From 2016 through 2019, college basketball was marked by long-awaited vindication. Programs that had spent years carrying the weight of March disappointments finally broke through.
Jay Wright took Villanova to a Final Four in 2009, but the ensuing years had seen consistent NCAA Tournament disappointment. The Wildcats had failed to even return to the Sweet 16, including three times when they were seeded #2 or higher. Wright’s Villanova program came into 2016 with something of a reputation.
Three years later, that reputation would be completely reversed. Villanova won it all in 2016, upsetting North Carolina in the championship game with a Kris Jenkins’ buzzer beater. Two years later, ‘Nova was even stronger, thundering through the bracket and capping it off by decisively beating Michigan.
No longer was the question whether or not Villanova was a choker. The question was whether this vindication, combined with its epic 1985 national championship, meant Villanova could now be considered a blueblood.
Down in Virginia, Tony Bennett had built the Cavaliers into one of the nation’s most consistently successful programs, winning at a level that exceeded the program’s recruiting profile. Four times between 2014–18, Bennett’s Cavs were seeded second or higher.
Yet not only had they failed to reach a Final Four, they had suffered two of the worst NCAA nightmares possible. A 2016 Elite Eight game with Syracuse had the top-seed Cavs sitting with a comfortable 15-point lead with nine minutes to play. The 10th-seeded Orangemen rallied and beat them.
Two years later it got worse—Virginia became the first #1 seed to lose to a 16-seed. It was an ignominious place in history—but it was also the darkness that precedes the dawn.
In 2019, the Cavs showed their resilience. They bounced back from the embarrassment of the prior year. They executed in tough spots, turning final minute deficits into victories in the Elite Eight, Final Four, and ultimately on Monday night. Bennett and Virginia had sweet vindication.
Even the one outlier year in this four-year stretch fit the theme of vindication. North Carolina’s 2017 national title was redemption for one they felt they had given away to Villanova the year before. And their opponent on Monday night was Gonzaga, who concluded a quest to reach the Final Four that began with their rise to prominence in 1999.
Then came 2020. The NCAA Tournament was canceled amid the decision on how to respond to COVID-19, bringing March to an unprecedented halt. It provides a natural dividing line in college basketball history. The four-year period immediately before it had ended with unfinished business finally resolved.