tony Bennett. Tony made history being the first father-son duo to make it to the Final Four. His father, Dick, took the Wisconsin Badgers to the Final Four in the 1999-2000 season.
The team was blessed to return their star players: DeAndre Hunter, Kyle Guy, and Ty Jerome. They are clearly the best players on their team. DeAndre Hunter wasn’t able to play in the game against UMBC which must be upsetting. Kyle Guy hasn’t been doing great in the tourney leading up to the Purdue game, but, due to his 5 threes and a team-high 25 points led them to the overtime win. In the Purdue game, Ty Jerome played the whole game. He played 45 of the 45 minutes and he has proven he has energy missing only 4 minutes of play this whole tournament. Also, one great play by Diakite pushed the game longer leading to the win over the Boilermakers. Hopefully, they can slow down the pace of the roaring Auburn Tigers and move on to the National Championship.
One more Virginia related post will be on the way later today.