The first 37 minutes were nearly perfect. JPJ was as loud and raucous as I'd ever witnessed. I immersed myself in thought; let my emotions pour out into verse. Here's what I had written:
"During Virginia's media day a week before the season began, I had the distinct honor of asking Mike Scott about the improvements he made to his game during the summer. I assumed he'd say something along the lines of, 'I now have a post-up game. Look out, world.'
I would have been pleased with any number of answers. 'Free throws... interior passing, high-low... I ate Chipotle six days a week.' Anything but what he actually said.
'I've been working on my outside shot.'
Locked in a catatonic state, all I could see was the impending apocalypse. It involved a steady fall of Mike Scott air-balls from the sky, not unlike the frog-rain in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. Sorry if I just ruined the best movie of all time for you.
After fully regaining consciousness, I remembered what Scott said. 'Well, that's just excellent,' I thought. For a Virginia team that finished last in the ACC a year ago in three-point field goal percentage, another outside "threat" is exactly what it needed.
Then, with 12:59 left in the second half against Virginia Tech, Scott received a pass at the top of the key, looked off a defender, and let it rain - the good kind of rain.
By all accounts, Scott was having a career-night - everything went through him. He scored six of the team's first eight points to open the game and had 14 at the end of the first half. He even made a crucial baseline jump-hook to stop the bleeding of a 9-0 Hokie run that had shaved a 12-point Virginia lead to three with only slightly more than three minutes left in the half.
Then, the ticking time bomb that is Jeff Allen went off. I don't think anything makes the 'Hoo Crew happier than an Allen ejection. I don't think anything makes God happier than a Jeff Allen ejection. I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach, the one that comes when a victory against Virginia Tech is right at your fingertips.
Then all hell broke loose. Here we are. A ten-point lead with less than four minutes remaining completely erased.
There is nothing more to say, at least on my part. Here's some professional perspective:
76-71.
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