OK. Fair enough. But Wright himself noticed something during that matinee against Georgetown at the Wachovia Center a couple Sundays ago that he had not noticed before. 'Nova has been filling the building for a few years now, but the noise in the place has often seemed muted by indifference, or diffused by fans of the opponent.
Not that day. "That was all our crowd," Wright said after the 'Cats survived a late Hoyas comeback, and he's never been more aptly named than at that moment. The place had an NBA championship feel to it more than an NCAA championship feel, which is another way of saying Villanova was Philly's team that day, all in.
"It was nuts," sophomore Taylor King said. "First time I've been in a homecourt advantage in an NBA arena. It was different. I'm not used to stuff like that."
King transferred to Villanova from Duke.
"You know what?" the coach was saying before the Wildcats' practice yesterday. "I really believe that Philly is such a unique town that it's hard for any school to be Philly's team. But I think the city of Philadelphia appreciates basketball. Like I shared with our team what John Chaney told me at the [recent Big 5 Hall of Fame] induction ceremony: 'I like your team. They're mud tuff. T-U-F-F.' I said to my team how much that meant to me. Because his teams were mud tough. So if he's watching you, that's respect."
Respect is not love. Villanova has earned the city's respect over the last five seasons, reaching the Elite Eight in 2006, the Sweet 16 in 2008, the Final Four in 2009. The Wildcats have beaten their neighbors, habitually of late. And their history includes a championship, coveted in these parts more than in most.
