If Villanova is remembered for one thing, other than Jay Wright’s teams raising national championship trophies, it is buzzer beaters.
Every March, the Wildcats are remembered for great moments in the final seconds of the biggest games of the year. There have been many moments this year that have brought back great memories.
Big East foe UConn took advantage of poor coaching and execution by Duke as the top seed in the field let a 19-point lead get away in the second half. Duke threw the ball away with
a one-point lead and it eventually landed in the hands of Braylon Mullins, who delivered an all-time March Madness moment.
This was reminiscent of Kris Jenkins on the 10-year anniversary of his iconic shot. If you watched the coverage from the first two days of the tournament, networks would show footage of the final seconds of the legendary game against North Carolina along with commentary from Wright and Roy Williams, along with Marcus Paige.
After Paige threw up a double-pump shot from three that tied the game, Wright drew up the perfect play which was executed to perfection by Jenkins and Ryan Arcidiacono — and the rest is history.
Mullins shot will live in UConn history as a moment that sent the Huskies to the Final Four. If you need another tie in to the Wildcats, it happened one day after the anniversary of Scottie Reynolds going coast-to-coast to beat Pitt in 2009.
Levance Fields knocked down two free throws to tie the game in the final seconds. Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon put on a full-court press rather than dropping back and playing defense in the half court. This allowed Reynolds to get a running start after catching a pass from Dante Cunningham a little before mid court.
Reynolds drove into the paint and finished over the middle of the rim. This sent Wright to his first of four national semifinal appearances with Villanova.
Villanova was knocked out in the first round against Utah State on the first Friday of action. Kevin Willard brought the Wildcats back to the tournament in his first year as head coach. While the season did not finish the way fans had hopes, the presence of Villanova is forever etched in March with some of the best moments of all-time.
