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Big East Basketball: This is a different Villanova

By Carmine Carcieri

Mar 11, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Villanova Wildcats guard Josh Hart (3) celebrates a dunk against the Providence Friars during the second half in the semifinals of the Big East conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats won, 76-68. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Villanova Wildcats guard Josh Hart (3) celebrates a dunk against the Providence Friars during the second half in the semifinals of the Big East conference tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats won, 76-68. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports /
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Villanova will wipe away their postseason problems and continue to prove their the best team in the Big East Basketball Conference.

Sure, Villanova is consistent in the regular season and they currently own the Big East Conference, but Jay Wright’s squad has a national reputation for flunking when the calendar turns to March.

In particular, the Wildcats haven’t advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2009. The last two years the Wildcats have lost to the eight seeded North Carolina State Wolfpack and the eventual National Champion number seven seed UConn Huskies in the second round.

The Wildcats also were bounced in the first round in 2013 (North Carolina) and 2011 (George Mason).

But this year’s unit is truly a different team and it’s not because of their great guard play, chemistry or experience, but instead it’s all about their defense. The 2015-16 Wildcats are worried less about beating teams from beyond the arc and are more focused on locking down their opponent for 40 minutes.

Related Story: Providence crushes Butler in the Big East quarterfinals

On Friday night in the Big East Tournament semifinals, the Wildcats beat Providence, 76-68, as Wright’s game plan worked to perfection against Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil.

The two superstars combined to score only 12 points on 2-of-13 shooting because of the Wildcats ability to pack the paint. Whenever Dunn drove into the lane, four defenders swarmed him and forced him to give up the ball.

One day after dropping 38 points and grabbing eight rebounds against the Butler Bulldogs, Bentil couldn’t break free of the Villanova double teams. When Bentil posted up Daniel Ochefu or Darryl Reynolds, a guard would quickly come over and swipe at the ball, forcing the big man into occasional turnovers.

“We took some chances today guarding those two,” Wright said following the game. “That’s why Bullock had 18 and Cartwright had 14.

“When Dunn has the ball and Bullock goes at the rim and they throw a lob, you have a wide-open dunk and nobody is guarding them. It looks pretty bad. We took some chances to just try to prevent those two from having monster games.”

Villanova forced Providence to beat them from the perimeter and that is certainly not the Friars strength – their three point shooting percentage for the season is 32.

The Friars hit 10 threes on Friday, but they only shot 38 from beyond the arc and Villanova would rather take their chances with a long jump shot than Dunn changing momentum with plays at the rim.

Josh Hart is the best perimeter defender on the team, Ryan Arcidiacono has a high basketball IQ and Ochefu helps finish off the possessions with rebounds. Most importantly, they are able to hide Kris Jenkins (who is not a great player on that end of the floor) thanks to their versatility – Hart in particular – and excellent communication.

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So will Villanova draw a tough match-up in the second round of the Big Dance against an 8-9 seed? Possibly, but it won’t matter.

Villanova has a strong shot of riding their defense all the way to Houston.

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