If there’s one thing that this season’s New Year’s Eve Big East marathon proved, it’s something we probably already know: Villanova is the class of the conference.
Villanova’s quiet rise up the national rankings keeps getting more impressive
The Wildcats don’t have the brand names, but they are still the class of one of the country’s premiere basketball conferences.
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
While St. John’s and Georgetown were both upset, the Wildcats beat Butler 67-55 on Wednesday in front of a sold-out Pavilion crowd. The win lifted them to 13-0, matching the best start in program history.
"Anything we do to match bests in this program means the world to me," 14th-year head coach Jay Wright said. "We take great pride in this program and we know there are a lot of great players, a lot of great teams and a lot of great coaches."
Villanova isn’t perfect, but for such a complete team, it has flown under the radar in the conversation of national title contenders.
The No. 6 Wildcats have a dominant big man: preseason all-Big East first-team selection JayVaughn Pinkston. The Brooklyn native's scoring has dropped a little from last year, but he hasn't needed to score as much with the rise of Daniel Ochefu in the frontcourt. Pinkston has been an all-around player, however, capable of posting a double-double on a given night while doubling his nightly blocked shot output from a year ago.
But the frontcourt has never been the hallmark of a Jay Wright team, and as always, the guards are running the show at Villanova. Junior Dylan Ennis has improved as much as anyone on the team, posting 11.2 points, 3.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds per contest. Even more impressively, he’s taking twice as many shots as last year and is hitting them at a 10 percent higher rate.
Darrun Hilliard has become even more dependable as a senior leader on the team, while Ryan Arcidiacono has battled through early shooting struggles to become the Wildcats' leading distributer at 3.8 assists per game, compared to only 1.1 turnovers.
The numbers tell only part of the story. Villanova is an experience-laden team that earned a No. 2 seed last year in the NCAA Tournament before being bounced in the round of 32 by eventual National Champion UConn. The Wildcats return the same core, led by the seniors Hilliard and Pinkston.
“You don’t have to yell,” Wight said. “You tell them this is what they’re doing wrong and with leaders like [Pinkston and Hilliard], it’s pretty simple.”
It isn’t just the seniors. When Arcidiacono speaks, he’s guarded, giving the impression that he’s speaking on behalf of his coaches and teammates.
When he was asked about his shooting struggles following the Butler game - a contest in which he shot 4-9 from three to break out - he credited his teammates for picking up the slack.
“We were winning, so I don’t even care,” he said. “If I was scoring, that would be just another positive, but I have been just finding everyone.”
When Arcidiacono declined to blame an early-season wrist injury for his struggles, Wright laughed.
Arcidiacono did the same and insisted, “I’m not going to use that as an excuse.”
Despite the pieces, clearly in place for a tournament run, the Wildcats don’t have the flash and brand names that teams like Kentucky and Duke do. And if they want to win the National Championship, the road will likely run through one of them. It would be a matchup of youth and experience. Talent vs. togetherness.
It’s been a staple of Villanova teams for nearly a decade. This time, Wright hopes it will be enough.
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