Mount St. Mary’s prepares for NCAA tournament

For 20 minutes, the Villanova Wildcats were engaged in a brawl.

The Wildcats finished like champions.

The defending champion Villanova Wildcats didn’t look like the No. 1 overall seed in the 2017 NCAA tournament early on Thursday, escaping a fight from Mount St. Mary’s by a final of 76-56 that doesn’t tell the story of how hard the game really was.

Let’s go to the videotape for the first one.

BOTTOM LINE: The tournament’s top-seeded team, Villanova is trying to become the first school to repeat as national champions since Florida in 2006-07.

It also came at the best possible time. “We’ve had some time to be up here together and bond”. This is a team that led the NCAA in fouls per game with an average of 14.2, yet amassed 17 in what should have been a relatively easy game against a No. 16 seed. Early on, things looked like an upset could be in the making.

The University of New Orleans and Mount St. Mary’s kick things off at the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

Freshman Miles Wilson led Mount St. Mary’s with 22 points and seven rebounds. Villanova hopes to end that drought, as most of the squad that won the championship in 2016 is back.

“I just told them all of us are really proud of them”, said Wright, a Bucknell grad. “And we’ve got to be more aggressive and tougher offensively”. “They deserve a lot of credit”. Stats guru Ken Pomeroy’s website gave Villanova a 97.5 percent chance to win the game going in.

“It was an incredibly competitive game from start to finish, ” Slessinger said afterward.

East Region First Round: No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (20-15) vs. The Wildcats, the top overall seed in the tournament, had their first tie of the game – 18-18 – when senior Kris Jenkins hit three free throws…at the 5:44 mark. “I have a bunch of Bucknell guys I play basketball with and we have a text thread that we all stay on and follow the games”.

“Our team has accomplished so much this season”, Thomas said of his final college game, “just being able to be on a national stage. I’m in a little bit of shock myself”. Chris Wray leads in rebounds with 5.9 while Long leads in assists with 4.4 and in steals with 1.6 per game. The shot-blocking, charge-taking Mountaineers couldn’t keep it up after halftime. The Wildcats’ win probability never dipped below 92 percent. Avoid looking ahead to a Second Round date with either Virginia Tech or Wisconsin, and treat Mount St. Mary’s like it’s one of those power-conference opponents waiting on Saturday. He scored 23 in the First Four win at Dayton.

“No. No”, Wright said.

What a difference a shot makes.

#10 seed Wichita State sends #2 Kentucky home in the second round. DiVincenzo has emerged as a major contributor of late, something Nova has needed with Jenkins struggling.

Mount St. Mary’s jumped out to a 7-0 lead and held Villanova scoreless for more than six minutes.