The great Ric Flair said it a long time ago and it still holds true today. To be the man, you have to beat the man. So when the Providence Friars were all high and mighty with a 21-2 record, big brains across the eastern seaboard knew that it didn’t mean shit. Because to be the best, you have to beat the best.

And last night the best walked into Dunkin’ Donuts Center, where the great and wonderful Providence Friars were undefeated on the season, and shut down the party. Again.

If I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it 100 times. It’s been Marquette, or Xavier, or Seton Hall, or Creighton. Doesn’t matter. A Big East team has a good start to the season, climbs the Top 25 and everybody rants and raves about how they’re the team to beat. Then the evil empire, the Villanova Wildcats, comes to your hometown, takes your girlfriend and reminds everybody that the Big East championship still goes through the Main Line.

Oh, it was glorious. The Prince of Providence John Fanta was in the house and was definitely rooting for the home team. The arena was loud and the poor students thought they had a chance. Then Collin Gillespie said ‘here’s a 30-piece, fuck ya mother, tell ya friends.

Villanova controls its own destiny in the conference. Providence, statistically the luckiest team in the country, doesn’t have to play at Creighton, at Seton Hall or host UConn. So more than likely it’ll come down to March 1, Providence at Villanova, in the Pavilion.

I like the ‘Cats.