The Loop
Virginia's Ty Jerome wore an incredible shirt with a UMBC logo on it to summer league
Ever since the University of Virginia's epic victory over Texas Tech in the NCAA men's basketball title game, now-former Cavs point guard Ty Jerome has been on an all-out troll tour. First, he started by going after Stephen A. Smith, who had said he hated watching Virginia because of the team's boring style of play.
"I just feel so bad for Stephen A. Smith," Jerome told Sports Illustrated two days after the championship game. "He said he hated watching us. And he had to watch us every single round of the tournament. I feel so bad for him. It must have been so hard for him."
Just a few days later, Jerome directed his ire at New York sports radio legend Mike Francesa, who had invited Jerome on the show to discuss UVA's impressive tourney run. In previewing the tournament, Francesa had claimed to a caller that Virginia couldn't play offense, and this was his reasoning as to why the Wahoos would not win the NCAA Tournament. Jerome didn't forget.
"Our offensive efficiency, I think we were in the top five in the country, we have been all year," Jerome said to Francesa during their interview. "I'm sure a lot of people don't do their proper research of college basketball before they speak."
"Oh, that's for me," Francesa responded.
Almost three months later, Jerome's troll tour has continued in Las Vegas for NBA Summer League. Jerome, who was drafted 24th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers and later traded to the Phoenix Suns, has not played in any games because the move to the Suns was not made official until recently, meaning he had not yet properly trained with the team. But that didn't stop him from showing up with this incredible shirt that featured a UMBC logo on it. For those who don't recall (how could you not?), UMBC was the first 16 seed to take down a 1 seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, and that 1 seed was Virginia. After going through a full year plus of being crushed for losing to a 16 seed, UVA redeemed itself with a national title, which is what Jerome's shirt represents:
If you can't quite see the logo slapped over the UMBC logo, it says Virginia backwards in white and then "Championship 2019 Shirt" in black. Let's hope this troll tour never stops for Jerome.