I Bleed Blue and White

I’ve now written this post for the 3rd time. My first attempt was all over the place. I was on Raf’s nuts, praising #1, and killing the refs. Then I read the manifesto I had just written and decided it was below a 2nd-grade writing level. So after I calmed myself down I wrote another saga detailing the downfall of the college basketball referee, and how it all culminated in the atrocity that we witnessed last night.

And now, on my third attempt, we’re just going to give praise to Scottie Reynolds, or as I now know him, God. (Hey, Liverpool did it with Robbie Fowler — let’s run with this). Last night we saw a team get the breaks beat off them in the 1st half. That deficit felt insurmountable at one point, a fact not lost on me as I tweeted for the 2nd time in 3 days that a game was essentially over (I’m what you would call a major reverse jinx).

And then in the 2nd half you saw one of the best players Villanova has ever seen completely take over a game. As Bill Simmons would say, Scottie went into “F*ck You Mode.” What made his 30 point outburst in the 2nd half all the more impressive is that he was averaging just 6 points per game for his career against the Cardinals.

His perfect effort from downtown wasn’t even a surprise. After nailing 2 in the first half he came out and hit 3 in the 2nd — and all three were the boldest shots I’ve ever seen him take, completely silenced Freedom Hall, and made Bill Raftery pee his pants in the process. And each time he pulled up, you just knew they were going in. It was incredible.

Loyal reader Chocolate Thunder pulled this gem late last night — “Maalik Wayns hit a free throw to give Villanova a 76-72 lead with 6:05 to go. It was the last time any Wildcat other than Reynolds scored.” Did it feel that way? Yes. Are you surprised? No. Did you love every god damn second of it? Hell yeah.

I’m glad we’ve got God on our side. Here’s some other random thoughts from last night:

• I’ll say it again – Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery make any game 1000x better. There’s no better crew in their line of work. Their passion, knowledge, audible excitement and the way they abuse the referees is phenomenal.
• Awful, awful game from Reggie Redding. 2 points and 7 turnovers. We got freshman-Reg last night. In a hostile environment with a young team, you need more from your senior leader and most consistent player. We won so it doesn’t seem as bad, but if we had lost that game you’d be hearing a lot more about his play. Still love ya though Reg, and I do believe you are the glue that holds this team together.
• Anyone see Corey Fisher and Edgar Sosa woofing at each other? They clearly are not friends. That dates back to NYC high school hoops. I thought Fisher got the best of him last night. He was making a lot happen. Felt like he had more than 12 points.
• How about Mouph Yarou in his first real action of the year. Thought he did a great job with Samardo Samuels (who played a great game) and was victimized by the refs on some fouls. He got me very excited for what he can bring the rest of the year. He’s much more athletic that I thought.
• Our FT shooting (35-49) was awful. We could have lost that game with how poor we were shooting the freebies.
• How about that Jay Wright technical? I’m 98% certain that if one of the 7 people restraining him had let him through, he would have actually killed an official. Regardless, it was a key turning point in last night’s game. The team definitely responded to that.
• Maalik Wayns single-handedly kept us in the game in the 1st half. He was hurt by fouls after the break but he was phenomenal in the opening stanza. Handled himself extremely well for a freshman.
• Speaking of freshman handling themselves well on the road, both Dominic Cheek and Isaiah Armwood did well too. Armwood disappeared after playing a lot early due to foul problems. Cheek played great D and had a nice floater on the break which gave us privilege to this gem from Raf – “Ohhhhh with the teardrop…running down the Cheek!” (Shout out to Blue Man! for the quote)
• Taylor King was outstanding. I tweeted that I thought the game was going too fast for him in the 1st half (it was) but he really picked it up after the break. He as integral in that win.
• It took me this long to finally get to the refs, but here it is — That was the worst officiated game I think any of us have ever seen. The officials should be ashamed of themselves for such a poor performance that took the spotlight off the teams playing and onto themselves. Jeff Goodman from FOX called for them to have an extended rest and to have their eyes checked. I really think they should be suspended for a week. If you were to review that tape, I’m sure you could find at least 30 fouls that shouldn’t have been called. It was an abomination. At one point I was convinced those guys were betting on the OVER. So to all three of you (whose names I will not repeat), go f*ck yourselves.
• And just so we end this on a good note, let’s have one more celebratory mention of God. Sir Scottie Reynolds was just magnificent last night. Get his jersey in the rafters now!

…We’re off until Sunday when we host Georgetown…I will be attending that game with the IBBW crew and friends, so if you are going to be out in D Lot, we may run into each other…