Tell us your Championship story and you could win the championship shirt Ty was wearing at Summer League. Let’s hear it. What did it mean to you? Where did u watch the games?. How long have you been a uva fan…Best Story Wins…Winner decided by July 20th.
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Link to the umbc shirt is https://virginia.lockerroomaccess.com
Best feeling in the world, I was too nervous to watch so I forced myself to watch a movie until I knew we had the game in lock. After that I’ve seen the replay at least 5 times, it meant the world to me as a hoo fan this is something we have been waiting for a long time and after what happened against UMBC it made it even sweeter.
I’m not even sure how to describe what it felt like. I was there in Minneapolis after we beat auburn and people were talking about going home to watch the championship game in cville. That seemed crazy to me, until I saw the pictures of the corner after…
I think I was more emotional over the purdue game. I mean just seeing us get to the final four was something I was hopeful for, but wasn’t sure I would ever see. when Carsen banked in that 3…man, that felt like the typical UVA story…I thought of the Miami Loss in acc tourney, I thought of the umbc loss, the syracuse loss in chicago, the arkansas loss in elite 8, the syracuse vs Derrick Coleman…it all gave me horrible feelings…and to overcome that…just pure joy…
My daughter won two tickets to the semifinals of the Final Four so I was in Minneapolis for the Auburn game. Had good tickets but I could not sit in them because I had a very nice, very large man sitting next to me and he said to me that sir you will not be comfortable sitting here and he was right. I ended standing for 3/4 of the game. Still enjoyed my time but I really enjoyed myself watching the championship on my sofa with my family. Besides the fact my daughters love Ty and one of them is a 4th year. I have been a Hoo fan since 1977 when my brother was there. Winning the championship actually brought tears to my eyes to see such a classy bunch of people win and win doing it the right way.
I grew up in Charlottesville and went to UVA from 2014-2018. I spent my entire childhood cheering for UVA football, but spent my entire college career court-side at basketball games in a pair of orange and blue spirit overalls (GROUP 1 BABY). I’ll never forget the UMBC loss as a fourth year at UVA. Definitely not the way I was hoping my last basketball season as a Hoo would end. A lot of tears were shed…
This past year, my first year as a UVA alumni, I’ve been working up in Baltimore City as an inner-city school teacher. The year was HARD, but the 2018-2019 basketball season got me through the toughest part of the year. The team gave me something to look forward to on the days where I didn’t think I could keep teaching. I spent the tournament games with my closest friends from UVA back in Charlottesville and with the UVA Club in Baltimore. I was at Kardinal Hall in Charlottesville when I was a part of pure fan chaos when Kihei made the pass of a lifetime and Mamadi hit the shot of the century. A lot of the games were easy to come home for, because they were on the weekends, but the Championship game was a different story. I knew I had to be back in Charlottesville on Monday, April 8th, so I prepared my sub plans for my students and called out sick. After school, I drove straight to Kardinal Hall all the way from Baltimore to witness history in the making. We sat right in front of a GIANT screen that had been put up for the occasion, and as the final buzzer sounded, my boyfriend popped champagne and sprayed it all over the crowd. We SPRINTED to the corner to take part in the madness… it was a night I’ll never forget. Now when I look back at my first class picture, and ask myself why I’m missing from the photo, I’ll think back to the most unforgettable night of my life.
I have been a sports fan my entire life, but being from Canada, I never had a college team that I was a true fan of. That changed in the spring of 2010 when my sister chose to attend UVA for university.
It was the second season after Tony Bennett got there when I started to watch Virginia basketball. From that day forward, I have watched literally every Virginia game that I could (thank you internet streaming). I have not missed a single game in the past three years, and I’ve seen the program rise from the bottom the ACC to perennial high-seed in the NCAA tournament.
There are many tough games I remember as a fan - the battles against UNC and Duke, tournament losses to Michigan State, the comeback by Syracuse in the Elite 8, and of course the loss to UMBC. So many people lost hope in the program, and my friends ridiculed me for my team not being able to win big games. I never lost hope. I knew the pack line defense made this team great, the best coach in the country, and the skilled offensive players returning would make the team contend again in 2019.
After watching the regular season and ACC tournament, I had a great feeling about the Hoos. Fast forward to 10 minutes into the first tournament game, I was sweating at my desk at work. I tried to keep away the thoughts, but it felt like history was not on our side. The sense of relief I felt when the boys settled in, started running the offense and getting stops, was incredible. I didn’t get any work done that Friday afternoon.
The game against Oklahoma was the only game there was never a doubt. I sat in my red chair at home, watched us play tough Virginia basketball, and knew there was no way we were going to lose that game. People don’t seem to mention the Oregon game when they talk about that UVA run, but I won’t forget it. I was back in my red chair, biting my nails as we traded buckets throughout the game. The only time I was able to catch my breath was when Kyle found Hunter wide open down low to finally seal the game.
By the Elite 8, my red chair was becoming a staple, but a friend of mine was having her birthday dinner and I felt compelled to go. I gave her one condition, we needed to turn on the game. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, extremely anti-social as I locked in on the game. My friends couldn’t get a word out of me except during halftime. It was a good thing I had emotional support if needed, because I was starting to lose it watching Carson trade buckets with Ty and Kyle throughout the second half. The end of the game was incredible, and I still don’t remember how I celebrated when Mamadi hit that shot. Considering my friends said they could not watch another game with me after that one, it must have been pretty good.
That was fine with me, back to the red chair. I watched both the final four games with my family, going through every emotion and screaming too much at my TV. Once Kyle got fouled vs Auburn, I figured it was destiny. Until late in the final, it suddenly seemed like it wasn’t. After Ty hit Hunter for that game-tying three, and Braxton made the great play at the end of regulation, it was destiny again. When the clock hit zeros in overtime, all I could do watch break down and smile. The dream was reality and this never-quit Virginia team was the center of the greatest story in college basketball history.
That win meant so much for me as a fan since I was 14 years old, and I know how much it meant for the program. It was more than the guys on the court, but all the guys who came before them too. I bought a lot of that championship merch in the following days, and plan to keep some of it for my kids down the road so that the Virginia fan base in Canada continues to grow.
I love the pack line, I love this team, and I love that shirt Ty wore in the summer league.
Mom went to UVA, she’s been raising me right, I watched the Gardern Webb game during practice with my friends, watched OU and Oregon at home. My family watched Purdue in a Columbus hotel and woke everyone on our floor up when Mamadi hit that game tying shot. I got all my friends to watch Auburn and the natty at my house, we ran outside after both games. My mom was crying after the natty. It was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life
My Dad went to UVA so I’ve pretty much been a UVA fan my entire life. I don’t live that close to Cville, so I only go to about one game a year. Every year in March, it’s pretty much been heartbreak for me. The reason the losses hit so hard for me I think is because I get so emotionally attached to the team every single year. After the UMBC loss, me and my Dad still went to the 2018 Final Four wearing our UVA shirts. We received taunts and were mocked while we walked around the stadium. The following year, everything was different. We were back in the same position, but this time we were proud to wear that V on our shirt. From Mamadi’s buzzer beater, to Kyle’s last minute free throws, I enjoyed the journey and I wouldn’t have wanted this to happen any other way. I will never stop being a Wahoo.
I am currently a First Year at UVA. Was very skeptical of getting in but once it happened I deposited instantly. I’m a huge fan of uva basketball and I knew this was our year. I made it my goal to gather as many sabre points so I could be first row in JPJ. I made signs, led chants just to cheer on the Hoos. Once I saw it possible to buy student tickets to the final four I pounced on the opportunity. I was first row at US Bank and left the stadium every game without a voice. Even if I don’t win the shirt I want to thank UVA basketball and everyone who makes the program what it is for such a memorable experience that I will be able to tell my children.
yes… updates
When I was little, I would always make brackets with my dad and I would always, always have Virginia winning it all. Even if they weren’t a 1 or 2 seed, I would always choose them. When I heard the final buzzer go off in the UMBC game, I couldn’t believe it. A 1 seed losing to a 16 seed felt impossible. But it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened.
This Championship run meant everything to me. Even though I have only been a HOO for a couple years, (since I found out my dad went there) I have followed UVA Athletics and been a proud Virginia fan since. This run showed me the perseverance and resilience that these players had and will have for the rest of their lives. It showed me that the worst can bring out the best in people.
From me sitting in my LaLit classroom watching the scary Gardner Webb game, to me on a train to DC updating my espn app to know the score of the Oklahoma game. To going crazy when Diakite hit the buzzer beater and jumping up and down when we won it. I never missed any Virginia game during the tournament and regular season. This team has meant so much to me being the first big championship that any of my favorite teams have one.
Even though I might only be 14, this unforgettable championship run will be something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. No matter what will happen in the future for me or for UVA Athletics, I will always be a lifelong Virginia fan. Go Hoos!! 
Lots of fakes have popped up, but don’t be fooled by that. This is the only place to get it straight from the source. The shirt is licensed by umbc and the design is embroidered on with additional locker room tags and hologram. Anything else is not authorized. We will update this thread when the item drops, so make sure to tell us your story and get the notifications.
grew up as a wahoo fan with my family working at UVA. Ever since I can remember, I would be in JPJ cheering on our boys. When I saw Kyle and Ty in the first game they played with us, I knew our team gained something so special. Tournament season is a big deal for the entire family. Some of our most memorable moments come from watching the hoos play! Watching the team last year made me so proud to be a wahoo, and seeing the connections on the team put a smile on every fans face. For the umbc game, Crozet Pizza was packed with confident fans. The loss was a big one, It was probably the hardest I’ve cried (except for when Kyle chopped off the man bun). Coming into this season, everyone could see the potential from a mile away. So many great games! All throughout March Madness, superstitions and traditions became a thing for every single game. I had to wear my lucky number 5 jersey, mom had to wear special virginia earrings and necklace, and we all needed to sit in our lucky spots on the couch. me being emotional is an understatement when trying to describe how that tournament went for me. One of the happiest moments was seeing all of the hoos in hooville, past players, coaches, and current players with smiles on their faces. proudest moment of being a wahoo, without a doubt.
On championship day I woke up with a stomach full of nerves and excitement. As I packed my bag to head to my North Carolina high school, I prepared to face all my UNC and Duke friends who placed their bets on Texas Tech (and were sure to let me know). After school I finally got to embrace the true wahoo experience; My mom had “painted the town orange” or, in other words, spray painted v-sabers in our driveway and hung orange and blue streamers on our front porch. Watching the game was an even crazier experience because we were joined by two family friends who were UNC fans but wanted to be “supportive” (they were on twitter most of the night), and another UVA alumni who couldn’t name a single player on our team. As a superstitious 15 year old, this situation was not ideal, especially when our alumni friend decided she needed to head home to put her kids to bed in the last 20 seconds of regulation…yeah…that happened. It did end up being a fantastic night once Hunter dribbled the final dribble, and my mom shot streamers onto our living room ceiling (which still remain to this day). I hope you enjoyed this wildly true story about my championship experience, and I hope to have an even crazier one next year! #embracethepace
Grew up a UVA fan after having surgeries there as a baby been a fan my entire life. I remember every moment of all the Marc madness games this year the buzzer beater by diakite then guy hitting the 3 free throws then all of the team going on a run in overtime to win I watched it at home being the only uva fan I was running around very happy when the final buzzer sounded. I will never forget them winning it and the excitement that came with it.
I’m a life long HUGE fan of all sports… but basketball has my heart. I live in the Blacksburg area for starters, so life isn’t too fantastic being a Hoo in Chokieburg. For this past season I grew a superstition that I must be at home, on my couch to watch the games, because if I’m not, they lose. It’s 100% accurate. Last season… what games were I not home for…? On a cruise during the WVU game, watched the home vt game at a restaurant in Blacksburg, and I was AT the UMBC game. Every other game I was on the couch other than 1 game which I went to at JPJ but that was early in the season. So this season I said, I’m not going to another game and I’m watching from my couch. I went against superstition and watched both duke games at bars in Blacksburg (with my best friend who is a Duke/VT guy), and was on vacation for the FSU game in Hilton Head. KNOWING I shouldn’t, so I made my mind up that I was done… COUCH OR BUST! I would be in the same spot, for every game moving forward… and when I was in that spot, down in every tournament game… something told me that I KNEW they weren’t going to lose. I had faith and was confident in my location on the couch. This season to my friends and my wife is considered the Couch season… and I’ll never EVER get rid of that baby!! Wahoowa!
My dad and his whole family went to UVA so I’ve been a fan my entire life. The UMBC game was one of the worst days of my life, literally my last bad panic attack happened right after that game. After losing to Florida State in the ACC tournament and sobbing over it being DeAndres last acc game, I watched all the games with a vengeance. The final minutes of Purdue were some of the most stressful of my life. When Mamadi hit that buzzer beater my mom, dad and I screamed like we were being murdered or something lol. The house hadn’t been that loud since Dre hit that bank shot against Louisville in 2018. Then my dad dug around and found the Final Four shirt he bought when he drove from Cville to Philly to watch it in 1981! For Auburn, I had the extreme misfortune of having a gymnastics competition at the same time. My parents dropped me off and went to a nearby bar to watch, which obviously I couldn’t blame them for. Both my meet and the game were ending at the same time, and one of my coaches had been reading my the live play by play. I didn’t even know Kyle was fouled, and when I found out we were going to the finals for the first time ever I rolled around the floor sobbing in front of probably 100 or more people. No shame. Even though I tried my best to convince my dad to drive to Charlottesville for Monday, We swatched the finals from our living room and I was just shaking the whole time. We FaceTimed the whole family throughout the last few minutes and we all screamed and cried way more than any of us would like to admit at the end. Literally one of the best nights of my life. I’ve never felt so good and I have never been so happy for a group of people that I’ve never met. So much love and pride for that whole team. Wahoowa forever, baby!
There were 5.9 seconds left on the clock. We were down by 2. All we needed was for Ty to make the basket, and we’d be tied and head into OT. Ty shot the ball…and missed. My heart immediately sank, but before I could even fully process what had happened, Mamadi made his legendary shot as the clock hit 0, and all of Charlottesville BJ’s erupted in cheers. After we won the game against Purdue, my face was stained with tears, and I held onto my friends as we belted out the Good Ol’ Song at the top of our lungs. In that moment, I knew that somehow, some way, I just HAD to make it to Minneapolis the following weekend to watch us play in the Final Four. I had been cheering on the Hoos for 5 years at that point, ever since my first year of undergrad at UVA, and I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I absolutely couldn’t miss out on.
Despite having an extremely jam-packed schedule, as it was the last semester of my Masters program at UVA (I’m a Double Hoo! UVA CLAS ’18 & UVA MPH ’19), I managed to find a way to the Final Four game. I completed my assignments early and emailed my professors about my absence. My friends and I rented a minivan, drove over 19 hours (The longest road trip of my entire life!!!) from Charlottesville to Minneapolis, and watched our Hoos play against Auburn. Our last minute win that night left me in tears once again, and I was absolutely elated over the fact that I’d get to watch my favorite team potentially win it all.
And two days later, I got to watch my Hoos make HISTORY. As blue and orange confetti poured down on us, the student section at the U.S. Bank Arena was the wildest I had ever experienced, and that’s saying a lot, considering how many games I attended at JPJ during my 5 years at UVA. I will never, EVER forget the immense pride and joy I felt watching my team be crowned the victors. The 19+ hour ride back home to Charlottesville barely felt like anything because I was on an absolute high from our incredible win. I was so awestruck by the fact that we were Natty Champs that when it was my turn to drive at 5 AM, and everyone else in the minivan had fallen asleep, I silently cried to myself. I was so, so proud. After everything we had been through, especially the major loss to UMBC, our boys totally deserved it. I was so happy, I even wrote this cheesy little parody of the Powerpuff Girls theme song, inspired by our phenomenal Big Three:
Class, virtue, and all things honor
These were the ingredients chosen
To create the perfect team
But Coach Bennett accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction—redemption
Thus, the National Champs were made
Using their ultra-super skills
Dre, Ty, and Kyle
Have dedicated their lives to the game
And proving critics wrong.
The Hoos mean everything to me, and I will forever cherish the memory of watching us make the biggest comeback of all time to become Natty Champs for the first time in UVA basketball history. I may have spent more time in a car than on my own two feet that weekend, and I may have gotten sick from the trip (one of my friends was sick at the beginning of the road trip and so kindly infected us all by the end), but I wouldn’t have traded that experience for the world because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my Hoos. WAHOOWA!
P.S. I even made my grad cap about the Natty Champ win:
Ok so I actually don’t know how to begin, I guess the beginning makes sense. Both my parents are UVA alumni for starters. It’s where they met, so the school in in-beaded in my blood. I’ve been a UVA fan since birth. It’s where I have always wanted to go and as a rising Junior, I’m so close to making that dream possible. My family has UVA Football season tickets, and I’ve been going to those games since I was in diapers. There’s 2 UVA sports dreams I’ve always, UVA football beating VT, which will happen this year at home I know it, and the basketball team finally getting the recognition they deserve with a Championship.
Last year’s tourney was awful and amazing, cause well UMBC. We lost to the Airbud Team and made history. I was defeated for the team, it was so bad. But it was how Tony Bennett taught and handled that lost that will stay with me forever. His quote which I love, “If you learn to use it right (the adversity), it will buy you a ticket to a place you could not have gone any other way," is a quote I truly believe in.
I watched every basketball game I could this season, and for the NCAA tournament I was at home with my parents watching , except for the Auburn game where I went out to Buffalo Wild Wings; where whole everyone was panicking, I held strong to the Tony Bennett mentality of always having faith in our players. I was home when we won and my and my family were screaming and may have been tears of joy.
I even had a whole superstition during the tournament. During around 64 I was dressed out for PE, high school lol, when the first half was on. We were down and I heard all my friends joking UVA saying we gonna lose and everything. Can’t lie cause I wasn’t watching only following the score, I was a little nervous, but never lost hope. So 2nd half starts but this time I’m home and I’m now wearing this UVA jacket of mine. So I knew as long as I was wearing the jacket we would win. So I didn’t wash it, or wear it expect during the games, and sure enough we won.
I know you can’t but ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you how big of a fan of UVA I am. My parents still tease me and my younger sister by saying, “Orange and Blue!” Where we always respond, because they taught us this, “Go Hoos!” Sorry for the super long post, I honestly don’t care if I win this thing or lose, I’m just happy that we won.
I want to really just say thank you. Thank you to my parents to raising me right. Thank you to Bronco Mendenhall for reshaping UVA Football. Thank you to Tony Bennett for leading by example with his kindness, compassion, and his ability to stay level headed and stock in the most difficult of circumstances. Thank you to the Big Three, Kyle Guy, De’Andre Hunter, and Ty Jerome for the incredible years they’ve given this team and I wish them the best in the NBA cause now I got 3 new NBA Teams. Thank you to Kihei Clarke and Mamadi Diakite for always putting in 110% to prove to everyone what the team and fans already know, that you are great. Finally, Thank You to the rest of the Wahoo Nation, for not being a toxic fan base, for being a good one, who represents UVA with great values and poise. Go Hoos and Wahoowa!
