Jay Wright didn’t give it a much of a thought until he was walking down the bowels of Madison Square Garden after Villanova’s fifth straight loss, this one coming to lowly South Florida in the first round of the Big East tournament.
The Wildcats are no longer a lock to make the Big Dance.
“When you do this, you put yourself at the mercy of the committee,” Wright admitted after the latest setback. “And the other teams still playing now.”
Wright’s team has dropped seven of its past nine games — a free-fall that makes last season’s second-half slide look like a winning streak.
Sure, there have been injuries.
Corey Stokes has been in and out of the lineup with a bad hamstring.
Mouph Yarou didn’t return to the game against South Florida after taking a hard fall in the first half.
Corey Fisher has been dealing with tendonitis in his knee, and freshman James Bell is behind schedule after missing the first part of the season while recovering from foot surgery.
But it’s more than that.
Stokes, Fisher and Maalik Wayns were recruited to be the next Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry and Allan Ray.
The next great guard trio to pass through the Main Line.
That backcourt threesome had it all — toughness, leadership and talent.
This team has fake toughness, a lack of leadership and talent.
Guys like Foye and Lowry earned their way into the NBA with grit and determination. According to sources, Fisher and Stokes have been sidetracked by thoughts of the next level — instead of focusing on life in college.
Villanova had a 16-point halftime lead Tuesday night against a South Florida team that had beaten just one Big East team not named DePaul all season.
Stokes was making shots despite the sore hammy, ‘Nova was dominating on the glass and the Wildcats looked like a team that was ready to turn the corner.
Then it all fell apart.
With Yarou out of the lineup, South Florida crushed ‘Nova, 19-12, on the boards and the Wildcats didn’t register a single assist after the break.
Still, Villanova had the ball and a 67-66 lead when Wayns threw an ill-advised inbounds pass under his own basket that was stolen by South Florida’s Anthony Crater and converted for a one-point lead with 22.8 seconds left.
After Wayns made a pair of free throws, Crater then drove for an easy layup with 5.1 seconds left that proved to be the winner.
Villanova, projected to fight Pittsburgh for Big East supremacy this season, didn’t just play on Tuesday — the first day of the five-day tourney.
They also departed on Tuesday.
This isn’t the same as last season’s swoon in which the Wildcats started the season 20-1 only to win four of their last 10 heading into the NCAA tournament — where they barely beat Robert Morris before getting upset by Saint Mary’s.
That was different.
Scottie Reynolds wore down toward the end of last season.
This time it’s not about tired legs.
It’s about tired minds.
This team just doesn’t have enough leadership from its seniors: Antonio Pena and the two Coreys.
“We need to do a better job,” Fisher admitted.
“We can always do more,” Pena added.
Stokes, Fisher and Pena are all likable kids, but they just aren’t cut out for this leadership deal.
Villanova, which began the season by winning 16 of its first 17 games, dropped to 21-11 overall and finished the Big East with a 9-9 regular-season mark.
The exclamation point came Tuesday with a loss to the 15th-place team in the first round of the league tourney.
The last quality win of any variety came against West Virginia at home way back on Feb. 5.
But Pena and his teammates aren’t concerned that they might not hear their name this coming Sunday when the Selection Committee reveals the field of 68.
“If we get in, we get in,” Pena said. “If not, we’ll go and play in the NIT.”
Ouch.
The dreaded three letters that no one would have dare uttered a little more than a month ago.
