Dana Gardens, the center of Xavier University nightlife, was crowded with upperclassmen, backslapping and gleeful. The usual favorites, from Hall & Oates to Mariah Carey, were spinning on the jukebox. And then the cheer went up.
"Feeney, Feeney, Feeney."
Kevin Feeney, a 6-foot-3 senior basketball player, had blended in before then. Now, he had a crowd of eyes on him as he slunk over to a corner and attempted to pass off the spotlight.
"So the track season starts in March, huh?" he said to a runner.
The cheers thinned out quickly.
"It is weird when the spotlight is just on you," Feeney said to a friend. "Usually, I have some others with me."
On Wednesday, Feeney won't have to endure any cheers alone. Just as he has in Youtube videos, dozens of pre- and postgame meals and hundreds of practices over the past two years, Feeney will be joined by fellow senior walk-ons Johnny Mazza and Joe Hughes for festivities on Senior Night.
It will bring an end to Hughes' four-year career in which he was a part of more wins than any walk-on in Xavier history -- a distinction his fellow walk-ons are willing to bestow on him, even though Hughes was on scholarship his junior season.
And it will be the last time Feeney and Mazza, who began playing together in the Xavier intramural league as freshman, will get to put on a Xavier uniform in front of the Cintas Center crowd -- an experience that remains special to each player, even after more than 50 games in two years.
"I remember the very first day I got to dress like it was yesterday," Mazza said. "Just warming up and partaking in all the pregame: pregame meal, warm-ups. That day, in and of itself, was pretty awesome for me. Still is awesome to do that stuff."
There have been plenty of goose-bump moments in the past few years for the triumvirate. Whether the day coach Chris Mack sat Feeney and Mazza down and told them they would be a part of the team, Feeney's joyful phone call to his father, Mazza's family of Xavier grads and employees tearing up when he first entered a game or Hughes' first "Hughes!" call from the student section, each has collected memories that will, as Mazza said, "last longer than the thought of that quiz in accounting."
Yet, the memories that stick out are about the first basket. For Mazza it was a 30-footer against Sacred Heart after which he said he "celebrated to a ridiculous level, like I just won the NCAA championship." For Hughes, it was a 3 against Coppin State during his freshman year. And for Feeney, the memory almost was not memorable at all.
"It was Senior Night last year, our last home game, against St. Bonaventure," Feeney said. "I remember making the basket, and I am being completely honest when I say I blacked out. I don't remember transitioning from making the shot back to defense. I fouled a dude the next defensive stand, but I don't remember what happened to make me get the foul. The whistle blew and I was just like, "Oh, I guess there is a foul -- on me."
Mostly, though, the walk-on experience is a shared one, relived through stories retold and pieced together from different angles. The majority occur at the end of the bench, in that three-chair, 8-foot space that is home to the Three-headed Monster -- the trio's self-imposed nickname -- with Feeney playing air guitar or sprinting out to give a high-five at halfcourt, Mazza punctuating plays with fist pumps and Hughes attempting to 'perfect the art of towel waving.'
Yet some occur in the brief snippets of time Feeney, Mazza and Hughes have seen on the floor, a time usually shared together, as well.
One came when Hughes had a career-high seven points in two minutes at home against Fordham in 2010. Aside from what Hughes called two "muffed" free throws, there was one incident that is still discussed.
"Joe almost got ejected from the game," Feeney said. "He was tangled up for a loose ball, and Johnny and I heard the ref say, "Easy 33. I'll do it. I'll toss you."
"I didn't throw an elbow, just to point out," Hughes cut in. "The ref was crazy."
Added Mazza: "I don't know who the ref was, but we don't mention his name anymore. As far as we are concerned, he doesn't exist."
The three even shared the experience when Feeney was given a chance to transcend the role of a walk-on and log rotation minutes against Butler, Wake Forest and Florida.
A role player even on his high school team in Monticello, Ill., Feeney's eyes were wide and nerves palpable, as Mazza and Hughes moved in for moral support.
"I would obviously be nervous before I would check into the games because it was a lot bigger than anything I had ever been involved in before," Feeney said. "These guys would always come over when I was sitting down in the huddle and calm me down because they knew I was nervous. I needed that."
There is also shared commiseration in the other side of the in-game experience, with 2,000 Dayton students or 10,000 rowdy Cincinnati fans cat-calling to the end of the bench.
Feeney and Mazza have received their share of insults, from Rhode Island fans referencing a character in "Boy Meets World" to heckle Feeney to nearly every road venue questioning whether Mazza is old enough to play Division I basketball.
But with four years of experience, Hughes has the most fan experiences to draw from, including his second true road trip, in a loss at Arizona State during his freshman year.
"We had short-sleeve warm-ups, and my forearms are quite hairy," Hughes said. "I remember vividly, Arizona State's student section was right by the bench and I was at the end of the bench. And they chanted at me the whole game -- just anything that relates to hair. 'Gorillaman, werewolf, hairy man. Hey, Coach, put gorillaman in, maybe he can do better.' Literally anything you can think of about hair was said at Arizona State."
But mostly, it is a walk-on kinship forged in practice every day, when Hughes is assuming the role of Temple's Lavoy Allen or Mazza is simulating Dayton's Juwan Staten.
Feeney, Mazza and Hughes say they have become adept in the offenses and defenses of nearly every Atlantic 10 team. Yet there is one that Feeney said keeps him up at night. It is the memory of a late-February game in 2010 against Richmond, which runs a Princeton offense and matchup zone defensive, making for a long week of practice for the scout team under the direction of assistant coach Pat Kelsey.
"I try my best, but that Richmond scout last year, when Coach Kelsey was in charge of the scout, man," Feeney said. "He is a pretty demanding guy. I think that was my all-time low in confidence last year, once I screwed that up about five times in a row and had to deal with the wrath of Coach Kelsey."
And there are plenty of injuries in practice to discuss, as well, mostly involving small rivers of blood. There was the time Hughes had his nose broken by Jason Love during an open gym and had to wear a mask that continually fogged up in practice. There are the hundreds of times Mazza has taken a spill while simulating a charge defensively. Or there is the stretch this season in which Hughes said Feeney was getting patched up for a bloody lip on a seemingly daily basis.
"Griffin McKenzie is my downfall," Feeney said. "Dude has razor-blade elbows."
The Three-headed Monster still has a bit of life remaining, even after the season. There are plans to rent an apartment in Cincinnati with four bedrooms: one each for Mazza, Feeney, Hughes and fellow senior Andrew Taylor. Each has a job lined up: Mazza at Fifth-Third Bank, Feeney and Taylor at Cintas and Hughes at accounting firm Grant Thornton.
But before the moving van departs from the Cintas Center locker room, the seniors will walk out to center court to shake Mack's hand and accept a photograph for Senior Night.
Like usual, it is a spotlight they will share.
