Villanova Wins Without the Star Power

Villanova may not be a Final Four favorite. Hell, it is tough to say they are a favorite to win the Big East Tournament.

But this Wildcat team definitely has what it takes to make a run in the Big Dance.

'Nova is different than the rest of the upper echelon Big East schools in that they don't rely simply on the talent of a select few future pro ballers.

Sure, they have a few guys that may end up having successful pro careers - Dante Cunningham is probably a mid-first rounder while Scottie Reynolds is a savvy enough player that he could latch on as a back-up PG somewhere. But if you look around the conference, the rest of the schools at the top have a bunch of sure fire pro prospects:

Louisville: Terrence Williams, Earl Clark, Samardo Samuels

Pitt: Sam Young, DeJuan Blair

UConn: Hasheem Thabeet, AJ Price

Marquette: Jerel McNeal, Wesley Matthews, Dom James

Syracuse: Jonny Flynn, Arinze Onuaku

Even Georgetown has two guys that look destined to be first rounders in Greg Monroe and DaJuan Summers. I've said it in this blog upwards of 1 billion times by now, but in the last 40 years there has only been one team that has won the national title without the aid of at least three guys that were drafted in the first or second round, or had productive careers as undrafted free agents (Syracuse in 2003).

So over the course of a season, the teams with more talent end up being the teams win the majority of the time.

Usually.

Villanova is an exception. And this afternoon was a perfect example.

In the first half, Scottie Reynolds carried the Wildcats. He had 18 points at the break, scoring most of them in Villanova's late push to open up a 47-31 halftime lead. But Reynolds was no where to be found in the second half, as he scored just 3 points, committed a number of turnovers, and missed two crucial shots down the stretch.

But when Reynolds was struggling in the middle of the half, Corey Stokes stepped up, scoring 13 of his 20 points in a five minute span. It was his scoring that kept Marquette at bay.

But the Eagles would not go away quietly. In fact, they would not go away at all, as Marquette kept pushing and eventually took the lead on a Lazar Hayward three with under a minute left.

At the other end, Redding was called for a travel with exactly 40 seconds left on the clock.

The shot clock in college is 35 seconds. There were 40 seconds left.

You should foul there, right? Down one, wouldn't you put the Eagles on the line and extend the game?

Jay Wright made a different decision. The Wildcats got out and really pressured the Eagle's ball handlers all the way up the floor. Marquette's point guard on the floor was Maurice Acker, but the ball was McNeal's hands. McNeal, as good as he is, is not a point guard, and the pressure forced him to rush. He ended up taking a tough lay-up with 13 seconds still on the clock.

So you get the rebound, down one. You use a timeout here, right? Set up a play for your go-to guy, no?

Again, Jay Wright went a different direction. He just let his team play. Redding had the ball (the same guy who turned it over not 30 seconds before), and he brought the ball up the court. He seemed to be trying to find Reynolds, but Scottie couldn't get open. So Redding got the ball to the foul line, and ended up finding Dwayne Anderson under the basket for a lay-up as time expired.

Game over. Villanova is in the semi's.

Both of Jay Wright's coaching decisions at the end of the game lead me to believe one thing - he has tremendous faith in his players. He basically put the game in their hands, saying I trust that you will make the plays that need to be made for us to win.

And they did.

Villanova is a true team. They play tremendous team defense, they have a number of guys that can step up and carry the team for a period of time, and they are a group that is well coached.

Don't be surprised to see this team hang around late in March.