By Joe Diglio
I really liked the way this year’s Villanova team was put together. Sure, the Wildcats were thin inside with only one guy (Daniel Ochefu) listed above 6’7”. But the balance they had was a thing of beauty: six guys averaging at least nine points per game, only one guy (Darrun Hilliard) averaging over 10 shots per game.
Why was this a big deal? Because weird things happen in the NCAA Tournament and you have to be prepared. Sure, sometimes one player takes over and carries his team a round or two further than expected. But if you rely on one guy to score and he has an off game, you’re finished. The way the Wildcats were built, they could withstand one or two of their top scorers having an off night and still win.
What they couldn’t overcome was five guys having an off night, which is what happened in their loss to North Carolina State last night. Hilliard led the way with 27 points, but no one followed him. JayVaughn Pinkston added 13 points, but nine of those came from the free throw line. Phil Booth only missed one shot, but he also only took four, scoring nine points. Outside of Hilliard, Villanova shot 25.6 percent as a team.
The other thing Villanova couldn’t overcome? A lack of talent. Don’t believe me? Listen to North Carolina Central head coach LeVelle Moton:
He’s absolutely right. It’s not a slight to the Wildcats, just look at the numbers. According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, four of Villanova’s starters ranked an average of 98.5 in their respective classes. That doesn’t include Dylan Ennis, who was unranked in the class of 2011, in which 247Sports ranked 253 players. Even if we put Ennis just outside that, giving him a rank of 254, that would give Villanova’s starting five an average of 129.6.
Meanwhile, the Wolfpack’s starting five averaged a 91.4, and they have three top-50 recruits to the Wildcats’ one. Recruiting rankings aren’t everything—some guys develop into better players, others never pan out—but it gives you a good starting point of what both teams are working with on the court. The Wolfpack proved they’re capable of such performances earlier in the season, too. Sure they lost to the likes of Wake Forest and Boston College, but they also beat Duke and North Carolina, two teams that consistently haul in the most talent in the country.
N.C. State is just an inconsistent team that happened to put things together at the right time on the big stage. The Wildcats, on the other hand, relied too much on three-pointers, and it cost them. They ended up hitting nine threes on the night, but before the final 1:30 when they pretty much had to jack them up, they were only 6-for-23 from long range. Villanova had the better overall team and performed better over the course of the entire season, but the Wolfpack had more talent, and as is often the case in basketball, talent prevailed.
So while Jay Wright will get criticized for not making the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight year since making the 2009 Final Four, you wouldn’t say his team was undeserving of praise. The Wildcats lost two games all year entering the NCAA Tournament while playing in the Big East. That’s all you have to say in regards to how successful they were. You shouldn’t think for a second that they were undeserving of a No. 1 seed because they lost last night.
That point brings me to UCLA. The Bruins were a hot topic of discussion on Selection Sunday for being included in the field of 68. A week ago, selection committee chairman Scott Barnes said they included UCLA because they felt the Bruins were “gaining steam” toward the end of the season. Well, if they weren’t then, they are now; the Bruins have gone from bubble team to the Sweet 16.
But don’t misconstrue things: NCAA Tournament results don’t justify the selection committee’s decisions. The committee built the bracket based on what had happened up to that point, not what it thought would happen in the tournament. And if anyone basing their opinions solely on results took a closer look, they’d see that the Bruins won their first game on a highly controversial goaltending call and their second against a No. 14 seed in UAB. That’s hardly clear-cut proof that they belonged.
However, like the Wolfpack, the Bruins did have one thing in their favor: talent. They have four top-50 recruits, and Bryce Alford, one of their less-hyped players, has outshined them all, scoring 49 points in two tournament games so far. The Bruins have more talent than a typical No. 11 seed, even enough of a Sweet 16 team, they just hadn’t played like it for most of the season.
So when teams like N.C. State and UCLA win NCAA Tournament games, don’t criticize Villanova, which otherwise had a great season. Don’t commend the selection committee, which still made the wrong call. Give credit to the players, whose victories these past few days boil down to one simple factor: talent.
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