Cavaliers Now

A Tony Bennett Moment: Grant Kersey Makes Basketball Fun Again

Another in our series of remembrances of the Tony Bennet Era.
Val Prochaska|
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Virginia Cavaliers

I was catatonic after the UMBC loss and the only thing that got me off the floor was the thought of burning the nifty green Virginia T-shirt my wife had bought me special for the game emblazoned with shamrocks and “Hoo Needs Luck When You’re a Wahoo?”  (St Patrick’s Day fell on the opening weekend of March Madness.)  It wasn’t the loss so much – every game features a loser after all, and upsets are part of the pageantry of sport – but rather the dread about having to read another four-score columns about how Virginia is bad for basketball.  Cue your favorite platitude here, but time does heal all wounds and there is light at the end of every tunnel, but there would be another season and we all know how that turned out.  There are many significant ingredients in any achievement as noteworthy as a national championship: pain, experience, wisdom, a chip on your shoulder, and in the case of the Virginia Cavaliers, a white-water rafting trip down New River Gorge. Oh, and a team manager named Grant Kersey.

I first saw Grant Kersey in this tweet that was all over the message board I frequented at the time:

Who was this short, skinny white dude throwing down a Dunk Contest slam in the UVa practice gym?  No one seemed to know, but we all thought it was a great vibe.

Head coach Tony Bennett had told his equipment manager, one Grant Kersey, that he would be suiting up for home games and that his jersey was on order.  But when Kersey entered into his first game, home against Towson, it hadn’t arrived.  He wore instead a #1 jersey emblazoned with Virginia on the back and he was literally swimming in it.  The announcers had been keyed into Kersey possibly playing and announced him with aplomb, even as they were chuckling at the sight of an anonymous jersey draped all over Kersey’s shoulders.

In the second game of the season, against George Washington, Kersey was fouled and he got to shoot a pair of free throws.  Still swimming in that #1 jersey, (I’m trying to think of a better visual, but there just isn’t.) Kersey calmly stroked both free throws.

By the third game against Coppin State, Kersey was by now a familiar late-game presence on the court.  The early part of the season is a steady diet of buy games for major programs wherein minnow schools travel to be cannon fodder for opportunity to make several hundred thousand dollars, which will go a long way toward paying for their seasons.  These games aren’t supposed to be close:  Virginia knocked off Towson 73 – 42 and GW 76 – 57.  Coppin State would be no different.  We all knew we were going to see Kersey on the floor, the only question was would his jersey be the right size and would it have his name on the back?  (It didn’t.) 

With a little over a minute left in the game, Kersey got the ball at the top of the arc and let fly.

In just three games Kersey had gone from heartwarming middle schooler in a giant’s jersey to canning free throws to connecting on a three.  It’s as good as feel-good moments get.  And yet…

The score was 97 – 40 and Virginia was going to get the ball back.  The Cavaliers in the Tony Bennett era had never broken the 100-point barrier.  Emphasizing defense first, controlling the pace, and almost willfully refusing to run, the Hoos were just not candidates to break 100 points.  But surprisinginly, that moment was there for the taking.  There was something to play for.  And it would be the Green Team guys who could grab that brass ring.  It was the most intense last minute I’ve ever seen in a 97 – 40 game.  They didn’t get the chance as Bennett told his guys to hold the ball on their last possession.

The schedule picked up a bit in intensity as the Hoos headed off for the Battle for Atlantis in the Bahamas and then returned to face Maryland at College Park in the ACC v Big 10 challenge.  Kersey was only playing in home games and besides, the competition had just gotten much harder.

Kersey next saw the court in the subsequent game vs Morgan State.  In the intervening two weeks the athletic department finally made good on Tony’s promise and Kersey was wearing his own #13 jersey with his own name on the back.  He started off feeding Austin Katstra, a walk-on and former high school teammate, for the two-handed slam.  Seconds later Katstra returned the favor and Kersey finished in traffic and got the and-1.  (Grant made the free throw.)  He was fouled a second time and he made both free throws.  In three minutes of playing time, Kersey scored five points and logged an assist.

Kersey sat out against VCU and South Carolina, and did see action against William & Mary, but no magic there.

Next up was Marshall. 

Virginia is at 97 points.  You better believe that Kersey knew the score because he had a chance to finish himself in the lane, but he instead fired the ball out to Katstra for the open three.  Katstra missed, a Marshall player grabbed the rebound only for Kersey to rip the ball out of his hands, step back beyond the three-point arc, and nail the shot.  At the buzzer.  And give Virginia 100 points for the only time in the Bennett era.  For good measure, it was Bennett’s 300th win of his career.

In his post-game press conference Tony Bennett said, “I’m yelling ‘Hold the ball’ and I’m holding up my hands.  I just think he’s [Kersey] uncoachable,” he said grinning.

There are few greater moments in all of sport than the Walk-On Moment.  It is a chance for the everyday person, the grinder, the person who is not going to play professionally, to shine.  And it is almost solely the province of collegiate basketball.  (Texas A&M has a walk-on who plays on the first Aggie kickoff, and he plays every game, but first kickoff for one team as opposed to multiple chances late in the game for a myriad of teams?) 

There are few things more joyous, both for fans and the teams themselves, than the afterthought player who gets his chance to shine.  Who can forget Thomas Rogers nailing his walk-on moment to help Virginia win their first ACC regular season title? 

I watched that game against Syracuse.  Mike Tobey and Akil Mitchell each had five offensive rebounds (I know, right?) Justin Anderson came off the bench and went 3/4 from deep, and Malcolm Brogdan had his typical workmanlike 19-point game.  Yet what I remember is Rogers’ shot.

Or how about Caid Kirven on Senior Night?  (At the 1:06 point in the clip below.)

These are indelible, ineffable moments for the player, the team, and the fan base as a whole.

But usually, they are one-off moments.  Grant Kersey, however, electrified JPJ again, and again, and again.  If you’re counting at home, for the season, Kersey was 3/3 from the field, including a pair of threes.  He went to the line five times and converted all five free throws.  He never missed.  He was a 100% ball player.  He grabbed every opportunity he had.

Usually people who get these kinds of opportunities are separated from the wider narrative around them.  These guys are just looking for their moment.  But Kersey’s moment came after the UMBC debacle.  When Kyle Guy was talking openly about his depression; Bennett had to shelter his seniors from the press, and the program had to deal with the greatest stigma of March Madness:  first #1 seed to lose to a #16.

Grant Kersey was cathartic, he made basketball fun again.  We as fans are watching what are essentially boys, play a game.  Above all, it should be fun and it should bring joy.  Kersey brought the fun back to the program and helped banish the spectre of UMBC.  I’m not being facetious here, but I think I could make the case that Grant Kersey is the MVP of that national championship team.

Take a bow, Grant Kersey, king of the Walk-on Moment. You are a national champion.

Kyle Guy and Grant Kersey Celebrating the National Championship.
Kyle Guy and Grant Kersey Celebrating the National Championship. | Zach Wajsgras / The Daily Progress

Other stories in our series on Tony Bennett's best moments at Virginia

A Tony Bennett Moment: Beekman Takes Down Duke at the Buzzer in Cameron

A Tony Bennett Moment: Virginia Wills Itself Past Gardner-Webb

A Tony Bennett Moment: Reece Beekman's Buzzer Beater vs Syracuse

A Tony Bennett Moment: Virginia Captures the Main Event Title in Las Vegas

And a Bonus....

You've read this far. This may be one of the greatest walk-on moments I've ever seen. You have to watch to the end to see what this guy pulls off in his moment in the sun:

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Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for nine years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.

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