Our next profile features a college basketball David who has morphed into Goliath. Long gone are the days when they were mainly known for their miracle run to the NCAA championship in 1985, when they became the lowest seed ever to win the NCAA tournament. With two more titles since 2016, and a program run by one of the best coaches in the country, they seem poised to stay near the top of college hoops for the foreseeable future. While they don’t typically recruit the NBA-ready talent that many of their elite peer schools do, they have a steady influx of players who have had long NBA careers. The NBA Villanova Wildcats features a multigenerational mix, with a heavy emphasis on backcourt talent.
After a bumpy start to his career, Kyle Lowry has worked to become a perennial all-star, NBA champion, and likely Hall-of-Famer. He has become a deadly outside shooter, who also is a strong finisher at the rim, and a smart, tough-minded defender. His impact on the game was summed up by Zach Lowe earlier this year: “Lowry is just a brilliant, winning player. Every second he is on the floor, he is doing the exact right thing — half-rotations on defense, extra passes, impromptu screens, little shifts along the arc to open up driving lanes, late switches, tipped rebounds. Because he is a threat everywhere — as a shooter, cutter and quick-twitch passer — defenses follow every one of those moves.” He’s joined in the starting backcourt by Kerry Kittles. As an athletic two-guard with good size (6’5”), good shooting ability (3 of his 8 seasons shooting over 40% from three-point range), and who was a two-way player (Larry Brown once called Kittles a “great defender”), his skills would have been coveted in today’s game. The depth of this team’s backcourt is impressive, as the best players in Wildcat history have generally been guards. Off the bench, Bill Melchionni was a three-time ABA all-star and an NBA and ABA champion. He has his number retired by the Nets, and at his peak, averaged 16.8 PPG and 7.5 APG over a four-year period, though advanced stats aren’t as kind to him (14.6 PER and .087 WS/48 during that time). Rory Sparrow provides more point guard depth, though he’ll play sparingly behind Lowry and Melchionni. Randy Foye was a combo guard who struggled with inconsistency; however, he could shoot from long-range, and will likely get minutes beside the two main point guards. Alvin Williams was another combo guard who had his biggest impact as a point guard on the Raptors teams in the early 2000s; he’s only likely to be used when others are in foul trouble. Finally, Chris Ford was a solid shooting guard with good size (6’5”) and range. He was a starter on an NBA champion (the ’81 Celtics), and will get minutes as Kittles’ backup.
The starting small forward, Paul Arizin, had the greatest NBA career of any Wildcat. He was a two-time scoring champion in the 1950s. He was an NBA champion in 1956, who had the best postseason run of anybody on his team (and, arguably the league), leading the league in playoff scoring, minutes, win shares, and WS/48. He was a pioneering jump shooter who would benefit from the modern-day three-point line. He and Lowry will form the backbone of this team’s offense. Ed Pinckney is another player who would have been more appreciated in the modern-day context. He had an above-average PER in four seasons in his career. He has a 60.2% career true shooting percentage. He ranked fourth in the league in offensive rebound percentage in 1991-92, and if he qualified, he would have ranked second the year before. He could be a valuable supporting player in the right context, and he’ll be tasked with keeping them competitive on the glass and providing some interior defensive resistance. The nominal starting center, Jim Washington, only stood at 6’7”, but he was able to average a double-double four times in his career, and played center for the Chicago Bulls in the 1967-68 season. Tim Thomas will be one of the most important players on this roster off the bench. The tallest player on the team (6’10”), Thomas had productive stretches in the NBA, including his 2005-06 playoff run in Phoenix, when he averaged 15.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 2.4 made three-pointers on 44.4% from downtown, and a 62.5% true shooting percentage in 20 games. In fact, his career playoff PER is 16.9 in 55 games. He was an infuriating player at times because his production did not always match his talent, but he will play as a stretch four and small ball five for this smaller roster, and his ability to hold up will be a key factor in their success. Dante Cunningham was an NBA journeyman who will be another body they can use against bigger opponents, but he won’t move the needle for this frontcourt.
Overall, the NBA Villanova Wildcats are well-suited to play small ball, with a plethora of guards and a lack of NBA-caliber big men. Their success will depend on matchups, and how well their frontcourt players hold up against more talented big men in this tournament. They will face their old Big East rival, the NBA St. John’s Red Storm, in their first-round matchup.