Wish I shared your enthusiasm.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Printable View
Being in that position with that team was INCREDIBLY disappointing, but the way they came back to win that game was a nice send-off for that era of Xavier basketball.
I mean, this is kind of true, but it lacks quite a bit of perspective and nuance.
#1: That Xavier team started the season with MUCH higher expectations than this Xavier team did. They were ranked #17 in the preseason polls. THAT Xavier team being in the NIT was infinitely more disappointing than this team potentially being in the NIT.
#2: Princeton was also a VERY different animal back then. Pete Carrill had just retired, and Bill Carmody still had them playing at a very high level. Penn vs. Princeton was a big deal then, and in 1999 Penn won out, but Princeton was still pretty darned good.
#3: That game wasn't legendary because people were excited about it beforehand and thought it was a huge win in a vacuum. No, that game only became legendary because Xavier was getting its ass beaten by a team that played with the slowest, most methodical pace of any team in the country. No fucking way were we rallying to win against THOSE guys. The joy around that game was completely spontaneous. No one expected to be that emotionally invested in an NIT game when they walked into the building. Even in 1999 we were WAY, WAY beyond that. But the game itself was magic.
I watched it in a bar while on a business trip to NYC. The people sitting around me started watching it with me. It was what is called solid content in the realm of sports programming. Very entertaining. And certainly enjoyable for Xavier fans.
It was only an NIT game, but that Princeton NIT game became one of the building blocks on which this program now firmly rests.