-Matt Cox
An underdog in the undercard.
Villanova?
In the most ballyhooed Final Four in college basketball history, somehow, the Villanova Wildcats felt like a forgotten stepchild.
So, what.
All the external narrative nonsense in the world couldn’t ruffle Jay and the boys – even without backcourt linchpin Justin Moore.
“Do what we do,” was the rallying cry Nova echoed in the tunnel before taking the hardwood in front of a sold-out Superdome.
But when it was time to press play, the unflappable Wildcats looked mortal.
Nay. Vulnerable.
The Kansas Blitz
Powered by a flurry of Ochai Agbaji triples, the top-seeded Jayhawks raced out to an early lead in the blink of an eye. On the other end, unsung hero Dajuan Harris stripped All-Everything Collin Gillespie, twice, making us question us everything we said in the CBB expert echo chamber before the game – you know, all that nonsense about Remy Martin being the unequivocal X-Factor? WRONG.
14:50 – A Turning point?
The Kansas onslaught, finally, hit a temporarily road bump. David McCormack jimmied a wide-open dunk, leading to a gift possession for Villanova. There, the veteran Cats capitalized when their captain, Mr. Gillespie, canned a corner trey to stop the early bleeding.
Fast forward four minutes later. That brief sequence was all but forgotten.
Kansas’ dominance held serve, and Villanova struggled to find its footing on either end. Harris, who hadn’t made a three in two games, nailed a jab step three ball in Nova’s eye hole. Agbaji, who was 4-for-4 from downtown in the first ten minutes, continued his quest for perfection.
The cherry on top came when Agbaji linked up with ‘D Mac’ for an emphatic throwdown to extend the lead to 26-11 with 9:28 remaining. Through the first quarter of action, Kansas was rocking an incendiary 1.53 points per possession. The walls were officially caving in on Nova.
Hangin’ by a Thread
Without Caleb Daniels, Nova may have tapped out of this fight at halftime. Fittingly, the former Tulane standout stood out just a mile from his old stomping grounds, answering the call of duty in Moore’s stead. He played the Robin to Gillespie’s Batman perfectly.
Still, a two-man-band was not gonna cut it against this version of Kansas. The Jayhawks landed body blow after body blow, ultimately forcing Jay Wright to pull out the hail mary of all defensive audibles: a rarely seen zone defense…
Nova’s pregame mantra, “Do what we do” was swiftly amended by the relentless Jayhawks…
Halftime Musings
It certainly looked dire for the Cats – they trailed by 11 at the break – but there was reason for optimism heading into the locker room.
For starters, the obligatory “we can’t play any worse” mentality held true
Nova also managed to avoid a cataclysmic foul situation, a serious concern with a rail thin bench sans Moore
Despite McCormack’s dominance inside, VU was still competing on the glass - at least, offensively. They tallied nine offensive rebounds in the first half against KU’s vaunted interior length, a commendable effort under the circumstances
Still, the doomsday omen permeated throughout Nova nation, even from the most decorated of former Nova warriors
Second Half Déjà vu
After both teams exchanged buckets to start the second half, Bill Self dialed up a pretty play to free up Agbaji for another triple. McCormack succeeded that gut punch with another bucket of his own to push the margin back to 15 points with 17:20 remaining. At this point, Agbaji and D Mac are dueling dragons spitting molten hot lava. Collectively, they were 11-for-12 from the floor at this juncture.
Nova fights, finally
The Kansas offense showed no signs of cooling off, but the Supernova offense came to life, finally. The Wildcats strung together a modest 8-0 run, but every subsequent effort to narrow the gap was promptly squashed by a Jayhawk answer.
By the 10-minute mark, this national semifinal subtly morphed into an apathetic pick up game. Defense was suddenly deemed optional as both sides suddenly oozed shotmaking confidence. The 2nd half box score below, timestamped at the midway point of the second half, paints the offensive art in data form:
The Final Stretch
Ask any Nova fan and they’ll point to the Caleb Daniels’ in-and-out 3-point robbery as the ultimate backbreaker – granted, Brandon Slater also had a three rattle in-and-out, but Daniels’ missed three would’ve cut the lead to four.
Instead, KU corralled the Daniels miss and McCormack, naturally, draws a foul and converted on two consecutive free throws. Again, another missed opportunity.
The two blue bloods exchanged haymakers for the next five minutes, but Nova’s inability to get timely stops ruined any shot of a comeback. Still, trailing by 9, their sterling reputation hijacked our hope for one last stand…
Again, that hopeful ember was extinguished by another timely KU response. This time, it was Christian Braun who delivered the blow:
The Jayhawks ran away from that point forward and never looked back…
For two straight hours, the Jayhawks’ barrage of buckets captivated the Superdome. McCormack and Agbaji’s combined 40-burger will hog the headlines but don’t snooze on the combined 13 assists from Braun, Harris, and Wilson. This was a well-balanced offensive invasion from multiple fronts and the shorthanded Wildcats had no barricade to stop it. Moore or no Moore, KU proved it belongs in the last dance.