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NCAA Tournament: VU freshmen getting taste of Madness

03/16/2018, 8:45am EDT
By Chris Mueller

Collin Gillespie (above) is one of four Villanova freshmen in the rotation for the top-seeded Wildcats. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Chris Mueller (@bychrismueller)
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PITTSBURGH – It was April 7, 2008 when Mario Chalmers looped around the key, took two steps and fired a fadeaway 3-pointer that miraculously fell through the back of the hoop with 2.1 seconds left.

Tie game. The 2008 national championship was headed to overtime.

Kansas would go on to prevail over Memphis in an instant-classic for the ages. Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, eight year-old Collin Gillespie, with his eyes peeled to the television, had officially fallen in love with the NCAA tournament.

"My mom made me go to sleep right as the game ended,” Gillespie recalled after the Wildcats’ 81-67 win over Radford at PPG Paints Arena Thursday night. “I wasn’t very happy the next morning.”

Nowadays – 10 years later – there’s plenty for Villanova's freshman guard  to be happy about.

The 6-foot-3 Archbishop Wood product is no longer strictly bound to watching the tournament on TV, and could potentially find himself playing on the same stage Chalmers did that night  in 2008 as Villanova – a 2018 No. 1 seed in the east region – attempts to make its second national championship appearance in the last three years.

Gillespie ended with nine points on 2 of 4 shooting in 19 minutes to end his first-ever NCAA tournament game on a high note. It was a surreal experience in itself for him and the three other Villanova freshmen holding legitimate roles this season. Omari Spellman, a starter at forward, finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes while Gillespie, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Jermaine Samuels combined for 20 points off the bench.

All four expected this day to come when they signed with Villanova. After all, the Wildcats were considered a 2018 national title contender before the season even began. But now, finally, after the grind endured over the last six months, the build-up is finally over.

“It was actually kind of crazy,” said Samuels. “The court seemed bigger for some reason. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the stadium, maybe it was just the court. It was different than most of the places we’ve played in, but the atmosphere was there. You could definitely feel it.”

And that was only round one against Radford. Just imagine the Sweet Sixteen. Or the Elite Eight. Or the Final Four, and so on.

But there’s still a lot of work to be done if Villanova, albeit highly talented, does indeed reach that point. The Wildcats’ key cogs in Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo and Phil Booth are undoubtedly contingent upon any kind of potential run, but it doesn’t end with them.

As the Wildcats face steeper competition with each passing round, the roles of Villanova’s four freshmen the next three weeks – even with three of them coming off the bench – will grow increasingly important.

“Everybody needs to be a part of this,” junior Eric Paschall said. “We need the whole team to keep getting better. But even the older guys – we’ve got to keep our habits. We’ve got to keep each other accountable and just know we need everybody for this.”

But from historical standards, relying on production from freshmen in March isn’t something Villanova has typically done under Jay Wright.

“You know, that’s kind of new for us,” he said on Wednesday. “Just having four freshmen that you’re relying on ...I tell the older guys to just keep an eye on them. Just keep talking to them.”

Phil Booth can remember walking in similar shoes. After his first taste of the Big Dance concluded with a second round loss to N.C. State, Booth served as the sixth man on Villanova’s 2016 national championship squad – registering 20 points off the bench in the 77-74 win over North Carolina that garnered the program its first title since 1985. His contributions were overshadowed by Kris Jenkins' miraculous buzzer-beating, but Booth's contributions that night were the byproduct of an underclassmen unafraid of the moment.

Who knows, that could be Spellman, Gillespie or even Cosby-Roundtree in a couple weeks.

Booth, a sophomore at the time, was slightly more experienced back then, but can still relate to the adjustments Villanova’s four freshmen are currently weathering.

“All of the side stuff was surprising to me,” he said. “All of the media (availability) we had to do, all of the little things, just going into a game with different crowds in the arena. It was a whole new experience and something that the older guys on the team helped me out with for sure.”

Back then, it was Ryan Arcidiacono and Josh Hart setting the example for Booth, Jalen Brunson and Eric Paschal to mirror. Now, the latter trio are the “older guys” for Spellman, Gillespie, Cosby-Roundtree and Samuels to look toward and follow suit There will be tons of distractions from the national media attention, social media, upsets, heightened atmospheres and – not to mention – the pressure associated with each passing game deciding your season.

Though the established culture within this Villanova team is the foundational principle keeping the entire roster - especially the freshmen – focused and in-check. For them, all that matters is what takes place within the 94 by 50-foot dimensions of the hardwood court.

“Our setting is 94 by 50 feet,” Gillespie said. “It’s something we all say. All the walk-ons preach it. …94 by 50-feet when we’re on the court. When you’re on the basketball court, it’s just you and your guys versus everybody, and nothing else.”

Villanova will face ninth-seeded Alabama, who defeated Virginia Tech in the first around, at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday for a trip to the Sweet 16.


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