They became only the fourth program since UCLA to win two titles in the span of three years – joining Duke (1991-92), Kentucky (1996, 98) and Florida (2006-07).
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Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo played the game of a lifetime on the stage of a lifetime Monday, leading his Villanova Wildcats to a national championship with 31 points off the bench in a 79-62 victory over the Michigan Wolverines. “I still like looking up to them. I do”.
The star of the tournament was 98-year-old nun Sister Jean, the team chaplain for Loyola-Chicago. Which is just one reason why this weekend he’ll receive the John Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in Los Angeles in recognition of his accomplishments.
“It’s unreal. It’s only been two years and it’s 31 years between the first two and now two years between these, so we had a great time”, said Villanova alumni Chip Keading.
That bought time for the Wildcats offense to figure things out and get moving against Michigan’s tough defense, even if they came nowhere near duplicating that Final Four-record 18 3-pointers against Kansas from Saturday’s national semifinals.
The flaming tracer of “True View” is not necessary on three-point shot replays, like the one showed with just less than 4 minutes remaining in the first half on DiVincenzo’s shot. And those reps and experience – you saw how Collin came in and played defensively.
“I don’t know what they’re using but some poor guy from Villanova has to smear it all over the place”, Radnor Police Lt. Chris Flanagan told the Philadelphia Inquirer ahead of the March Madness championship game Monday. Villanova also joined the 1968 UCLA team as the only ones to win both their Final Four games by 16 or more points.
Michigan, on the other hand, did not have to face a top-five seeded team until Villanova in the NCAA Tournament.
All things considered, Wright realizes just how special of a program he has developed with the Wildcats, and to walk away right now when they are finally at the elite level he’s been waiting for all these years would be foolish.
After the Wolverines started the game 8 for 12, Villanova held MI to 3-for-16 shooting for the final 11 minutes of the half as the Wildcats dug out from an early 21-14 deficit to lead 37-28 by the break. From the way it sounds, that is not going to happen any time soon.
There are no “One-and-Dones” on this roster, but there are a handful of players we’ll be watching in the NBA: Brunson, Mikal Bridges (19 points), Omari Spellman and, quite possibly, DiVincenzo one day.
“We knew they’d have to miss some pretty decent looks, but they got anything they wanted early, and they knocked everything down”, Self said. (Crediting the opponent is a trait Beilein’s bosses at MI admire.) And then he was told that some of his players had felt bad they couldn’t get Beilein his first national title.
That changed with their title run in 2016, before another loss in their second tournament game last season. Villanova guard Jalen Brunson, the AP Player of the Year, was in foul trouble and finished with nine points.
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Wagner ended with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Wolverines (33-8), who had won 14 straight entering the NCAA Tournament championship game on Monday night. “We’re very excited to bring this back home”. Raftery, after Nantz noted there has never been a Super Bowl champion and an NCAA champion in the same city in the same year, until now. We judge ourselves differently.
