Villanova should run its game-winning championship play every play
Apr 12, 2016, 2:57 PM
The Villanova Wildcats stamped their place into NCAA Tournament lore when Kris Jenkins’ game-winning, buzzer-beating shot downed North Carolina in the 2016 title game.
It was a solid set play, so credit Villanova coach Jay Wright. It was a heck of a shot, too.
But apparently it wasn’t a fluke. ESPN’s Andy Katz visited the Wildcats and asked them to recreate the play — a fullcourt inbound to Ryan Arcidiacono, a push up the court and a dribble-handoff to Jenkins for a deep three-pointer.
And guess what? Jenkins hit seven shots out of 11 tries.
Sure, this was against air as defense and in an empty gym.
But we can’t help but point out this underscores how important it was that Villanova executing that play over and over again in practice is probably why it came so naturally with a national championship on the line.
Hitting seven out of 11 tries in practice and again in a sorta, kinda important game situation leads us to one conclusion.
Villanova should just run that play every play until defenses figure it out.