At Villanova, little interest in long odds

They've been down this road before. Told to believe. But promises were broken and their disappointment was as pungent as the stale beer at Kelly's taproom down the road.

Now the students at Villanova University have been asked to dream again, but all they can muster is a sense of collective apathy.

As the Wildcats get ready to battle the University of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament tonight, their classmates seem to be studiously ignoring the potential champs.

Where are the banners? Where are the pep rallies? Where, for heaven's sake, is the love?

"The vibe is just totally different," Howard Williams, 19, a sophomore from Houston, said yesterday.

"Last year, we were number-one seed. This year, we're number nine. We're up against Kentucky. Even if we beat Kentucky, we have to go up against Kansas," explained Williams, who obviously favors the Jayhawks over Niagara in their early-evening matchup tonight.

Nicole Coia, 20, a sophomore from South Carolina, remembers last season's excitement. "Everyone was running around screaming. It was crazy. Maybe if we were number one again . . . " she said wistfully.

When Villanova's undergrad business program got ranked 12th in the nation by BusinessWeek the other day, it was celebrated all over campus - the university's Web page, the cover of the student newspaper, with banners in Bartley Hall, the business school's home.

The banner that was hastily signed for the Wildcats' send-off party late Wednesday afternoon was already folded on an employee's desk by yesterday morning. And about that party? There were only a few more fans than players.

"Last year, we had 300," said Mary Waring, senior director of development, who attended with fellow staff members.

When someone noticed that no students had shown up to see the guys off to Chicago, Waring disappeared and returned with two sophomores.

Asked to explain the paltry turnout, Samantha Harding, 19, of Wilkes-Barre, took a gamble. "The weather? It's so nice out."

Even the cheerleading squad, whose job it is to incite Wildcats spirit, sent just a pair of representatives.

"It's pretty disappointing," cheerleader Jen Palermo, 19, of Andover, Mass., said of the crowd. "Maybe they're in class. And it's really nice outside."

"And we're not the number-one seed," Lauren Jarnecki, 19, of Marlton mentioned.

As the players left the gym with sandwiches in hand, ready to board the bus for the airport, hearty shouts went up. But the next day, freshman Stephen Kowalski, 19, of Westfield, N.J., wasn't giving the guys much of a shot. He was worried about powerhouse Kansas, too.

"I'm sure people are going to watch," Kowalski said, as if that were enough.

Well, consider this, Stephen and the rest of you doubters: The Cats have defeated more higher-seeded teams in NCAA tournament games than any other school.

Though they were top seed in their bracket last year, they made it only to the Final Eight. But in 1985, when the team was eighth seed, Villanova beat Georgetown in an NCAA championship game that few who saw it will ever forget. They were the lowest-seeded team ever to win the title.

So if Villanova goes all the way this year, Stephen, can we count on you for the keg?