Reynolds, Many Villanova Wildcats Featured on 2009 "One Shining Moment" on CBS After North Carolina Won National Title over Michigan State

To the Villanova Wildcats faithful-

Thanks to their incredible Final Four run - the first for Villanova in 24 years and since the miraculous victory over Georgetown in 1985 - many Wildcats were featured, some multiple times, in CBS's montage of the tournament with the song One Shining Moment...

This is an article about the passing of the song's creator and the origins of the song One Shining Moment. It's very worthwhile reading, and I give it my highest recommendation. You can also just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the 2008 One Shining Moment YouTube clip - the author starts out with the link to 1987, since he's an Indiana fan, and he has 2008 all the way at the bottom of the page.

There are already several versions of the 2009 One Shining Moment on YouTube. If you have a fast computer, I'd recommend the high-definition version.

On the high-definition version, you have to be patient with it, as the person who uploaded it carefully recorded Greg Gumbel's entire signoff, including an advertisement for The Masters, so you won't see the tribute right away. If you want to skip ahead, and reach the tribute to the late Doug Towey, the individual who first had the idea of using it for CBS's Final Four coverage, and the video, I'd jump to the 0:40 mark of the 4:41.

On the regular-definition version of the 2009 One Shining Moment on YouTube, the uploader started the recording, immediately with Gumbel's tribute to Towey, so it lasts only 3:39.

Villanova Wildcats Appearances (High-Definition Time Counter in front of the picture)

1. 2:01 - Scottie Reynolds jumper against Pitt during the Elite Eight
   
2. 2:14-2:21 - The Shot - Reynolds drives for the game-winning basket to break tie with Pitt and send Villanova to the Final Four, plus the Wildcats pouring on to the court in complete euphoria, like a navy-clad torrential flood...
3. 2:24-2:25 - Corey Fisher tussling with a Pitt Panther for a rebound, along with Shane Clark
4. 3:10 - Clark and another Wildcat falling onto Duke's Jon Scheyer in the Sweet 16
5. 3:16 - Duke's Elliot Williams being fouled by Dwayne Anderson, while driving to the basket, with Dante Cunningham and Corey Stokes following...
6. 3:20 - Fisher outrunning Pitt Panther Levance Fields for a loose ball in transition
7. 3:45 - Reggie Redding embracing Reynolds and high-fiving Anderson, during Sweet 16 against Duke (it appears to be Kyle Singler in the corner)
8. 3:56 -4:07 - Cunningham behind victorious North Carolina Tar Heels greeting Ty Lawson, then Anderson playing defense, as Tyler Hansbrough hits a jumper, shot of Roy Williams, then Anderson and Reynolds pursuing on defense as Lawson goes to the basket off a steal...

Also, I'd like to highly recommend...

This is an article about the passing of the song's creator and the origins of the song One Shining Moment. It's very worthwhile reading, and I give it my highest recommendation. You can also just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the 2008 One Shining Moment YouTube clip - the author starts out with the link to 1987, since he's an Indiana fan, and he has 2008 all the way at the bottom of the page.

Go Wildcats!

There are two ways you can contact Villanova Viewpoint. One is by commenting on this blog. Comments are encouraged. Also, you can e-mail villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com (Important note: This is a different e-mail address than before. Please use this new one.)

Villanova Featured Three Times by CBS's One Shining Moment in 2008; Reynolds, Wildcats to Appear Prominently in Tonight's Version, post -UNC/MSU

To the Villanova Wildcats faithful-

The Villanova Wildcats were featured in three different shots of CBS's One Shining Moment in 2008. In addition to that YouTube video, here's a great link:

This is an article about the passing of the song's creator and the origins of the song One Shining Moment. It's very worthwhile reading, and I give it my highest recommendation. You can also just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the 2008 One Shining Moment YouTube clip - the author starts out with the link to 1987, since he's an Indiana fan, and he has 2008 all the way at the bottom of the page.

Of the three Villanova appearances in the 2008 version-

1. At 0:20-21, It's hard to tell the exact number, but I believe it's Will Sheridan tipping off against Clemson in the first round of last year's tournament, in which #12 Villanova upset the #5 Tigers, while making an incredible comeback to do so... Corey "The Bayonne Bomber" Stokes is, ironically, in better view from that angle (that moniker coming courtesy of 6ABC, when Reggie Redding took the mike from reporter Jamie Apody and interviewed his teammates, while in Detroit for the Final Four earlier in the week...)
2. At 1:15-16, Dwayne Anderson gallantly defends a two-on-one break in Villanova's disastrous loss to Kansas, the eventual winner, in the Sweet 16... Russell Robinson lobs it to Brandon Rush, who dunks it...
   
3. At 2:23-29, Kansas inbounds the ball under the Villanova basket, with Stokes - again - guarding the inbounder. And the ball is inbounded on a lob to Darrell Arthur, who dunks on the set play over three Wildcats, with Scottie Reynolds nearly being crushed underneath him.
   

While it was great to last long enough in the tournament long enough to be featured three times, I think we'll all enjoy this year's version considerably more than last year's. So make sure you watch One Shining Moment this evening after the North Carolina/Michigan State game, as Villanova's thrilling, euphoric victory over Pittsburgh was clearly the best game of the tournament thus far, as radio commentator Whitey Rigsby said on Saturday.

Accordingly, it is almost certain that Scottie Reynolds will have a starring role in this year's One Shining Moment... one in which his prominence - and that of his Villanova teammates - will have a far more prominent role than in last year's One Shining Moment....


Go Wildcats!

There are two ways you can contact Villanova Viewpoint. One is by commenting on this blog. Comments are encouraged. Also, you can e-mail villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com (Important note: This is a different e-mail address than before. Please use this new one.)

CBS's "One Shining Moment " Arrives Early: Reynolds Layup Already A Legend of NCAA Tournament Lore

To the Villanova Wildcats faithful!!!-

"The ball is tipped... and there you are..." (accompanied by trumpet flourishes)...

- OneShiningMoment.com

The CBS "One Shining Moment" montage, with the song performed by Luther Vandross, is a cherished part of the grand ritual of every March Madness. (Here's the 2008 "One Shining Moment" version, with a much wider screen...)

As each year's tournament progresses, veteran observers of the tourney will note the various and sundry buzzer-beaters, upsets, and thrilling endings and think, "That's going into 'One Shining Moment'."

Well, even with the Final Four still yet to be played-

Scottie Reynolds has already etched himself a place, not just in the 2009 "One Shining Moment", but in the annals and lore of all subsequent NCAA tournaments...

After the initial euphoria, I considered the play in the context of the other incredible endings that have punctuated the tournament over the years. I realized that that the play was in fact very similar to the Tyus Edney coast-to-coast layup in 1995, in which UCLA avoided a second-round upset by Missouri, en route to its first national championship since John Wooden.

Nearly two decades later, the Edney play is still frequently featured in the CBS opening montage, and that was a second-round game - won by the favorite - UCLA was a #1 seed, Missouri an #8. In contrast, Villanova/Pittsburgh was in the Elite Eight, with the lower seed winning...

If CBS had scripted a "One Shining Moment", in fact, it couldn't have scripted one any more compelling or thrilling than the Reynolds layup... the only remote flaw in the script was the irritating fact that Pitt was subsequently granted 0.5 seconds, in which to undo the happy ending. That was very anticlimactic, though... and fortunately, Pitt played its role perfectly, by not making its own miracle shot to wreck the Reynolds layup...

As it turned out, that was the only potential problem in the story. One of the greatest aspects of the play is the fact that the Wildcats bench reacted as if the game were over, as they genuinely believed it to be. The fact that they hadn't realized there was still time on the clock, is what rendered the play as completely perfect for "One Shining Moment".

The shot from CBS's overhead camera, with which they closed the broadcast, of the exuberant Wildcats pouring off the bench onto the court, like a torrential blue-jerseyed wave, carried along by euphoria, and collapsing on Reynolds at the other end of the floor... it was among the most magnificent moments in the history of the NCAA tournament - and certainly in the CBS era of the NCAA tournament.

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

Go Wildcats!

There are two ways you can contact Villanova Viewpoint. One is by commenting on this blog. Comments are encouraged. Also, you can e-mail villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com (Important note: This is a different e-mail address than before. Please use this new one.)