I Bleed Blue and White

(Note: No Blogger Beat for this game as the turnaround time from Syracuse was just too quick. But make sure to check out the excellent Marquette blog “Cracked Sidewalks” before the game.)

On Saturday, December 3rd, 2005 (my freshman year), my friends and I woke up early, trudged to the SPIT, and got some breakfast. Afterwards, we went straight back to our rooms on the 3rd floor of Stanford Hall, and preceded open up a deck of cards, and crack our first beers of the day. It was gameday of the first big basketball game of my college career and a day that I’ll never forget.

Oklahoma was coming to campus that day to play Villanova. It was the 4th game of the year, and a matchup of two Top 5 teams. The campus was buzzing. Everyone knew we had a chance to be a special team, but nobody really knew how good we could be. And Oklahoma was going to be that barometer. They boasted big men Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout while we trotted out a line-up that looked better suited for a high school game than primetime ESPN matchup. People doubted Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Kyle Lowry, Mike Nardi, Will Sheridan and Jason Fraser. We’d lost our consensus best player (Curtis Sumpter) for the year and many thought that we wouldn’t even compete.

More importantly, this game was on campus. My teachers and my older friends told me that you wouldn’t see another game like this in your 4 years here. The big match-ups in the Big East were played downtown at The Wachovia Center and Villanova typically scheduled soft out of conference. All of those things I heard have been proven true. Until tomorrow.

When Marquette arrives on Tuesday, they are going to meet a raucous crowd. Sure, I won’t be up at 9 am drinking in a crowded room on South Campus, but I like to think that there will be some people doing that. I won’t not see my roommate come in with glazed eyes and proclaim “it’s game time” at noon (6 hours before tip-off, mind you) and take off running for The Pavilion with just shorts and a ‘Nova jersey on, but the feeling of excitement will be the same.

When the official line comes out tomorrow, I won’t be surprised when ‘Nova is favored by a few points. But in reality, we’re still the team with something to prove. Although they lost their first game last week, Marquette is atop the conference standings, and in a lot of ways, they mirror that taltented ‘05-06 Villanova squad. Villanova is still the team with question marks and the team trying to garner national respect.

You know what though? We won that game in early 2005, silencing the doubters and making believers out of everyone. Randy Foye dazzled the ‘Nova faithful with 32 points. Jason Fraser forgot about the injuries for the night and scored 10 huge points. Kyle Lowry harassed anyone within 10 feet of him and Allan Ray scorched the nets. And a little known freshman named Dante Cunningham played 12 minutes and grabbed 1 rebound.

And what is my enduring memory from that game? It wasn’t the spectacular offensive performance from Foye and Ray, but the crowd and the way they impacted that game. The way they exploded louder for blocks and steals than they did for 3’s and dunks. The way they applauded a lanky Cunningham for helping stifle one of the best frontcourts in America and the way they loved a hobbled Jason Frasier like The Garden loved Willis Reed.

So tomorrow when the doors open and the students pile in to the point where those bleachers don’t feel safe, I’ll be remembering my freshman year, when a talented yet unrespected team ran through the students and proceeded to run a team out of the gym. I’ll remember deafening cries of “Lets Go ‘Nova!” and the “On Your Feet!” chants at the alumni. I’ll remember feeling the students’ confidence before the game. Because only we knew how good we were and how we were going to win.

We had the knowledge then that we were good, but only we knew it. But as Dick Weiss pointed out this morning in the Daily News, this Wildcat team has everything.

They have a Randy Foye-like superstar in Dante Cunningham. They have a lethal 3 point shooter in the mold of Allan Ray (Corey Stokes). They have an electric guard that can leave a crowd in awe like Kyle Lowry used to (Corey Fisher). They have a talented yet injury plagued senior who always seems to come through like Jason Fraser did (Shane Clark). And they’ve got glue guys who don’t make headlines but hold a talented team together like Will Sheridan and Mike Nardi used to (Dwayne Anderson and Reggie Redding). And we haven’t each touched on Scottie Reynolds yet, who unlike any of those old Wildcats, has already carried a team all my himself.

And looking at that, it’s not even far-fetched to think that this Villanova team has more working parts than the Elite 8 team did. They are making believers out of everyone and are playing like they are on a mission at the moment. I might not even be there tomorrow night because I don’t have a ticket yet (and if you read this and have an extra, let me know!), but I know that everyone is that bandbox we call our home will be behind our team.

Am I getting too excited and possibly letting myself up for a letdown? Possibly, but with the way this team is playing, it’s extremely difficult for me to temper my expectations.

Lets Go ‘Nova.