Creighton upset validates men's basketball

We are taught here at Saint Joseph's that there has been only one really important resurrection in the history of mankind. Well, when I see my theology professor next semester I am going to tell him that on Saturday I saw another, and it was glorious. Last year's chants of "The Hawk is Dead" from the Temple student section still ring in my ears from the beat down at The Liacouras Center. I still remember watching the Penn student section going insane over the fact that they were about to win their first Big 5 game in four years. I still remember how cold it was sitting outside the Daskalakis Athletic Center at Drexel after losing in what I could only call a high school gymnasium to the non-Big 5 member, the Dragons. But all of those tough times from last year washed away when 1,500 of my closest friends and I stormed Hagan Arena's floor and celebrated beating our first ranked team since 2008.

As a die-hard Hawks fan, that game was more than just a victory over a ranked team; it was validation, motivation and revenge. It validated St Joe's as a team that should be in the conversation and not just a footnote in the Atlantic 10 standings. It motivated the fans to come back and enjoy more basketball, and motivated the team to continue to play at this high level. Finally, it was the fifth team on a revenge tour against programs that had beaten them last year (Western Kentucky, Penn State, Boston U and Drexel are the other ones) and this was the sweetest of them all so far. When the clock hit zero in Hagan, it began the new era in Hawk hoops.

But the most tremendous thing to come out of that early afternoon game was that it gave arguably the most important game in the history of Saint Joseph's University, the Holy War, more meaning, sustaining the success and solidifying our spot on the college hoops map. This game has just been hit with an alleged Ryan Braun performance enhancing drug controversy, and this school will be beside itself waiting for the 8 p.m. tip off. It's almost poetic that the students must wait a full week before this game and literally grind themselves to the bone with their finals and projects. Because each mind will be at ease that the only thing that they will have to worry about is what is happening in their tiny arena at the corner of 54th and Overbrook Ave.

Now we as a university cannot rest on this signature win. It is great and I'm sure we won't forget it, but this season is very young and there is a lot more work and celebrating to do. Work hard St. Joe's men's basketball, for Saturday I need each and every one of you to make sure that Villanova will never want to come back to our gym again.