Vin, Vinny And Vindication

But the Del Negro den won't forget. There, as his son cocaptains the Wolfpack through this senior season and anticipates being drafted by the NBA, Vin stands as archivist of the trophies and photographs and clippings that chronicle the big-time dream Vinny has lived out. And the redemption by the son of the father's failure is clearly not lost on Vin. "People say to me, people who know basketball, 'You lucky bastard. You're reliving your life through him,' " Vin says. "But I gave him my true stories—up front, no lies—about what I did with my life. I told him I didn't have what he has, the discipline, the good attitude."

Or the father. Carmine Del Negro died of a heart attack at 39, years before his son, Vince the Prince, would turn and run from Kentucky. There are no scrapbooks from Lexington. "I never saved any of that," says Vin. "I save my son's. My son has a gift. I give him credit. He worked." And that will be remembered in the home on Fountain Street in basketball's Old Country, many macaronis from now.