Villanova and Marquette get set for play on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
March 14, 2024
Big5Hoops.com
Only in college basketball is a three-letter word worse than a four-letter word.
Villanova now knows this all too well.
Goodbye NCAA, hello NIT.
The Wildcats’ NCAA tournament drought will in all likelihood extend to two consecutive seasons after Thursday night’s 71-65 overtime loss to tenth-ranked Marquette in the Big East tournament quarterfinals here at Madison Square Garden.
Villanova (18-15), the No. 6 seed, barely squeaked past No. 11-seeded DePaul, 58-57, on Wednesday night in one of its worst performances of the season. The Wildcats played much better against the third-seeded Golden Eagles but not well enough to keep their hopes of an at-large bid to the Big Dance — or the Big East’s automatic bid by way of the conference tournament title — alive.
The Wildcats had plenty of chances to punch their ticket but couldn’t get victories at Seton Hall last Wednesday, at home against Creighton on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center or Thursday night against Marquette at the Garden. A win in any one of those contests would have kept the Wildcats alive to hear their names called on Selection Sunday.
But there was the offensive struggle against the Pirates, the slow start versus the Bluejays and just not enough against the talented but short-handed Golden Eagles, who were without star guard Tyler Kolek (oblique).
Villanova also was a man down with Jordan Longino (knee) sidelined after getting injured against DePaul.
Villanova entered play as the second team listed in Joe Lunardi’s Next Four Out, with five teams on the NCAA tournament bubble ahead of the Wildcats. Villanova got some help before taking the court, with Iowa State’s win over Kansas State and Ohio State’s defeat of Iowa. But the Wildcats weren’t helped by Texas A&M’s victory against Ole Miss, Providence’s upset of Creighton or Duquesne’s triumph over Dayton.
Most of all, they weren’t helped by their own outcome against Marquette.
Lunardi had predicted that even with a victory over the Golden Eagles, it would not be enough to propel Villanova into the NCAA field. A loss makes the prospect of a bid practically impossible.
The Wildcats looked much better in the opening half on Thursday than a night earlier against the Blue Demons, though, frankly, it would’ve been hard to have looked worse.
Hakim Hart gave Villanova some key minutes in place of Longino and hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes after going scoreless in 29 minutes in his last two contests.
The Wildcats entered the break ahead 29-28 after holding the Golden Eagles to 34.5 percent shooting overall and 31.3 percent from the arc. But Marquette got off to a fast start after the break, taking its biggest lead to that point on Chase Ross’ free throw with 15:20 left that made it 39-31. Villanova wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
The Wildcats trailed 50-43 with 9:05 left before an 8-0 spurt, capped by Justin Moore, put them in front 51-50 with 7:07 left. Moore didn’t have a point until hitting a jumper to end the run.
It looked like Marquette had won it when Kam Jones scored at the buzzer, but replays showed the Jones didn’t release the ball before the buzzer. The game went to overtime tied at 58. Marquette did just enough in the extra session to advance to the Big East semifinals.
For the Wildcats, it has been a very strange season. There will be more time later to discuss, dissect and debate. The talking points will center around highs (wins over North Carolina, Texas Tech, Memphis and at Creighton) and lows (losses at Penn, vs. St. Joe’s and to Drexel at the Wells Fargo Center).
More questions likely will be raised about Kyle Neptune, who replaced Hall of Famer Jay Wright after Wright’s surprise retirement after the Wildcats made the Final Four in 2022. Wright set a high bar for success. Missing the NCAA tournament in two straight seasons does not approach that bar, though it took Wright some time to get rolling.
Will Neptune get that time? We will see. It would be surprising if Neptune isn’t given more of a chance to have success. But this is sports, so you never know. All you need to do is look across the East River here in New York and see the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds all eliminated in the Atlantic 10 tournament before the semifinals have even started.
It’s March, so anything is possible in college basketball.
Maybe the Wildcats will make a deep run in the NIT, something for which to build. Or maybe they’ll be completely disinterested and get bounced in the first round.
Who knows?
What is clear is this: Villanova was not good enough to be an NCAA tournament team this season.
The Wildcats probably are headed to the NIT.
For some programs, that would be welcome. For others, it’s just a dirty word.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.