Did that just happen? Did Virginia just do that? Yes. Yes, it did. 

“There’s an African proverb that says, ‘If you  want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together,’” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “We have some very individually talented guys, but they know when they’re in concert with each other, that’s their way to touch greatness, and it’s validated because they’ve done it.” 

Did Bennett just say that? Yes, yes he did. 

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Virginia, typically known for its pack-line defense, had everything working on the offensive side in an 84-71 Midwest Region seminal victory Friday against the Cyclones at the United Center.

Couple that offense with that defense, and the Cavaliers have their best bet to win a national championship since the Ralph Sampson heyday of the early 1980s. The Sampson teams revolved around a power tower in the middle.

This Virginia team mixes in everybody in every conceivable way. It was more than methodical. Eight different players scored in the first half. London Perrantes had seven of his game-high nine assists by halftime.

Backcuts. Dead-eye 3-point shooting. Putback-after-putback. Virginia shot 60.7 percent in a half-court clinic in the first half. The message became clear.

Every time a Cyclone-partisan crowd begged Iowa State to cut the deficit to single digits in the first half, Virginia had an answer. Thompson would hit a 3. Anthony Gill would convert a 3-point play. Iowa State did cut it to seven in the second half, but Virginia responded with a 9-2 run. That put the game back in the double-digit comfort zone.

“It’s been something that Coach Bennett has been drilling in ourheads that we have to attack it, and we just can’t let the game come to us,” Gill said. “We have to be ready from the start. You know, it’s something that we work on in practice. If we’re not doing what we need to at the start of practice, he lets us know.”  

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We know all about Virginia’s defense. The Cavaliers entered the game allowing the second-fewest points per game in the NCAA at 59.5 and the third-fewest the last three seasons at 55.6. Yet in this game, Virginia out-executed and slowed down an Iowa State offense that averaged 82.1 points per game.

The offense is the difference-maker in the tournament. Virginia now averages 80.7 points per game and is winning by an average margin of 19 points per game in this year’s tournament. They’ll be a heavy favorite against a double-digit seed in the Elite Eight.

This is Virginia’s best chance at their first Final Four berth since 1984 — and maybe something more. They are one of three teams with a top-10 offense and defense according to KenPom.com’s adjusted statistics, and the other two (Kansas and Villanova) will play each other Saturday.

Wilkins would throw down two more two-handed dunks in the final two minutes that put the Cyclones away for good, complete with a reminder that time-tested saying might need a reversal. The Wahoos can always expect the defense and rebounding to show up.

In this case, however, the offense could win a championship.