NCAA Tournament Elite 8 Notes: Jack Salt Handles New Role

By: Kris Wright |
Jack Salt and the bench cheer.
Jack Salt and the Hoos cheer on their teammates. ~ Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Media Relations

LOUISVILLE, KY. – As Virginia’s journey through March Madness continues into the Elite Eight, the team’s lone senior Jack Salt is embracing a new kind of role. And just like every other task he’s tackled with the Hoos, he’s doing it to the best of his ability for as long as possible.

Through the Gardner-Webb game in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament, Jack Salt logged 106 starts for the Cavaliers during one of the most successful eras in program history. Night after night, season after season, win after win. He stepped into that center circle and opened the festivities for the Wahoos at the jump.

Over the last 10 games, however, Salt’s minutes have slowly declined. That coincided with the continued improvement and consistency of Mamadi Diakite and the potential offensive punch brought by Jay Huff. Plus, as more and more opponents spread the floor in a changing game, matchups against physical posts became less frequent. Salt also has nursed a back injury during the year.

Back in the Louisville game in this same building on Feb. 23, Salt played just 5 minutes. That was his first single-digit outing of the year. He’s had four more of those over the last five weeks, including three straight in this NCAA Tournament against teams with less traditional post play. A reduced role at this time of year isn’t easy to handle, but Salt has handled it as well as anyone could.

“We’re playing but he’s actually helping us. He’s so unbelievable,” Virginia’s Mamadi Diakite said. “He does such a good job talking to each individual about how much we can bring and to keep going. Every time he’s … like ‘Come on now, we need you. You’ve got to keep going. You can’t stop now.’ It’s unbelievable for him to do that. I don’t see many people that can do that. It takes a very strong person to do that.”

“I’d say when it first started, it was tough but now I’ve got a mentality where I don’t care, I’m just here to help the team and whatever I can do out there, I’m going to do,” Salt said.

With fewer minutes on the floor, Salt instead has taken on the role of mentor and lead encourager. It’s been easy to spot him smiling on the sidelines and enjoying the wins to advance. He doesn’t want to overdo it – an understated style in that role too – but he’s going to back his guys and keep the journey going.

“If you’re on the bench and you’re not playing a whole lot, you do what you can,” Salt said. “Obviously you’re not going to be out there but you talk to teammates, you give them motivation. You don’t say too much. You don’t want to give them fluff and hype them up for no reason. You just be there when you can and help them out.”

And if his number gets called against the Boilermakers on Saturday night? He’ll be ready. Like he has been for four years running.

“Extremely excited,” Salt said of his team’s spot in the Elite Eight. “As of right now, I’ve got a role where I’m trying to support as much as I can but I’m also ready if the coaches need me. Purdue has good bigs, physical bigs so if Coach needs me, I’ll be ready.”

Speaking Of Role Reversals

When Jack Salt joined the Virginia program five years ago, he made the long trek across the Pacific Ocean and across the country to play in Charlottesville. One of his former Cavalier teammates and close friends just made the same journey in reverse. Isaiah Wilkins, who started alongside Salt for many games in the orange and blue, recently signed with the Canterbury Rams in New Zealand.

Salt is from the North Island, but knows a lot of Wilkins’ new teammates and said it was “awesome” that he landed in his old country.

“I talked to him yesterday,” Salt said. “He told me how his first practice went and he’s catching up at meals with some of the guys I played with when I was younger. It’s a pretty cool experience.”

With first-hand expertise on the new home for Wilkins, Salt hasn’t necessarily dished out any advice. Wilkins and Salt did trade a couple of friendly barbs, though.

“He just said he could see how I got so many dunks back in New Zealand,” Salt said smiling. “When I came to America, I was amazed by everyone. He goes to New Zealand, and I’m not saying he’s the most athletic guy, but he was like yeah I can see why you got so many dunks.”

Close To Home

With his home in Indianapolis just a two-hour drive away, Kyle Guy is enjoying an extended stay in Louisville. So are there any perks to playing that close to home? Like a speciality sandwich from a deli back home or something?

“I had my mom do my laundry last weekend so she could bring it to me here,” Guy said smiling. “They’ve been great traveling no matter where it’s at so I’m really lucky with the family and friends that I have.”

It’s Time For Another Episode Of …

Virginia fans that follow the Hoos on social media likely have seen Jay Huff’s alter ego at this point where he interviews teammates as mild-mannered Sean Doubletary. That name, of course, is a nod to Cavalier star point guard Sean Singletary.

“I came up with that on the fly some time last year,” Huff said. “Then they come up to me again during media day for the ACC Tournament this year and they were like do you want to do another segment? I was like ‘Sure, why not!’ Sounds fun. It was almost all improv-ed [improvised]. I’ve recently had people sending in questions to me, but before that, the first episode was completely improv-ed. It was like ‘Uhhh, do you guys do Karaoke?’ I just kind of ran with it.”

Huff took some drama classes in high school and always liked the improv segments so the video shorts are a fun way to enjoy the journey with the team. He’s also taken a screen-writing class at UVA – he joked, of course, that he couldn’t write anything serious – and has met Singletary several times. The Cavalier standout didn’t say anything to Huff about the name, though.

“He hasn’t said anything to me,” Huff said. “At some point, I might change the name to Sean Inarelationshiptary or Sean Tripletary or something like that and change it up a little bit. I hope he thinks it’s funny.”

Check out a couple of the social media posts below.