NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 18, 2024

Tony Bennett

UD Arena

Virginia Cavaliers

Media Conference

Q. Coach, your thoughts on the season and being back here in the NCAA Tournament.

TONY BENNETT: Really an up and down season, probably one of the more inexperienced teams that I've coached. This is my 15th year at Virginia, and with just the way college basketball is, we didn't have a lot of experience returning. And I probably shouldn't be talking about that knowing who we're playing because they're one of the most experienced teams.

But we had Reece Beekman. And I think you're going to see two of the best point guards go head to head tomorrow. I think Isaiah is special from what I'm seeing. And I know Reece is, and he is too.

But Reece was our guy who came back and the two guys up on the podium before me, Ryan played about 10 minutes a game and Isaac McKneely played about 20 minutes. The rest no one played. So it was all new. I didn't know what to expect.

We had a few games where we got blown out. And we had some late. But we always kind of bounced back, and their spirit was good and we kept fighting and found a way to finish third in the ACC -- and fought. And I think we improved as the season went on.

So to be able to position ourselves, and after a heartbreaking loss against NC State where I thought we played quality basketball, we didn't know if that was going to be -- at times the way this is this year, you think, I think that's enough, I think we're in. Then, well, everybody's on the bubble.

But we certainly sweated it out. So grateful for the opportunity, and I heard the last questions for Reece, for Jake and for Jordan, those guys. I've been fortunate to experience so many good things, and I'm grateful for that. But to see it for the young men who I know what they're about.

And that was a powerful moment when our name came up. It was real emotional, and it was exciting to celebrate with them because a lot of the brackets, I don't look into that, but one of our SID said or actually it was someone said, well, you're not on many of those brackets. So I don't know what your chances are. So I'm thankful to be here.

Q. You have experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows in this event. How does all that experience, has that developed the way you look at this thing, how you approach it? And is it a value at this time when you're trying to get a team ready and you can share whatever with them?

TONY BENNETT: I certainly have. And it's just one of those deals where you prepare as well as you can. You know -- I think even more this year, last year, the quality of teams, because of the transfer rule and even the extra year, you can kind of fix your team quick. I think the quality of the game is as good as it's been.

And so you prepare your team well. You know that you're going to have to execute. You're going to have to do things. The conference tournament kind of prepares you for that.

But you're thankful for the opportunity, excited, but you rely on your experiences. I just said in my opening statement, we only have one player that had played at Duke when we went there and only a couple of our guys had played in an ACC Tournament.

You never know, sometimes inexperience can be positive. You step into it. But you embrace the challenge and you just, possession by possession, play it out and know that nothing's guaranteed in this tournament. So much as we've talked about it being healthy, match-ups, how you're playing, and obviously opponents.

So, like I said, I have experienced both highs, and I mean both sides of it. It keeps you humble, for sure.

Q. With so little time to prepare for this game, what do you prioritize in these practices?

TONY BENNETT: Well, I think, you have to be true to who you are. And when we saw our name come up and it was Colorado State, and obviously knowing the job Niko has done -- I know Niko personally, and I think he's one of the better coaches. I don't know his age exactly. I was going to say better young coaches out there. But he's done great and the way his team plays.

So you know you're going to have to be as good as you can defensively to make them earn. You look at their point guard and their experience, but you pick three or four things and say, fellas, this is who we are. Let's be as good as we can and hopefully it's our best against their stuff. And, again, you're going to have to play a complete game. We understand that.

As I said, the tournament is why I think it was so hard probably for the selection committee, the tournament has improved with the teams and the age and the transfers and all that have added so much to the quality of the game from start to finish. So many upsets in conference tournaments, and I think that's a reflection of that.

You can't overcomplicate it. You don't have time to. You just have to be ready as you can. And when that ball's tipped, try to enjoy it but get after it.

Q. You played for your father in college for four years, and he was your head coach. So were you able to see anything from him as a head coach that you maybe could have applied to yourself as a head coach since you've been a head coach for 18 years now?

TONY BENNETT: I played at the Nutter Center at Wright State. I was at Wisconsin-Green Bay and played for him, played against Vitaly Potapenko. I don't know if people remember him. We were just talking about Bill Edwards, great players. Great league, and it's changed.

But playing for my father was one of the most enjoyable things and sometimes one of the most excruciating things all in one -- talking about the agony and the ecstasy of it. But he taught me so much.

I've learned from him, and I've said this often before, probably the greatest lesson I learned, that was a very fierce competitor and he demanded execution. But he would push you hard, but whenever he stepped across the line, he would apologize the next day or he would say, forgive me, I lost my temper.

I remember that always struck me because he would push you hard. I think that was a great lesson to learn because as coaches you don't have all the answers. We make mistakes. We screw up. And sometimes the heat-of-battle things happen. But if you can tell the young men, sorry, forgive me, we need you.

That's what I learned from him, among a bunch of other stuff basketball-wise and how -- I've never seen a coach, really, there's only a couple, and of course I'm biassed -- that could get more out of a team, that could find a way just to get teams to be competitive, I still marvel at that.

But that first thing I said is stuff that's lasting. I think that's the good stuff.

But thankful to play for him. And I coached with him. Probably coaching with him was a little easier than playing for him, but it was all good.

Q. As a coach, is there sometimes a helpless feeling when the free throws aren't dropping? And when a team is struggling from the line, do you talk about it, not talk about it, just go out and shoot more, or what?

TONY BENNETT: We've had a lot of opportunities this year and been in those spots and we've won almost all of our close games, and we've tried a lot of different things. You do the old drill, you put a guy at the free-throw line, the team's underneath. And if they miss you've got to down and back or different things. We've got competitions.

But I think at this stage less is more. You don't have time. You get your reps, you shoot them. And in these tight games free throws really matter.

So I always have confidence in our guys, but that has been a struggle most of the year. And I'm always, like I said, hopeful. But probably less is more at this stage. You encourage them. Say, hey, get the next one if you miss one and try to get the right people at the line.

But I think we were last in the league in free-throw shooting, and it wasn't for a lack of no one's trying to miss free throws; there has to be a rhythm and confidence. You've got to get there. No one's trying to miss them. You just.

Kind of get on to the next thing.

Q. Segues into my question about Isaac having missed the NC State, the end of the game, the ups and downs of everything. How happy are you for -- I know you're happy for your team to get this chance after that loss -- but how much also for Isaac feeling like I'm the guy that maybe let us down?

TONY BENNETT: No, he didn't. He played terrific. And Reece played terrific. And so for those guys -- look, I believe I made a mistake at the end of the game that we had two fouls.

We had decided to not foul -- we fouled a 3-point shooter before and then we talked as a team and said let's win it with our defense. We got a stop with 5 seconds left. Didn't foul. We were up three. Got the rebound. And Isaac went to the line. And I was going to call timeout but I didn't want to ice him, but should have -- if I could do that over, should have had the guys at the line and thinking about it now, maybe fouled on that spot because we had some to give.

Look, all that stuff happens. There's things in games -- basketball is a game of mistakes. It's the team that can knock down those mistakes. When I was talking about knocking down bad habits defensively or offensively -- not being perfect; there's going to be mistakes made. But you knock them down.

But the way he played in that game, the way Reece -- we wouldn't have even been in that game, in that spot, if those guys hadn't produced the way they did. Those are the guys we wanted at the line, for sure. And I think we missed, I don't know, made one out of five in the last 60 or 70 seconds which could have salted it way, but they played well to get to that spot.

I'm very grateful that they got this opportunity. That's why I think it was so emotional in the Selection Show when we were there because it's just you could feel that and there was a lot there.

Q. Obviously a lot of debate like every year as far as which teams on the bubble are going to make it, which teams won't. As a last 4 team in, is there maybe a sense of, okay, we want to prove that we deserve to be in here?

TONY BENNETT: You want to play well. You always start by being thankful. And we always are so thankful and grateful for the opportunity. But then you just want to play well. If you're trying to prove to everyone who says you're not good or you don't belong, that's a tiresome battle. You've got to look at your group and say let's play to our fullest abilities, let's go after this and get after it.

Who doesn't want to come into this NCAA Tournament and advance? So that part is there. But I think the excitement of getting in and then again knowing you're going to have to play well and you're going to have to execute on both ends to advance is where the focus is, and you think of it that way. That's at least our approach.

Q. So you talked about being on the bubble this year, which is a different position than your program is usually in. Could you talk a little bit about how the approach this year has been different as a bubble team than in years past when you're more of a --

TONY BENNETT: I think the last number of games, handful of games, six or seven games, every game was meaningful. And we knew that. And that is if you just sit there and fixate on that, that's tough. But you know you're playing in meaningful games, so you just lock into the execution, you lock into what you can do.

We kept talking about whether it's four minutes at a time or giving our best but holding a little bit loosely. I think then the guys started playing. You have a couple of big wins. We went to Duke and got crushed there and had to get back up again and go to BC, or play in the conference tournament.

So that situation and all those teams that are on the bubble understand that. That's a little different experience than, okay, we can drop one or go into the conference, maybe our seed drops.

I think it's important -- I always told our guys, it's good to be playing meaningful games this time of year. The alternative -- if it's not meaningful unless you're there, is not as good.

With our team and being -- I don't want to say this was a rebuilding year, but it was just a different year for us with the inexperience and Reece being the only guy that has played a significant amount, and then Isaac and Ryan. But it was a year that we didn't know quite what to expect, so we just kept head down, kept talking about it and put the blinders on, Kentucky Derby, the horses, they get blinders on, head down, run the race in front of you, don't look left or right. That's been kind of the approach for us always but especially being a team that was on the bubble.

Q. With the different experiences you've had playing at a smaller school, the different places you've coached, there's been things floating around about potential changes to the tournament, whether it's auto bids, expansion, whatever have you, wondering if you have any thoughts on those types of things?

TONY BENNETT: Obviously I played at Green Bay. We talked about that. Coached at Wisconsin with my father and Coach Ryan. And was an assistant with Coach Carr, doing a great job at Wisconsin. At Washington State where we were trying to build the program, and got left out -- if the numbers -- if the selection committee was the way it is now at Green Bay my senior year, lock, we were in.

I'll never forget, we had probably a couple hundred people, newspaper, celebrated, sat there, watched the brackets come out, boom, when we weren't in, I know that feeling.

As far as the tournament, the number it's at now, I think it's a good number. I don't think it should go a lot bigger, but if there's room to expand it and it makes sense timing-wise and maybe some of these teams that are on the bubble, whatever line you move it to, there's always going to be a bubble, right, and we'll find that out with the College Football Playoffs.

But I just think there's something special about the size it's at, maybe there's room for more, and I'm glad they expanded it to this site -- how long has it been since they've done that? 10 years. Good decision. Great decision.

But if it makes sense, certainly you do it. But you don't want to hurt the integrity of this thing and the quality of it.

Q. Maybe no one understands what Matt Painter's last 12 months have been like better than you do. Not that you've had a lot of free time. But have you, out of curiosity, just kind of kept an eye on them, see how they came back from that, how they're doing it, how they're going to do it this month as far as how they handled the whole thing?

TONY BENNETT: First of all, you talk about an unbelievable coach and man. He's special that way. I know Matt. I wouldn't say we're close friends, but respect him so much, and the way we got to the Final Four and Purdue and Elite Eight was one of the endings that goes down in the record books, I think, for how we won that game.

And as excited as I was, I felt for him at that time. But then seeing that happen, I didn't want to see that. I remember a couple of my coaches said, they texted me, they said I think we're going to have company.

And I wasn't watching that game at the time. I wasn't. I turned the game on and I felt some of those feelings and I was, like, no, I was hoping it wouldn't happen.

But it did. And, look, there's been a lot of that. The parity of the league is good. I did send Matt a text and we talked a time or two and saw him. But he's strong. And again how you deal with that will determine what happens. They've had a great year. Doesn't guarantee anything.

They have a good enough team, certainly, to win it all. You can see that. But I'm sure there's some things that he's had to deal with that no one else has. We have in our own ways.

And it is humbling, but it produces some things that wouldn't be produced without that experience because it becomes more about you and your young men, you and your family and those that you entrust yourself to, and it tightens the circle and makes it pretty strong. And I would imagine that that is a rock solid group. And I wish Matt and that group nothing but the best.

Q. I'm curious what you see from Niko's offense that makes it so challenging.

TONY BENNETT: A lot. I had to do the Westwood radio, and Coach Boeheim was going to be the radio guy. I said, Jesus, this is one of those years where maybe I wish I had Coach Boeheim's zone, wouldn't have to handle all those cuts. They move, they cut. As I said, their point guard, he's one of the best passers I've seen, him and Reece, two special point guards.

But his composure, the way they use him, whether it's ball screens or dribble handoffs and little actions, and then they're cutting the other guys and their physicality, their spacing, their cutting, they score in different ways, it's impressive.

Again, I've known Niko -- and my father and him are actually very close -- and always have certainly been impressed with what he's done.

And watching it now in the last two days closely, you can see why they've been so successful for the past couple of years in a very difficult league.

Puts a premium on your ability to first get back and you can't stop everything but you have to make them earn and you better be continuous and have great vision, but you've got to be able to guard your guy and get them off the glass, all those kinds of things.