Villanova Wildcats
* Record: 21-2 (8-2 in Big East) * AP ranking: 6 * NCAA RPI: 5 * Best win: 77-53 over Virginia Commonwealth * Worst loss: 78-58 to Georgetown * Best stat: It’s all about the trey. Villanova averages 3.3 more made 3-pointers a game than its opponents, with four of its top five scorers hitting at least 35 percent from behind the arc. * Difference maker: Senior guard Darrun Hilliard not only leads the Wildcats in scoring with 13.3 ppg, but he also uses the length of his 6-foot-6 frame to average 1.9 steals. And he knocks down 78 percent of his free throws. * Reason to doubt: Though the overall record is terrific and the Big East currently is ranked the nation’s second toughest league, it doesn’t seem to be the beast it once was. Good as Villanova has been, one can’t help but wonder how it will fare from the NCAA tournament’s third round on if matched against a high seed from a power conference. * Will be trendy in Indy at the Final Four if … The Wildcats can hit their outside shots and not get crushed on the glass by a tall, athletic team such as Louisville, Kansas or Kentucky in a regional final. With a rebounding advantage of just 2.6 per game, Villanova must not have a cold shooting performance. * Prediction: Elite Eight * Coachspeak: “When you play a good defensive team, like they are, a team with their size and ability to switch everything, you are not going to get one pass, two pass, open look. Taking two passes and then a bad shot is not how you are going to beat that team.” — Georgetown’s John Thompson III after Saturday’s 69-53 loss at Villanova
Having been a Duke assistant coach on three Final Four teams, first-year Marquette basketball coach Steve Wojciechowski should know a potential Final Four team when he sees one.
After falling by 18 points at Villanova last week, Coach Wojo thinks the No. 6 Wildcats may be headed back to college basketball’s final weekend for the first time since 2009.
“This Villanova team reminds me a lot of the Villanova team that went to the Final Four, which we competed against in the NCAA tournament,” he said. “They have an outstanding combination of veteran, tough guards and rock-solid size. Villanova’s one of the best teams in the country; they’re as good as a team that we’ve played.”
Villanova has been the best team in the country only once previously. That was in 1985, when the Wildcats shocked defending national champ Georgetown by shooting 79 percent from the floor in a 66-64 win inside Rupp Arena that was later dubbed “The Perfect Game.”
Perhaps hoping to channel the magic of that 30-year-old victory for the rest of this season, Nova donned throwback uniforms for this past Saturday’s 16-point win over the Hoyas, though the shorts were a bit longer this time and they wore home white rather than the visiting blue they wore that long-ago Monday night in Rupp.
But to prove Wojciechowski’s point, Nova’s marksmanship probably felt eerily painful to the Hoyas faithful Saturday, given that they bagged 12 of 24 3-pointers.
“They were hitting shots today,” said Georgetown coach John Thompson III, whose father coached the Hoyas in 1985. “And that gives you courage on the other end.”
They have hit so many shots and played with such toughness on the other end for so long under Jay Wright, who became the Wildcats coach 14 years ago when the school said goodbye to Rollie Massimino, the X-and-O wizard who orchestrated that shocking ’85 title.
His guard-driven team now stands 21-2 this season, his overall record at Villanova now 307-151 heading into Wednesday night’s game at Providence.
And with a starting lineup that includes two seniors and three juniors, Wright isn’t doing much to silence the notion that this team could match that 2009 squad’s achievements.
“I like our leadership,” he said after the Marquette win. “We have been in different situations and I like how (our leaders) have handled them. I think we have been getting better defensively. We have been good enough to win, but we are still a work in progress.”
That leadership starts with 6-foot-6 senior guard Darrun Hilliard, who averages a team-best 13.3 points a game to go with 1.9 steals and 78 percent free-throw accuracy. Fellow senior JayVaughn Pinkston chips in 9.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks a game, as well as physical toughness on the front line.
“Their unselfishness is very good,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said after a blowout loss to the Wildcats. “They have a pretty good inside-outside process. Pinkston is tough down there. It’s just a good basketball team. They play hard. They play together and it doesn’t look like anybody cares who scores.”
But if the individual scoring averages don’t widen eyes, the depth of scoring should impress everyone. Six players average nine or more points. Four of the top five hit 35 percent or better from the 3-point line. Three of the first five hit 76 percent or better from the foul line, including point guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who hands out nearly four assists a game on a team that averages 16 assists a night.
Yet it’s not the offense the players talk about, which may be why Wright is so high on his team’s leadership skills.
“With this team, we’ve all been through it before so we aren’t afraid of anything,” Arcidiacono said after the Marquette win. “We aren’t afraid of missing shots. We just want to come out and play harder than the other team. We know that eventually we will start making shots if we keep on playing defense.”
Whether all this will translate to a Super Nova run in March may depend somewhat on the Wildcats’ tournament draw. They’re averaging only 2.6 rebounds more than their opponents, and this is a Big East no longer anchored by such big beasts as Syracuse and Louisville. Tall, physical, athletic teams could be a concern by the Sweet 16 round of March Madness.
But there’s also something to be said for experienced teams who can shoot.
“They’re good,” Delaware coach Monte Ross said after his team fell by 31 to the Wildcats in late November. “Villanova is really, really good. And not just because of their quickness, length, athleticism, all that, but also because of their tenacity. At one point in the game I turned to the bench and said, ‘We’re playing the No. 12 team in the country? They are more like a No. 4. They should be a No. 4.'”
They’re No. 6 today. If they rise to No. 4, they’ll be viewed as good enough to reach the Final Four for the second time since they won it all 30 years ago. And unlike then, this team may be good enough to win it all without playing a perfect game.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.