BOSTON
In a crazy tournament capping a wild season with unexpected results all over the nation all year and all over the bracket this month, one thing hasn’t changed:
Villanova looks like a champion.
The Wildcats are only halfway to a second title in three seasons, but Friday’s 90-78 win over a very good West Virginia only reinforced the growing belief that Villanova is the best team left in the field.
The Wildcats are healthy, they’re deep and they’re really really good.
Most of this year’s tournament has been defined by characters (Sister Jean, Mariah Musselman), its Cinderellas and its history, the East Regional simply has good teams. Villanova was No. 1 for much of the season and West Virginia, Purdue and Texas Tech all were ranked in the top 10 at one point or another. This could have been a Final Four.
One side effect of upsets in the early rounds is matchups that look tantalizing when the bracket comes out never fail to materialize. The anticipated showdowns between Duke and Michigan State, Kentucky and Arizona, North Carolina and Michigan were erased by that terrific unpredictability that this tournament always provides.
But the East Region’s relative immunity to the otherwise rampant upset bug produced Villanova vs. West Virginia. Recently enough this might have been a good Big East rivalry. Depending on scheduling this might have been ‘Nova vs. WVU III or even IV depending on unbalanced scheduling and conference tournaments. Instead, it was the teams’ first meeting and for most of the night the outcome was uncertain.
Styles make fights and the contrasts were evident on and off the court. It’s easy to see Villanova’s Jay Wright as the expensive defense lawyer in the expensive suit and WVU’s Bob Huggins as the simmering volcano roaring at his players, assistants and the officials. But both of these coaches are a national championship away from certain hall of fame induction and both are probably headed there either way. Their teams reflected their pedigree.
There’s always a risk in the NCAA Tournament that the cohesiveness and momentum from one weekend won’t travel from site to site. But both teams carried the energy from last weekend’s dominant showings with them to Boston. Both teams made runs, both teams had answers. Both contributed One Shining Moment worthy highlights.
“What a college basketball game. I hope that looked as good as it did from the bench, man,” Wright said. “Just all the credit in the world to West Virginia. That was the most physical, physically demanding, mentally demanding 40 minutes we’ve played in a long time. They’re so relentless. They keep coming at you.”
Villanova withstood and even matched West Virginia’s intensity. Mikal Bridges and Omari Spellman might have the brightest professional futures among the Villanova players, but Jalen Brunson was a reminder that the players who peak in college, often decide the NCAA Tournament.
With 10 minutes, 58 seconds remaining, West Virginia had its biggest lead of the game at 60-54 with Brunson at the line after a timeout. The junior guard made the first and missed the second free throw, but the rebound went out of bounds off the Mountaineers. Brunson got the ball and attacked, driving through contact by Esa Ahmad completing the layup and then the subsequent free throw.
The sequence started a 22-7 run that turned the game. Brunson accounted for 15 points in the surge. He had seven points and three assists that led to eight points.
If the Wildcats do win again, it won’t be hard to look back and see how Friday’s win helped them do it.
“To be down six against a team like that in the second half and battle back, you know in the next game that’s going to happen,” Wright said. “So you don’t want it to happen the first time in a final eight game. Just the physicality, the toughness of that team, that’s what a final eight game is going to be like. I think that’s a really valuable game for us, really valuable.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage