Being a student athlete is not an easy task. When you are a part of a NCAA Division I men’s basketball program, especially one that was recently ranked 6th in the nation in the USA Today’s preseason coach’s poll, the stress only worsens. The Virginia men’s basketball team faces high expectations from others, national attention and scrutiny and potential NBA careers resting upon their performances.
However, last Wednesday at the Cavaliers’ Media Day, coach Tony Bennett said that the ability to enjoy themselves is one of his players’ most valuable skills.
“We really demand a lot of our guys [and] try to be purposeful and intense, but I think it is a great example that you can be that way and pursue what you are trying to pursue, but really enjoying it and having fun,” Bennett said. “If you can’t have a joy about yourself and what you are doing, you probably aren’t doing the right thing.”
When asked about who the jokesters were, he said that although they had quite a few, “[senior forward] Anthony [Gill] is great that way … and has a great personality, and his teammates enjoy it, but I think that shows you that he loves the game and loves to have fun. I think that definitely brings the right kind of attitude and what we want.”
Gill, more commonly referred to by his teammates as “AG”, is a North Carolina native and former transfer from the University of South Carolina who is always keeping the spirits of the team up.
“He is always smiling, always up, always happy,” junior guard London Perrantes. “It definitely helps, it definitely keeps everybody light, lighthearted. It helps off the court and on the court.”
Gill is not the only one. Perrantes spoke on the off-court attitude of senior guard Malcolm Brogdon. When asked how often he saw Brogdon laugh he responded, “All the time. He is always laughing. There is always something funny he finds out of everything … on the court, he is laughing, doing everything we do.”
Generally known for his strong academics, his work on his master’s degree in Public Policy through the Batten School, Perrantes said Brogdon “has people fooled. He is definitely really serious as well, but he is definitely a jokester … if you were in the day of the life with him and our team, you guys would definitely be like, ‘This is not the guy that we thought it was.’”
However, Perrantes stated that Brogdon’s no-nonsense attitude is very important when it came to competing on the court.
“It is just that once he steps up between these lines, there is no game, there is nothing funny, and we respect him for that,” Perrantes said. “But I feel like we all have that different mindset towards the game.”
Perrantes himself was laughing and joking with the press. When asked about his teammates and their off-court attitudes, he was making fun of Gill’s haircut and saying with a smirk, holding laughter back, “I have seen Malcolm dip his whole hand in buffalo sauce and just eat that so … yeah, just for a little snack.”
When asked about the story Gill had recently told about Brogdon eating an entire onion at 3 o’clock in the morning, he said, “Oh no, that is a fact. That is not a story, that is a fact. Ain’t that right, Malcolm?” he yelled over to his teammate.
Whether any of the stories about these bizarre eating habits of Brogdon are true, one thing is certain: these Cavaliers are not afraid to have a little fun.
The lighthearted Cavaliers are ready to set their jokes and laughs aside and get serious for their game against Morgan State when their kicks off the season Nov. 13 at John Paul Jones Arena. Until then, let the jokes abound.
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