Like Its Players, Villanova Keeps Coming Back

NEW ORLEANS — Tim Thomas nonetheless holds a singular distinction within the historical past of the Villanova males’s basketball program.

Thomas, a 6-foot-10 Paterson, N.J., native, is the one participant to declare for the N.B.A. draft after only one season on campus. Thomas left Villanova after the 1996-97 season, and the New Jersey Nets chosen him seventh general earlier than buying and selling him to Philadelphia.

Again then, Thomas may have gone straight from highschool to the N.B.A. Beginning with the 2006 draft, all gamers needed to be a minimum of 19 years outdated and a 12 months faraway from highschool to be eligible.

“I used to be a professional man taking an opportunity on going to varsity and I selected Nova,” Thomas mentioned in a telephone interview this week.

Within the 25 years since he left this system, Villanova has been profitable on the highest ranges of the school sport — the Wildcats have received two of the final 5 nationwide championships — and produced a gradual stream of N.B.A. prospects, however no one-and-done gamers. Because the Wildcats head into this weekend’s Ultimate 4, Coach Jay Wright’s strategy stands in stark distinction to these of the opposite three packages right here. Duke, North Carolina and Kansas have all had their share of one-and-done expertise through the years. Underneath Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who will retire following this event, Duke’s present roster has three freshmen projected to be first-round draft picks this summer season.

“One of many issues that we actually attempt to deal with at Villanova is authenticity,” Wright, who has been Villanova’s head coach since 2001 and who’s a member of the Naismith Corridor of Fame, mentioned this week. “We don’t attempt to out-Kentucky Kentucky, or out-Duke Duke. We’ve got nice respect for these packages. We’ve got all the time tried to be one of the best Villanova we might be.”

Wright has instilled a number of beliefs: emphasizing program gamers over particular person stars, operating an offensive system that options guards who can publish up and shoot, inserting group protection, rebounding and tradition over private branding. It is not uncommon for Villanova’s greatest gamers to be juniors, seniors or, as is the case this 12 months with level guard Collin Gillespie and ahead Jermaine Samuels, graduate college students. In an interview with ESPN Tuesday evening, Gillespie described Villanova’s tradition: “We’ve got a saying, ‘Everyone’s standing is identical however their position is totally different,’ and we dwell by that. We deal with all people the identical. And I feel that’s why a part of the rationale why coach has constructed one thing actually particular right here.”

“Everybody ought to applaud what they’ve constructed there,” mentioned Kansas Coach Invoice Self, whose groups misplaced to the eventual champion Wildcats in each the 2016 and 2018 N.C.A.A. tournaments. Kansas will meet them once more on Saturday in a nationwide semifinal. “And naturally, Jay’s the ringmaster of that. You bought to beat them, they don’t beat themselves.”

The numbers communicate for themselves on a number of ranges.

There are 9 former Villanova gamers within the N.B.A., tied with Virginia for essentially the most of any college with none one-and-dones.

Wright has mentioned that he would “love” to efficiently recruit some one-and-done gamers, however he simply hasn’t discovered the appropriate match. (Omari Spellman, the previous Villanova ahead now taking part in in South Korea after competing within the N.B.A., was a redshirt freshman and thus not a pure one-and-done when he entered the draft in 2018.)

Bryan Antoine, a junior guard, was tabbed as a possible one-and-done participant when he got here to Villanova, however accidents have hampered his profession and prevented him from leaving early.

“We nonetheless need one-and-done guys in the event that they wish to be a part of Villanova tradition,” Wright mentioned this week. “We nonetheless need them, so I don’t wish to say we don’t do this. We simply have been capable of follow what we do initially.”

Within the one-and-done period, solely Kentucky in 2012 and Duke in 2015 have received a nationwide title whereas relying closely on one-and-dones of their beginning lineups. North Carolina captured the title in 2017 with the one-and-done massive man Tony Bradley coming off the bench; he was Carolina’s first one-and-done in a decade. The college had seven beneath Roy Williams, its coach from 2003-21. Virginia in 2019 and Baylor in 2021 each had a number of future execs, however not one-and-done freshmen.

“I feel the rationale the Dukes and Kentuckys have received it, and I actually imply this, I don’t assume anybody understands how tough it’s to educate freshmen in high-level video games,” Wright mentioned on the 2018 event. “I don’t care how good they’re. I don’t care if it’s LeBron. You simply haven’t been anticipated to have the sort of element wanted to play. And I feel John and Coach Okay do one of the best job of that.”

He added: “After which there are solely so lots of these guys which might be one-and-done which might be able to successful nationwide championships.”

That’s very true this 12 months. The game is crammed with skilled groups that includes fifth-year seniors and gamers who not have to take a seat out a 12 months after transferring. Duke, North Carolina and Kansas all have their share of veterans, too. Self identified in a video information convention Tuesday that his group options the senior guard Ochai Agbaji, certainly one of 4 finalists for the Naismith Trophy because the nationwide participant of the 12 months; the senior ahead David McCormack and the junior guard Christian Braun.

Villanova’s roster doesn’t have anybody who jumps out as a future N.B.A. star, however Gillespie, Samuels and the junior guard Justin Moore (who tore an Achilles’ tendon within the spherical of 8 and is out for the season) all have professional potential.

“Villanova beneath Jay Wright has been capable of accomplish three very arduous issues,” mentioned Chris Ekstrand, a advisor to N.B.A. basketball operations whose work entails the draft. “One, to efficiently recruit proficient, clever gamers. Two, to develop the abilities in addition to the basketball I.Q. of these gamers. And three, to retain these gamers for a number of years.”

Wright mentioned an inflection level for this system got here in 2013, when the Huge East Convention broke up and universities with soccer packages, like Syracuse and Pittsburgh, moved on to larger leagues that generated extra income from soccer.

Wright at one level felt unsure about the place Villanova would find yourself, and he and his workers knew they may should radically alter their recruiting and training philosophies, maybe turning towards extra of an emphasis on one-and-done gamers.

However as soon as the brand new Huge East settled as a set of basketball-centric colleges, including Butler, Xavier and Creighton — Midwestern universities that weren’t within the convention’s unique geographical footprint — and signing a 12-year, $500 million cope with Fox Sports activities that added to the league’s visibility and stability, Wright settled on a brand new course for Villanova.

“We’re on this league,” he mentioned. “Let’s begin with attempting to be one of the best of this league.”

For the reason that formation of the brand new Huge East, Villanova has dominated the league, successful a minimum of a share of seven regular-season convention titles and capturing 5 convention event titles, together with this 12 months’s championship. And, after all, there are the 4 Ultimate 4 appearances within the final 13 tournaments, and the 2 N.C.A.A. championships.

Nonetheless, Thomas want to see his former program add some one-and-done expertise.

“If we’re going to be having to play Duke and Kentucky and Kansas and North Carolina virtually each single 12 months, and these groups are loaded with 5 or 4 professional guys, then why not have one or two of these guys to keep up that degree of consistency?” he mentioned. “However to Jay’s credit score, what he’s been capable of do with the blokes staying in class for a number of years and growing, it’s been superb, it actually has been superb.”