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Villanova Basketball: Top 10 teams ever under head coach Jay Wright

By Bryan Mauro

VILLANOVA, PENNSYLVANIA - JANUARY 05: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats looks on after defeating the Creighton Bluejays at Finneran Pavilion on January 05, 2022 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
VILLANOVA, PENNSYLVANIA - JANUARY 05: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats looks on after defeating the Creighton Bluejays at Finneran Pavilion on January 05, 2022 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /
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Villanova Wildcats guards (1) Kyle Lowry and (14) Allan Ray Photo By Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports Copyright (c) 2006 Matt Cashore
Villanova Wildcats guards (1) Kyle Lowry and (14) Allan Ray Photo By Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports Copyright (c) 2006 Matt Cashore /

8. 2005-2006

Record: 25-8 (14-2 in Big East) – Elite 8 appearance

Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye, Dante Cunningham, and Allan Ray are all the players from this team who played in the NBA. Lowry is still playing and has an NBA championship as a member of the Toronto Raptors to add to his illustrious career. This is the first Villanova team that moved the needle for me for Wright this team had it all.

Remember back in 2005 the game of basketball was still a slower back to the basket type of game, shooting a ton of threes was not something a lot of teams did and the 23 attempts per game from deep were good enough for 20th in the country.

Wright was just starting to hone his system and getting the buy-in from the players. He had two Parade High School All-Americans on this team and neither of them saw significant minutes. I cannot speak for all Wildcats fans but would imagine they would say this team is the one that started putting Villanova on the map nationally for recruits. Villanova received a one seed in the NCAA tournament and made the Elite Eight, losing to eventual National Champion Florida.

Wright would never lose the momentum from this season and this season goes a long way towards turning Villanova into the blue blood they are. In addition to the one seed and the elite eight this team finished 25-5 and second overall in the old Big East. They ended the year ranked third overall in the final AP poll.