Four NCAA Tournament wins have No. 2 seed Oklahoma in the Final Four, but now it gets another stout challenge in No. 2 seed Villanova next week in Houston.
Coach Jay Wright's Villanova Wildcats pulled off the upset of top-overall seed Kansas on Saturday, setting up an enticing match-up of two teams that are playing some of the most balanced basketball in the country.
Here are five things that basketball fans should know about Villanova.
Villanova played OU earlier in the season and lost…badly
On Dec. 7, the No. 7 Sooners and the No. 8 Wildcats faced off in what was supposed to be one of the best early-season match-ups, but the final box score ended up being lopsided.
OU ran away from with a 78-55 victory at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the result of Villanova shooting just 12 percent from three-point range. The Sooners shot better than 53 percent from deep. Don’t expect that game to have any bearing on this one, though. Villanova was still figuring things out at that time and OU was playing its best basketball of the regular season, but the two teams have now leveled out.
The Wildcats have one of the best backcourts in the country
Villanova is one of few teams in the nation that has the backcourt to compete with OU’s elite core of guards. Freshman Jalen Brunson, senior Ryan Arcidiacono and junior Josh Hart aren’t going to wow you with their play, but they are intelligent and crafty, something that isn’t as common with college basketball guards as it used to be.
At the center of this backcourt is Arcidiacono, who is averaging 16 points and a little more than three assists per game in the tournament. He is also shooting 56 percent from three-point range, making him Villanova’s perimeter answer to Buddy Hield.
Villanova might be the most efficient team in the country
The Wildcats rank in the top 10 in both offensive efficiency (fourth) and defensive efficiency (seventh) according to KenPom. Along with a number of other statistics, this was enough to give them the top-overall ranking. They also have the best field goal percentage of any team in the Final Four, making a little more than 55 percent of their shots from the floor.
The Wildcats are shooting well in the NCAA Tournament
Much like the Sooners, the Wildcats have been dominating teams in the NCAA Tournament from beyond the arc, but this was not the case during the regular season. Villanova came into the tournament shooting at a 35 percent clip from deep, but since then it has really turned things around. The Wildcats are now shooting 47 percent from three-point range in their last four games. It will be interesting to see how Lon Kruger and his coaching staff prepare the Sooners for a threat from Villanova they didn’t have to worry about early in the season.
Villanova was the lowest seed to ever win a national title
It has been 31 years since then coach Rollie Massimino and No. 8 seed Villanova made one of the most improbable runs in NCAA Tournament history. The Wildcats finished fourth in what was the most formidable conference in basketball at that time, the Big East, but then turned it on in late March. Villanova took down No. 1 seed Michigan, No. 5 seed Maryland and No. 2 seed North Carolina to reach the Final Four.
Then in the national title game, Villanova pulled off the impossible, beating mighty, Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown to win the first national championship in school history. It was the season that brought the program to the prominence on the national stage that continues today.
