Rollie Massimino was kidding, but it was the kind of quip that had just enough mustard behind it that you could tell there were a few molecules of displeasure in there, too. Massimino’s Villanova Wildcats had just lost in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament the night of March 7, 1986, 75-64 to Walter Berry and St. John’s.
There had been 19,591 inside Madison Square Garden that night, and no matter how hard Massimino tried, he couldn’t see many traces of blue. The Johnnies were a terrific team; the next night they’d beat Syracuse by a point in one of the best games the tournament would ever see, and they would earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament the day after that.
They didn’t necessarily need the extra help from, as Lou Carnesecca put it that night, “our great sixth man, the crowd.”
But it sure didn’t hurt, either.