Ten days after his season ended in the most unpredictable manner, Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett was still trying to make sense of it.
After winning the regular-season ACC championship by four games and then sweeping through the conference tournament, Bennett’s No. 1-seeded and top-ranked Wahoos were 74-54 losers to 16th-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County in a first-round NCAA Tournament game.
As has been widely reported, and even mocked, it was the first time a No. 16 seed had ever beaten a No. 1.
“I asked one of our staff members, ‘OK, would you rather have [finished] in the middle of the pack and gone to a Sweet 16 or would you rather have had our year and then got knocked off as a 1-16 [victim]? ’ ” Bennett said on his 2017-18 wrap-up radio show Monday night.
“It’s a fair question. It really is. We had a split staff when we talked about it in our staff meeting. But most of them said, ‘You know what? As time goes by, you’re going to hang two banners.’ ”
Bennett had just returned from Hershey, Pennsylvania, on a recruiting visit and it was clear that his staff was not on a break.
Bennett said that Orlando Vandross, who has been director of recruiting and player development for the past three season, will temporarily fill the off-campus role of longtime Bennett aide Ron Sanchez, named head coach last week at Charlotte.
“The one thing I told Ron as we were walking off the court [in Charlotte] was, ‘Ron, I just hope I didn’t cost you a job,’” Bennett said.
Vandross previously has been an assistant with off-campus recruiting responsibilities at Boston University and Charlotte.
Bennett, who estimated he might have received 300 texts and hundreds of e-mails from people interested in the Sanchez opening, will continue to evaluate resumes.
With the impending departure of seniors Devon Hall, Isaiah Wilkins and Nigel Johnson, Bennett will be adding two fall signees in Kody Stattman and Kiehi Clark, and has his eyes scanning the graduate-transfer market.
Bennett mentioned a movement is starting to gain momentum to change the transfer rules to allow a one-time transfer exception that would allow transfers to play right away. He added he could envision a vote as early as August.
Bennett said he will be at the Final Four this weekend in San Antonio but hasn’t decided if he will go to the games. His presence is required for a ceremony marking his selection as national coach of the year.
“You watch the games and this is what I say:” Bennett said. “I love the NCAA Tournament and I hate the NCAA Tournament. It’s been an amazing tournament with the upsets, looking at Loyola of Chicago.
“You always play the ‘what if’ game. Could we have matched up? But, it absolutely does not take away what the conference tournament was for our guys. You feel the sting but little by little it gets better.
“The one thing you better not do is feel ashamed. I told them, ‘If [others] see you handling losing and adversity in the right way, you have no idea the influence that you’ll have.”