The most captivating basketball game of the past half-decade, at any level, on any stage, was a slog.

It was June 19, 2016, a summer Sunday evening you, like 30.8 million others, surely spent in front of a TV. It was Cleveland Cavs vs. Golden State Warriors, Part II, Game 7 – Kyrie Irving’s shot, LeBron James’ promise kept. It was the unforgettable culmination of an NBA Finals littered with blowouts, turned suddenly by 48 gripping minutes into one of the greatest ever.

And, by the standards being used to complain about Monday’s NCAA national title game before it’s even begun, one of the most memorable nights in NBA history was ugly. Perhaps even dull. Excruciatingly so.

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It was played at a mid-00s pace, the teams scoring around a point per possession, below the NBA average – and below Texas Tech’s output in each of its five 2019 NCAA tournament games. Golden State and Cleveland combined for 31 fourth-quarter points and a Virginia-esque one made basket over the final four-and-a-half minutes.

So before you prematurely moan about expected drudgery – before you joke about 31-28 final scores; before you compare Virginia vs. Texas Tech to a bull ramming into a fire hydrant and dying – take a second to reflect and reconsider. Not to convince yourself that Monday will match Warriors-Cavs. But to realize that slow, low-scoring basketball has its merits.

Slow and low-scoring does not equal boring

It’s one of several basketball manifestations of the scarcity principle, the reason a sport featuring some 2.7 goals per 90 minutes can be the world’s most popular: the rarer points get, the more valuable they are; the more, therefore, every possession matters. Tension heightens. Frantic excitement might dwindle, but drama lingers and builds, seizing nerves.

Virginia’s eked-out, drought-ridden victories over Oregon and Auburn weren’t charming. But they were spellbinding, blink-less theater. Just like dozens of turn-of-the-century NBA playoff rock fights. And just like that legendary Cavs-Warriors finale.

Of course, Cavs-Warriors had James and Stephen Curry. It had global brands. It was steeped in narrative-driven consequence that transcended rings. Monday night won’t be. Its lack of star power has already turned off casual fans. Its unsexy surface might lift potential viewers from their couches, away from TVs, leaving Virginia-Texas Tech as one of the lowest-rated title games ever.

But its dramatic potential persists. Spectacles with stakes so often rise above aesthetics. Monday night has every chance to be special. Because Virginia and Texas Tech, on paper, are special teams with very little separating them.

Truths and myths of the ‘ugly’ game expectation

So what, exactly, does the college basketball collective mean by “ugly”?

Let’s first be clear that the label does not equate to impotent offense. Or at least it shouldn’t. Over the past two months, according to barttorvik.com, Virginia and Texas Tech rank Nos. 1 and 2 out of 353 Division I teams in adjusted offensive efficiency. Without adjusting for opponent, Virginia averages 1.16 points per possession. It has scored 1.12 PPP in five tournament games – more than the NBA-wide average in any of 46 seasons for which Basketball Reference has data.

So this is not about bad offense. It’s about slow, team-oriented offense, and historically elite defense that will neutralize it.

Virginia wins games in the 50s and 60s because it plays at a tortoise’s pace, not because it’s significantly more effective on one end of the floor than the other. Its average offensive trip lasts 21 seconds. Its average game features only 60.6 possessions. It eschews fast breaks going in one direction and suppresses them in the other. And while Texas Tech’s philosophy isn’t nearly as extreme, the Red Raiders will be happy to plod along.

Virginia's Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy are both excellent halfcourt offensive players. (AP) More