The Villanova Update

All right, we're a five seed in the East. I can live with that. And I even like our chances against Florida in the second round.

But we should have had a better seed, if not for the usual refereeing shenanigans Friday night...

The official book will show with the game tied at 76-76, Mike Gansey catching Patrick Beilein's airball underneath the basket and going up once and missing, again and missing, and then a fateful tweet of Pat Driscoll's whistle silencing the Madison Square Garden crowd.

Silencing, that is, until fans wearing Villanova colors realized that the whistle meant a foul. And that the whistle meant with only two-tenths of a second left, Gansey was headed to the line for two shots and needed to hit only one to win the game.

Amid a torrent of boos, the 72 percent free throw shooter sank both and the Mountaineers became the first No. 8 seed to advance to the Big East Tournament final, beating No. 4 seed Villanova, 78-76, ending the Wildcats' winning streak at eight.

... But if Wright were looking to build a case, he'd have plenty of conspiracy-theory ammunition. Driscoll and Villanova have a history that Oliver Stone might like to explore.

In January, Villanova lost a heartbreaker to Georgetown, 66-64, when Curtis Sumpter was called for a foul in a tie ballgame, allowing Darrel Owens to nail the game at the line with 00.1 seconds left. Driscoll whistled the foul.

Last year at the Wachovia Center, when the Wildcats faced UConn, Randy Foye drove the lane twice, once at the end of regulation, once in overtime. Both times, Emeka Okafor went up hard with him. Okafor never got called for a foul. Standing under the basket? Driscoll.

I guess very few people can stop us, save Pat Driscoll. If he shows up to ref a game in the tourney, I'm going to throw up.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the prospect of an NCAA berth without Steve Lappas coaching.