I Bleed Blue and White

Is it really that easy to get suspended these days or maybe it’s just too hard to follow rules?  Who knows, but today, Pittsburgh suspended redshirt junior Gilbert Brown for the fall semester due to academic problems.  So let’s see, that’s Joe Mazzulla (WVU), Darryl “Truck” Bryant (WVU), Reggie Redding, and now Brown to add on to the list of Big East players being suspended at one point or another.  Most of these players are upperclassmen as well, but evidently, they don’t get it.  In fact, Brown was honored after the season with one of the Pitt team awards.  No, this is not a joke, but he actually received the “Academic Excellence Award” after last season.  Academic excellence leads to suspension for academic reasons.  Interesting.

Overshadowed by DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, and Levance Fields last year, Brown was expected to step up and be a key cog for the inexperienced Panthers this year.  Pitt’s nonconference schedule is not incredibly difficult, but is certainly no cakewalk.  They play Iowa in late November, Wichita State and/or Texas in late November, and Indiana in early December.  Brown will be eligible for reinstatement on December 20th, just before Big East play begins.

Added by Chris:

…You may also know this man as the guy that Scottie elevated over for the game winning shot in Boston last year…for more on the suspension, check out Pitt Blather’s reaction…

Last night, Dante Cunningham returned from his groin injury that forced him to sit out Friday night’s game.  With his return, the Portland Trailblazers beat the San Antonio Spurs for their first win of the NBA Summer League.  Cunningham put up another solid effort, playing a game-high 30+ minutes and scoring 14 points on 7-12 from the field.  He also grabbed 2 rebounds, had 1 steal and 1 blocked shot, and committed zero turnovers.  Dante’s former Big East counterpart, DeJuan Blair, scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds for the Spurs.  The Trailblazers wrap up their Summer League schedule tonight vs. the D-League Select team.

Over the next several weeks and months one of the things we’ll be keeping tabs on is who is staying in college and who is declaring for the draft. Recently, Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair stated he would be putting his name in the draft but not hiring an agent. That’s very common for guys who want to get an idea of where they will go in the draft.

Blair has changed his mind, however, and will hire an agent. Blair has been projected as a mid-to-late 1st round pick, but his production level in college, as well as his plans to attend several pre-draft workouts could move him higher.

…I’ve seen a lot about how Blair promised Jamie Dixon he would play 4 years at Pitt…but give me a break…these college coaches lie to their players about staying all the time as well…and what Blair did was hardly lying…the guy had an unreal year and he has every right to run for the money…

…Plus, Pitt is losing Levance Fields and Sam Young as well…so the time to go is definitely now if you are DeJuan…and I will not miss him at all…

I rewatched the win over Pittsburgh for the first time tonight, and I can’t tell you how enjoyable it was. Not only to see the game from a different angle, but you just pick up on so much more than when you are there. At the game, I was an out of control lunatic screaming and jumping and cheering. I couldn’t analyze what was happening at all. Now I finally can. Here are some more thoughts.

• With 12 minutes left in the 1st half, Shane Clark had outscored Pitt 9-8. I cannot overstate how huge he was early in the game. His three triples deserved a Puuurrreee call from Gus Johnson. None of them touched the rim.
• With just over 8 minutes left in the 1st half, Sam Young scored to get Pitt within 5. Jay Wright immediately called timeout. Great job there to stop things before Pitt made a huge run.
• We did not shoot well at all, and still put 78 points on Pitt, and won. I’m very, very impressed by that.
• We stopped attacking the rim near the end of the first half, and that is why we were losing at the half.
• Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery did a phenomenal job calling this game, although I thought the last play could have been better called.
• At the game, I thought Sam Young killed us. After watching him play, he destroyed us. We harrassed him, double teamed him, poked him in the eye, stepped on his toes, everything. He was just that good.
• I will not miss Levance Fields, Sam Young, and possibly even DeJuan Blair at all. Good luck to them, and good riddance. I hated playing them. They are freaking good.
• Corey Stokes made one three, but it was a big one.
• Dwayne Anderson was ice cold all night, and then came up huuuuuuuuge down the stretch.
• The last play will be played for years and years. I’ll never forget that moment. It was pure heroics by Reggie Redding, Dante Cunningham and most of all Scottie Reynolds.
• I love this team.

(Note: This is more than likely going to be the longest thing I have ever written on here. So if need be, print this one out and take it to “the office” or a place where you can sit back, relax, and relive the memories.)

As I drove back to Villanova this morning, I was listening to Evan Roberts and Joe Benigno on WFAN. Benigno repeatedly used the phrase “one of the all-time great games” to describe Villanova’s monumental win over Pittsburgh to send the team to the Final Four. Every time he said that, all I could think of was that this was one of the all-time great weekends. If you were lucky enough to be there, it was special. And even if you weren’t, and you were at one of the various alumni functions, or just on your couch, you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.

My weekend started on Thursday morning when I left Villanova, picked up Liz at Newark Airport and proceeded up to Boston. We got into town around 4:30, picked up our tickets at 5:30. and headed over to The Greatest Bar, where ‘Nova alums gathered. Not knowing we needed to register for this event, we weren’t allowed in, and instead headed next door to DJ’s and grabbed a few drinks. A few hours later, we got into The Greatest Bar, and that is where the night really began.

We began to meet up with friends, whether they were current students, recent graduates, our friend’s fathers, and alums we’d never met. It was out of control. Everyone was buzzing about the game and the atmosphere was flat-out incredible.

With about 20 minutes to game time we headed over to The Garden and found out seats, which were about 5 rows from the court behind the basket. We had been talking about this all night, but the Thursday night crowd felt like it was 80-20 in ‘Nova’s favor. The fans were everywhere. We ourselves had a great section of Villanova fans, and Boston fans in general who just wanted to see us knock the snot out of Duke.

The crowd, including an amazing student section in the upper tank, was out of control all game. It felt like we were at home, but better. Villanova home crowds rarely get that wild, much less when we’re on the road. But ‘Nova Nation came out in droves and took over Boston all weekend.

Anderson loved the beatdown of Duke (AP/Winslow Towson)

Despite our proclamations all week that we were going to kill Duke, I have to admit the nerves set in as the opening tip was thrown into the air. But a monster dunk by Dante Cunningham set the tone for the night — we were not going to lose. Our defense swarmed the Dukies all night. They looked like they had never seen anything like that. At one point a Celtics fan behind me remarked, “They don’t just look scared. They are legitimately afraid to do anything.” And it was true.

Duke, led by fearless Jon Scheyer couldn’t muster the courage to take the ball into the lane. Maybe they had seen our dismantling of UCLA and feared for their lives, but I’ve never seen a team look like a deer in headlights like the Blue Devils. Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler, two players who were lauded all week, were taken completely out of the game. With about 10 minutes left, I yelled out, “It’s over!” to the delight of everyone around me except for Liz, who slapped me and was convinced I had jinxed us.

But it didn’t matter, that game was in the bag. With each play, the crowd got louder. We could feel it. When it was over, we went wild. About two rows in front of us, our friends Ted, Thomas, Keith and Brian had been going ballistic all game. I posted it before, but as Brian continually belted out,”There’s something special about this team!” you could begin to feel the people in the arena really starting to believe it.

At Hurricane O’Reilly’s after the game, it was a party. We were living the dream. But in the back of our minds we knew a greater challenge awaited us. We weren’t going to get a soft scared team on Saturday night. We were going into the trenches for a war.

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When Saturday morning rolled around, even more people had come up to Boston. For whatever reason, be it work or other obligations, nearly everyone knew some other person or group who was making their way up for what was going to be an epic night.

We were wiser this time around, opting to register for the alumni pre-game reception. There was such a big turnout on Thursday that the Boston Alumni had to rent out a 2nd bar to host everyone. We made it to Hurricane O’Reilly’s at about 3:45, and were greeted with 100 people standing outside ready to start the festivities.

What occurred in that bar was nothing short of spectacular. Alumni of all ages, as well as current students, and even future Wildcats began to party like we had already won. People offered toasts, cheers, drinks, etc. It was a great afternoon with great people (most of whom I didn’t even know). But the fact that we were all ‘Nova fans brought us all together.

Finally, it was time for the game. I had been saying all morning that I just wanted it to start. I couldn’t wait. And now, it was here. Liz and I made our way down to our seats, and then realized that the pro-Nova section we had on Thursday was completely dominated by the Pitt fans. Damn. No matter, because we’re here and we’re going to make the best of it.

I know that everyone who reads this blog saw the game, so I’m going to skip to the last 4 minutes. This game was a war. That’s really all that needs to be said about the first 36 minutes.

With just under 4 minutes left, and ‘Nova and Pitt trading baskets and stops, Pittsburgh made a mini-surge and built a 4 point lead. The Pitt fans exploded. The ‘Nova fans were stunned. Could this really be the end?

Pitt brought the ball up the court with a 4 point lead. And then the crowd noise rose. Jermaine Dixon had nowhere to go. And then boom! Dwayne Anderson is taking off in the other direction with the ball, and he gets hacked, and STILL manages to lay it in! The Garden was going bonkers. My ears hurt from the noise, and even as I tried to yell as loud as I could, I couldn’t hear myself. It was insanity.

Then another turnover (this time by Sam Young)! Reggie Redding finds a slashing Corey Fisher for the layup! We have the lead back! I’m shaking a random Bostonian next to me, and he is shaking me back.

Pitt scores again, but it’s short lived. Anderson drains a 3 from the top of the key. The building is shaking. Fans from both teams are on their feet and losing their minds. Just 90 seconds left. I’m praying for the clock to move faster, but it won’t. Young jacks up a 3. Missed, but Levance Fields snags the board and dishes it to DeJuan Blair. Blair turns it over! Now the place is really rocking. We can feel it. We’re going to do it.

Corey Fisher steps to the line with under a minute to go. He had a rough first half, but now it’s his time. He calmly drains both free throws. We’re up by 4, and we can feel. And just like that, we’re quickly shut up as Sam Young drills a 3 with Shane Clark draped all over him. I’m upset, scared, angry and impressed all at the same time. What is going on?

Pitt fouls Fisher. He drains both shots again. Does this kid have ice water running through the veins or what? Now we’re up just 3. Villanova isn’t giving up another 3 again. They are pressing at the top of the key. Fields launches a 3 but it’s no good! I’m now about 4 rows from my actual seat just jumping around and going nuts.

The team celebrates the win( AP/Winslow Towson)

Reggie Redding steps to the line. A Pitt fan realizes ‘Nova is perfect from the stripe. “They’re due to miss” he yells out. And he’s right. Redding’s first attempt rattles in and out. It’s okay, just make the next one and make this a two possession game. Redding puts it through.

No 3’s, no 3’s. We’re all screaming. Villanova overplays Fields, who finds a wide open Blair for a layup. Now I’m nervous again. With 10 seconds left, there is plenty of time.

After a timeout, Redding is inbounding the ball. He looks and looks. Nobody is open. Cunningham is streaking down the court. Reggie decides he’s Peyton Manning and launches a home run pass. It’s overthrown, and Pitt is rushing back the other way. Fisher tries to take a charge, but is called for the block. Fields to the line. That kid is a warrior. Before he even steps up I know that both are going in.

With 5 seconds left, ‘Nova Nation is stunned. Are we really going to overtime? Redding with the ball again. He’s looking far down court! Please don’t heave it deep again, Reg. He finds Cunningham, who hands it off to a streaking Scottie Reynolds! This is the Scottie Reynolds who never saw a big-time shot he didn’t like.

He’s in the open court! He’s crashing into the lane and getting hacked by Pitt players. 3 seconds. 2 seconds. He’s starts to rise and gets met by Gilbert Brown.

The ball is at the rim with 1 second left, and it falls through. Don’t ask me what happened next, because I don’t remember. All I know is that I had a random 10 year old boy hoisted over my head. His father didn’t mind at all, and was even jumping up and down next to me.

There was one final heart attack as Levance Fields decided he was going to hoist a 70-footer and miss by 1 foot, but we did it. We’re going to the Final Four!

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The team was rushing the court. Players, coaches and fans embraced. Magic was in the air. The cutting of the nets was something I’d never seen, and it was incredibly special. Nearly all the fans stuck around to witness this piece of history, but the night was young.

We headed back to The Westin at the Waterfront, which just so happened to be the official hotel of Villanova’s trip to Boston. Hundreds of fans gathered in the lobby. Drinks flowed everywhere. You could tell this party was going to go on all night.

After about 45 minutes, and countless cheers whenever the TV’s showed Reynolds’ last shot, a police motorcade approached the hotel. Fans streaked to the front doors. Slowly, chants of “Let’s Go Nova” poured out. And finally, the team entered to cheers even louder than the ones at the game.

Chatting with Rollie was one of the highlights of my trip (AP/Winslow Towson)

Players hugged fans, and fans cried. This felt more like war heroes returning from the battlefield than a basketball team returning from the hardwood, and I guess in some ways, it was.

Jay Wright stood up and thanked everyone for all the support. Dwayne Anderson said it was a night he’d never forget. And finally Dante Cunningham reminded everyone that we had not 1, but 2 more games left to win.

That brought the house down, and then ‘Nova Nation partied all night.

Congrats to everyone everywhere, this was one weekend that we’ll never forget.

Villanova doesn’t host Providence until tomorrow night, but the fight for the double-bye in the Big East Tournament starts this evening. Other than LOST, you should keep a close eye on Marquette’s trip to Pittsburgh.

VUHoops has a great outline of all the situations to get the double-bye, but the most simple way is for Marquette to go down to Pitt tonight, and then for Villanova to beat Providence at The Pavilion tomorrow. That would lock up the 4th seed.

#15 Marquette at #4 Pittsburgh (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2) – Since Dominic James left early in the loss to UConn, most people have written off the Golden Eagles and believe they will enter a tailspin. They were feisty in a loss to Louisville, however, and now look to try and keep hold on a Top 4 seed heading to Pitt. The Panthers lost to Providence last week as DeJuan Blair struggled with fouls, but rebounded over the weekend to take out Seton Hall.

And if you already have your eye on the NCAA Tournament like I do, keep an eye on this matchup tonight as well.

#5 Oklahoma at #12 Missouri (9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN360) – Mizzou has made an incredible run in the last month, soaring to the top end of the Top 25. They placed themselves in direct competition with Villanvoa for a 3 seed in the dance. They were humiliated at Kansas on Sunday. Oklahoma struggled when Blake Griffin was out before rebounding for a win when he returned. It will be a good matchup between the Griffin brothers and Mizzou’s DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons in the frontcourt.

In case you weren’t keeping score, it’s Go Panthers! and Go Sooners! tonight for ‘Nova Nation.

Dante Cunningham has been named one of 15 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, which is given annually to the National Player of the Year as determined by the U.S. Basketball Writer’s Association. Cunningham joins fellow Big East players DeJuan Blair, Luke Harangody, Jerel McNeal and Hasheem Thabeet on the list.

Here’s a description of the award:

“The Oscar Robertson Trophy is awarded to the USBWA’s Player of the Year. It is the nation’s oldest award and the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Robertson was the USBWA’s first player of the year in 1959. The USBWA renamed its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.”

…Congrats to Dante…this is a big honor, especially coming basically out of nowhere like he did…I’m glad that somebody finally recognized…

Since we’re getting down to the wire and every game seems to be gaining in importance I’m going to start posting some games to watch for the day, along with how the previous games went. I figure this will be an easy way to keep track of what’s going on in The Big East as well as the rest of the country. I’ll only be doing Big East games, and games that I figure directly relate to Villanova in terms of NCAA seeding. Here’s my first crack at it.

Monday night recap:

Pitt 76, UConn 68 – The Panthers rolled into Hartford, built a lead and kept it for most of the game before UConn began to surge in front late. Levance Fields, who hadn’t made a shot yet, hit 2 enormous 3’s down the stretch to propel Pittsburgh to the big win. The bigger story was DeJuan Blair’s dominance over Hasheem Thabeet. His 22 points and 23 rebounds (compared to Thabeets 5 and 4 effort) probably propelled him into the lead for Big East Player of the Year.

Games to watch for Tuesday:

Maryland at #13 Clemson (7:30, ESPN2) -  The Tigers are coming off a bad road loss to Virginia on Sunday, but remain a threat in the ACC as they are in a dead heat for 2nd place with 4 other teams at 6-4. With a 20-4 record overall, they are one of Villanova’s main competitors for a seed into Philly for the NCAA Tournament. Maryland has struggled to a 5-5 record in the ACC thus far, but they still have strong NCAA Tourney hopes. Greivis Vasquez will lead the Terrapins into Death Valley hoping to secure a quality win.

Seton Hall at Marquette (8:00, ESPN360) – Marquette rebounded from losses to South Florida and ‘Nova with a win over St. John’s, but now face a dangerous Seton Hall team that has given the Big East fits all year. They took UConn to the wire earlier last week and guard Jeremy Hazell and big man John Garcia will look to send Marquette reeling as they head into the final stretch of the season. This is the 2nd of 3 games against teams with losing records before the Golden Eagles close with UConn, Pitt, Louisville and Syracuse.

…As far as Villanova is concerned, it’s safe to say that ‘Nova Nation will be collectively rooting for Maryland and Seton Hall tonight…the game last night was kind of a push, but it’s safe to say that the Pitt victory makes our win over them look better…

Andy Katz just posted his weekly watch column for ESPN. When I opened this article, I was 99.9% sure that there would be some miniature section dedicated to ‘Nova’s big week. After all, they upset the #3 team in the country and followed it up with a blowout over Cincinnati.

Boy was I wrong. Well, kind of. Villanova was mentioned twice, albeit in a backhanded compliment sort of way. DeJuan Blair was named to the starting lineup of the week, Let’s just completely ignore the 20 minute, 7 point performance he put up against ‘Nova. That was so long ago. So Dante Cunningham, take notice. You have to completely stink up the joint for the first game of the week before actually playing well if you want to get some national recognition.

But that’s not all. Pitt is mentioned again as a team still fighting for a #1 seed. Actually I agree with this, and I want to thank Katz yet again for reminding the country that “they lost to Villanova.”

You know what though, I don’t even know why I’m getting flustered by this. Villanova relishes the “nobody believed in us!” role and the longer they stay under the radar and out of the national spotlight, the better.

If you missed it here is the recap the the box score.

Last game at The Spectrum. You know what? It was freaking loud. Really loud. Being from New York, I don’t have any history with The Spectrum. And from what I heard before the game, neither did anyone else. Who cares though? It’s Villanova basketball.

But there was just something in the air tonight. Yeah, you’ll look at Dante Cunningham at say he was uuuuuuuuuuuge. 15 points and no fouls — yeah, that’s right, no fouls – he came back in a big way. Scottie Reynolds? 3-11 from the field and the biggest 10 points of his career. He was phenomenal tonight. Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes? Yeah boys, you earned your stripes.

DeJuan Blair? You are a beast. But tonight, you hurt yourself with fouls and played right into ‘Nova’s hands. Sam Young? Respect.

But the biggest heroes? Reggie Redding and Shane Clark. Reggie with a career high 18. And 10-10 from the charity stripe. Good for you kid. Shane Clark? 6 offensive rebounds (3 straight on one possession). Y’all balled out tonight.

Credit to every person in that building. Who cares if it was the last college basketball game at The Spectrum? The students brought it tonight. So did the alumni and the fans. It was pouring rain out all afternoon. And people were there from 3:30 on. That is the spirit of this school.

Words honestly cannot describe the atmosphere of that arena. My ears are still ringing.

More so, words cannot describe this win. As a fan, this was never in doubt. There was that mystique in the air. We were going to win. And curse you if you were going to stop us. This was one of those nights. Gotta love it.

Villanova has legs. Beware Big East.