Donnellon: Can Big 5 rivals' fans root for 'Nova?

BE PATIENT. Better days ahead. We're building something here. Come back when we're done.

Winter, spring, summer or fall, that is our professional sports teams' mating call.

And then there are the Villanova Wildcats. They are here, and they are now. Seeking to repeat as national champions inside of a system designed, at least accidentally, to make even the thought of such a thing absurd. A team that has both the talent and experience to pull this off. An immensely likable team. Representing the city in a year when none of its Big 5 rivals made the cut.

Ooh. Yeah. That could be a problem. Has been in the past, even before social media provided its inherently polarizing grindstone.

"That's what's different from when we went on our run," Phil Martelli, the Saint Joseph's coach, was saying Thursday. "There wasn't social media like there is today. So they didn't use that to draw those lines of demarcation. You're a St. Joe's fan, you're a St. Joe's fan. And you couldn't bring yourself to root for Villanova."

For those of you too young to remember - and that means most of those currently attending Big 5 schools - Martelli's 2003-04 team, featuring future NBA players Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, finished the regular season 27-0 and was a missed jumper at the buzzer away from advancing to the Final Four.

That team, featuring likable players and a likable head coach, captured the city's imagination and smudged those lines of demarcation, at least among most. Positive national attention came to the team, and the city. And the players, particularly Nelson, conducted themselves in a way that made us all proud.

"The fact that we were perceived as the little school," Martelli said. "And the fact that Jameer Nelson was sub-6-foot. I think it captured everybody's imagination . . . He was the proverbial little engine that could. Like Ryan Arcidiacano last year. People could relate to him because that guy's on the playground somewhere."

And the number of stories I've been told over the years about, say, the wedding reception where everybody ignored the reception to watch the game against Oklahoma State. Or the people who would be gathered to a St. Paddy's Day beef-and-beer . . . Now, were there people in there who were St. Joe's grads and fans? Yes. Were the large number of people Philadelphians who cared? I would think. We as a group definitely felt it. And because I didn't change my public life, I knew it. People openly rooted for that team."

Villanova has been all that, of course, has done last April what even Jameer and Co. couldn't do back in 2004. And in dramatic fashion. Jay Wright has built on that playbook, too, embracing the Philadelphia identity with which previous 'Nova teams and coaches often felt at odds.

Yet we are still left with this sense that if he was doing this with Boston College, or with St. John's in New York or Georgetown in D.C., it would feel like a much bigger deal in those towns than it does in our Big 5 town. Are fans of Temple wishing Villanova well? Are the fans of St. Joe's, or La Salle, or Penn? Is this quest for history, for storied greatness, enough to pocket our true-to-your-school provinciality?

And if so, why doesn't it already feel that way?

"I said last year going into the tournament that I thought they were underappreciated," Martelli said. "I thought Jay was underappreciated. Because he was doing it with four-year guys and he was doing it with - and I mean this respectfully - fringe NBA players, not full-blown NBA players. And I think the way they have embraced this year and this opportunity - and I think he's so likable and personable - that there aren't (as many) fans at Temple, at St. Joe's who are saying, 'I'm rooting against them.' Because I think he embraces Philadelphia, the players give back, and their performance on the court is to be appreciated for sure."

Oh, yeah, there is also this thing, that's been around for more than half a century: We are, at our heart, a college basketball town, a place that cherishes teams that represent the city and play the right way.

Villanova? Check both boxes.

"It's a good group that hasn't allowed last season to alter their mentality or egos," said Martelli, who was born, raised and will likely someday die here. "They don't walk around as if they are defending anything. What they're trying to do is win this one. For this season."

It's a nice jingle. It's hard to pull off. The Phillies could never quite do it. You've got to go back to the Flyers and the '70s to find a repeat.

Put on hold by our pro sports franchises, with no other college team to pull for this March, a back-to-back would sure boost the mood around here. At least it should, right?

"I think it's a net neutral," Martelli said. "Had they not won it last year and just been the only representative this year? There would be a lot of that Philadelphia misery, the 'Woe is us.' I don't think it's that. It's, 'I want to see what they can accomplish. I'm a basketball fan.'

"It's about, 'Wow - can this be historical?' "

donnels@phillynews.com

@samdonnellon

Columns: ph.ly/Donnellon