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March 14, 2001
As the Virginia squad departs for Memphis today, site of their first-round NCAA Tournament game against Gonzaga, it signifies the beginning of an experience no current player on this year’s team has ever undergone. Yet college basketball’s premier postseason tournament also represents something each has been well aware of since the days they first learned to play basketball. Senior forward Stephane Dondon did not pick up the game until age 15, and even while growing up on the other side of the Atlantic in Toulouse, France, he knew all about the “Big Dance” shortly after he developed an interest in basketball.
“One of the first [NCAA Tournament] games I ever watched was when Michigan played against Carolina in the Final Four,” said Stephane Dondon.
Fellow senior Keith Friel fell victim to March Madness soon after he learned the fundamentals of dribbling and shooting. Son of former New Hampshire basketball head coach Gerry Friel, the month of March meant only one thing in the Friel household, and it had nothing to do with the fact spring was just around the corner.
“Every year I would be at home, and [my father] would be out at the Final Four [with many of the other college coaches]. He would always bring back my brothers and me our favorite team’s gear, ” said Keith Friel.
Virginia’s first trip back to the NCAA Tournament in four years means a great deal to everyone in the program, but it might mean just a little more to the squad’s three departing seniors. For Friel, Dondon, and senior point guard Donald Hand, their college playing days are numbered, but their careers will not end before they finally experience the long-awaited and hard-earned opportunity to participate in the “Big Dance.”
“It means a lot to me, because growing up I was always out in the yard shooting and I would dream about playing in the NCAA Tournament and making that run in the tournament,” said Friel. “Every year during `Championship Week’ and throughout [the tournament], I am glued to the television, watching every game. It is going to mean a lot more to me this year, because it is my first time there.”
The Cavaliers head to Memphis with a high level of enthusiasm and a great deal of expectations. The Hoos take a five seed to this year’s tournament with hopes the word “Virginia” will still appear in the brackets come late March. Despite the fact Virginia’s next loss will send them packing for the season, the players maintain the proper frame of mind, even in the face of the tournament’s “do-or-die” nature.
“A lot of us have never been here, and it is going to be one of the greatest experiences of our lives, and we just have to enjoy it,” said Donald Hand. “There is no pressure. People in the hospital are the one’s with real problems on their heads, we just have to go out there and play hard.”
Regardless of wins or losses, displaying that type of attitude leaves little doubt the Cavaliers will walk away from this year’s NCAA Tournament as true champions.