In this world of NBA Draft early entry and one-and-done freshman, it is difficult to become attached to a college star. They simply don't hang around long enough. But when they do, there is an attachment to that player that is difficult to explain. For me, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for guys like Kirk King and Khalid El-Amin, as I'm sure there is for any fan of any team.
We reached out to some of the blogosphere's best, and over the next couple of weeks we will be running a series of posts saying goodbye to some of the country's best seniors.
Today, VUHoops.com says goodbye to Scottie Reynolds.
Back in March of 2006, I am not sure I had even heard of Scottie Reynolds. Villanova was coming off of its best tournament run since the Rollie Massamino era, but the future was beginning to look blurry. Jay Wright’s first home-run recruiting class was graduating and in something of a surprise, star point guard, Kyle Lowry entered the NBA draft as a sophomore. Suddenly, an ultra-potent backcourt was looking rather sparse.
Scottie Reynolds had a phenomenal career for Nova.(photo credit: ESPN)
Scottie Reynolds announcing his commitment gave Nova Nation it's first opportunity to exhale and look forward to the coming season. An All-American point guard swooped in to save the backcourt; and boy did he live up to our expectations.
We didn’t get the chance to be impatient with Scottie Reynolds. When he showed up on campus in fall of 2006, he became a sparkplug that made an immediate impact on the Villanova team. He was the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year; a scoring machine that could put up 40 points in Storrs against a Connecticut team that had given the Wildcats fits in recent years. Scottie was an instant legend.
Reynolds always had his critics, he was never a prototypical point guard, but nobody in Nova Nation should be happy to see him go. When Scottie Reynolds was on the court, anything could happen. He was a magician that made crowds hold their breath and wonder, “how will Scottie win this one?”
Statistically, his best year was his last one on the Main Line. In just over 30 minutes per game, Scottie Reynolds lead the Wildcats by averaging 18.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists, while connecting on 45.7% of his shots. He not only scored in droves, but did so with a level of efficiency that we had never seen from him before.
Five years from now, if you ask a Villanovan about Scottie Reynolds, you won’t hear about his field goal percentage in his senior year, however. You might hear a story about the time that he scored 30 points in the second half to carry his team back from a big deficit at Louisville. More likely, however, the first words out of a Villanova fan's mouth will be in reference to the shocking Final Four run of Scottie’s junior year.
Nobody will ever forget “The Shot.” In a hard-fought game against a Big East rival, a team that had been ranked #1 in the country during the season, Scottie Reynolds scored what may be the most amazing two points I have ever seen.
The game was close, but the mood was dire with just a few seconds on the clock and momentum seemingly lost. The ‘Cats needed to take the ball the full length of the court and score. They didn’t have the option of taking their time. The plan was to get the ball into Scottie’s hands and for everyone else to cross their fingers. Scottie got the ball around mid-court and proceeded to drive straight to the basket. Leaving less than a second on the clock, he took a difficult shot (his only real option) over Gilbert Brown, and after every heart in America skipped a beat, it went in.
From that moment onward, Scottie Reynolds was superman, and to a generation of Villanova fans, he was the greatest they had ever seen.
If anything was disappointing about Scottie’s career (other than the manner in which it ended), it was that he finished it just 21 points shy of the school record. For those who had watched him play for four years, it would have been a fitting tribute for him to take his place atop the all-time scoring list.
A better tribute, however, will happen when he is invited back to the Pavilion to watch his jersey be lifted into the rafters.
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