College hoops fans are enjoying their most special time of year right now. The NBA season might be gearing up towards its own postseason but, when it comes to basketball, all eyes are on March Madness. The exhilarating college basketball postseason event is the highlight of the year for many and we are now edging closer to the Final Four – as well as the championship game.
Local college basketball fans have had some major interest in the past. Villanova is the big name in recent times but Temple, Drexel, St. Joseph’s, Penn, and La Salle have all also done Philadelphia proud in the past. There hasn’t actually been any Philly involvement since 2022 though – with at least one school representing every year before then since 1978. Hopefully, we will see one of the big five returning in 2026.
Now, with the fans honing their March Madness online betting strategies, we will all get to watch the best in the NCAA go head-to-head. Watching the stars of the future at the Big Dance should make up for the lack of Philly team but we thought we would go back to a better time – when Villanova turned into a college hoops powerhouse and won two championships in just three years.
Before the Golden Era
The Villanova had always been a March Madness regular of sorts but it wasn’t until 1985 that the Wildcats won a national championship. That was the team that all new student athletes looked up to and wanted to emulate. The program had built itself up over the years and in the middle of the 1980s, it all came good.
Coming into the tournament as a number eight team, those Wildcats are the lowest-ranked team to ever win a national championship and beat two number one seeds (including Georgetown in the final) along the way. After that year, Villanova would only reach the Elite Eight on one other occasion before 2016.
The Second Championship
Jay Wright is remembered as a two-time championship-winning coach these days but, for a long time, it certainly didn’t feel as if that would be the case. He had led the team to eight national tournaments in just 12 years but without really making a dent on the later rounds. Just four years before the second championship, Villanova posted a losing season and failed to make the Big Dance at all.
In 2016, the Wildcats lost the Big East championship to Seton Hall but received an at-large bid and a number two seed. Villanova cruised through the opening rounds and then beat number one team Kansas by five points to make the Final Four. A rout of Oklahoma came next before the championship win against North Carolina.
Disappointment
A year later, the Wildcats looked even stronger, beating Creighton to claim the Big East championship and securing an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament. Villanova appeared dominant and was awarded the overall number one seed for March Madness, making back-to-back championships feel like a real possibility.
Although there had been some departures from the year before, there was still a good number of championship-winning athletes still on the roster. Local rivals Mount St. Mary’s were swept away in the first round but then Villanova was easily beaten by Wisconsin – the second time in three years that the program had lost to a number eight seed.
Champions Again
The 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball tournament looked like being one of the most open in recent memory. No one team was expected to claim the title, although Villanova did win the Big East championship again and received a number one seed for March Madness. It was a year of upsets though, with fellow number one team Virginia falling in the first round.
The Wildcats actually navigated their way to the Final Four with relative ease, never losing by fewer than 12 points. Kansas was similarly dispatched in the Final Four, leaving just Michigan in the way of another title. There was a distinct Wildcat mindset throughout the roster, exemplified by Jalen Brunson, who had stayed at school to get his degree and win a second championship. In the end, he would not have the greatest of games in the final, but Donte DiVincenzo sank three after three to lead Villanova to glory.
Knicks Reunion
It would take a little while but those famous Wildcats would find a way to play together, once again, in the big league a few years later. Jalen Brunson would follow his father, a coach, to become a New York Knick – and he was especially pleased shortly after that former Villanova teammate Josh Hart would join him at the Garden.
The star of that 2018 championship game, DiVincenzo would also arrive to kickstart a Knicks resurgence that is still in evidence to this day (to the chagrin of all 76ers fans in our local area!). Unfortunately, the three-point specialist would leave just as yet another former Wildcat, Mikal Bridges, joined from the Nets.
When Will the Glory Days Return?
When Villanova won that second title in just three years, it was only the third program since the all-conquering 1970s UCLA teams to be so successful in such a short amount of time. UConn joined that select band when it won back-to-back championships last year. However, local teams have not done well since the late 2010s.
Kyle Neptune failed to make the Big Dance at all in his three years in charge at Villanova and was recently fired as head coach. Although some of the other Philly schools fared slightly better during the regular season, none participated in March Madness this year – for the third year in a row. Until there is a turnaround in form, local Wildcats fans will need to hold their nose and watch the Knicks to see some Villanova alumni do well. Hopefully, the glory days will return soon.
