It’s been one wild ride for ’Cats to get to San Antonio
The road to the Final Four has been an interesting journey for the Villanova Wildcats.
With the Pavilion under renovation, Villanova had to get creative with its schedule. The Wildcats played just once on campus, when it beat Penn, 90-62, on Nov. 29 at the Jake Nevin Field House. The rest of the home schedule included 12 games at the Wells Fargo Center and once each at PPL Center in Allentown (against Lafayette) and one at the Nassau Coliseum (versus Hofstra).
“There were a few logistical problems we had to work out, like practice time at the Wells Fargo Center, but it wasn’t too bad,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said earlier in the season. “It went pretty smoothly.”
Villanova also played four regularseason games at neutral sites, plus 12 true games on the road. Yet that crazy schedule did not prevent the Wildcats from having one of the best seasons in program history.
At 34-4, Villanova is one win from tying the record for wins in a season. Two wins would give Villanova its second national title in three years. Along the way the Wildcats set the NCAA for most victories in a four-year span (135) and are seven 3-point field goals from setting the all-time mark for triples made in a season.
The Wildcats also have the No. 1 scoring offense (86.6 ppg) in the nation for the first time since 1950.
The road to San Antonio, though, was not always a smooth one, even though 23 of the wins came by 15 points or more. The Wildcats had to survive three broken hands (to freshmen Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels, and redshirt junior Phil Booth) and a concussion to redshirt junior Eric Paschall.
In all, those four players missed 27 games and delayed Villanova’s growth on defense.
The first sign of trouble came in Chicago on Dec. 27, where the Wildcats beat DePaul, 103-85, to extend their winning streak to 14 games.
Three nights later, Butler put a 10193 hurting on the Wildcats at historic Hinkle Field House.
“When we got a lead in that game (against DePaul), we kind of relaxed defensively, and we won, but they made a run at us,” Wright said. “In the Butler game, we started the game that way, just giving up buckets and trying to outscore them.”
There would be other hiccups, when the Wildcats loss twice in three games. One of those setbacks was a 79-75 decision at the Wells Fargo team to a St. John’s squad that was winless in the Big East. Seven days later Villanova lost again, this time on the road at Providence.
And the defensive woes would continue until Booth returned to the lineup Feb. 21. Yes, the Wildcats did lose to Creighton three days later, 89-83 in overtime, which cost them an opportunity to win a fifth straight Big East regular-season title, but the seeds for a successful postseason run had been planted.
The Wildcats haven’t lost since, winning nine in a row and the last eight by double digits. Villanova has won every tournament game — three in the Big East and four in the Big Dance — by double digits, and that includes a 7666 triumph over Providence in the Big East tournament final.
The Wildcats pummeled Radford (87-61) and Alabama (81-58) in the first two rounds in Pittsburgh, and then had to grind it out against West Virginia (90-78) and Texas Tech (71-59) in the East Region semifinal and final.
Villanova found different ways to win. The offense led the way many nights, but the Wildcats also won with defense, holding three of four NCAA tournament opponents to 61 points or fewer. Villanova beat Texas Tech by a dozen even though Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges were a combined 0-for-9 from 3-point range.
“If you’re going to advance in this tournament, you can’t be one dimensional,” Wright said. “You have to be able to adjust, and the fact that we have had experience doing that is important.”
Villanova may not have a senior in its rotation, but it is far from a young team. Bridges, Booth and Paschall are all four-year college players. Brunson and Donte DiVincenzo have been in college for three years, and forward Omari Spellman has been part of the program for two years, even though he sat out last season as an academic redhirt.
Brunson, Bridges and Booth all played in the national championship game two years ago. Booth was the leading scorer that night with 20 points. That experience has carried the Wildcats through one of the most interesting seasons in program history.