I’m not sure what whoever it was that asked Virginia coach Tony Bennett the question was thinking, trying to butter up a coach whose team just got waxed, again, I guess.
The question was about the timeout that Bennett called after Wake Forest had opened the second half on a 10-2 run to go up 14.
“Are you still encouraged by what you’re seeing in those team settings, guys still trying to get through it, push through it?”
The game never got closer than 12 after that timeout.
There was nothing for Bennett to be encouraged about with whatever he saw during that timeout, or any of the subsequent timeouts.
His team showed nothing in terms of fire, betrayed no sense of being pissed off that things are going the way they are right now.
This is why I don’t haunt the media room after games; I’d hate to be the a-hole pointing out what seems obvious, and Tony seems like a nice guy, and doesn’t need me needling him.
Anyway.
I loved Tony’s answer.
He could’ve taken the, we’re still battling through it, still plugging away road, and didn’t.
His answer, transcribed:
“What I said, after the game, I said, Look, I said, anybody can have a good culture and good team character and buy-in when you’re successful. This is the time, when you’re struggling, and you’re getting humbled. Will you have a good team culture? Will you show character will you show up on Monday, and work as hard as you can, and we keep figuring out stuff as coaches, as players?
“Either you’re about what we value in our program, you’re legitimately humble, because we’re getting humbled, and you’re going to be passionate and competitive, and stay unified and serve each other, and then as much as it stinks, thankful for what this is teaching you. Because it’s teaching valuable stuff. Either you’re about that, or you’re not.
“For a number of years, it’s been easier, might have been a tough loss here or there, at a certain time, but this is the time, and that’s why talk about, don’t grow weary in doing good, for in due time, and I don’t know when that due time is, is it the next game, is it down the road, you will reap a harvest. And this is pouring into all of us, what we’re about, our perspective, how we go about it, are we going to hang our head, are we going to talk, you’ll hear stuff, you just keep plugging, and that’s invaluable.
“I know we’re judged on wins and losses, but in the long run, there’s a bigger picture going on, and you know, you find out what your identity is about. But you find out what your culture is in these times. We have, they’re our boys, they’re good young men, and we just fight through it together and figure this out, and we’ll see what happens.”
The money quote from all of that: “Either you’re about that, or you’re not.”
I’d like to think that hearing the coach say this would light a fire under the team, but I’ve been thinking that since the Northeastern game back before Christmas.
Virginia is 2-4 with four double-digit losses since that one.
This season is on the brink; Bennett, in that long, thoughtful answer to a dumb question, is acknowledging as much.
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Chris Graham
