Tears of joy this year for champ Virginia
A year after historic upset, Cavaliers bask in limelight
Cavaliers find “the best way to end the story” a year after NCAA debacle
MINNEAPOLIS – Virginia fans flooded the streets around Marquette Hotel late Monday night, and pandemonium set in as their storybook team arrived. Players walked off the bus, national championship trophy in tow, and chants of “U-V-A” erupted.
Kyle Guy, the Final Four’s most outstanding player, alluded to the contrast from 2018’s season finale.
“A little bit different this time,” Guy said following Virginia’s 85-77 overtime win over Texas Tech in the national title game.
Last year, a police escort following the Cavaliers’ historic loss to Maryland-Baltimore County — a first for a No. 1 seed to a No. 16 — came as a result of death threats and criticism.
This time it was to protect them from the crush of admirers.
“This is the best way to end the story we’ve been trying to close for a while now,” says Guy, who had 24 points against Texas Tech and made three game-winning free throws against Auburn to send UVa to the title game. “To all the doubters, I just want to say, thank you. You’re not the why, but you definitely added fuel to the fire . ... Everything we’ve been through, it was for a reason.”
There were tears everywhere Monday night. But they were much different from last March.
There was Guy’s fiancee, Alexa Jenkins, crying as Guy, her partner since
eighth grade, accomplished his childhood dream and shed his team’s can’twin-in-March label by cutting down the nets in April.
“She was crying a little bit. She’s not the crier,” Guy says, cracking a smile. “I’m the emotional one. I’m gonna cry like a baby when it all sets in.”
Then there was Ty Jerome’s embrace with his parents, Mark Jerome and Melanie Walker, as confetti fell on the court.
“As soon as the whistle blew, I ran right to them,” says Jerome, who had 16 points and eight assists. “All that they’ve sacrificed for me, I just wanted to share it with them.”
Jerome, gripping the national championship trophy, whispered “I love you” into his mother’s ear.
“We were in the hotel last year — me, my Mom and my Dad. There were a lot of tears,” Jerome said. “We just couldn’t believe what happened. We thought we were gonna win it last year. Obviously, we weren’t ready.”
His mother recalls consoling her sobbing son. “It’s worth all the pain and the heartbreak now. They went through a really hard time. We were walking around in a fog. The No. 1 overall seed losing? They made history, and not the way you want to make history. They remade it this year.”
Mark Jerome recalled memories as he watched his son help cut down the net. It was Jerome’s assist to De’Andre Hunter with 12 seconds left in regulation that sent the game to overtime.
“I put the ball in his crib when we came home from the hospital, and people thought I was crazy,” Mark Jerome recalled, his voice cracking with emotion. “I remember him dribbling to school with two basketballs down the street. It was all coming back to me watching in the stands. I used to take him to the Final Four as a kid and we’d watch together. I remember sitting in the stands with him and thinking, ‘What if this dream actually came true for him?’ ”
Virginia coach Tony Bennett backed away from his team on stage after the game. He sat and watched the “One Shining Moment” montage. Malcolm Brogdon, the Bucks guard who helped Bennett build the program into a contender from 2011 to 2016, shook his head in awe. “It’s a dream come true,” Brogdon said.
It was Brogdon’s era that put Virginia in the national discussion five years ago. Ultimately, though, those decorated Cavaliers teams could never break through.
Mamadi Diakite, who saved Virginia in the Elite Eight against Purdue with a tying buzzer-beater, says the Cavaliers’ last three games — each considered among the tournament’s most enthralling — were a result of the team’s focus after last year’s embarrassment.
“When other teams started making (runs) at us, we kept having faith the whole time,” said Diakite, who shared his moment over the phone with family members in his native Guinea. “I was on the stage after the game like, ‘Wow, we’re champions?’ Then you think about how focused we were for every game, how hard we worked, and then you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re supposed to win.’ … UMBC was actually good for us. It was a learning lesson. Now we’re champions. Lesson learned.”
For a national championship game that was projected to be a boring defensive slugfest, Monday night’s overtime thriller was must-watch stuff. Associate coach Jason Williford says UVa’s methodical offense and pack-line defense have gotten a bad rap.
“I love the way we play,” Williford says. “We’re not ever going to apologize for that. I’ve heard it all: We couldn’t win in the tourney, we can’t recruit guys, we can’t turn guys into pros.
“Yeah, well guess what? We’re national champs. So we’re going to keep doing what we do.”
Asked if he could’ve scripted a better close to Virginia’s remarkable comeback story, Guy said, “Man, hell no.”