A Shot To Be Remembered Forever - Reynolds Takes His Place Among Villanova Legends

To the Villanova Wildcats faithful!!!-

On Saturday, March 29, 2009, Scottie Reynolds - had his Villanova career ended the instant the buzzer sounded, of a loss to Pittsburgh (as it very well could have) what would we have said, about his time as a Wildcat?

Certainly, Reynolds would have been remembered as a Wildcat of great distinction. He would have been acknowledged as a standout player in the nucleus of Jay Wright's second great Villanova team of the early 21st century.

The first nucleus had been the "Four Freshmen" of Allan Ray, Randy Foye, Curtis Sumpter and Jason Fraser that went to the Elite Eight in 2006 and the Sweet 16 in 2005.

The second nucleus is the current team, that took Villanova to the NCAA tournament in 2007, the surprise Sweet 16 of 2008 (after the ordeal on the bubble), and the 2009 run...

But that is not how Scottie Reynolds will be remembered. Instead, he now stands with the immortals of the Villanova pantheon... and best of all - he can still add to the legend in Detroit at the Final Four...

Such is the nature of college basketball, where one shot can transform the fortunes of a player, a team, a school, a city, a state, a nation...

I would like to recommend a particularly well-written piece from Fanhouse.com's Jay Mariotti, for a detailed look at the circumstances of that shot... included with the article, there's a great photograph of the shot from Reynolds' perspective, taken from the opposite basket. The picture perfectly captures an outstanding view of the play:

Reynolds going up for the shot while Reggie Redding - who had inbounded the ball - and Dante Cunningham - who had accepted Redding's pass and flipped it to Reynolds - trail the play...

Reynolds walked onto the court at the new Boston Garden - the TDBanknorth Garden - as one of many great Villanova Wildcats in the course of the 89 years of the program's existence. Three hours, two halves, and one victory in the Elite Eight later, he left the court not just with a gray "Regional Champions" hat with a Block "V'", with a snippet of the net in the brim.

Reynolds left the court as a legend, who will never be forgotten... not as long as there is a Main Line, a Villanova University, as long as blue and white remain the colors, as long as the Wildcats ever take the court...

You can also take a look at the other Villanova blogs included in Various Viewpoints on the right sidebar, for their takes...

Go Wildcats!

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