IS GETTING ITS DRAFT BOARD READY
The big interview day. Villanova coach Rollie Massimino charmed the huge room full of writers after kind of grumping his way through much of the season with the local media. Georgetown showed up, too. Always secretive, they chose to stay in Louisville and make the daily drive. Coach John Thompson said it wasn't to keep the team away from the media. He said, "The real significance is to establish a level of concentration to be able to work on the things you want to work on. It just happens to be my personal way of doing things."
Rupp Arena was dominated by Memphis State fans. It didn't matter. The Wildcats hung around and hung around and then watched Tigers star Keith Lee foul out with more than 10 minutes to go. They played smart, built a lead, went cold, then just confidently reeled in the game at the end, 52-45. Afterward, Kirk would complain that Massimino slowed down the game in the last tournament played without a shot clock. The papers would be full of stories about how Villanova, with all of its changing defenses, won ugly.
"We look bad, but we make the other team look worse," Wildcats forward Harold Pressley said. But that wasn't the quote that will live forever. This was:
"If they're a Cinderella team, then Cinderella wears boots," Kirk said.
At that point, there was such a thing known as the "Flutie effect" to describe an increase in enrollment and fundraising as a result of athletic success; Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie was the inspiration. On the day before the title game, the Rev. John Driscoll, Villanova's president, offered this counter: "We would not be averse to having a Massimino effect of our own. I am confident that Rollie Massimino can out-Flutie Flutie."
He might have been the only one. There was a college all-star game played that night. Three big-time players were approached for their predictions and all picked Georgetown, decisively. Detlef Schrempf looked at me like I was insane when I asked him.
"Georgetown," he said.
No chance for 'Nova?
"Not really," Schrempf said. "Georgetown would have to be off - way off - to lose that game."
Then, all-night poker followed by breakfast. After all, tipoff wasn't until past 9 p.m.
The hotel phone rang at about 10 a.m. It was terrible news: Al Severance, the 79-year-old retired Villanova coach, had suffered a massive coronary in the team hotel and died. The day of the title game had begun with tragedy for the Villanova family.
Life, death - there was a human quality to this whole Villanova run. It was embodied in the person of Jake Nevin, the longtime trainer, now in a wheelchair suffering from ALS. Nevin was courtside for the whole tournament - part friend, part talisman by the end. He used to play practical jokes on Severance back in the '50s. Now, this. It was all very real.
The game was as good as you remember, or you have read. There has been little need for historical embellishment. The Wildcats did play a near-perfect second half. They did wander around the floor after it was over chanting, "April Fools', April Fools' . . . " *
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