The Virginia men's basketball team was reportedly blown out by VCU in a closed-door scrimmage the day after longtime head coach Tony Bennett announced

Dean Smith retired on Oct. 9, 1997, to engineer giving the UNC job to Bill Guthridge, and SI.com columnist Pat Forde had no issue.

Led by a motivated core of returning players, namely Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter, Bennett and the Cavaliers achieved ultimate redemption from the previous spring as they ended a wild ride through the NCAA Tournament with an overtime victory, beating Texas Tech in the national championship.

One day after Tony Bennett shocked the college basketball world with news that he would retire just 20 days before his Virginia men’s basketball team is set to open its regular season, an emotional Bennett spoke publicly for the first time Friday morning about his decision.

In the long 18 and a half hours between the initial announcement and the press conference, there were many rumors circulated around as to the reasoning for the

Virginia head coach Tony Bennett retired on his own terms and celebrated the beauty of the game by standing on the pillars he used to build a national title contender.

Describing himself as "a square peg in a round hole," a tearful Tony Bennett said he suddenly retired as the University of Virginia's men's basketball coach because he wasn't suited to navigate the current landscape of college athletics.

Many of the Virginia basketball fans who spoke with CBS 6 on Friday said they were still in shock over the sudden retirement of head coach Tony Bennett.