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NCAA Tournament: Connections about as Villanova men meet Delaware

03/17/2022, 6:15pm EDT
By Matthew Ryan

Matthew Ryan (@matthewryan02)

PITTSBURGH, PA — When Delaware head coach Martin Ingelsby was a kid, he'd make the short trek from Berwyn, Pa., to the Radnor Hotel, where he would wait for a yellow bus. He was going to a school, it just wasn't his school.

For almost every Villanova home game, he'd hop on the bus and head about seven minutes to the Pavilion, where he would watch the Wildcats play with his dad and brother. Ingelsby grew up a fan of the program, and had a pretty good reason why.


Martin Ingelsby (above) was a huge Villanova fan growing up, as his dad played for the Wildcats. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Tom Ingelsby, Martin's father, is one of the all-time greats at Villanova. Throughout his three seasons on the Main Line, Tom averaged 18.6 points per game, and his No. 24 jersey now hangs in the rafters.

All these years later, Martin still finds himself inside an arena with Villanova on the court, but this time, he's on the hardwood, too. On Friday, the sixth-year head coach will make his March Madness head coaching debut as his No. 15 seed Blue Hens face No. 2 seed Villanova in the opening round at PPG Paints Arena. 

Going from my home in Berwyn to the Radnor Hotel, hopping in the yellow school buses that they would take to The Pavilion to drop you off in front of The Pavilion to watch Villanova basketball,” Martin said. “That's what I did with my dad and my younger brother. We would probably go to every home game we could go to, and I just enjoyed those experiences.”

Tom isn't the only connection Martin has to Villanova, though. Martin is the nephew of former Villanova guard Ed Hastings; his sister, Chrissi Ingelsby Dunleavy, is married to former Wildcat player and coach Baker Dunleavy, who is currently the head coach at Quinnipiac.

The Ingelsby connection is one of many surrounding the first-round matchup, with players and coaches on both sides having some type of familiarity with someone on the other bench. It’s a complex web of emotions taking place on one of the biggest stages in college basketball.

Of those connections, the most obvious is Dylan Painter. The former Hershey big man spent three years on the Main Line, where he won a national championship in 2017-18 in a Villanova uniform, but transferred to Delaware after a few games in the 2018-19 season because he wanted more playing time.

Painter has put together a solid college career after sitting out a transfer season, averaging 11.4 ppg and 7.4 rebounds per game across his three years at Delaware. In 2020-21, he was even named to the first-team All-CAA, but he has been recovering from a lower-body injury as of late and is coming off the bench.

Even though he played sparingly for the Wildcats, appearing in 24 games and playing just 5.8 minutes a night, Villanova head coach Jay Wright knows Painter is as aware as anyone when it comes to what his program is about.

Dylan Painter (above, left) started his college career at Villanova before transferring to Delaware. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

"He was the ultimate teammate, the ultimate Villanova basketball player," Wright said of Painter. "It's one of the things I fear about playing Delaware is if you could take any player and have him explain to you what is Villanova basketball, (Painter) could do it as well as Jalen Brunson, Ryan Arcidiacono, Collin Gillespie.”

Painter said, though, that throughout the past couple of days, the Delaware coaching staff hasn't really relied on him to get the inside scoop about Villanova.

"Our big thing is we prepare to be the best Delaware basketball team we can be, so we focus probably 80 percent on what we do and only 20 percent on the other team," he said.

"They've asked a couple little questions, but it hasn't really been a big focus on what I can tell — all the secrets. It's kind of out in the open. They shoot a lot of threes, they play hard, and it's kind of like the same thing we do. We shoot a lot of threes, we play hard, and it's just going to be a fun game.

“I think it will probably hit me after the game how crazy this is,” he added. “How everything is going to come full circle.”

Painter and Ingelsby aren't the only connections. Delaware forward Anthony Ochefu, a fifth-year senior, is the younger brother of former Villanova standout Daniel Ochefu.

Delaware guard Ryan Allen, who went to DeMatha (Md.), played his junior and senior season of high school with Villanova guard Justin Moore, and was on the AAU circuit for Team Takeover, in the same program as Wildcat forward Brandon Slater. The three already played head-to-head once as Villanova beat Delaware 78-70 on Dec. 14, 2019; Painter didn’t play in that game, but Moore, Allen and Slater all did. 

"Shout-out to my little bros, Brandon Slater, Justin Moore," Allen said. "[…] It's going to be fun being out there with them at the same time."

“He's a great player, a great leader,” Moore said of Allen. “He's a veteran guy for them. We talked all throughout this year, and he talked to me after Selection Sunday about playing us and he was excited and stuff like that [...] it's going to be weird playing against them.”

When it comes to play on the court, Delaware and Villanova are rather similar. Both are good 3-point shooting teams, with Villanova shooting 35.9% from deep and Delaware shooting 35%, and neither squad has a featured player in their offense — both teams have six players that average more than 9.0 ppg.

Delaware is led in scoring by The Haverford School product Jameer Nelson Jr. at 13.7 ppg. Allen, a five year starter who has been coming off the bench as of late, is third on the team in scoring at 11.8 ppg just behind Painter who averages 11.9 ppg.

Gillespie, an Archbishop Wood graduate and the Big East Player of the Year, leads the way for the 'Cats at 15.9 ppg, followed by Moore at 15.0 ppg.

With Painter coming off the bench, the starting frontcourt players have been Andrew Carr and Jyare Davis. Carr is a stretch big that shoots 39% from deep, and Davis, the CAA Freshman of the Year, is more of a traditional forward that plays around the basket. With Eric Dixon and Jermaine Samuels down low, Villanova certainly has the advantage, but Delaware has more depth with Painter coming in as a reserve.

Both teams are hot right now as they're each coming off conference tournament victories. Delaware beat all lower seeds to take home its crown while Villanova entered the Big East tournament as the favorite and pulled out three close victories.

Historically, Villanova’s dominated the matchups between the two schools as the Wildcats are 15-0 against Delaware, their last meeting that one in 2019.

But on Friday, the game takes on a whole new meaning. The Blue Hens are searching for their first-ever tournament victory while Villanova's looking to make it out of the first round for the 14th consecutive time.

And for Ingelsby, the bus ride over to the stadium tomorrow will surely feel different than the ones he took to watch the 'Cats play decades ago.

"For Christmas (my two kids) got replica jerseys that you can buy at the Villanova bookstore of my dad's No. 24 jersey," Martin said. "They'd better not be Villanova basketball fans tomorrow."


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