Dick Weiss on NCAA Tournament
SAN ANTONIO— Donte DiVincenzo was like a wild colt who needed to be tamed when he first arrived at Villanova from Salesianum in Wilmington, Del. three years ago. When Wildcats’ coach Jay Wright felt the 6-5 enormously talented red shirt sophomore guard with the 40-inch vertical leap was acting like a superstar in his freshman year, he knew he had to reign him in.
“I don’t remember this, but he said I told him, ‘You act like you’re the Michael Jordan of Delaware.’’’ Wright said. “Then the players started saying it. So, I thought they called him that. So, I started saying it. That became his name.’’
No one is comparing DiVincenzo to Jordan, but he had an MJ moment here last night when he came off the bench as a sixth man to light up the Alamo Dome for a career high 31 points as Villanova defeated Michigan, 79-60, before a crowd of 67,831 and win its second national championship in three years.
His performance can only be described as Donte’s Inferno.
DiVincenzo shot 10-for-15 for and scored 18 of his points in the first half, carrying the Cats (36-4) as they dug their way out of an early 21-14 hole to take a 38-29 lead at half. He was an easy choice for Most Outstanding Player. He scored most of his points in short lethal surges—8 in two minutes, 10 in three minutes and another 9 in three minutes. He was impossible for Michigan’s defense to guard during those electric stretches.
“He was making a lot of threes,’’ Michigan forward Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman said. “Anytime you get into a rhythm where you can pull out and just knock them down it’s tough to stop. You’re always on your heels defensively because you never know what he’s going to do—either shoot, pull up and shoot the three or drive to the basket. It’s tough when you see shots go in like that for him.’’
After DiVincenzo drained one of his five threes to give the Cats a 62-44 lead with 7:48 to play, the enthusiastic Villanova fan base began chanting his name. But his piece de resistance came midway through the second half when he made a spectacular a two-handed volleyball block on an attempted dunk by Michigan’s 6-6 wing Charles Mathews that left the crowd in awe.
“Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to have this kind of night, but every night I come into the game, I try to bring energy,’’ he said. “I just tried to take that energy to a new level tonight.’’
Don’t think NBA scouts haven’t noticed. The freakishly athletic DiVincenzo played his way onto the draft radar after this performance. Villanova has four, possibly five future pros on this roster and there is no telling how many players they will lose to the NBA draft. Junior point guard Jalen Brunson, who keeps picking up national Player of the Year awards; and red shirt junior forward Mikal Bridges will both graduate in May are gone. Red shirt 6-9 freshman Omari Spellman has sparked some interest over the past three weeks and DiVincenzo suddenly looks like he will have a decision to make.
“I’m a college coach,’’ Wright said. “Sometimes it amazes me, I don’t have a great feel for how they make decisions. I probably would make a horrible GM. So, I don’t know. But we’ll find out. We’ll get the league to evaluate his draft stock.’’
If Spellman, 6-9 redshirt junior Eric Paschall and guards Phil Booth and DiVincenzo all come back and 6-8 forward Cole Swider from St. Andrew’s School in Providence, who chose the Cats over Duke, is as good as projected, Villanova could go deep into the tournament again next year.
This Villanova team, which made 18 threes and scored 95 points against Kansas in the national semi-finals, will go down in history as one of the most dominant offensive teams ever to play in the NCAA tournament. In many ways, this was historic in the one and done era. Villanova won all six of its tournament games by double digits and an average of 17.7 points. They drained 10 more threes as compared to Michigan, which shot 3-for-23 from beyond the arc.
The Cats put four players—Brunson, Paschall, Bridges and DiVincenzo on the all-tournament team, along with 6-11 Moe Wagner of Michigan, which finished the season at 33-8.
Life is a lot different for DiVincenzo these days. Two years ago, when Villanova defeated North Carolina, 77-74, in Houston he was chained to the bench in a suit as a medical red shirt. “The last play of the game, Kris Jenkins got the ball and I had so much confidence in the shot I was standing up before it was ever released,’’ he recalled. “That year versus this year, it was tough not being out there. I think the biggest thing was not being able to compete with the guys.’’
DiVincenzo is making up for lost time. “He’s worked so hard to make himself the best player he can be every day,’’ Brunson said. “This is very special, but it’s nothing surprising for us. We’ve seen Donte do this, multiple times this year.
“I’m just so thankful he was able to have one of these nights tonight. It just shows how much depth we have as a team and how we don’t care who gets the credit. If anyone is hot, feed him.’’
