A WIN & A SMILE
Wright knows breaking through for national title can change perception
SAN ANTONIO — Before the f inal game of the greatest three years of Jay Wright’s career, the Villanova coach traveled back to Long Island, to his f irst three years in charge.
It was 1997, and rival recruiters were telling players the Hofstra coach would soon be unemployed. More than a decade after pitching season tickets for the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars, Wright wondered if he would have to return to sales.
Jalen Brunson hears about the future Hall of Famer’s three losing seasons, and covers his face. It is preposterous, and he can’t stop himself from cracking up.
“He laughs when you say that,” Wright said with a smile he earned in the next two decades. “It wasn’t funny back then.”
It is now, one win from again seizing college basketball’s throne, and elevating one of the sport’s best runs in recent history.
The program long defined by its underdog triumph of 1985 enters Monday’s national championship at the Alamodome against Michigan known for dominance. After three decades without a national championship game appearance, No. 1 Villanova can become just the fourth team since 1975 to win two titles in three years.
Villanova (35-4), which has already set the record for the most wins in Division I history over a four-year span (135), is just the fifth team to reach the national title game by winning each round by doubledigits.
With another win, Wright would join Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams as the only active coaches with multiple championships.
“Sometimes you’re on a bus ride over and you look at the assistants and you’re like, ‘Can you believe this? Can you believe we’re here?’ ” Wright said. “I really haven’t gotten my mind around the whole thing yet.”
The ride is more remarkable because Brunson, the AP National Player of the Year, is the lone starter left from the 2016 title team. Mikal Bridges, and Phil Booth, are the only others to see minutes in the buzzer-beating win over North Carolina.
Kris Jenkins now sits next to the Vil- lanova student section, cheering from three rows off the court. Ryan Arcidiacono is with the G-League’s Windy City Bulls. Daniel Ochefu is with the Reno Bighorns. Josh Hart is on the Lakers. Darryl Reynolds is in Poland.
“It’s just great to see how things come full circle, how younger guys are being taught by the leaders and making sure that we’re locked in, and how nothing changes,” Brunson said. “Us now, as leaders, are saying the same thing to our younger guys. Nothing changes, even though there’s a lot at stake.”
Some things have changed — mostly for the better.
The Wildcats lead the nation in scoring, and have one of the most eff icient offenses in a generation, having set the record for most 3-pointers in a season, following their Final Four-record 18 makes in Saturday’s blowout win over Kansas.
No. 3 Michigan (33-7) enters on a 14-game winning streak, with the last, and best, chance to keep the juggernaut from a seemingly inevitable coronation.
The Wolverines rank third in the na- tion in defensive efficiency. They’ve held teams to 58.6 points per game during the NCAA Tournament and limited their opponents to 24 percent 3-point shooting. And they know there could be blood. “They aren’t No. 1 in the country for no reason,” Michigan’s Zavier Simpson said. “We have to come ready to play or we’ll get embarrassed.”
John Beilein is where Wright once was — without a title, other than being the best coach in college basketball without a championship.
Returning to the title game for the first time since falling to Louisville in 2013, Beilein hopes to bring Michigan its first national championship since 1989, which would put the Big Ten on top for the first time in 18 years.
A win would “last forever,” Simpson said. Beilein couldn’t look that far ahead with Villanova inches from his face.
“I honestly say I wouldn’t look at it any differently,” Beilein said of his career. “I really would not. Others may.”
They do. Wright remembers the difference.