Villanova Shaking off Postseason Demons Only the Beginning for Hungry Wildcats

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It was a stretch of defensive brilliance—of abject cruelty—one simply does not ever expect to see perpetrated against a college basketball blue blood such as the Kansas Jayhawks.

It was wild arms, tireless legs and throbbing hearts. It was ravenous determination and frantic effort. It was Philly toughness, us-against-the-world conceit and a shutting off of past NCAA tournament disappointments.

It was the exact circumstance the Villanova Wildcats wanted to find themselves in—willed themselves into—and that meant a “street fight,” words they use often, and an uglying up of the South regional final.

Ugly never looked so beautiful.

The final score was Villanova 64, Kansas 59, and the Wildcats had to earn every inch they gained against the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed from start to finish.

But second-seeded Villanova dictated the nature of the contest beginning at the 10:41 mark of the first half. From there, Bill Self’s high-scoring Kansas team was held without a point for nearly seven minutes, without a field goal for nearly eight and was browbeaten into an unthinkable nine turnovers in 10 offensive trips.

That wasn’t the end of the game, but it was a mighty declaration that Kansas was in trouble.

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“It was Villanova basketball,” said Mikal Bridges, who came off the bench and put a massive imprint on the game with five steals.

And what is Villanova basketball?

It’s senior point guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who has started all but two games in his career and won more of them than anyone in program history—yet still, somehow, America (not to mention Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith) is fumbling around with the pronunciation of his last name.

It’s juniors Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, who keep pouring in points yet are flying, relatively speaking, under the national radar.

It’s longtime program head Jay Wright, known best as—such folly—the college game’s most handsomely attired coach. Wasn’t it Wright and his staff who figured out how to completely bottle up Kansas’ best player, Perry Ellis? It was.

Wright’s teams have won 95 games over the last three seasons—the most in college basketball—and answered a pair of crushing defeats in the round of 32 with a reputation-making run to the Final Four.

Then again, “crushing” has to be the wrong word. Because here they are, still getting after it—still chasing the ultimate dream.

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“It was beautiful once the final buzzer went off and we were winning,” Arcidiacono said. “But we wanted to make it ugly. The backbone of our program is just defend and rebound and play hard and together. I think we did that.”

They did, even after Kansas went up by five midway through the second half; the Wildcats answered that with a 10-0 run. Villanova outfought the blue bloods from there, out-toughed them, busting brackets and depriving many of the Kansas-Oklahoma matchup they hoped to see in the national semifinals.

For Villanova, that made it merely game, set, rematch.

Don’t forget Buddy Hield and Oklahoma picked apart the Wildcats in a 78-55 neutral-court shellacking in December, their first loss of the season. Before they blinked, Hield—a singular star all season and especially in March—had drained a trio of three-pointers and the Wildcats were down 15-3.

“I think the first time we played them, we had a lot of young guys coming in who didn’t know what we were completely about yet,” senior forward Daniel Ochefu said. “The game was not ugly at all.”

So be advised, although this should come as no surprise at all: The plan in the rematch will be to throw multiple defenders and plenty of junk sets at Hield, as was done in a thorough undressing of Ellis on Saturday. Who knows? It might just be crazy enough to work. It doesn’t seem the least bit far-fetched considering Kansas was able to beat the Sooners in both of those teams’ meetings this season.

Ugly would be nice. Ugly would be wonderful. With this team, ugly makes anything and everything possible.

It could end in the school’s first national championship in 31 years. To be sure, it has carried this Villanova team this far.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world to see these guys get to that point where everyone else sees they’re as good as we see they can be,” Wright said.

Wright entered the locker room Saturday night to find no one. His players were hiding behind a wall. They jumped out and doused him with water, thrilled him—“took my breath away,” the coach said. The ensuing celebration was huge and unforgettable.

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And, hopefully, not the last one. Villanova is counting on that. The plan from here is simple: Ugly the hell out of the Final Four in Houston. That’s how these Wildcats win. Maybe it’s the only way—by the time April rolls around—they can.

It’s certainly the only way they want to. They take much pride in it—and should.

The time for overlooking this team is long gone. For Villanova, it’s straight back to arms, legs, hearts, determination, effort and toughness. It’s a chance to win it all. It’s everything they’ve ever wanted.

“It’s ugly,” Hart said. “But it’s beautiful to us.”

Whatever works, right?

Steve Greenberg has covered college sports for nearly 20 years, namely for the Sporting News and the Chicago Sun-Times. Follow him on Twitter, @SLGreenberg.