And now Paige’s miraculous shot for the East Region’s No. 1 seed will just be a footnote in Villanova’s 77-74 win. But based on the way the play was designed, Jenkins was actually not supposed to take the shot and was only a last resort. All of a sudden I could see where he was getting the ball and I knew he would probably knock it down.
Advertisement
In a different sort of way, 1993 MI and the Chris Webber timeout was every bit as epic as the Jenkins shot – and maybe even more so because that was Chris Freaking Webber and The Fab Five losing to North Carolina. “I can’t believe I actually said it out loud”.
At the post game press conference, Wright spoke about how Arcidiacono’s maturity was important to pulling off Villanova’s big win. Those forwards – Johnson, Jackson and Kennedy Meeks – combined for 47 of the team’s 83 points. The Tar Heels’ 48.4 percent shooting clip is the 15th best in the nation. When fans get together to discuss Final Fours, Kris Jenkins and his teammates will have a special place among teams that won thrillers in the end. “It was helpless. It was not a good feeling”.
It was nearly too much for Roy Williams and his North Carolina players to comprehend, or at least to put into words.
“We were both stunned at that”, he said. And what a night for Villanova – a second-seeded team full of scrappers, grinders and also-rans, who proved you don’t have to have a roster full of NBA-bound one-and-doners to win a title.
Wright also places a ton of emphasis on late-game situations, which proved to be a worthy investment of time. The game was going to go into overtime, and it was that miracle three from Paige that finished off the comeback, a shot that left Paige 4.7 seconds from being mentioned in the same sentence as Mario Chalmers and Keith Smart and Lorenzo Charles for all of eternity. Down it tumbled in a great January blizzard all over the winners, barely and not-quite adults, but a decade removed from their playground dreams, now living them in full color, real life, the way no one ever does.
In the title game, Britt played nine minutes and scored two points.
The Atlantic Coast Conference had seven teams in the field of 68 and a record six of them made it to the Sweet 16. “They were going to try to take Arch away because he’s hit big shots in his career”.
Advertisement
Jenkins described his thoughts about the last play.
