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FEBRUARY 2018 17 Wilkins and Jack Salt live a few doors down in the opposite direction. Ask Guy what's most annoying to him about Jerome, and he'll just laugh before asking, "Where do I start?" "It's like brotherly annoying," he makes clear. "It's never to the point where we can't actually stand the other person. … He will say something to get under your skin to get you mad and he'll just antagonize you for no reason. "Some days I'm in the mood for it and I laugh it off, and some days I am definitely not in the mood for it and he hears about it." When they were still in high school, Guy came out to New York to play alongside Jerome in the Mary Kline Classic charity event and he stayed with Jerome's family for a few days. "I was right about everything I thought of him," Jerome said with a laugh. "I think the only misconception other people might have about him, like fans or media, is that he's cocky. "He's not cocky. He's confident. But I was definitely right about everything I thought about him being annoying. He does a little bit of that every day. "He's relaxed a little bit with the whole social media thing, but he's just an outgoing guy," Jerome added. "That's his personality. Sometimes you're in the mood for it, some- times you're not." Now, with another ACC title chase ahead and a potentially deep run coming in March, the camaraderie is proving beneficial in all the right ways. "I think everyone has the same long-term goal," Jerome said. "I think that goes with- out saying. But I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. I just honestly love practicing every day, I love being around this team every day, and it's truly a special team off the court too. "It's not lip service. I really do love being around these guys." "Everyone in this locker room has the same mindset and goal, and that's to win," Guy said. "We want to get to the Final Four and a national championship. So if someone is killing it and we're playing well, we're going to just feed off of him and continue to get that guy the ball. And if he passes, we need to be ready to knock down shots." In just their second-year seasons, Jerome and Guy are playing the way Bennett be- lieved they could and would. And he still has two more years of them being on the court together and bugging each other off of it. Turns out, Jerome and Guy ended up fit- ting exactly how he had hoped they would even if the rest of the country missed out. "When you know," Bennett said with a smile, "you know." Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome each signed with UVA in the class of 2016 and played in all 34 games as first-years during the 2016-17 season. Through Jan. 30 of this year, they have also each started all 21 of UVA's games and have led the team in scoring more often than not. It's fair to project that the tal- ented pair of guards will have careers that seem very much intertwined from this point forward. UVA has had a number of backcourt mates in the mold of Guy and Jerome. Most recently, the combination of London Perrantes (the school record holder with 132 starts and 4,425 minutes played) and Malcolm Brogdon (a three-time All-ACC pick who was a consensus All-American during his days in orange and blue) helped put Virginia basketball back on the national map. The pair, now playing in the NBA, led the Cavaliers to an ACC title and a pair of regular-season crowns under head coach Tony Bennett. Brogdon, who had his number retired last year, was the first player in league history to win both the overall player and defensive player of the year awards in the same season. Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds also formed a rather for- midable duo in the late 2000s under head coach Dave Leitao. They were each named to the 2007 All-ACC first team and Singletary was not only a three-time All-ACC selection, but was also an All-American who had his number retired on Feb. 15, 2009. Before them was the combination of Curtis Staples, who held the NCAA's three-point shooting record (413) before Duke's J.J. Redick broke it in 2006, and Harold Deane, who is just six points ahead of Staples to rank 10th all time at UVA in scoring (1,763 points). In the mid-1990s, they helped several of head coach Jeff Jones' teams reach the postseason. Deane remains part of a tie for the school record for both assists in a game (14) as well as made three-pointers in a row (eight). One of the toughest guards in ACC history, he also finished his career playing the most average minutes in UVA history (35). And who could forget the combination of guards Othell Wilson and Ricky Stokes having a big impact during the Ralph Sampson Era? From 1981-84, Wilson (a three-time All-ACC pick) and Stokes played a combined 261 games and also amassed a combined total of more than 700 assists for the Cavaliers. — Brad Franklin CARRYING ON UVA'S TRADITION OF STRONG GUARD PLAY Guy made a three-pointer in each of Virginia's first 21 contests this season and scored in double figures 18 times while pacing the team with his average of 15.2 points per game. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA