The Greatest Redemption Story Ever Told

There will be an ESPN 30 for 30 made about this Virginia basketball team. Not because they won the national title; Virginia winning the national title shouldn’t be a surprise. But how they got here? Now that’s a story.

Let’s start at the beginning. Virginia was ranked as the number one overall seed in the 2018 NCAA tournament. They won the ACC regular season title in dominating fashion, going 17-1 in conference play (31-2 overall). This was the year Virginia would finally get over the hump and make a Final Four run. History would be made in 2018.

History was indeed made in 2018, but not the kind anyone, ever_, wants to be apart of. A 1-seed had never lost to a 16-seed until Virginia lost to 16-seed UMBC, a tiny school in Maryland no one had ever heard of. They didn’t just lose – they got absolutely obliterated. UMBC won by 20, but it felt like a million.

Virginia became the laughing stock of the sports world. Yahoo Sports’ Pat Forde wrote a column titled: “Historic loss shows Virginia was built to fail in March”. People barely even remember that Villanova won the title in 2018, but everyone remembers Virginia lost to a 16-seed.

Virginia could have easily folded. A down year in 2019 would have been understandable. Those types of losses have lasting, damaging effects. They’ll rattle your confidence to the point where you question your ability to brush your teeth or drive a car. They’ll ruin relationships with people you’ve known your entire life. They’ll create wounds in your soul that may never heal.

How do I know this? Because I’ve been there, sort of. My college bowling team blew more than a 283-pin lead in 16 games in 2018 to miss the cut for nationals. The chances of blowing that lead could not have been much higher than a 16-seed beating a 1-seed. All those things I talked about above, I lived them. Obviously, my team’s defeat came without the unbearable, inescapable presence that social media has become, but the pain of experiencing such a devastating defeat, one that you’ve worked so damn hard for, is the same.

I’m trying to imagine how I would have felt if I was in Kyle Guy’s shoes. I mean it’s basically what my team and I went through, you know, except magnified by infinity because it happened on national television and in the focus of social media. I would literally be afraid to leave my bed. Everywhere you go – from a trip to the gas station to a meal with your family – that loss follows you. It haunts you.

So, how exactly does a team even begin to recover from such a loss? You own it. Embrace it. Wear it on your sleeve like a badge of honor. Kyle Guy made his screen saver on his phone a photo from the UMBC game. He said after the title game “I love [the loss to UMBC]. I don’t want to forget it”. I cannot fathom the level of courage it takes to say such a thing. Never in a million years could I have summoned the inner-strength and perseverance to embrace such a defeat in the way that Guy and all of Virginia did.

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Fast forward to March 2019. There’s a little déjà vu going on after Virginia was announced as the top seed in the South region. When Virginia fell behind at halftime to 16-seed Gardner-Webb, there were bright, flashing neon sign levels of déjà vu. But this Virginia team wasn’t going to falter. A second half fury put the Cavaliers ahead for good, putting to bed the absurd doubts of their ability to defeat a 16-seed.

The next weekend, Virginia faced 3-seed Purdue in the Elite Eight for the right to advance to the Final Four. Purdue’s Carsen Edwards absolutely torched Virginia’s vaunted defense to the tune of 42 points and ten made three-pointers. He etched his name in history with Steph Curry among the greatest Elite Eight performances ever. Edwards shared another similarity with Curry, his historic performance took place in a loss. Virginia somehow withstood Edwards’ repeated long-range snipes, forcing overtime on Diakite’s game-tying shot at the buzzer, where they would secure the program’s first Final Four berth since 1984.

Virginia drew Auburn in the opening game of the Final Four. Auburn might be a 5-seed, but they proved to be as good as any team in the country after consecutive wins over blue-bloods Kentucky, North Carolina and Kansas to reach the Final Four. This time, Virginia faced a 5 point deficit with under ten seconds remaining. That’s when Kyle Guy put his team on his back. He hit a ridiculous turnaround three from the right corner to cut Auburn’s lead to two. Virginia got the ball back and Jerome found Guy in the corner for a three. Guy rose up for the potential game winning shot, and clanked it off the rim – but the referee called a foul on Auburn’s Samir Doughty. Guy stepped up and hit all three free throws to send Virginia to the national championship.

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Virginia had the game won. They held an eight point lead with six and a half minutes to go in the second half. But in classic Virginia fashion, their offense went cold, allowing Texas Tech to rally back. Texas Tech took the lead with 35 seconds left. It looked like head coach Tony Bennett’s offense had failed and Virginia would come up short once again. But this Virginia team would never give in.

Ty Jerome drove to the rim and kicked a pass to De’Andre Hunter in the corner. Hunter nails the three with twelve seconds to go, tying the game. After a missed three by Texas Tech’s Jarrett Culver, Hunter secured the rebound and attempted to pass the ball to Guy – except Guy had turned to the referee for a timeout. The ball seemingly floated out of bounds in slow motion. It felt as if Virginia literally gave the game away.

Texas Tech had one last opportunity to secure the title in regulation. Less than one second stood on the clock. For the third consecutive game, Virginia found themselves facing elimination in the final seconds. For the third consecutive game, Virginia escaped defeat as Culver’s shot missed badly, sending the national championship to overtime.

Texas Tech took a quick lead early in overtime, but a Virginia 11-0 run propelled them to victory and the championship. Virginia won the national title. They finally did it.

While the game itself was tremendous – back and forth runs, excellent defense, timely shot making – this game is not what history will remember. History will certainly remember Virginia losing to a 16-seed in 2018, but it will also remember the immense resilience and lessons they learned from that defeat. History will remember how Virginia deciphered how to win in March and how they finally got over the hump.

The box scores never fully capture what happened. There’s a story behind every game. There are stories of heartbreak and breakthroughs, of failure and miracles, of lifelong dreams becoming reality. The one that Virginia told tonight just might be the greatest redemption story ever told.

What if I told you: a team would lose to a 16-seed, then win the national championship the next season?