Nine and 91: On the bus down to Chapel Hill for the ACC Championship meet, these are the numbers that will occupy the thoughts of the Virginia men's swimming and diving team: nine being the number of consecutive titles the Cavaliers will hold if they win this weekend, and 91 being the point deficit they will have to surmount before they can claim that honor.
"This is the single greatest deficit ever faced at the completion of diving in the history of ACC swimming and diving," coach Mark Bernardino said. "I told the guys, no one else has ever done this. If you win, that will be the legacy of this team."
With Virginia's divers failing to earn a single point towards the Cavalier's meet total, Florida State is currently in the lead with 91 points. Last year, Virginia overcame a 64-point diving deficit and took first place by a margin of only 8.5. If they are to steal the crown from Florida State once again, the Cavaliers will not only have to repeat last year's performance -- they will have to make up an additional 19 points.
"The only thing that is important is the score at the end of the last event on the last day," Bernardino said. "What we must do is gradually and consistently chip away at the deficit and find a way so that we are still in the hunt on the final day."
At a team meeting earlier this week, Bernardino divided 91 by the total number of events, thus breaking the deficit down into smaller parts and making it more manageable. Affording Virginia the greatest opportunity to catch up, the middle day's results will be of utmost importance. If the Cavaliers swim well in the 100s -- backstroke, breastroke, butterfly -- then they should be within striking distance of Florida State on the final day.
With Virginia coming from behind, coaching strategy becomes critical to victory. At 6 p.m. each night of the competition, Bernardino will be required to turn in the following day's lineup. As the meet progresses and the coaching staff assesses the Seminoles' and Cavaliers' performances, lineups will shift accordingly in order to give Virginia the opportunity to earn as many points as possible in each event. To that end, Bernardino has spent countless hours researching Virginia's opponents and studying their past performances. Not only does he have the ACC's opinion regarding event seeding -- he has knowledge of the historical background to evaluate those rankings on his own.
While every team talks about tradition, Virginia swimming lives it. Leading up to this meet, there has been an influx of letters and e-mails, filled with words of wisdom and encouragement, from alumni as well as former coaches.
"Whenever we swim, we say to swim not only for ourselves but also for the program, the school and everyone who has swum before us," junior Pat Mellors said. "We have a great coach, great facility and great swimmers, everything that earlier teams didn't. We do our best for them and fight as hard as we can."
The phrase "the greatest comeback in ACC history" lingers on a whiteboard by the AFC pool. Like the New York Yankees and Blue Devil basketball, Virginia swimming knows what it is like to be hated for winning consistently. Well aware that every ACC team will be gunning for Florida State Sunday, the Cavaliers remain undeterred in their quest to turn those whiteboard words into a reality fit for the record books.
"No one affiliated with the program wants this streak to end," Bernardino said. "It's part of the Virginia tradition, and we will fight to the bitter end in order to prevent someone from taking it away from us."
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