Villanova: 2018 National Champions

The Villanova Wildcats are the 2018 NCAA National Champions, their second title in three years. It’s incredible what Jay Wright has done with the program. I wrote about the keys to his success here. And as far as the championship, I feel much the same way as I did after the 2016 title.

This championship was different in that it didn’t take a last-second buzzer beater to win. It was a blowout (79-62). This was one of the great NCAA Tournament runs ever. Nova won every game by double digits in both the Big East and NCAA Tournaments (with an average margin of victory of 17.7 points). They were so balanced in every facet of the game: defense, shooting, scoring. The 2018 Wildcats have to be considered as one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time.

It’s officially ten years since I graduated, so it feels like a lifetime ago that I was on campus with my class of 2008 mate, Kyle Lowry, now a multiple time NBA All-Star. It’s certainly different watching the team now. I don’t feel the same connection I did when I went to the school and saw the players on campus and went to all the home games. I now realize these are just kids. Which is one of the reasons I stopped blogging about the team. How could I, as an adult, criticize 18 and 20-year-old kids who aren’t even getting paid? (Though with this particular team, there’s nothing to criticize.) Plus, I’m not as fanatic about sports in general as I used to be. In the grand scheme of things, basketball isn't that important. But still, it’s great to see the team win and represent the school in such a classy way.

Jay Wright has turned into perhaps the greatest coach in the country, and one of the greats of all time. He doesn’t just recruit good players or get them to play hard. He gets them to play the right way (aka “Villanova Basketball”). 

What is "Villanova Basketball"? Well, it is playing hard, but also unselfishly, with amazing chemistry built through a family atmosphere. In the post-game speeches, the players repeatedly mentioned how they were “brothers.” And it really showed. That kind of camaraderie doesn’t happen automatically. It comes top-down from the coach.

But a coach can only do so much. It ultimately comes down to the players. So let's talk about those players.

Jalen Brunson: The well-deserved National Player of the Year. And he didn't even need to play down the stretch of the game (because of foul trouble). Brunson is the perfect college point guard. He's not the most athletic, fastest, or highest jumper, but he just knows how to play the game. He reminds me of Chris Paul in that respect. He's a savvy point guard who uses his basketball IQ to control the game.

Donte DiVincenzo: The “Michael Jordan of Delaware” nickname is no joke. DiVincenzo took over this game with 31 points (off the bench!). He might be my favorite player to watch on this team. He's so exciting between the dunks, blocks, and heat-check threes. This was the kind of performance that will get attention from NBA scouts, but I’d like to see him return to school so we can get a full year of him being the number-one option (assuming Brunson leaves, though of course it would be great if he returned as well).

Mikal Bridges: Another all-around solid game from Bridges (19 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assists, 1 steal). The prototypical 3&D player brought both (three 3-points and great defense). A projected NBA lottery pick, I could see him becoming a Kawhi Leonard type player (minus this year’s injury drama in San Antonio).

Omari Spellman: In 2016 I called Daniel Ochefu Villanova’s best big man since Ed Pinckney. Well, Spellman is better than both—and he’s only a freshman. The future is so bright for Omari. Nova guards always get the most attention and accolades, but they could not have won the title without a big man in the middle on defense like Spellman. (and this next guy)

Eric Paschall: Maybe Villanova’s toughest player. Jay Wright called Paschall his best defender, and he’s also a great rebounder. Jay’s teams have always had great guards, but they always fell short in March (and April) because they didn’t have the big men to compete. But now Jay is recruiting great big men like Spellman and Paschall, which takes his teams to the next level.

Then there’s Phil Booth (who seems like he’s been around forever, but is just a junior) and Collin Gillespie who each chipped in on both ends of the floor.

And don’t forget Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, who may have only played four minutes in this game, but he will no doubt play a bigger role in the future. Freshmen like him, staying patient and waiting their turn, is what makes continued success for Villanova’s program possible. 

One championship can be a fluke, but two in three years is a trend. Villanova will be competing for national titles as long as Jay Wright is at the helm. At this point, I wouldn’t even blame him if he left to try the NBA (a la Billy Donavan). But if he stays at Villanova for another two decades, he can create something truly special.

Jay Wright’s Keys to College Basketball Success

Villanova is going back to the Final Four for the second time in three years. The Wildcats have been on quite a run recently, really since Jay Wright took over the program in 2001. People remember the 2005-06 team fondly, with Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye, and Allan Ray, though they didn’t even make the Final Four. Wright’s teams have ascended to a higher level after the Big East Conference shake-up in 2013. In the past five NCAA Tournament's, Villanova has three #1-seeds and two #2-seeds, highlighted by their National Championship in 2016. Over this past decade, Villanova has become a national powerhouse in college basketball along with the likes of North Carolina, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, UConn, and Florida, despite the fact they are a private university, much smaller than all those other schools.

So how did Jay Wright do it? What are his keys to success?

1. Chemistry

All of Jay Wright’s team’s have a family atmosphere, something he learned from Rollie Massimino. I remember during my four years attending school at Villanova, whenever I’d see basketball players on campus, they were never alone. There were always at least two of them together, usually more. They’d all eat together in the dining halls and go to other school events as a team. They seemed to be each other’s best friends. You can see that campus camaraderie translate to chemistry on the court. There’s never any selfish play or stat-chasing. Jay Wright seems to focus on chemistry when recruiting, finding players who will buy into the family atmosphere of the team. Those who don’t buy in probably end up transferring to another school.

2. Effort

Jay Wright’s teams always play hard on defense. One example, that I’ve seen so many Nova players do over the years is, if they turn over the ball on offense, they sprint back down the court and dive to try to steal it from behind. So much of defense comes down to effort. You also see Nova players diving for loose balls and jumping into the stands to save it from going out of bounds. The effort is probably closely related to the chemistry; it’s hard to have one without the other.

3. Free Throw Shooting

Jay Wright’s teams are always good at free-throw shooting, especially his big men, who are typically poor free throw shooters (hack-a-Shaq). This must be another thing that Jay focuses on in recruiting, but also at practice. There have been several players who came in as poor shooters as freshmen but continually improved each year, such as Daniel Ochefu (48% as a freshman; 68% as a senior). Free throw shooting is so important, especially late in close games when it can be the difference between winning and losing.

4. 3-Point Shooting

Related to the free throw shooting, perhaps, but Jay Wright’s teams are always good at shooting threes. He almost always has at least four shooters on the floor at all times. He was ahead of the curve on this, doing it back in 2005. Now, with the advanced stats revolution in the NBA, you see everybody doing this. The math isn’t complicated: 3-pointers are worth more than 2-pointers. In the past, Jay Wright would sometimes play four-guard lineups to get more shooters on the floor, which, unfortunately, had negative effects on the defensive end. But this year, he has big men (Omari Spellman, Eric Paschall, Mikal Bridges) that can defend and rebound but also shoot the three. That’s the holy grail in basketball these days: big men who can shoot 3’s and defend.

5. 4-Star Recruits

Jay Wright has never had a one-and-done player during his tenure at Villanova. Jay doesn’t tend to sign the top tier 5-star NBA lottery talent recruits like John Calipari at Kentucky. Mikal Bridges might be a lottery pick this year, but he’d be Jay Wright’s first since Randy Foye. Kentucky, by contrast, has had 16 NBA lottery picks over the past 8 years, including all-star talent like DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Devin Booker. Yet despite their disparity in talent, Kentucky has won the same number of championships during that span as Villanova (one). Anthony Davis was such an extraordinary talent that he helped his team cruise to a title as a freshman. But Davis is an exception to the rule. Generally, experience matters. If Cousins and Wall stayed together another year, they probably would have won a title—the same with Towns and Booker. But that’s the problem with the top tier players. It makes financial sense for them to leave after one year and join the NBA.

That’s where Jay Wright gets his advantage. By recruiting fringe NBA talent (Dante Cunningham, Josh Hart, Ryan Arcidiacono, Daniel Ochefu, Darrun Hilliard) instead of the one-and-done lottery talent, he can guarantee they will stay in school for at least 3 or 4 years. And those 3-4 years make a huge difference when you’re talking about 18 to 22-year-old kids. Experience matters. The experience Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges gained as Freshmen on the 2016 championship team is helping them enormously now. They’ve been there and done that. They know what they need to do to win it all. This also factors into team chemistry. It’s tough to build chemistry with one-and-done players. Of course, every team would like to have a once in a generation talent like Anthony Davis, but Jay Wright has found another route to success by focusing on the 2nd tier of recruits. He finds the best talent from the pool of players who will likely stay in school for four years. Ultimately, a team full of 4-star recruit juniors and seniors will probably have better results in the NCAA Tournament than a team of 5-star recruit freshmen. 

Having veteran talent is only one part of the equation, however. What makes Jay Wright’s tenure special is the continued success. Villanova has been a top-two seed for five straight years and has only missed the NCAA Tournament once in the past nineteen years (2012). A run like that is almost unheard of. How do you remain elite despite losing your best players every year? The key is to always be restocking the team, maintaining a balance of upperclassmen and underclassmen. Brunson and Bridges were role players on the 2016 team, but now they’re the leaders in 2018. And the young players on this team (Spellman and Donte DiVincenzo) will be the leaders next year and beyond, teaching the next group of talent how to play "Villanova Basketball." That’s how you maintain perennial contenders despite losing great players. You are always developing the next generation to take over. You never want all freshmen or all upperclassmen, but a balance of both.

The key to success in college basketball, which Jay Wright seems to have found out, is to recruit, not the A+ talent, but the B’s. And of course, make sure they are team-oriented, play hard on defense, and can shoot. 

Oh, plus look like George Clooney and wear stylish suits. That helps, too.