How Duke Avoided A Probable Disaster When UVA Came To Cameron This Year

After Virginia’s win over Texas Tech Monday, someone asked Kyle Guy if this was the biggest moment in his life.

He ranked it third.

Getting engaged was #1 which was cool. He ranked the championship as #3.

And #2?

Losing to UMBC.

The second greatest moment of his life was losing to #16 seed UMBC.

This really underscores the way Guy and the entire Virginia team, from Tony Bennett on down, turned that disaster to their advantage.

It also underscores how foolish it was for Duke students to try to arrange for UMBC point guard KJ Maura to attend the Duke-Virginia game in a bid to humiliate Virginia.

As you may recall, Guy was all for it. He even encouraged Virginia fans to support the GoFundMe campaign.

He wanted the guy there to give his team extra motivation.

Fortunately, smarter people realized that the campaign was courting disaster and it was stopped.

We mention it now not to embarrass the organizers but to remind the Cameron Crazies that being clever is not nearly as good as being smart. That game was a two point win and Guy shot 2-7 from three point range.

Stick KJ Maura in front of him and he might have scored 30. That UMBC loss was obviously embarrassing but it drove Virginia all year long.