The only, remotely outside chance I have of finishing in the money (note that I didn't say "first place," because that baby flew out the window when Memphis laid down and died) is if North Carolina makes it to the National Championship game. Which, of course, means I would have to root for them to beat Villanova, and that simply won't fucking happen.
Losing $30 to see the Wildcats make it to the final round is a small price to pay.
Wow. That was certainly not the ending Villanova fans have been accustomed to seeing for the last three rounds of this tournament. No running out the clock here, no sir: Thirteen lead changes in the second half, capped off by a dunderheaded throw by the Wildcats with ten seconds remaining... which was then redeemed after two Pitt free throws by a hot-knife-through-butter layup by Scottie Reynolds which sealed the victory with half a second remaining (although Levance Fields did not give anyone an excuse to exhale until his desperation heave bounced hopelessly away from its target).
If my last sentence left you breathless, well, that's how watching the game felt, too.
And so the Villanova Wildcats -- pride of the Main Line, scourge of the also-rans -- will travel to Detroit as one of the remaining quartet of teams hoping to cut down the net come Monday, April 6. I couldn't be prouder of Jay Wright and this team he has assembled and led with tenacity and brilliance. Excuse me while I get up off of my knees now and realistically examine their chances...
'Nova will play North Carolina for the chance to play in the final round. As you recall, it was the Tarheels who beat Villanova in 2005 en route to capturing their first title since Dean Smith was still coaching there. In later years, it seemed that if you wanted to win it all, you had to beat Villanova to get it. Will this trend continue?
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If you believe the experts, yes. Now that Louisville has been dispatched in shocking fashion, only Connecticut and UNC remain the lone number-one seeds standing, and conventional wisdom says these two will battle for the championship. Unfortunately -- and I would love nothing better than to be wrong -- I think conventional wisdom is right.
This is usually as far as the scrappy underdogs get (if you can call a #2 and #3 seed that). The Huskies and Tar Heels are the elite of the elite, and should Ty Lawson play at full steam the Wildcats may hit the wall by Saturday night. Again, I could be way off, and I pray that I am. But to quote Damon Runyon, "The battle may not always go to the strongest, nor the race to the swiftest, but that's the way to bet."
No matter what happens from here on out, I can only thank these young men from my alma mater for making this a great year to be a Wildcat fan. Go 'Cats!
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Here we are yet again, Wildcats fans: craning our collective necks to sneak a peek over the precipice of national glory. There is still quite a way to go, and formidable opponents to face along the way, but Villanova finds themselves among the last sixteen colleges standing in this third round of the tournament di tutti tournaments.
Everybody's going nuts!
For the first time in possibly ever, the top three seeds from all four regions have made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Five teams entering Round Three are from the Big East, the most of any conference still represented in 2009. Not coincidentally, the top four Big East teams are among those five, and Syracuse -- the fifth team -- has earned much respect after it's six-overtime clobberfest with Connecticut in the conference tournament.
But let's get back to Villanova. How would you rate their performance after the opening weekend? Aside from that blindside courtesy of who-you-callin'-underdogs American's lights-out shooting performance in the first half of Game One, Villanova played sixty minutes of dominant basketball.
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After fighting back from fourteen down in the second half to outscore those American Eagles 49-26 (winning the game 80-67), the Wildcats were determined not to begin their next match-up against UCLA so lethargically. American caught them off guard; UCLA would not be lucky. The Bruins, participants in three straight Final Fours, were summarily dismissed in decisive fashion, falling by twenty to Villanova.
Did Jay Wright and Co. benefit from official generosity? Does Coach K? Did Michael Jordan? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But anyone who dismisses the Wildcats' overwhelming effort last Saturday afternoon is either a UCLA fan in denial or just a flat-out 'Nova hater... and you and I know those people simply don't matter.
Tonight at 9:57 EST the Blue Devils meet the Wildcats in Boston. Much has been written or uttered about the greatness of both teams, how neither one has the advantage, the aggressiveness of both coaches' styles of play, etc. I'm not denying any of that. But truth be told, damn it, I think Villanova really can win this game. Maybe it won't be a blowout like UCLA, or (God forbid) a Lazarus-like resurrection from a double-digit grave, but why can't they?
Why not, I ask you? Anderson and Cunningham have been absolute beasts. The Coreys excelled off the bench. Scottie Reynolds has struggled so far (6-for-16 shooting, 9.5 ppg), but if he gets hot tonight, this group will play again come Saturday.
And if Duke should prevail, I'd pencil them in for a National Championship. The last three teams that defeated Villanova in the Sweet Sixteen round or later went on to win the whole thing (UNC, Florida, Kansas).
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Of one thing I'm fairly certain: Garrison Carr's performance will haunt the dreams and digestive tracts of many a Wildcat fan for the next 36 hours. His offensive production at the Wachovia Center last night was impressive, to put it mildly: 8-of-18 shooting, with 6 of those coming from beyond the arc. Villanova had a hell of a time defending the trey before halftime. Carr was unconscious back there.
As for the seniors, Cunningham and Anderson: I cannot praise these two enough. On a night when besides them only Corey 
From the moment the Wildcats tied the game at 55 with 7:42 left it was all over. At that point you knew American had given its all, and simply could not hold what was once an impressive lead. They landed several formidable jabs but it was Villanova, the sturdier team, who would deliver the uppercut. Still, the 14-seed played with tenacity and emotion, because no team who works this hard to get here intends simply to lay down and die (just ask Cal State-Northridge; don't ask Chattanooga, though).In case you were wondering, this is my 2009 NCAA Tournament bracket. (click to enlarge)
I know, I'm a shameless homer, but why couldn't Villanova make it to the Final Four? When they're cold they're cold, but when the 'Cats are hot ain't nobody can touch 'em.
As for the rest... sure, I could have just as easily taken the $30 I spent to participate and lit it on fire, but this is a much more entertaining way to lose that money. Also, I'm out of matches.
I attended Villanova University from 1990 to 1994. At least that's what my transcripts say. Somehow I managed to graduate, too.
During my sophomore year I was part of a group that took part in a model Arab League hosted by American University. I, along with members of a fraternity I was pledging at the time, took a road trip down to Washington, D.C. for the three-day conference. We were the group representing Syria. Or maybe it was Libya? Anyway...
We did get to visit the Syrian/Libyan/Whateverian embassy, which was actually quite interesting. We also took advantage of the free hotel room to host a keg party for the other visiting schools. This was the night before we were scheduled to participate in the conference at American, so the party might not have been such a good idea. (Continued...)
As my fuzzy memory recalls, one drunken moment led to another, and by 3 AM that morning I, three students, and a strapped-in keg were driving aimlessly through the streets of pre-9/11 Washington, stopping at various landmarks along the way to take photos of ourselves posing in front of the OAS Building, the Washington Monument, a homeless guy... yeah, we covered the bases.
On the way back to the hotel we got lost. In Washington, D.C. The part where lots of murders happen. Four young, collegiate white boys dancing along the fringe of urban decay, while the only sonofabitch who knew how to get back to our hotel lay passed out in the back seat.
Miraculously, we did end up back at the hotel, dragging the not-quite-empty keg and our not-quite-conscious traveling companion/would-be navigator back up to our hotel room. I don't think any of us died or got arrested, so I guess that qualifies as a happy ending to this tale. In any case, this looks like a good place to stop.
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"So," some of you (or perhaps not a single one of you) might be wondering, "just what the hell happened to all of that Villanova Wildcats coverage we'd been expecting?"
A fair question; I fucked up, no excuses. Frankly, my blogging output has been woeful since just after the Phillies won the World Series. It's as if I needed the angst of unfulfilled glory-lust to provide that creative spark. God bless the Eagles for trying to restore it, though I fear it may be diminished for good, or at least for the next five years should they go by without a local championship.
Then where does this leave us? From where I sit, it leaves us with a basketball team that has matched its best finish in history: 25 regular season wins, including 13 earned while trudging through the vicious gauntlet known as the Big East Conference. Thanks to a superb run in early February -- during which they vanquished powerhouses Pitt, Marquette and Syracuse by double digits -- the 'Cats all but assured themselves a ticket to the Big Dance.
Had they been able to take care of business against regular-season and tournament champ Louisville, Villanova might have locked down a #2 seed with nominal consideration for a top spot. But I'm getting ahead of myself. They're a #3 seed, which is a notable improvement over last year's twelfth-spot, and they get to sleep in their own beds for the first weekend of the tournament whose Midwest regional round opens in Philly at the Wachovia center... a place that just happens to serve as the Wildcats' home-away-from-home.
Can't really complain about that, now can you?
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In other news, the über-dapper Jay Wright beat out Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun and a slew of other talented basketball minds to win Big East Coach of the Year. This is the second time Coach Wright has been honored in such a way, and good on him -- he's earned it. As always, the Wildcats are a young team and a small team, and nobody would have been surprised if the larger, more imposing rivals had dropped them square into the middle of the standings. Yet when the smoke cleared, there sat the 'Cats in fourth place, good enough to earn a double-bye for the conference tournament.
I will mention this: While Villanova performed admirably in general -- beating ranked teams handily, and losing to UConn and Louisville by a combined seven points -- they befuddled onlookers by struggling against lower-ranked Big East contenders. Losses to unranked West Virginia and the NIT-bound Hoyas, not to mention way-too-close victories against DePaul, Providence and Seton Hall, indicate that the Wildcats are not above playing down to their competition. (Granted -- the West Virginia loss was a trap game following four major victories, and was played on the road against a highly-motivated opponent with too much to lose.) This particularly troubling trait will merit scrutiny when 'Nova takes the court Thursday evening against 14-seed American University.
But they're back, and hope yet again springs eternal. Will we as fans settle for another Sweet Sixteen appearance and little more? I certainly hope not, or else why even bother showing up for the first round? GO CATS.
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From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Dog: "Wait a second. Did... did he just whip his cock out at me? That's pretty god-damned distracting! I am really fucking distracted here!
"You know what, just... just take what you want and leave, OK? I'll be in the kitchen, trying to figure out what the hell just happened."
