NCAA Basketball: Top 10 seasons for Jay Wright at Villanova

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - APRIL 02: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats talks with his team during a timeout in the second half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks during the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal at Caesars Superdome on April 02, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Villanova Wildcats 81-65. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

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Villanova’s Kyle Lowry Randy Foye (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images) /

8. 2005-06

Record: 28-5

Big East Record: 14-2

Big East Tournament Champion: No

NCAA Tournament finish: Elite 8 (L) vs Florida

Highest Ranking: #2

Top scorer: 20.5 ppg

Following Wright’s first time tournament success the previous year the Wildcats came back the next year with a much improved record, share of the Big East regular-season title, Elite 8 appearance, and highest AP poll appearance since Wright took over.

This time around the Wildcats had six top-25 wins off of the backing of a blistering 3-point rate that most teams could not match. Essentially this Wildcats team was one of the earliest of the modern era using an analytically driven system to succeed. They valued 3-point shots finishing 9th in the entire nation in 3-point attempts.

Wright did a great job with this crew. Foye and Ray lead this team in scoring, scoring a combined 39 points per game. Eventually they both went to the league proving that Wright can put players into the next stage of their playing careers.

Losing back to back years to the eventual national champ sucks but it still provided ‘Nova fans with hope going forward.

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