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APRIL 2018 15 by Jerome opened the door for Louisville to make a charge and the Cardinals led by four with 0.9 seconds left. A pair of mistakes, though, doomed their potential upset and a win that surely would've locked up a spot in the Big Dance. Jerome was fouled shooting a three-pointer and then, after he made two before attempt- ing to intentionally miss the third, Deng Adel traveled on the ensuing inbounds following a lane violation. The play UVA ran ended with an open look for Hunter on the wing left and he banked it in to finish off perhaps the most improbable comeback in ACC history. After beating Notre Dame 62-57 to close out the regular season, UVA had wrapped up one of the most staggering runs in league history. Finishing 17-1 — with the lone loss coming by one point in overtime on a last- second basket — the Hoos won the ACC by four games and locked up another double- bye in the league tournament. Over the past five years, UVA's 73-17 league record is the best in the ACC — 10 games better than both Duke and North Carolina (63-27). Returning to the Barclays Center, the Cavaliers had another strong showing in Brooklyn. Led by Guy's 19 points (while playing with a knee brace after suffering an MCL sprain in the Notre Dame game), UVA opened with a 75-58 win over Louisville and then beat Clemson again the next night, this time by a six-point margin. That victory set up another matchup with North Carolina in the ACC title game, with the Hoos putting four in double figures in a 71-63 win. Guy, after scoring a team- high 16 points, was named the event's most outstanding player and it sent the Cavaliers — the first program to post 20 victories versus ACC foes, nine of which made the Big Dance and four of which advanced to the Sweet 16, in a single season — into the NCAA Tournament on a high. But Hunter, who was chosen as the ACC's Sixth Man of the Year, was diagnosed with a broken wrist two days later, and the Hoos would miss him greatly once they arrived in Charlotte, N.C., for the start of the NCAA Tournament. After making history in league play, they made just 4 of 22 attempts from three-point territory and watched as Jairus Lyles (28 points) led the Retrievers to a 74-54 win that ended UVA's season. Bennett, tabbed as both the ACC and Na- tional Coach of the Year (U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Associated Press, Nai- smith and National Association of Basket- ball Coaches), was a model of humility in defeat. And with some time removed from the loss, it's starting to become easier to put the season into perspective. "It absolutely does not take away what the regular season and conference tourna- ment were for our guys," he said. "That stuff's strong. But you feel the sting. Little by little, it certainly gets better, and you learn to appreciate it. I think the young men are resilient. "I think people have been wonderful." UVA will move on without Hall, Johnson and Wilkins (who was chosen as the league's Defensive Player of the Year), and also as- sociate head coach Ron Sanchez, who was hired as the next head coach at Charlotte following the conclusion of the season. "I'm so excited," Bennett said, "and thankful and sad that we're going to lose Coach Sanchez. But for him to get a head job … he's been like a brother to me. We've been together now 15 years. "He has done so much for my career. … Now it's his chance." Overall, the message Bennett has given to his players in the wake of the UMBC loss is exactly the type of inspiration one would imagine he'd lay out for his squad. "It's going to sting," he said he told the team. "'You're going to feel down. You're going to feel discouraged. That's human nature. That's stuff that you'll process through. The one thing you better not do is feel ashamed or shameful. That's unaccept- able for what you did.' "'You have an unbelievable opportunity,'" Bennett added. "'If they see you … han- dling losing and adversity in the right way, you have no idea the influence you'll have.' … This is life. This is going to build a perse- verance and a character in them." "The season, it's not the way I would've chosen obviously how it ended, but as some time has progressed I am start- ing to appreciate more and more all that our young men did to accomplish what they did with the regular-season and conference tournament championships. I love the NCAA Tournament and I hate the NCAA Tournament. That maybe sums up right now how I'm feeling." HEAD COACH TONY BENNETT Fourth-year forward Isaiah Wilkins was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year, earned a spot on the league's All-Defensive team for the second straight year and served as a team tri-captain. PHOTO BY MATT RILEY/COURTESY UVA