Recapping Tony's 15-minute Zoom with reporters following Sunday night's announcement that UVA will host Mississippi State in the first round of the NIT at 7p Wednesday:
Coaching against Ben Howland:
Boy, when I was at Washington State and he had those UCLA teams that went to three straight Final Fours, he had his teams so ready. They were always so physical, so tough, and they had great talent. But I thought he was one of the best coaches, going against that. That was the gold standard of our conference back then, and again, any coach that can lead his team to that many Pac10 titles and then go to three straight Final Fours and do what he did was impressive. Like I said, always had great respect for his teams, and how hard he got them to play and how well he got them to play. And he’s, what I’ve watched so far you can see they’re physical, they’re tough. They were in a terrific league and played a lot of teams really close, and had some big wins as well. You’re always fighting for that next level. We talk about the fine line and it looked like his team was right there in a lot of games. Much respect for coach.
Jayden Gardner’s first winning season:
I think that was important, even after a real hard loss against Carolina, for him to say that. That is perspective. I think for someone for Jayden and this team—besides Kihei, that played on the national championship team, and then Reece last year, who played significant minutes—none of these other guys have either played really much at all, or played on a team that is fighting for postseason play, in that regard, or had a role.
So I think that was important, and the reality that he acknowledged that, and then the fact that this team has gotten rewarded to play in an NIT. Of course, the ultimate goal is to play in an NCAA Tournament and then advance, but this is, when I watched the pairing show on ESPNU and our name came up, I still was very grateful, because there’s 64 or 68—we’re still at 68, right, in the NCAA Tournament? They haven’t changed that? With the way the rules are changing you never know, right? They might have slipped some in there. But there’s 68, but then there’s only 32 more teams. And if you’re one of those teams selected, that’s good. I was vey grateful and even excited about the opportunity to, with this team, go on.
And so for Jayden to be in a situation like that, Armaan, guys who have not played in postseason, and then the rest of our guys who have not really played, to be in this spot, I think it’s a reward first of all, just like when you get into the NCAA Tournament, for a season. And this season, maybe it’s not like seasons past, the last eight years, but it still was a 19-win, 12-8, to get a chance to play in an NIT Tournament that they don’t just hand out bids to.
What can be gained by playing in NIT:
I think we’re a six-seed, and obviously playing the three-sided, you’re playing a team, and because of how the NIT works I guess they couldn’t host it. So it’s here.
You just want tournament experience, playing experience and to play as well as you can. And the reality of our team this year, you guys have covered us, is this: We’re that team that when we’ve played tough and well, have been able to win some really exciting, good games against tough opponents. On the road, at home, and they’ve usually been close. And then at times we’re that team that has really struggled and we’ve gotten separated on, like you’ve seen against Carolina and just some of those games. And I told our guys the reality is you’re both of those teams. You just got to fight and choose and try to be the one that has shown that.
And so here you get an opportunity in a one-and-done situation to play against a team that’s good, and you get to grow in these experiences and then try to win and advance. So I think it’s important for our guys to have this experience and to be ready. You’ve got to move past not getting an NCAA bid, getting beat in the, the second or whatever round we were in in the ACC Tournament in the way we did, and then we‘ve got a couple of prep days and get ready to play and hopefully keep advancing.
So it’s a good opportunity and it still is a privilege to be invited to that tournament from definitely my perspective.
Coaching against Ben Howland:
Boy, when I was at Washington State and he had those UCLA teams that went to three straight Final Fours, he had his teams so ready. They were always so physical, so tough, and they had great talent. But I thought he was one of the best coaches, going against that. That was the gold standard of our conference back then, and again, any coach that can lead his team to that many Pac10 titles and then go to three straight Final Fours and do what he did was impressive. Like I said, always had great respect for his teams, and how hard he got them to play and how well he got them to play. And he’s, what I’ve watched so far you can see they’re physical, they’re tough. They were in a terrific league and played a lot of teams really close, and had some big wins as well. You’re always fighting for that next level. We talk about the fine line and it looked like his team was right there in a lot of games. Much respect for coach.
Jayden Gardner’s first winning season:
I think that was important, even after a real hard loss against Carolina, for him to say that. That is perspective. I think for someone for Jayden and this team—besides Kihei, that played on the national championship team, and then Reece last year, who played significant minutes—none of these other guys have either played really much at all, or played on a team that is fighting for postseason play, in that regard, or had a role.
So I think that was important, and the reality that he acknowledged that, and then the fact that this team has gotten rewarded to play in an NIT. Of course, the ultimate goal is to play in an NCAA Tournament and then advance, but this is, when I watched the pairing show on ESPNU and our name came up, I still was very grateful, because there’s 64 or 68—we’re still at 68, right, in the NCAA Tournament? They haven’t changed that? With the way the rules are changing you never know, right? They might have slipped some in there. But there’s 68, but then there’s only 32 more teams. And if you’re one of those teams selected, that’s good. I was vey grateful and even excited about the opportunity to, with this team, go on.
And so for Jayden to be in a situation like that, Armaan, guys who have not played in postseason, and then the rest of our guys who have not really played, to be in this spot, I think it’s a reward first of all, just like when you get into the NCAA Tournament, for a season. And this season, maybe it’s not like seasons past, the last eight years, but it still was a 19-win, 12-8, to get a chance to play in an NIT Tournament that they don’t just hand out bids to.
What can be gained by playing in NIT:
I think we’re a six-seed, and obviously playing the three-sided, you’re playing a team, and because of how the NIT works I guess they couldn’t host it. So it’s here.
You just want tournament experience, playing experience and to play as well as you can. And the reality of our team this year, you guys have covered us, is this: We’re that team that when we’ve played tough and well, have been able to win some really exciting, good games against tough opponents. On the road, at home, and they’ve usually been close. And then at times we’re that team that has really struggled and we’ve gotten separated on, like you’ve seen against Carolina and just some of those games. And I told our guys the reality is you’re both of those teams. You just got to fight and choose and try to be the one that has shown that.
And so here you get an opportunity in a one-and-done situation to play against a team that’s good, and you get to grow in these experiences and then try to win and advance. So I think it’s important for our guys to have this experience and to be ready. You’ve got to move past not getting an NCAA bid, getting beat in the, the second or whatever round we were in in the ACC Tournament in the way we did, and then we‘ve got a couple of prep days and get ready to play and hopefully keep advancing.
So it’s a good opportunity and it still is a privilege to be invited to that tournament from definitely my perspective.
