Bob Ford this morning has a nice piece on how the inbound play Villanova called with seconds left in the Pitt game never works in practice. It's a damn good thing the game was for serious because Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds sure as hell made it work.
Head coach Jay Wright said it's something they've done countless times to no avail, "We practice it all the time. They always stop it."
Inbounder Reggie Redding agrees, "Never works in practice. We get it to Dante,
but we can never get it to Scottie."
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The 'Nova fans I was with during the game talked a lot of smack throughout on
Scottie's poor decision making but they were loving him in the end.
That seems to be the fiesty guard's MO.
And finally, the hero Reynolds says it went down exactly as practiced except the final outcome, "The last two minutes were just like practice, but basically we always
turn the ball over and lose the game. Somebody hits
the big shot on the white team, and Coach is yelling at us."
It's a funny postscript to a great play in a truly amazing game. And Ford correctly points out that Scottie will find himself on CBS March Madness promos for decades to come. I immediately thought it akin to Tyus Edney going the length of the court back in 1995 for UCLA.
But the one thing I take exception to with Ford's nice piece is the instantly dubbing of the final few seconds as "The Play." I mean, how many "The Play"s, "The Catch"s, or "The Throw"s, "The Shot"s can we really have? It was a great play in a superbly exciting Elite Eight game. But to go all proper noun on a play that wasn't even in a Final Four let alone a championship game is a bit much in my opinion.
With the Phillies starting things up in Philly this weekend, the Villanova Final Four buzz should be a tremendous added bonus.
>>For Villanova: 'The Play' Never Works in Practice [Inquirer]