That looked familiar

So some time during last night's National Championship game, I realized that the game was starting to remind me a lot of Virginia's huge game against Duke back in January in Charlottesville. When everything seemed to be going Wisconsin's way, I tweeted this:

A few minutes later, when Grayson Allen and Tyus Jones started to help Duke get back into the game and ultimately take the lead, I tweeted this:

Ultimately, the game ended up being a LOT like the Duke-Virginia game. Duke seized the game from Wisconsin the same way they seized the game from Virginia back in January.

Today, I wanted to go back and look at just how similar the two games were.

Well, it turns out that my hunch last night was pretty spot on. The two games were nearly identical. In both games, Duke started strong and built a decent lead in the first half. Against Virginia, Duke led 22-17 with 5:15 left in the half. Against the Badgers, Duke led 23-17 with 5:56 remaining. Then, both Virginia and Wisconsin closed the half strong and tightened the games.

Both UVA and Wisconsin carried the momentum they had built at the end of the first half into the second half, as each team built leads over the Blue Devils. The main difference is that Virginia led for longer (the Hoos led for 14:42 in the 2nd half) and by a larger margin (as large as 11 with 9:40 to play) than the Badgers did. Still, it's pretty remarkable how similar the two stretches were.

The biggest similarity between the two games, however, was how Duke finished. Each game featured a moment where it seemed like a light switch flipped on for the Blue Devils. In the Virginia game, that moment came with 5:08 left in the game, as Tyus Jones converted a 3 point play to cut the deficit from 9 to 6 points. This was immediately following Justise Winslow's infamous technical foul, which ultimately ended up being a 4 point play for the Hoos. Prior to Winslow's technical, Duke had cut the Virginia lead to 2, and seemed to be right back in the game. But UVA took Duke's punch, and punched right back (not literally, although almost literally, as Justin Anderson somehow resisted the urge to retaliate against Winslow for his bogus/potentially dangerous play). But then, as I said before, it was as if the lights switched on for Duke. Following the 4 point trip resulting from Winsolw's technical, Duke went on a 22-7 run, including scoring the game's last 11 points.

The "light-switch" moment in the Wisconsin game came a bit earlier than in the Virginia game. When Frank Kaminsky finished at the rim with 13:23 left, he gave the Badgers a 9 point lead, their biggest of the game. In response, Coach K called Duke's 3rd timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Duke freshman Grayson Allen nailed a three pointer and followed it up by diving on the floor for a near steal on the other end. On the next possession, Allen finished off an and-1 play and the Devils were right back in the game. But like Virginia, Wisconsin seemed to have an answer, as Nigel Hayes hit a clutch three to push the Badgers' lead back to 5.

However, from there on out, as well all now, it was all Duke. Once the Blue Devils regained the lead, it seemed pretty clear to all watching that they were not going to give it back.

Anyways, I am not really sure what my message is in this post other than that I thought it was interesting to see how similar the two games were. In the end, Duke won both games (in my opinion, their two biggest/gutsiest wins of the year), for two main reasons. First, they hit shots. No Virginia fan will ever forget what Duke's guards did at the end of the meeting in January. It was so unbelievable, that many if not most members of the media did not really treat Virginia's loss to Duke as a loss. It was pretty common to hear something like, "Yeah they lost to Duke, but it was kind of a fluke. Did you see the ending?!?" Well, maybe it wasn't a fluke after all.

The second reason they won these two big games? They made stops. A lot of people (including myself) liked to rag on this Duke team because they had some embarrassing losses. Well those happened because of their complete lack of identity on defense. If they ran into a team that could score, they were in big trouble. This is the main reason why I honestly doubted they could make a deep run in March. The team I saw all year had far too many holes on defense to win 6 games in 3 weeks against top notch competition. But this wasn't the team I saw all year. Duke's defense didn't just go from bad to serviceable in the tournament. It was legitimately good during the Final Four, and it's the main reason why they cut down the nets last night. Bottom line, Duke made stops, Wisconsin didn't.

For some reason, I haven't seen many Duke fans on my timeline the past few days complaining about how defense is ruining college basketball. I wonder why...

Senior Day Tribute to Darion Atkins

Around this time last year I wrote one of the most emotional pieces I have ever written on this site. It
was essentially a Senior Day tribute to Joe Harris, Akil Mitchell, and Thomas Rogers. To be honest, looking back on it, the post really wrote itself. Take Joe Harris, for instance. A coach's son from small-town Washington who decided to put his future in the hands of Tony Bennett by agreeing to follow him from Washington State to Virginia. Or Akil Mitchell, the recruit who has his scholarship offer from George Washington pulled, only to graduate college with the reputation as one of the best defenders in the country. Like I said, the stories pretty much wrote themselves. The only difficulty I had writing them was having to resist the temptation to write a 10,000 word post.

While both Joe and Akil's stories were incredible, they were somewhat predictable. As you watched them during their four years in Charlottesville, you began to realize that the progression of their careers nearly perfectly mirrored the progression of the program as a whole. As they grew and improved, so did the program (obviously, that is not a coincidence). Their final game seemed to be the culmination of everything. What better way to go out than to beat Syracuse to win the ACC in your final home game? In many ways, their stories were too perfect.

The same cannot be said about the story and career of Darion Atkins. Less than a year ago, after Virginia had just stumbled past Coastal Carolina to move on to the third round of the NCAA tournament, the frustration finally got to him. In a three month span in which everything seemed to be going right for the Virginia basketball program, the issue of Darion Atkins and his playing time was a kind of "elephant in the room." It was something that all fans were aware of, but few actually worried about, as the team was clearly finding ways to succeed despite whatever tension existed behind closed doors. Those that broached the topic did so mainly referring to its impact on next year, not this year. That changed in the locker room following the win over Coastal Carolina.

While others spoke about the game or the upcoming matchup with the Memphis Tigers, Atkins
vented about the decrease in his playing time to veteran Daily Press reporter Norm Wood:

“I can’t even express how frustrated I get sometimes. I feel like I want to talk a certain way to my coaches, or act a certain way, but I just have to keep it concealed. I mean, I don’t even really know what else to say. It’s really frustrating and I just have to stay positive.

“I feel like some guys mess up, and I don’t mess up. It just works on your head when you’re on the bench and you see people going in front of you and you just feel like you can not necessarily do better, but I just feel like I’m not really contributing.”

There was no more "elephant in the room." Fans stopped wondering about how Darion's lack of playing time would affect the team next year, and instead began to worry whether the issue could pose a threat to the current team's success. Other than a minor setback against Maryland, which most Virginia fans would probably say might have been a good thing, these comments represented the first sign of something going wrong with Virginia basketball in months. It became the topic of conversation in the media. That's not exactly a good thing for a team preparing to face a talented Memphis squad in less than 48 hours.

Looking back on the situation, it is clear that the comments had no impact on the team's results the rest of the way. Tony Bennett and the rest of the team understood that the words were simply the words of a frustrated kid who had more or less been dealt a bad hand, on more than one occasion. They were not indicative of some larger problem concerning Darion and the team. And yet, they did make outsiders wonder about his future at Virginia.

Some speculated that Atkins would graduate early and transfer to use his final year of eligibility at another school. Some wondered what next year's team would be like if he couldn't step up and be the leader that most seniors are expected to be. Many simply assumed that he would remain in Coach Bennett's "doghouse" and worried about the depth in the frontcourt.]

Few, if any, got it right.

Many "experts" will tell you that Justin Anderson is the most improved player in the country. While what Justin has done this year is incredible, I do not believe he is even the most improved player on his own team. That honor is reserved for Darion Atkins. I say this because it is one thing to work on your shot and offensive skillset in the offseason to try and prepare yourself to fill the shoes of Joe Harris. It was clear to Justin what he was working towards. The success of the team was going to depend greatly upon how much he improved, without question. It's another thing to put in all of that work when you're not even sure if you're going to play. It would have been so easy for Darion to just pack it in, not push himself in the offseason, and accept a small role coming of the bench on occasion. Thankfully, that wasn't good enough for him.

Instead, Darion DID put in the work, and then some. The first thing I noticed when the season began, and actually even earlier in the practice videos, was his physical transformation. He looked like he could have never been the skinny guy that he was just a short time ago. Then, you could tell that he had worked hard to become a contributor on offense. Just about every fan knew that Darion always had great potential, on both sides of the ball, but the question was whether that potential would ever become reliable production. We had seen him on the verge of making this step during the early part of his sophomore season. In the first few months of the 2012-2013 season, someone could have asked me, "Who has played the best basketball so far?" and my answer probably would have been Darion Atkins. He was sensational in a road upset of Wisconsin and a tough home win against Tennessee the following week. He was active on the glass on both ends and displayed tremendous improvement in his offensive ability. Many fans were extremely excited about the potential athleticism and versatility of a starting frontcourt of Atkins and Akil Mitchell. And then, Atkins got hurt.

I hate playing the "What if" game, but I will say that I do believe that both Virginia's 2012-2013 season and Darion's career would have turned out very differently had he not injured his shin. That was something that always bothered me. Losing him that year was frustrating, but that team still did some very nice things, and quite frankly, should have made the NCAA Tournament even in his absence. What really bothered me was that last year, when he made those controversial comments after the Coastal Carolina game, I realized that this could have all been avoided had he stayed healthy. He was on track to become on of Virginia's next great post players. I was so high on him that I really believed that he would be in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season last year, now that he was fully healthy. When his playing time decreased as the season went on, I really felt bad for him, and thought he got a raw deal. I didn't blame him for feeling frustrated. I got it.

I will, however, admit that I did not see this type of season from him coming. I thought that he would indeed step up and become a guy that could be relied upon as a solid contributor in the post, but when I thought of our frontcourt, I thought of Anthony Gill and Mike Tobey. While those players might have slightly more potential than Atkins, I really feel that Darion has been indispensable this year. I feel incredibly comfortable whenever he has the ball. He now shows the calmness and patience that you would expect from a senior.

This team would still be good even if Darion Atkins had decided to take the easy road and accepted a role coming off the bench in certain situations. He is not as absolutely essential to the team's success as guys like Malcolm Brogdon, Justin Anderson, or London Perrantes. But this team isn't just good; it is historically good. That sort of thing only happens when guys like Darion Atkins buy in, something that he is clearly done.

Whether right or wrong, Senior Day's are often tied up and associated with "legacies". Sometimes when you hear enough stories about guys like Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell, you forget that things don't always work out perfectly. The path to success isn't always linear, in fact, it rarely ever is. Few fans spent much time thinking about the legacies of Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell because everyone always knew how much they meant to the program, even before the incredible run last year.

I have always wondered what Darion's legacy will be. While he came to the school as part of recruiting class with Paul Jesperson and Malcolm Brogdon, he'll be the only scholarship senior honored tomorrow afternoon. I wonder what the reaction is going to be like. It will be near impossible to top last year's incredible ceremony. But I hope the fans realize what guys like Darion Atkins mean to a program. These days, more often than not, when a player struggles to find playing time, they look for it elsewhere instead of being patient and working to improve. UVA has seen at least one player transfer every year for I don't even know how many years. And yet, tomorrow we get the chance to honor a guy who was patient and chose to fight his frustration by working his butt off instead of looking for an easy way out. Before this season, it was common to see or hear Virginia fans say, "We'll be good this year, but we'll be GREAT the next year."

UVA is great this year, and for that, we can thank Darion Atkins.

Showdown in South Bend

When I went back to review last year's matchups between Virginia and Notre Dame, I realized something. Virginia's win in South Bend last year sort of set the tone for the rest of its season. What I mean by this is that we as fans started to look at that team differently after what they did to the Irish. It wasn't just that Virginia won, or even that they won by a wide margin, but rather it was the way they played. I think if you went and asked Virginia fans what game was the most fun to watch of the incredible 2013-2014 season, that road win against the Irish would be right up there with the wins against Syracuse, Duke, and Memphis. That says something. Against Syracuse, it was a Senior Day blowout to clinch the ACC regular season title. The win against Duke gave Virginia its first ACC tournament title since 1976. And the thrashing of Memphis allowed Wahoo fans to dance their way into the Sweet 16. It's easy to understand why fans would have fun during those games. But then you have that Notre Dame game. It was a game Virginia was expected to win, even on the road. The Irish still had plenty of weapons, even with the loss of their star player Jerian Grant. They proved that they could still be dangerous by beating a top 10 Duke team shortly after losing Grant for the season. But still, this was a game that if Virginia was as good as its fans believed they were, or could be, they should go into South Bend and leave with a win. That they did, but again the reason why I'm even discussing this game with the likes of the Syracuse, Duke, and Memphis games is because of how Virginia played.

If you need a refresher, check this out...



Or if you're short on time, this will suffice.

Basically, Virginia went into Purcell Pavilion and put on a clinic. I hate using a cliche like that, but honestly that's what it was. If you want to see how a team ought to play on both ends of the floor, just watch that game. It was incredible.

It started with the defense, as UVA employed the post trap early and often against Notre Dame's most bearded post player, Garrick Sherman (not to be confused with Jean Valjean).

Sherman really struggled against the double team and turned the ball over, leading to some easy transition buckets for Virginia, including Malcolm Brogdon's "Hollywood" slam.

The Cavs also played beautiful basketball on the offensive end. One of the main reasons the game was so much fun to watch, especially on TV was to hear Bob Knight and Digger Phelps gush over London Perrantes as if he was the second coming of Bob Cousy (Knight would later refer to him as the best point guard in the country). London gave them plenty to talk about, too, as this game effectively served as his coming out party.

Anyways, for a number of reasons, the game was incredibly and somewhat surprisingly enjoyable to watch. It was the first test of a BIG week for Virginia, as UVA would head to then #18 Pittsburgh for a Super Bowl Sunday showdown with the Panthers. It was a game that in the past, Virginia probably would have lost, killing the momentum they had built up by winning 6 of their last 7 games since the Tennessee debacle. But there was no letdown, and that is why I'm spending so much time discussing this game. I truly believe that what we were able to do that night in South Bend is a big reason where the program is where it is right now. Obviously, a lot of things happened in between that beautiful win and starting 14-0 and earning the #3 ranking, but that performance seemed foreshadow the success. It was, in a sense, the start of the incredible journey that continued into last season and still continues even today.

I say all of this because I think there's a decent chance that journey hits a bump in the road tonight. This year's Notre Dame team is very, very good. Sort of like Virginia, they do what they do, and they do it well, and what they do is play flawless offense. Any Mike Brey team is going to be a good passing and shooting team, but this one is possibly his best. They have guys that really know each other and understand how to play well together.

Obviously, it all starts with Jerian Grant. We all saw how valuable he was to that team last year when they nosedived to the bottom of the conference with his absence. Some fans will ask, "how are we going stop Jerian from scoring?" and while that is clearly an important question, it's not the one that concerns me the most. That would be, "how are we going to stop Jerian from distributing?" While Grant is a fantastic scorer, it's almost as if he scores just so he can make it easier to set up opportunities for his teammates. He's not a terrible three point shooter, but he knows that he's got guys like Pat Connaughton, Steve Vasturia, VJ Beachem, and Demetrious Jackson to kick it to, and since 3>2, he realizes that the best way for him to help his team is by attacking, breaking down the defense, and setting up clean looks for his hot-shooting teammates.

That's really what this matchup will be about: how deep will Jerian Grant be able to penetrate into the lane. If he gets into the paint often, UVA will be in serious trouble, as he'll not only be able to convert close to the basket, but he'll almost surely be setting up 1-2 WIDE open looks for his teammates. That's exactly what he did against the Tar Heels on Monday. He only made one shot from the field, but he won that game with his 8 assists. Good shooting teams are tough to stop as it is, but when you have an athlete like Grant that can break a defense down, that's when these types of teams become terrifying.

Thankfully, Virginia will be prepared for this. They know that the way for Notre Dame to win depends upon their ability to get the ball into the lane. As everyone already knows, Virginia's pack line is prevent this from happening. Yes, pack line teams will always be a bit more vulnerable from three, but that really only becomes an issue when teams can successfully break down the defense, forcing perimeter defenders to sag even further off their men.

So that's the main question of this game. If UVA and the pack line can stop Grant from getting into the lane, it should be able to limit Notre Dame's offensive opportunities. If this happens, Virginia will certainly win the game. That being said, another thing to keep an eye on is what's happening in the post. The Cavs have an enormous advantage in the post, in size, talent, depth, experience...you name it. Notre Dame's lone reliable post player is Zach Auguste. That's pretty much it. They have guys like Austin Torres and former UVA recruit Martin Geben who may see some time, but neither of those guys are anywhere near the level of Virginia's three headed monster of Anthony Gill, Mike Tobey, and Darion Atkins. Heck, personally I don't even think Auguste is any better than any of those three. So offensively, it will be important for Virginia to work inside out, getting those post players as many touches as possible. Look for Notre Dame to test out some post traps to try and limit the mismatch, but I'm not sure how effective that will be. If UVA can get some buckets down low early or even better, get Auguste into foul trouble, then they could get a firm grasp on this game.

And really, that's what it's all about. I think the team that wins this game is going to be the team that forces the opponent to adjust to them, and not the other way around. I know, "duhhh" but this game especially will depend upon which side feels like they are in control. For Virginia, this would happen by getting the ball inside and executing in the post on offense, and preventing penetration on defense. For Notre Dame, it would involve moving the ball across the court and forcing Virginia to play small to keep up. One of the main reasons why this program is rolling right now is because the team has been so darn good at establishing this type of control that I'm referring to. The past few games, however, we have seen Virginia show a remarkable lack of control. If UVA figures it out, I think this game could be a lot like the game in South Bend last year. If not, however, we might see out first loss since March. I'm not going to give any sort of prediction other than the only outcomes that would surprise me are a blowout loss and a close win. I think this is going to be one of those games where Virginia shows up and rolls (like they did against VCU) or continues to struggle a bit and comes up just short on the road.

My hunch is that we show up. I can't see this team playing poorly 4 games in a row. It still would not surprise me at all if Notre Dame won because they are a legitimately good team that could hurt us in a few ways, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this team isn't quite ready to lose. Not yet...