FanHouse Bill Raftery

BOSTON -- If you felt a shiver or tingle Saturday night, a quaking in your solar plexus, it's because you witnessed an epic basketball game, one of the virtuoso classics of March or any month. I mean, did Bill Raftery need oxygen afterward? This was destined to finish with the boldest, loudest exclamation point possible, given the 15 lead changes, palpable tension and Big East-style physicality in the building.

It was just a matter of who, what and when.

And then, in a magnificent flash, it happened. That the moment would belong to Scottie Reynolds, the embattled Villanova guard, made it grander. In enemy gyms, jerky kids with no lives actually chant, "Scottie doesn't know," which might be intended as a Euro Trip reference but almost certainly is meant as a savage reference to how Reynolds was put up for adoption as a baby by an 18-year-old single mother. He never has met the woman, although, with the urging of his adoptive parents, he has done investigative work and figured out who she is. He's waiting for a good time to call her.

Onion Peels is a recap of last night's action and an unofficial Bill Raftery blog.

Wake Forest 70, Duke 68
Two things stand out about Wake Forest from this game. First, Dino Gaudio has done a tremendous job turning the Deacons into a team that can actually play defense (Holloman noted this a while back, actually), and second, can this Wake team close? I know they actually won, so that seems like a silly question, but after seeing the Virginia Tech debacle and then seeing them play down the stretch against Duke, it wouldn't be fair not to question their throat-stomping ability

Once upon a time at a now defunct fantasy Web site, I penned a piece that more or less proclaimed Bill Raftery the greatest announcer of all time (he had just won the 2006 Curt Gowdy Media Award) due to his proclivity for generating or reviving amazing catch phrases like: "Man-to-man!", "Send it in!", and, of course, "Onions!"

Now, thanks to Dan Levy speaking with Ian Eagle (via The Dagger) we all know the real truth behind Raftery's catchphrase.

"I remember it vividly. It was my first year and the Nets were playing a game down in Miami. And Kevin Edwards hit a big three from the corner to give the Nets a one-point lead late in the game. I had the call: 'Edwards from the corner, three is GOOD.' And Raf goes, 'OOOOH, ONIONS!!!!'