Villanova's first national title team loved every bit of this one too
Villanova on Monday won its first NCAA basketball championship in 31 years, and there wasn't a group of fans in NRG Stadium happier about the Wildcats' latest title than the guys who won the first one in 1985.
Nearly 3/4 of Villanova's underdog '85 championship team made the trip to Houston for the Final Four, including 81-year-old coach Rollie Massimino, who flew into town hours before the game. It was a reunion made possible in part by Villanova coach Jay Wright, who, according to former Wildcats big man Chuck Everson, made a ticket available to any former 'Nova player who wanted to see the game in person.
It's a good thing he did, too, because the 77-74 victory over North Carolina was one the old-timers in attendance will never forget.
"The words that I've heard are 'epic,' 'indescribable,' 'simply amazing,' and none of them do it justice," Harold Jensen, a shooting guard on the 1985 team, told FOX Sports on Tuesday. "It was just an incredible effort, incredible determination and will, and they earned it. I think they really, truly earned it, and they deserved it. It was just spectacular."
The highlight of the night, of course, was Kris Jenkins' game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer -- a shot that left the '85 players in a blur, not unlike the immediate aftermath of their own stunning championship victory as an eight-seed against top-ranked Georgetown all those years ago.
"It seemed like there was a time lapse from the time he launched it to the time the streamers came down," said Connolly Brown, a forward on the '85 team. "I didn't even know if the clock had run out. I was trying to look around and find out where we were. Was it ruled a good shot? Your mind was just going 1,000 different ways, and you couldn't take all of that in at once. It seemed like everything was in super slow motion, but when those streamers came down, it was like, 'Wow, it's for real.'"
A sophomore in '85, Brown said he spent much of the latter part of this game standing on his seat trying to fire up the crowd.
"I was 100 percent, 1,000 percent into it," Brown said. "A lot of these students were not even alive in 1985, not even born, so I really wanted them to understand the enthusiasm and understand putting your whole heart into this thing and supporting these guys. Because we knew they were talented enough to win it all, and we wanted everyone to be a part of it and get involved as much as possible."
For Dwayne McClain, whose celebration as time expired on the '85 title game lives on as one of the most iconic images in NCAA tournament history, the spectacle brought him back to that moment when the buzzer sounded on the original Villanova title.
"When we accomplished that in Rupp Arena 31 years ago, I'm holding the ball realizing that time has expired and we finally achieved our goals, and it was just euphoric," McClain said. "But to be in the stands and watch these young kids who Jay has opened up to us, who we've been speaking to not just this season but over their time at Villanova, and to see these guys finally get a chance to say they're titleholders at Villanova University, it's something that I'll cherish for the rest of my life."
Before Jenkins' heroics, though, the former players say they had faith in Wright's ability to call the right play and the team's ability to execute it.
"(Marcus Paige's game-tying 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left) might have been the only time I thought, 'This is just not our night,' but I was excited to see that we had enough time," said former forward Steve Pinone, now the senior director of development for the Villanova athletics department. "And being around this team and Jay for a long time, I knew they'd have something ready to run."
That's a lesson Wright has carried with him from his days as a young Massimino assistant in the late '80s and early '90s.
"I've heard it multiple times this morning and last night from the players, that they practiced the play every day and that's what my father always did," said R.C. Massimino, a reserve guard in '85. "We spent so much time on situations and understanding time and score, and to hear those kids talk about that just shows that Jay's doing things similar to the way we used to do them. He's got the kids prepared and ready, so when we're sitting together, the ex-players, everybody's looking saying, '4.7 seconds is a lot of time.'"
And while Jenkins, deservedly, is getting most of the credit in the aftermath of the win, there's enormous praise due to senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono, as well, Pinone said.
Kris Jenkins hits Monday's game-winner.
"He's just a winner," Pinone said of Arcidiacono, who brought the ball up court on the final play before passing it off to Jenkins for the final shot. "It's always, 'What's the best thing for us to do to win this game?' and at that moment it was for him to pass the ball.
"If you've been around Villanova for his four years, you know a lot of times it's to shoot the ball," Pinone continued. "He made a huge shot against Kansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis two years ago to win the game, he hit buzzer-beaters against Providence, then last year against Butler, we go on the road and he does the right thing and makes a pass to Darren Hilliard, who makes a 3 at the buzzer.
"There are players in big moments that do the right thing and do the big thing," Pinone added, "and he's been one of those kids for us for four years without a doubt."
In addition to those at the game, the former 'Nova players who weren't able to make it to Houston also reveled in their alma mater's victory. Mark Plansky, a freshman forward on the '85 team, watched from home with his 17-year-old twins and said the excitement was just as palpable in his house as it was at the arena. The fact that it was a bonding moment for him and his kids only made the win that much sweeter.
"Jenkins said that he was yelling for the ball, and when he let it go he thought it was going in because every time he shoots he feels like it's going in," Plansky said. "That's a phrase that I've been telling my son forever, and he looked at me in the living room and went, 'Dad, that's what you say.'"
In addition, Plansky's oldest daughter is a sophomore at Villanova and watched the game from the campus.
"They had the game watch party in the Pavilion and when they went down by seven, she told me that she sprinted back to the exact dorm room that she watched the semifinal game," Plansky said. "Then they turned around and made the 10-0 run and went ahead. So she's taking some credit, a little karmic credit for the run."
Not that Villanova needed any help.
"Everybody wrote them off, not realizing that at one time these guys held the No. 1 spot in the country," McClain said. "We weren't happy they got a No. 2 seed, but at the end of the day you have to beat whoever's in front of you, and on the way to this title they beat two No. 1 seeds and a No. 2, so there should be no question about who was the No. 1 team."
Rather, the only surprise in the wake of the 'Nova victory was the fact that not everyone expected the former players to be excited.
Kris Jenkins celebrates with Villanova fans.
"You know what's really crazy to me? People ask me, 'Do you really want them to win?' because then we wouldn't be the only ones to have won," an incredulous Everson said. "I mean, are you crazy? We love these kids."
The former players say that thought never so much as entered into their mind.
"It kind of reminds me of the old Miami Dolphins team that went undefeated. Mercury Morris every year, when the last team loses in the NFL, he's popping champagne," McClain said. "But I was always curious if the Dolphins were going undefeated, how would Mercury Morris feel? Would he want those guys to lose a game so that he could lay claim to being the only undefeated NFL team?
"At Villanova, man, we want nothing more than to share national titles with every team that comes through," McClain continued. "Yes, we were the first, but that doesn't happen without the guys who came before us and showed us the way. We held that title for 31 years, and we definitely don't mind sharing it."
In fact, some even said they hold this year's championship in as high of regard as their own.
Jay Wright.
"It's like a horse race, where there's No. 1 and there's 1a," said Brian Harrington, a senior guard in '85. "Being there with my former teammates, knowing how hard it is to get there, first of all -- we all were so excited for Jay, his assistants and the team. And then being there to celebrate, I don't think my voice was this hoarse after we won ours. We were all together in the same section, high-fiving and clapping and shouting, and we were kids again. We were back in '85."
"Maybe it's just because I'm older in life and at 19 I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have and do now, but at 50, this ranks right at the top," added Pinone. "This team, what they did this year, and to see them win against a program with the quality and class of North Carolina in the championship game -- we had our time 31 years ago, and these kids put in everything. A lot of times you only get one chance, and they were able to capitalize on it, and I couldn't be prouder."
And as Arcidiacono, Daniel Ochefu and the rest of the Villanova seniors move on, the guys who started it all feel the program is in great shape as the Wildcats prepare for their first title defense in more than three decades.
"Jay took a lot of stuff in social media and different circles last year for not getting out of the second round and not being able to win the big one and all this other nonsense that was going around, and we're so happy for Jay and the program and the university because it represents all of us," Everson said. "When Rollie started the thing with, 'it's family, it's family' -- anybody can say it's family, but they walk the walk and talk the talk."
"I think it's a huge deal," Jensen added of the title. "Jay has done an incredible job with the program. It's in as good a shape as it's ever been in. It's one that's incredibly respected and it's a special, special moment for the school, for the program. And I kind of feel like we won't have to wait 31 years for another one. He's got us in such an amazing place right now that this might happen again."
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