Archive: March, 2009
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Somehow, some way, Villanova is going to the Final Four.
It was a classic game. It was a game that will be talked about for as long as they talk about college basketball in Philadelphia. It was a tight, physical, brutal wonderful game – and Scottie Reynolds won it with a driving layup with 0.5 seconds left.
The final score was Villanova 78, Pittsburgh 76. And when everyone got done holding their breath at the end, when a Levance Fields 75-footer at the buzzer crashed off of the backboard and away, the Wildcats erupted to celebrate the school’s first Final Four appearance since 1985.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Heading to the Garden after a beautiful day in Boston. Everybody is out, wandering, waiting. There are plenty of Villanova sweatshirts on the cool, sunny streets.
Tonight against Pitt, the Wildcats have a chance to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 1985. Rollie Massimino, the old coach, will be in the building. The place will be all Big East hellfire and whatnot. Across the way from my seat will be the CBS announcers. If this is to be a DVD moment for the Villanova faithful, you couldn't have a better pair to call the ending.
Everybody knows Bill Raftery, America's basketball uncle. But the play-by-play guy, Verne Lundquist, is really good, too, the definition of understatement and elegance. His two most famous calls are golf calls, from the 17th hole of the Master. They are true classics. In 1986, when Jack Nicklaus made that putt to take the lead in the tournament at the age of 46, Lundquist just let him hit it and didn't talk over the drama. As it approached the hole, he offered only a hopeful, "maybe," but then when the ball disappeared a second later, his shout was simple and perfect: "Yes sir!" They will be replaying that one when we're all dead.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
BOSTON – The calendar turns and the obstacles grow larger. It is what the NCAA Tournament is about. You get scared in one round and you grow up in the next round and you hope that the momentum continues. Hope. Through everything, it remains the dominant emotion.
To paraphrase Bill Parcells, the old basketball coach, you are what the tournament says you are. And what the Villanova Wildcats are is an elite American college basketball program. When they arrived for their Sweet 16 game last night against the Duke Blue Devils, it was their fourth journey of this distance in five seasons. It has been a fantastic run, an elevating period of time for the program.
But they all wanted more – kids, coaches, thousands in the stands at the TD Banknorth Garden. Greed. That remains the second-most dominant emotion.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
It's an often-told story, about how the great Gerald Henderson, late of Episcopal Academy, chose Duke over Villanova. Here is coach Mike Krzyzewski's side of it. He was asked how he "plucked" Henderson out of Philadelphia, and Coach K offered just a hint of superiority in his reply.
"Because we're a national school, our school plucks good people in different parts of the country," he said. "It's what a national school does. Harvard does it in this area, Stanford. You're talking about -- Duke is one of the great schools.
"When I saw Gerald play, even before his junior year, I knew he would be -- he had a chance to be a great player. I'm not sure he knew it as much. I think he will tell you that sometimes the vision we have for it is maybe not the vision at that time he had for himself.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
At the nicest restaurant in the palatial hotel where the NFL is currently holding its meetings, this is what I would have for dinner if I were an owner.
Appetizer: Caviar, naturally. My choice would be the Iranian Golden Osetra because I want the best. The price is a mere $275.
Entree: I won't take the most expensive thing, the $55 Colorado Rack of Lamb. I'm in a red meat mood so I'll go with the Nebraska Prime Beef, with pommes dauphine, celery root and black truffle jus. That's $51.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The Eagles are going to run it a little more next year.
Really, they are.
This has been my general take since the end of the season. Sitting there after they lost the NFC Championship Game, trying to divine the future from the still-warm ashes, that just seemed the most logical way for Andy Reid & Co. to proceed. And that is exactly what they are doing.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
March Madness...
Stream of consciousness...
Plenty of people take the first 2 days of the NCAA Tournament off from work, meet up with friends, make one last plea to spouses, do the total immersion thing. But you really aren't a degenerate, a true and total degenerate, unless you have eaten three meals in the same bar on a Thursday or Friday in March -- one from the lunch menu, one from the dinner menu, one from the late menu, outlasting at least two shifts of bartenders and servers. Then, you know.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The vote is in.
Anquan Boldin it is.
Now all that has to happen is the Cardinals have to agree to trade him.
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The poll is pretty self-explanatory. The Eagles have these two first-round draft choices and a bunch of different scenarios. Some might be more real than others -- for instance, we can't be sure that Boldin or Cutler will be available. Still, this is where the conversation is today, so have at it.
- Poll: How should the Eagles use the No. 28 pick? (1512 votes)
