City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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In the span of one game, three legends were cemented in Villanova history.

Of course, the entire 2015-16 Wildcats squad will go down in history after beating North Carolina 77-74 to win the NCAA Division I national championship on Monday night, a game that will go down as one of the best ever between the two top teams in college basketball this past season.

But three names in particular will be forever etched in ‘Nova hoops lore.

Ryan Arcidiacono. Phil Booth. Kris Jenkins.

Arcidiacono is the obvious one, the player whose jersey is almost certain to be retired after a four-year career that saw him set new school records for games played (144) and wins (117), capped off by the program’s second-ever national title. The unquestioned leader of the Wildcats went out with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, with only one assist in the first 39 minutes and 58 seconds but another when it was needed most.

Though he didn’t hit the biggest shot of the night, Arcidiacono will go down as one of the best to ever wear the uniform after winning the Final Four Most Outstanding Player award.. His name will go up in the Pavilion rafters with the likes of Ed Pinckney, Howard Porter, Paul Arizin, Randy Foye, Scottie Reynolds.

When Arcidiacono wasn’t getting his, it was Booth that was keeping his team afloat.

The sophomore guard had an up-and-down season, averaging 6.7 ppg while making only 30.6 percent of his 3-point attempts after knocking down 48 percent from beyond the arc as a freshman. So of course, he picked the national championship game to pour in a career-best 20 points, 13 of which came during a second half that saw the Wildcats turn a five-point halftime deficit into a victory.

Last but not least is Jenkins, whose last-second shot is sure to be replayed for decades.

The sharpshooting 6-foot-6 junior forward had something of a rough night, limiting himself to just 21 minutes thanks to four fouls and a few rushed shots early in the second half. But he made it count at the most clutch of times, burying the game-winning 3-pointer from the right wing and sending both NRG Stadium and a certain college campus in the western suburbs of Philadelphia into absolute bedlam.

When the shot dropped, not only did it bring Villanova its first national championship since the “perfect game” played against Georgetown in 1985, it made sure that generations of Wildcats to come are sure to know the names Arcidiacono, Booth and Jenkins.

Those who watched will remember Josh Hart, who had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds against a powerful and imposing UNC frontcourt. They’ll remember Daniel Ochefu, toughing it out down the stretch despite the fact it was clear he was running on what little he had left in the tank after 32 long minutes. They’ll remember Mikal Bridges coming off the bench to play his usual tremendous defense.

They might even remember UNC senior Marcus Paige hitting a double-clutched, off-balance 3-pointer that tied it all up, closing what had been a 10-point Villanova lead to naught over the last five minutes of regulation.

But they’ll sure as hell remember those final 4.7 seconds.

The final moments were absolute perfection: Arcidiacono, streaking down the floor, the precious seconds ticking off almost too quickly. Jenkins trailing behind him, to his right. The defense, reacting just a second too slow as Jenkins pulled up from three feet beyond the arc, his body leaning into the shot with everything he had.

It was the exact kind of moment every child dreams about, running down the driveway yelling “5...4...3…” as they throw the ball up towards the hoop. The one that ends up in the movie that seems almost too good to be true, too perfect to ever happen in real life.

Except it happened. The shot went in, with nearly 75,000 people there to witness it. And there were these Wildcats, which hadn’t made it past the first weekend of the tournament since 2009, celebrating a national championship.

Earlier in the week, when discussing that 1985 squad that had Villanova’s only prior national hoops title, Wright wasn’t sure exactly what his current group of student-athletes could take away from a game that was played before they were all born.

“The '85 team to our guys is almost magical,” he said. “It's almost a fairytale that I don't know if they identify with.”

Now, they certainly do.