Last Saturday, while reveling in my return to Davidson for reunion weekend, I sent Base Rich the following (original spelling maintained):

Nice post.  And yes I stared to lose it at the end of my post.  But I think that’s OK.  Currently at brickhiuse. Trashed.

I surely did lose it, and continued to remain lost (in a good way) throughout my weekend at Davidson.

But then 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night hit, and, trying to ignore the cognitive dissonance inherent in the fact that I was sitting in Baker at my alumni dinner with home court behind me, I followed on my phone in shock as the team lost to lowly and godawful Penn.  Sorry.  Can’t be too fair here.  Last year was one of the worst in recent memory for the Cats.  And we beat Penn…by 29 points. 

In any event, I’m doing my best to look ahead to the West Virginia game, and in usual fashion, finding myself reminiscing on the past.  It’s hard to believe that it was only two years ago that I was taking a late afternoon train to NYC to see the team beat WVU in a thriller at MSG. 

Tomorrow will be quite a test.  The Mountaineers lost badly to Duke in last season’s Final Four, but until that point made a very impressive run through the Big East and NCAA tournaments.  This team might have lost a few of its key players from a year ago, but it’s still no Lenoir-Rhyne or Penn.

As seemed to occur last season, I expect our guys to elevate their games against this tough opponent.  WVU has become famous for its prolific rebounding in recent years, but equally infamous for its inability to consistently hit any shot longer than two feet.  Davidson is known, generally, for the opposite.

I’m confident that productivity will plummet come 11:30 a.m. when tomorrow’s Puerto Rico matchup tips off.  Might just have to take an early lunch.

4th Watts