The word "great" is not something to just throw around. Few things in this world are truly great, and in sports -- a world of on-the-spot judgments and top-10 lists -- the word is used much too casually.
But up on the Main Line, there is a Villanova squad that will visit the Palestra on Tuesday having done everything right over the last three years.
The path to greatness -- much like Allan Ray's travel that may have cost Villanova a trip to the Elite Eight last year -- has been a three-step process.
It all began with a vision for the Class of 2006, pioneered in part by head coach Jay Wright and then-assistant and current Columbia coach Joe Jones. Their goal, in short, was to turn Villanova, Pa., into "New York South," and they did just that with incredible success.
Ray from the Bronx, Curtis Sumpter from Brooklyn, Randy Foye from Newark, N.J. and Jason Fraser from Amityville, N.Y., came to campus with plenty of hype. They were supposed to be the ones to restore Villanova to glory.
But it is the second step on the road to greatness that has eluded so many other college teams in the 21st century -- keeping those players in school, and out of the NBA.
Now seniors, Ray, Foye and Fraser are playing key roles, while Sumpter has been the victim of injuries.
Now joined by wily point guard Mike Nardi, a viable replacement for Sumpter in forward Will Sheridan and explosive guard Kyle Lowry, the "g word" is starting to creep into the vocabulary of Villanovans.
There are two easy clues to follow to figure out whether a team is on track to becoming great.
To be a great team, you need to make the good teams look merely average, and you need to make the inferior teams feel like they never had a chance.
And after five games, Villanova has done just that.
Saturday, the Wildcats faced an Oklahoma team, then ranked No. 5, that could have given Villanova's four-guard lineup nightmares with big men Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout. But Foye took over the game. He netted 32 points as Villanova shot the lights out in an 85-74 win at the Pavilion.
And while No. 1 Duke has struggled with some of its unranked opponents, Villanova lets the opposition know who's boss right away.
In each of the Wildcats' first three games -- blowout wins over Stony Brook, Lehigh and Rider -- they led by 20 or more at halftime. Tomorrow's game in Atlantic City against Longwood should be no different.
But beating up on America East, Patriot League and MAAC squads does not make a great team. It is only one of the signatures of a great team.
Great teams are not made in December, and we are about to see whether the Wildcats can fulfill the final step -- succeeding during the championship season.
With all the pieces in place, Villanova is trying to become the first Philadelphia school and the first Catholic school since the 1984-85 Wildcats to win it all.
Over the next four months, we will witness the culmination of a four-year reality show. So far, the only appropriate title for the show would be Survivor, keeping in mind the 2003 phone code scandal and a rash of injuries to the frontcourt.
But this year, with the scandal far in the rearview mirror and the team adjusting well to Sumpter's injury, the hit reality show on Villanova's campus may quickly become So You Think You Can Dance?
The answer to that question -- and only the answer to that question -- will determine whether the 2005-06 Wildcats will go down in history as a solid contender or a great team.
Zachary Levine is a junior Mathematics major from Delmar, N.Y. His e-mail address is zlevine@sas.upenn.edu.
