During Villanova's final practice before it took the trip up to Boston, the Wildcats had a surprise guest.
Coach Jay Wright had sent a text message to former Wildcat Randy Foye, a star on Villanova's 2006 Elite Eight team and now a third-year guard with the Minnesota Timberwolves, figuring that with the Wolves in Philadelphia to play the 76ers, maybe Foye had time to stop by.
Wright never got a response, so he figured they would cross paths another time.
But Foye walked into practice unannounced with just one thing to say - "I want to thank the seniors."
The 2005-06 Villanova team was special. Its 28 wins were the most in school history. It earned the school's first No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. The Elite Eight was Villanova's deepest tournament run since 1988.
When Foye went to practice to see the team he left behind, the players who were freshman contributors in 2006 - Dwayne Anderson, Dante Cunningham, and Shane Clark - are now seniors taking the Wildcats one step further.
"He talked to us in practice and he just gave us words of encouragement," Anderson said. "He told us, 'You're doing an excellent job. Just keep pushing and believe what Coach is saying,' and I think it's really paying off now."
It's not uncommon for players from the past to come back and inspect the condition of their former program.
The Wildcats beat UCLA, 89-69, in the second round in Philadelphia to make it to Boston, and what struck Cunningham was seeing players from the 1971 Wildcats team in the stands and in the locker room. That team lost to UCLA, 68-62, in the national championship game.
"They were talking about the last time they played in the NCAA Tournament," Cunningham said. "They lost in the championship round. Just to feel that pride and intensity they brought - that they have in us - is special."
It makes a difference knowing people expect you to carry the torch. Rollie Massimino, a monument on the Wildcats bench from 1973-92, is in town and still finds ways to leave his fingerprints on the team.
"We saw him in the lobby," Wright said. "He had Scottie Reynolds and he was working on his jump shot with him. He was telling him he didn't have enough arc on his shot. One of my good friends said, 'Coach is messing with Scottie over there.' I went over there and told Scottie, 'He can teach you how to get to a national championship. He wasn't the greatest shooting instructor. Just do what you've been doing.' "
Nantz was only partially right. Yes, Syracuse beat Memphis, 72-65, in the same building, but it was not on the exact same floor. Quite the contrary.
"It's not the same floor," confirmed Andrew Campbell, promotion and event coordinator for Connor Sport Court International, the Salt Lake City-based company that produced the maple flooring used at all four regional sites, including TD Banknorth Garden.
"Some people might not have any idea that it's a new floor," Campbell said. "They're all brand new floors and everything is painted on them."
There is a method to the NCAA's March Madness: uniformity.
In Boston, it meant the Garden had to be cleared of any sponsor signage, championship banners, and Red Oak parquet playing surface in order to satisfy NCAA venue requirements.
"The Garden parquet never leaves the building," said Nick Langella, senior vice president of arena business and operations. "It never leaves the building.
"We did take a lot of things and store them in a warehouse. But [the NCAA clears the building] for specific reasons. They reason is they want a uniform look for all their telecasts and they have logo issues.
"Sometimes the logos are pretty big and the NCAA's has to be bigger, so they really want a uniform look. They don't want anybody else's out there. . . . We even had to cover the crown [of the scoreboard above center court] because it said, 'TD Banknorth,' so we weren't too happy about that."
Michael Vega of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 
