But they all wanted more - kids, coaches, thousands in the stands at the TD Banknorth Garden. Greed. That remains the second-most dominant emotion.
And now, hopeful, greedy, all of that, Villanova stands on the precipice again. For the second time under coach Jay Wright, the Wildcats are one game away from the Final Four after running Duke out of the gym last night, 77-54. Tenacious on defense, relentless on offense, physically dominating for every one of the court's 94 feet, Villanova now has a game against Pittsburgh remaining between them and the happiest basketball place on Earth.
And, this just in:
What a monster the Big East is.
"We want Pitt . . . We want Pitt," is what the Villanova crowd chanted with about 2 minutes left last night. It will be a brawl against brothers. It will be physical and it will be familiar. It will be wonderful and it will be hell.
"I think everybody in the Big East likes this," Wright said. "Us being in the East [Regional] and having two Big East teams playing. I know the Big East takes a lot of pride in the conference - we all do. But you know what? If we're not going to win the final game, and not go to the Final Four, I'll be glad it's Pitt.
"But I hope it's us," he said.
There was this great Villanova atmosphere in the Garden. It wasn't like the Wachovia Center last week, certainly, but the pro-Nova bias was evident half an hour before tipoff when the crowd booed the arrival of the Blue Devils for their warmup. It stayed that way throughout. Boston might be an ACC city these days because that is where Boston College landed a couple of years ago, but the Big East roots still run deep. It was a Big East building last night. And it will be tomorrow.
