HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - April 8, 2019. The day the Virginia men's basketball team won its first ever NCAA title.
News 3 was the only station from this market to make the trip to Minneapolis. Prior to the national title game between UVA and Texas Tech, News 3 Sports Director Adam Winkler met a family from Smithfield, the Caterbones, in town to attend the game.
Less than 48 hours earlier, they purchased plane tickets and game tickets to watch their beloved Wahoos play in their first national title game. However, that was not the only historic first one year ago Wednesday.
The 2019 NCAA national championship was the first-ever college basketball game attended by Ryan Caterbone.
"In the last 365 days, have you been to a bunch more college basketball games - or are you quitting while you're ahead?," Winkler asked Ryan Wednesday, now a senior at Isle of Wight Academy.
"I went UVA's senior night about a month ago and watched them play against Louisville," Caterbone explained.
Virginia won that day, too. But every game Ryan attends from here on out - it will be tough to top his experience from April 8, 2019. National title night was also his 17th birthday. Icing on the cake...the birthday cake.
"It was definitely a blur, but I think the most memorable part of the game was definitely the overtime," Ryan noted.
And over time, he and UVA fans everywhere will have a tought time forgetting what happened one year ago.
