Wishing a blessed, Happy Easter to all.
Saturday brought us the Final Four for the 2018 NCAA Tournament, and while the two national semifinal games revealed to us the contestants for the national championship game on Monday, it also made clear something else:
Bar none, Villanova is the best team in this 2017-18 college basketball season.
Of course, declaring such may well be the kiss of death for the Wildcats on Monday when they face Michigan in the NCAA tourney final. It’s certainly possible Villanova could lose the game, and it’s preposterous to suggest otherwise. But over the course of this season, and certainly through six of the seven rounds in the NCAA Tournament, there’s little doubt anymore that the Wildcats have been the cream of the crop of this season.
Villanova continued its postseason roll with a resounding, dominating 95-79 win over Kansas Saturday night at the Alamodome. It was never close. Nova took a 22-4 lead just 6 minutes, 55 seconds into the game and led by double figures the rest of the way. A game between a pair of one seeds looked like a 1 toying with a 12 seed, the Jayhawks giving their best to not be completely blown out, but never seriously threatening either.
The Wildcats hit a Final Four-record 18 three-pointers, and the strikes came from all angles. Six different players hit at least two three-pointers each. All six of those players scored in double figures. Eric Paschall-the team’s No. 5 scorer on the season-scored 24 points and made 10 of 11 from the field.
Kansas tried man-to-man defense. It tried zone. It didn’t matter. Nova was completely in charge, shooting 55.4% from the field in a virtuoso performance.
Villanova’s NCAA tourney run has included no buzzer-beating wins and no easy path. All five of the Wildcats’ wins have come by double digit margins, and the last three have come against teams from a Big 12 that was tops in the country in conference RPI this year. Jay Wright’s team has been about as impressive as could be imagined in the postseason of this season of so much parity, and now Nova now goes for its second national title in three years, a burgeoning mini-dynasty that has arisen in the sport.
Villanova’s opponent in the final is Michigan, which ended the sensational run of Loyola Chicago by rallying late to win 69-57, a final score completely deceiving for what it might say about this one. The Wolverines trailed a good share of the way-including most of the second half-but went on a big run late and are in the final for the second time in six years.
Moritz Wagner was the difference in this one, in even more ways than many think. Sure, Wagner finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, becoming the first player to top 20 & 15 in the Final Four since none other than Hakeem (then ‘Akeem’) Olajuwon for Houston in the legendary 1983 national title game won by North Carolina State at the buzzer. What an honor. Wagner was especially tough on the offensive glass in the first half, and had multiple big plays in Michigan’s late tidal wave, even a backdoor pass for a big layup.
In true modern basketball styling, though, the 6-foot-11 Wagner’s biggest contribution came with his hitting three three-pointers to lead the Wolverines’ otherwise struggling effort from deep. Two of them were especially timely, with his first tying the score with 6:56 to play-the first time Michigan had been as much as tied in nearly 20 minutes of game action-and the second putting the Maize & Blue up 59-51 with 2:59 to play, essentially thwarting any final comeback attempt by Loyola.
The Wolverines finished the game on a 27-10 run over the final 7:44, surviving despite struggling much of the way, as evidenced by their 7-for-28 three-point shooting. The final score makes it easy to forget that Loyola led for much of the second half and was superb again much of the way, building a 10-point second half lead, slowly dissecting Michigan as the game went on and playing near-perfect team defense much the same way the Ramblers did against their first four NCAA tourney opponents.
This one, though, had the feeling of slipping away quickly. Turnovers absolutely killed Loyola in the second half-11 of them in the half total (and 17 for the game), including five in a span of 2:14 in the midst of Michigan’s decisive run. The Wolverines finished with an 18-0 advantage in second half points off turnovers. Moreover, for the first time in the tourney, the Ramblers in the last 10 minutes appeared to get a little soft defensively, a little rushed offensively, and in short time a five-point lead with less than eight minutes left became an insurmountable deficit before even the final TV timeout came with 1:39 to play.
Undoubtedly, it will sting how this ride ended for Loyola, not being at its best down the stretch. Regardless, the Ramblers’ spectacular and charming run this March will be remembered for a long time, as it should be. Loyola proved again for all the ‘little guys’ out there that they should dare to dream, that great things can be done. A team that hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in 33 years, was eighth of 10 teams in the Missouri Valley Conference two years ago and that wouldn’t have even been in the tourney if not for winning the MVC tourney (and never let that ridiculous scenario be forgotten, either) was in the Final Four this year, and was seven minutes from the national title game.
And for Michigan, the Wolverines’ resourcefulness in this tourney to continue winning despite not being on their best game-Texas A&M blowout aside-has become something to behold as well. Logic says it will take Michigan’s best to defeat Villanova on Monday. But especially in this basketball season, logic has been defeated quite regularly.
Side Dishes:
- Hoopville’s Phil Kasiecki joined Ted Sarandis for an episode of Talking Hoops after last night’s games, which you can listen to here.
- Xavier has a new head coach, and to the surprise of no one it is Travis Steele, formerly the associate head coach under Chris Mack. This will be the 36-year old Steele’s first head-coaching gig. It also continues the school’s tradition of promoting from within for its head coaching position, as Steele is the third straight Musketeer assistant to be named head coach.
- Various reports on Saturday indicated that, after months of Gonzaga looking into joining the Mountain West Conference, that its most likely that the Bulldogs will stay in the West Coast Conference for the time being, apparently appeased for now by recently approved conference basketball changes regarding scheduling, tournament format and financial distribution. If there wasn’t enough evidence before that this has been a total leverage play by the Zags, it should be crystal clear now. At least Gonzaga is making a wise choice giving this some more time; the WCC still
Tonight’s Menu:
- All is quiet, with just one game left in the college basketball season Monday night.
A blessed, Happy Easter to all.
