The Virginia Cavaliers won the NCAA Championship Title in overtime, 85-77, to the Texas Tech Red Raiders on April 8th. Point guard, De’Andre Hunter, was a key component with this great success. He helped keep the team motivated when times became difficult.

A little over a year ago, before winning the NCAA tournament, the team had lost to a number 16 seeded team, University of Maryland- Baltimore County (UMBC), while the Cavaliers were seeded number 1. This had never happened before, and it was very detrimental towards Virginia; however, the Cavs bounced back with 35 wins and 3 losses this season.

Head Coach Tony Bennett had wondered how cool it would be to win a national title and continued to push his team harder everyday. Coach Bennett proudly exclaims to CBS sports:“I don’t know if all these guys will remember this, but when they come into my office I got a poster of Rocky on the steps, and I told them, ‘I just want a chance at a title fight one day; that’s all we want,’ ” Bennett said. “These guys came to fight in this title and now we’re the champs. I’m so thankful because this is a great story.”

Post-season scores:

• Mar. 22: Virginia vs. Gardner-Webb: 71-56
• Mar. 24: Virginia vs. Oklahoma: 63-51
• Mar. 28: Virginia vs. Oregon: 53-49
• Mar. 30: Virginia vs. Purdue: 80-75 OT
• Apr. 6: Virginia vs. Auburn: 63-62
• Apr. 8: Virginia vs. Texas Tech: 85-77 OT