’Nova seniors won’t get second shining moment
BUFFALO — He sat in a corner of a shell-shocked Villanova locker room, on the other side of “One Shining Moment,” engulfed in March Sadness this time. There will be no miracle Forever Shot this time for Kris Jenkins, no place at the bottom of a euphoric dogpile, no chance for Villanova to become the first repeat champion since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators in 2006-07, no dream showdown at the Garden with Duke with a Final Four berth on the line. “It’s crazy to think that it’s over. … It’s tough,” Jenkins said. It’s Villanover. It is over because No. 8 seed Wisconsin, a 65-62 winner, made the plays that champions make in crunch time, and Villanova did not. It’s on to the Sweet 16 for Wisconsin — to face Florida, 65-39 victors over Virginia. Wiscy Sour for Villanova. Even with Badgers star Bronson Koenig strapped to the bench with four fouls during an eightminute stretch of the second half, Villanova could not deliver the kill shot. Yet, after Donte DiVincenzo drilled a 3 for a 57-50 lead with 5:31 remaining, all the nation’s No. 1 seed had to do was play 5:31 minutes of what they proudly call Villanova basketball to survive and advance. And Jalen Brunson’s layup with 1:39 left was their one and only field goal down the stretch. At the end, Nigel Hayes made a reverse layup with 11.4 left and Josh Hart had his drive to the basket for the tie with 3.4 seconds left snatched away by Vitto Brown. “I didn’t think we did everything wrong, they just did everything right,” Jenkins said. His glass was too half full. Over the final three minutes, three Villanova players missed free throws. No one to blame but themselves. “I went to the rim, they made a heck of a defensive play, that’s really about it,” Hart said. “You got to give credit where credit’s due. You can say what-ifs for however long you can, but you got to give them credit.” Jenkins, who shot 2-of-13 against Mount St. Mary’s and 2-of-9 Saturday, understood why the ball and the season and the defending championship ended up in the hands of the Big East Player of the Year.
“We got Josh making a play at the end of the game. … That’s what we wanted,” Jenkins said. “Take that every time.”
Hart, Jenkins and Darryl Reynolds had won 129 games across four years. Just not 130.
“We had the best four years we could ever dream of,” Hart said. “Obviously it’s tough right now, a tough pill for everyone to swallow, but we’ve had four great years, and this program’s going in the right direction, and that’s something that we’re even more proud of, more than the victories or anything like that.”
Reynolds sat in another cubicle across from Hart and Jenkins with tears in his eyes and a voice cracking with emotion when he said: “We thought and hoped we’d be playing all the way through.”
March can be just as cruel as it can be exhilarating.
“These are my brothers,” Hart said. “That’s a bond that’s never going to be broken. I’m not going to be out there wearing Villanova again, making plays out there with them, but I’m going to be talking to them all the time.”
One of them he will be talking to is sophomore Jalen Brunson. Hart guessed he may have cried more two years ago when it all ended too early for the seniors on that team.
“My emotions are mixed,” Brunson said. “I’m very proud of what we’ve done. I’m very proud of what the seniors have done. What they’ve done is incredible. But I’m just sad because I just don’t get to play with my seniors once again, I don’t get to play with this exact team once again, that’s what really is upsetting me. I’m really trying to fight back emotions ’cause this team means the world to me, everyone means the world to me.”
The seniors meant the world to Villanova coach Jay Wright.
“We told our younger guys that that’s what you want to be as a Villanova basketball player,” Wright said. “You want to be like Kris and Josh and Darryl.”
Wright told his players he was proud of them.
“I appreciated my entire career here, the guys that I was here with. I appreciated it all,” Jenkins said.
One Shining Moment is one more than most get to cherish.