text: The Championship Game and Virginia Produced a Great Night for College Basketball – College Hoops Digest has joined forces with HOUSE ENTERPRISE
  Skip to content
  Twitter
  Facebook
  Instagram
  Twitter
  Facebook
  Search
  Search for:
  Search
  College Hoops Digest has joined forces with HOUSE ENTERPRISE
  Beginning in the 2021-22 season, College Hoops Digest is hosting its new content on House Enterprise; the go-to source for your favorite content. You can expect the same great national coverage with local content creators; but revamped with more forms of delivery to get you the college hoops stories you care about.
  Home
  Archive
  Contact
  NCAA Tournament, Uncategorized
  The Championship Game and Virginia Produced a Great Night for College Basketball
  Virginia is the ultimate redemption story after winning the national championship in an overtime thriller against Texas Tech/bob donnan- usatoday sports
  Date: April 9, 2019Author: ncaahoopsdigest 0 Comments	
  by John Fanta
  @John_Fanta
  MINNEAPOLIS — The “first to 50” jokes hit the hay early. The “bad match-up” takes were all for nothing. The “no star players” narrative turned into a showdown of lottery picks.
  The 2019 national championship game did the sport’s grandest stage justice, and it shouldn’t be a surprise. Just look at how the Elite Eight round going forward went and the games it produced. It was an all-chalk tournament in the early stages, but the beauty of the sport’s powers clashing late in it was on display. The conclusion was beyond expectations, and capped off a journey we may never see in college basketball again.
  Virginia is the national champions for the first time in program history. You may have been fearful to pick them in your bracket or doubted their style working in March, but the Cavaliers completed a journey that epitomized the highs and lows of the Big Dance, and all of sports. From becoming the first 1-seed to lose to a “16” in UMBC last year, to trailing in the final 30 seconds of each of their final three games on the title run and finding ways to win. It was only fitting that the capper featured the dramatics beyond anyone’s dreams in Monday’s high-scoring affair, with the Hoos coming out on top over Texas Tech, 85-77 in overtime.
  NEW: Ty Jerome talked about the way this national championship game was played, and how it went beyond the narrative going in. #Virginia #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/jDcFP5aPiw
  — John Fanta (@John_Fanta) April 9, 2019
  Two need to tango for an epic title game, and that’s where credit goes to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders encountered not one, yet two double-digit deficits to force overtime.
  “The game was everything we thought it would be,” echoed Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard. “I thought it would come down to one last possession, and it did in regulation. I thought it was a great National Championship Game.”
  “It appeared, from my standpoint, to be a high-level game,” echoed Virginia head coach Tony Bennett.
  The Hoos were powered by a high-level player, one who will hear his name called in the NBA Draft Lottery this summer. After going 5-for-5 from the field in the second half but not getting touches late, De’Andre Hunter wouldn’t be denied of a title. He made the shot of the game, a corner three to even the score at 68 apiece with 14 seconds left that ended up forcing overtime.
  “De’Andre usually lets it come, but you saw it in him (tonight),” said Bennett of Hunter, who finished with 27 points to go with nine rebounds. “When he puts that into it, he’s special. We were trying to get him the ball.”
  They got it to him in perfect timing, and Hunter’s heroics were the latest for a team of fate. They trailed in the final 30 seconds of regulation in each of their last three games to claim the title, yet won the trio.
  “It does feel like destiny,” said Hunter. “Nobody was going through the level of adversity that we were going through last offseason. It felt like we had to win this one. It’s something I dreamt about, and we did it.”
  "This was a big reason why I came back. I know we were going to have a chance to do something special."
  Virginia's De'Andre Hunter in the locker room postgame: pic.twitter.com/wQcqcMwzZx
  — John Fanta (@John_Fanta) April 9, 2019
  Lottery candidate Jarrett Culver was on the other side, and was held to just 5-of-22 from the field, totaling 15 points.
  “I honestly wanted to show I was the better player,” added Hunter.
  That blunt quote is a reflection of the way the game was played, two teams going punch for punch in a contest that featured eight ties and as many lead changes.
  The prime showcase of the sport gets the cherry on top when looking at Virginia. The NCAA Tournament has two sides, and the Hoos have epitomized both of them in just over a 12-month span. Tournament Most Outstanding Player Kyle Guy, who put up 24 points on 8-of-15 from the field, brought up the journey from the defeat to UMBC on March 16, 2018.
  “I think everyone on the team, as soon as the buzzer sounded, we knew we all had the same goal in mind for next year, and that was to win a National Championship,” said Guy. “It’s a really special group because we all had the same ‘why amongst other whys, but to share the same one and to battle everything we battled through and come out on top is a fantastic feeling.”
  No one can truly empathize with the Hoos’ journey, and no one could touch their greatness this year, not even a plucky Red Raiders team that left it all on the court.
  “Someone wrote that this match-up was going to set the game back,” said Guy. “I think we sprung it forward.”
  In this title, though, there is inspiration for handling failure and the dream of achieving greatness coming alive. It’s everything the tournament, and college basketball stands for, and all three Hoos at the podium — Ty Jerome, Hunter and Guy — summed it up with the same line before concluding their press conference.
  “Joy is in the competition.”
  Share this:
  Twitter
  Facebook
  More
  Reddit
  Like this:
  Like Loading...
  Related
  Published by ncaahoopsdigest
  View all posts by ncaahoopsdigest	
  Post navigation
  Previous Previous post: Mullin Out! St. John’s Coach Will be Bought Out of Contract as Red Storm Look for a New Direction
  Next Next post: Razor Sharp: Former Arkansas Head Coach Mike Anderson Hired to Lead the St. John’s Program
  Leave a Reply Cancel reply
  Enter your comment here...
  Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
  Email (required) (Address never made public)
  Name (required)
  Website
  You are commenting using your WordPress.com account.	( Log Out / Change )
  You are commenting using your Google account.	( Log Out / Change )
  You are commenting using your Twitter account.	( Log Out / Change )
  You are commenting using your Facebook account.	( Log Out / Change )
  Cancel
  Connecting to %s
  Notify me of new comments via email.
  Notify me of new posts via email.
  Δ
  Twitter Follows
  Josh Adams USBWA
  Big East, NYC area hoops
  @Joshthescribe
  Brian Wilmer USBWA
  Big South, Charlotte, ACC hoops
  @Sportsmatters
  John Fanta USBWA
  Big East
  @John_Fanta
  Dan Gardella
  NEC Hoops, MAAC Hoops, Big East
  @GardellaDan
  Jake Zimmer
  Bryant Hoops, Providence Hoops
  @JakeZimmer12
  Conor Gereg
  UConn and National Hoops
  @CTGereg
  Follow Us on Twitter
  My Tweets
  College Hoops Digest on Facebook
  College Hoops Digest on Facebook
  Follow Us
  CollegeHoopsDigest Archives
  CollegeHoopsDigest Archives Select Month September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016
  On the Internets
  View CollegeHoopsDigest’s profile on Facebook
  View NCAAHoopsDigest’s profile on Twitter
  View CollegeHoopsDigest’s profile on Instagram
  View CollegeHoopsDigest’s profile on YouTube
  Follow College Hoops Digest has joined forces with HOUSE ENTERPRISE on WordPress.com
  Search
  Search for:
  Search
  An empty house at the Prudential Center monday between Iona & Seton Hall/josh adams
  This was the last image I saw this season. Pretty perfect way to end the year. (Brian Wilmer/College Hoops Digest)