Coronavirus complications bookend frustrating season
Standing in a quiet locker room Saturday evening in Bloomington, Indiana, after Virginia’s 62-58 loss to Ohio in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Cavaliers coach Tony Bennett didn’t have any “magic words,” as he called them, to make the moment any better for his players.
The tried-and-true “time heals all wounds” was as much as he could muster. While that idiom had to serve as Bennett’s best effort to assuage the pain of an early postseason exit, his players will surely look back years from now on the full pandemic season of college basketball as a bittersweet memory.
“At the start of the season, we didn’t even know if we would get to play that many games, what would happen with the NCAA Tournament,” Bennett said. “I’m glad we’re having the NCAA Tournament, but it was a strange year unlike any, and I hope it never happens again.”
Stops and starts that were prevalent for teams across the country this season also wrought havoc on U.Va.’s schedule, but despite the abrupt conclusion, the Cavaliers will still be able to claim an ACC regular-season title. It took some doing just to get to the finish line in the regular season and earn that championship distinction.
From a season-opening loss to San Francisco to having the postseason profoundly affected by the pandemic before a final loss to another mid-major foe, U.Va. (18-6) had its season bookended by coronavirus complications.
U.Va., 13-4 in ACC play, played San Francisco in Uncasville, Connecticut, only as a last-minute schedule adjustment when Florida had to cancel because the Gators’ program was dealing with coronavirus issues.
Leading up to the Ohio game, U.Va. had just one full practice after coming off a week-long quarantine that began after the Cavaliers had a positive coronavirus test within its program after their ACC Tournament quarterfinal win against Syracuse, resulting in the Cavaliers bowing out of the remainder of the ACC Tournament.
U.Va.’s 17-day quarantine in December caused the cancellation of games against Michigan State and Villanova, and brought about a hastily-arranged matchup against No. 1 Gonzaga, which defeated the Cavaliers 98-75. Winners in 15 of its next 17 games, U.Va. claimed the ACC regular-season title on the last day of the season with some help from Florida State’s hiccup against Notre Dame.
“I think it showed a lot of discipline out of our guys and a lot of resiliency throughout the whole year,” said senior forward Sam Hauser, a transfer from Marquette who earned first-team All-ACC distinction while leading U.Va. with 16 points per game along with 6.8 rebounds per game. “We had a couple times where we had a little COVID pause, we missed a couple games. Our opponents have had COVID pauses, which caused us not to be able to play them. Everything was so uncertain. You never know what the next day was going to bring.
“That’s hard to deal with for — however. I think we’ve been on campus since July. Just dealing with that, just being able to be around each other, getting to know each other better was huge for us.”
While Hauser played just one season in Charlottesville, 7-foot-1 forward Jay Huff and guard Tomas Woldetensae have also wrapped up senior seasons that ended a little too soon for their liking. U.Va. went 3-4 in its last seven games.
Huff, a second-team All-ACC selection who averaged 13 points per game and team highs with 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, leaves as the last scholarship player in U.Va.’s frontcourt to have had a hand in raising the 2019 national championship banner in John Paul Jones Arena.
“One for the ages, for sure,” said Bennett of this season. “I’m sure I’ll reflect and have some better insights on it. It was a lot . ... I think it was just hanging in there and enduring and growing, enjoying times together, kind of suffering through the rough stuff.”