NEW YORK– There was a time when Villanova’s 6-6 forward Josh Hart thought he might be wearing a Georgetown jersey.

Hart grew up in Washington, D.C.. and attended Sidwell Friends, an exclusive private school there, emerging as one of the two best prospects in the District, along with current Nova junior forward Kris Jenkins. He was an admitted Georgetown fan.

The Hoyas recruited him, but cooled off when they couldn’t make a decision what position Hart would fill for them. Wright discovered Hart by accident.. He was actually recruiting another member of Team Takeover, Hart’s Washington based travel team.guard Sanford Robinson. Wright liked the way Robinson shot the ball, but he was more impressed by the way Hart got every rebound and made all the tough, winning plays.

After Robinson signed with Indiana, Wright went hard after Hart, who chose the Cats over Penn State and Rutgers.

Then Hart surprised everyone on the Main Line with his rapid maturity as a college player.

Hart was selected the Most Outstanding Player in the 2015 Big East tournament as a sophomore sixth man, then made first team all conference in his first full year as a starter for a third-ranked, 28-4 team that won its third straight regular season championship. He has just been selected as one of 15 finalists for this year’s Wooden Award.

“I had no idea he would be this good,” Wildcats’ coach Jay Wright admitted. “I didn’t know how well he would shoot it. I thought maybe he would come around by his junior or senior year. But he led the conference in three point shooting percentage as a sophomore. And he’s not even close to what he could be.

“He’s one of the best players in the country. I think, in transition, in terms of finishing at the rim, getting fouled, finding ceases to get to the rim. He’s become a really good decision-maker in our half court offense and he’s one of our best defensive players and rebounders. That’s a pretty complete player.”

Hart flexed his muscles against his once favorite team Thursday afternoon, scoring 20 of his 25 points in the second half as the top-seeded Cats defeated Georgetown, 81-67, in the Garden to advance to the conference quarterfinals. Hart shot 7 for 12, was 3 for 4 from the three and made 8 of 11 free throws to gave the Cats the momentum they needed to pull away from the Hoyas (15-18) in the second half after they was forced to go small when 6-11 senior center Daniel Ochefu, who didn’t practice Tuesday with an ankle injury, was unable to contribute against Georgetown, failing to score or grab a rebound in just 13 minutes.

“I kept tweaking it over and over today. But I don’t think I hurt it any more,” Ochefu said.

Ochefu says he will be ready to go tomorrow when the Cats play troublesome Providence.

Senior guard Ryan Arcidiacono contributed 19 points and six assists for the Cats and Jenkins added 15 as Nova made 13 of 21 three point attempts to defeat Georgetown for the first time in Big East tournament history.

“We grew up watching all the crazy games in this tournament,” Hart said. “I remember the 2009 Syracuse and Connecticut six overtime game. We dream of playing in this. It’s a great feeling. It’s humbling. It’s surreal. it. And I love it. I hate New York but I love playing in this tournament.”

This game had a lot different feel to it than last Saturday when the Cats blistered Georgetown, 84-71, at the Wells Fargo Center.

The eighth-seeded Hoyas (15-18), whose first round victory over DePaul, ended just 15 hours earlier, led 47-46 midway thought the second half before Hart and Arcidiacono led the Cats on a game breaking run. Hart knifed through the defense for a layup on the next possession that put Villanova ahead of good and Arcidiacono hit a pair of three points and then found Hart open in transition off a turnover for a three point play that gave the Cats a 60=-48 lead with seven and a half minutes remaining.

This is a big week for the Cats, who have a shot to be a 1 seed, playing first and second round games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with a chance to play in the East Regional at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Wright has tried his best to downplay the possibilities as well as the pressure on his team to reach a Sweet 16 for the first time since the Cats’ Final Four run in 2009.

“I know our people are tired of hearing this, we don’t care about the seeds,” Wright said. “We don’t think about the seeds. We really concentrate on enjoying the moment. We really do. I know it sounds corny. It’s just want we do. We are fired up about playing tomorrow. Because we’re going to have plenty of time when this is over to sit around and do nothing except listen to everyone talk about seeds. We’ll do it then.

“There’s a lot of pressure from the outside of this team to get to the second week and there is. You know what, we just take it one game at a time. If we don’t get there, it’s not going to kill us. We’ll be really disappointed but we’re going to enjoy every step.”

Wright is still haunted by that third round loss to NC State last year in Pittsburgh.

“We definitely let down the Big East last year,” he said. “We were a good enough team to advance; we didn’t do it. And we take responsibility for that, really But you know, our guys played hard in that game against NC State. We came all the way back to get a shot to win the game with 14 seconds and it didn’t go in. That’s the tournament. So we do take that responsibility seriously. I really would like us to get to a Final Four for the Big East as much as for these guys. I really would Because we love this league. And we want our league to get respect. But if we don;t do, I would love Xavier or Providence of Seton Hall to do it. I know they are good enough to do it.”