Three years ago, and four college basketball seasons ago, the eighth-seeded NC State Wolfpack beat one-seed Villanova, which entered the game with a record of 33-2, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by a score of 71-68.
That loss marked Villanova’s second consecutive second-round tournament exit and the third straight time Villanova fell in the second round when seeded first or second. It was safe to wonder whether or not the “choker” label for Villanova head coach Jay Wright was rightfully “earned.”
At the time, Wright had been Nova’s head coach for 14 years. Despite being a three seed or higher five times, Wright had led the Wildcats past the Sweet 16 just twice, reaching the Elite Eight in 2006 and the Final Four in 2009.
Since their loss to NC State, Wright and Villanova have compiled a 103-13 record, won two Big East titles and won two national championships (2016 and 2018), culminating in the Wildcats’ 79-62 stomping of Michigan in the national championship game Monday.
Villanova’s complete and total domination of the field in the 2018 NCAA Tournament (the Wildcats won each game by 12 or more points) finally cemented Wright’s status as one of the best coaches in the country and Nova’s status as a true college hoops dynasty, an extreme rarity in today’s one-and-done era.
Since 1993, only one other program won two national championships in a three-year span: the 1996 and 1998 Kentucky Wildcats and 2006-07 Florida Gators that won back-to-back national titles.
Even last year, after Villanova lost again in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, national media pundits and talking heads were asking the questions again: “Is Jay Wright still a choke artist?” “Was Villanova just lucky last year?”
For the next year, people wondered if Villanova’s 2016 championship was just a fluke. Even though the Wildcats beat two one seeds (UNC-Chapel Hill and Kansas), a two seed (Oklahoma) and a three seed (Miami), it was fair to consider that maybe Nova’s championship run was just luck; a handful of seasoned upperclassmen getting hot at the right time.
This year’s tournament didn’t just hold off the “Villanova always chokes in the tournament” talk for another year; it ended the conversation completely.
The 2018 NCAA Tournament was electric in many ways. Virginia became the first one seed to lose in the first round, falling to the UMBC Retrievers; Loyola-Chicago and Sister Jean captured the hearts of the country, pulling off upset after upset to advance all the way to the Final Four.
The south became the first region in NCAA tournament history to have its top four seeds eliminated early on. After the first weekend of the tournament, two one seeds, two two seeds and two three seeds had been eliminated from the tournament. Chaos was everywhere.
Yet as we look back on the 2018 tournament five, 10 or 20 years from now, the most resounding memory will be Villanova dismantling each team it faced. With an average margin of victory of 18 points, the Wildcats became the first team since UNC-Chapel Hill in 2009 to win all of its tournament games by double digits.
Villanova had heroic performances by all types of players: from a future NBA lottery pick in forward Mikal Bridges, to an AP Player of the Year, guard Jalen Brunson, and to a little-known bench player in guard Donte DiVincenzo. The Wildcats got contributions from every player.
With the Wildcats potentially returning five of their seven rotation players, DiVincenzo, guard Collin Gillespie, forward Eric Paschall, guard Phil Booth and forward Omari Spellman, another run to the title game doesn’t seem too far-fetched. If Villanova is able to win the title again in 2019, Jay Wright’s squad would become the first program since the 1967-72 UCLA Bruins to win three national titles in a four-year span.
Villanova may not have the five-star recruits of Duke and Kentucky or the blue-blood status of UNC and Kansas, but remember this one thing when filling out your bracket in 2019: Villanova wins when it matters.
