Never challenged, ‘Nova wins another title

Somewhere between all those heart-stoppers and tearjerkers, all the upset-riddled brackets and things we’d never seen before, the best team in college basketball was hiding in plain sight.

How could anyone have missed Villanova? Sparked by a 31-point night off the bench from Donte DiVincenzo, the Wildcats defeated Michigan 79-62 on Monday night to cap one of the most dominating NCAA Tournament runs ever seen. They won all six games by double digits, joining the rare air of great teams such as Michigan State in 2000, Duke in 2001 and North Carolina in 2009.

They won both their Final Four contests by 16 or more, joining the 1968 UCLA team that was in the midst of its 10title dynasty.

They became only the fourth program since UCLA to win two titles in the span of three years - joining Duke (1991-92), Kentucky (1996, 98) and Florida (2006-07).

“I knew we were good, but you don’t think we can win this,” said Villanova’s Jay Wright, who became the 14th coach in history to win multiple titles. “It’s a struggle in your mind, up until three minutes to go in the game tonight.” It was over earlier than that. DiVincenzo made it so by scoring nine straight points for his team, capping it with an NBA-range 3 that he punctuated by turning back downcourt and winking toward the TV guys on the sideline.

“I did not think I was going to have this kind of night,” he said, “because every night I come into a game, I just try to bring energy.”