I was raised by my father with an inordinate amount of love for Virginia sports, especially hoops. I remember hollering at the TV in fourth grade as Bryant Stith and the Cavs downed Notre Dame for the NIT championship (at the time, I didn't realize that only made us the 65th best team in the nation). But for me it didn't matter, because from that moment on I was hooked... Harold Deane, Cornel Parker, Cory Alexander, Norman Nolan, Junior Burrough, Curtis Staples were all household names as far as I was concerned. My first UVa hoops game in person was at Stanford with my Dad. We got smoked by Brevin Knight AND his sociology of money. The next year my brother, my buddy Kane and I went to ARCO Arena in Sacramento for a second round NCAA tourney game between Virginia (7th seed) and Arizona (2nd seed). Unfortunately for us, Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudemire dominated enroute to a Final Four appearance for the Wildcats. The following year, however, a more seasoned Wahoo team knocked off top seeded Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen before bowing out to Corliss Williamson and the Razorbacks in the Elite Eight. All big moments for me as I watched ACC basketball feverishly even though I lived on the West Coast through junior high. Twenty-win seasons and NCAA tourney births were commonplace in the mid-90's for UVa. Then coach Jeff Jones took off and Pete Gillen took the reins. After some growing pains, the Cavaliers returned to the big dance in 2001 when Benny Boy and I were just first years. Upset in the first round by Gonzaga. Haven't been back since. Respectable as a team, dangerous at home, but little else...
***
On Janurary 28th of this year I was in San Francisco visiting friends, squeezing 40s and tripping over the curbs on the most beautiful streets in the world. The Bears were one week away from the Superbowl. The Bulls were halfway through another slightly above average season. The Cubs were only two weeks away from pitchers and catchers. These were the only teams I truly had on my on my radar as I tossed my big Chicago belly through familiar double doors in those old gin joints on slanted streets with good friends, howling laughter and carrying on. Little did I realize that this day would also kickstart a dormant passion that, as my esteemed collegeue wrote below, consistently tantalized but rarely followed through. I watched this replay on the TV's above and marveled at this team, seemingly marginalized in another deep ACC field, clawing its way up...
Virginia down 63-49 with 5:05 left scored 15 straight to win by one.
Not the deepest Uva team I've ever seen, but it's inconsequential with heart like that. Selection Sunday can't come soon enough...
Boston College 9-3 18-7
North Carolina 8-3 22-4
Virginia Tech 8-3 18-7
Virginia 8-3 17-7
Duke 6-6 19-7
Clemson 5-6 19-6
Maryland 5-6 19-7
Georgia Tech 5-6 17-8
Florida State 5-7 17-9
North Carolina State 3-8 13-11
Miami (FL) 3-8 10-15
Wake Forest 3-9 12-13
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