The Villanova Wildcats Will Battle the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA's Sweet 16

Philadelphia has a rich history in college basket ball. There are two great sources for information about Big 5 basketball and Philadelphia Sports in general. The first is Robert Lyons' Palestra Pandemonium: A History of the Big 5 Temple University Press (2002). There are two chapters about Villanova Basketball in particular Ch. 8 "The Cats Run With the Ball (Defense) p. 105 and Ch. 13 "The Cats Reach The Promised Land" p.193. Chapter 13 details Rollie Massimino's improbable trip to the Championship game with his great players. That year just like this year, the Cats almost didn't make it to the NCAA tournament and thought they were headed to the NIT instead. They won just 18 regular season games and were defeated by the St John's team 89-74. Earlier that season they beat the Pittsburgh Panthers (69-61) and on the strength of that win were invited to participate in the Southeast Regional where they beat North Carolina and Georgetown (66-64) in the finals at Kentucky's Rupp Arena on April 1st, 1985. The Wildcats remain the only Big 5 team to have won it all. And this year Georgetown was unceremoniously ousted in the 2nd round.
A quick read of Glen Macnow and Big Daddy Graham's The Great Book of Philadelphia Sports Lists, Running Press (2006), also sheds some light on the great players who've come from Villanova and played pro ball. "10 Big 5 Players Who've Had Better Careers Than Expected" lists five (half the list) from Nova: Chris Ford, Harold Pressley, Alvin Williams, Malik Allen and Doug West. This demonstrates the strength and historic competitiveness of The Big East conference. Also check out , "The Five Toughest Point Guards I've Ever Faced" by current Philadelphia 76ers coach, Maurice Cheeks and "Top Philadelphia Coaches of All Time" by legendary Temple Owls' coach John Chaney.
One of Massimino's assistant coaches was current coach Jay Wright. In his interview with Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Wright describes a specific coaching challenge: what to do when young players who were recruited in the shadow of star players suddenly find they have to be fully responsible for the quality of the team's play after the stars graduate and move on. A coach has to find a way to motivate them when it's their turn to wear the "big shoes" and the team's future top placement in the standings is in doubt, compared to the 2004 season for example. He figured out a strategy and his team, though not likely to beat #1 seed Kansas, has a shot at making even more Big 5 history. We'll all see on Friday night.