Before national championship game that would complete a seasonlong catharsis, Virginia coach Tony Bennett told his team, "You guys faced pressure nobody in the history of the game has faced."
Coaches can often become prisoners of the moment—not to mention prone to hyperbole—but there was merit to Bennett's proclamation. A year ago his top-seeded Cavaliers lost their NCAA tournament opener to Maryland-Baltimore County, becoming the first No. 1 seed to fall to a No. 16 since the field expanded to 64 in 1985. The 2019 Big Dance was a salvage mission for once-again top-seeded UVa—the program's belief in its record-setting Pack Line defense was at stake.