Like It Is

'Nova reserve finds place in Final Four lore

Michigan came out looking like the better team.

With 12:51 to play in the first half the Wolverines led 14-8 and looked ready to blow the game open, but Jay Wright had already made a major substitution, one he made with great confidence all season, and the world was about to meet "The Michael Jordan of Delaware," or "The Big Ragu."

Donte DiVincenzo scored six points in 38 seconds and and kept the door open for Villanova, who would end up winning easily 79-62 to become the undisputed NCAA basketball champions.

DiVincenzo would set a record for points from a non-starter with 31. He would grab five rebounds and have three assists, and the guy who couldn't cover a light pole when he arrived played lock down defense.

He was named the Most Outstanding Player and no one was surprised because he was outstanding. The Wolverines had no answer for him even though he was voted the Big East's Sixth Man of the Year.

In a season when it appeared there was no clear-cut dominant power, on the final night of the season the Wildcats were not only dominant, but superior and mostly because DiVincenzo was almost unstoppable.

For almost two hours he made everyone forget Sister Jean, Michigan's Moritz Wagner (pronounced "Vogner" in his home Berlin, Germany) and just about everything else.

DiVincenzo would end up playing more minutes than any other player and turned a wild and crazy NCAA Tournament into a blow-out by a team that didn't even win its conference.

Xavier won the Big East, and it and Villanova were both No. 1 seeds.

That's why Butler was shifted from a No. 8 seed to a No. 10, because a No. 1 is not allowed by NCAA Tournament rules to play a No. 8 from its conference in the second game.

Butler, which eliminated Arkansas from March Madness, was one of four teams to beat Villanova, which incidentally did not lose a non-conference game.

The other losses were to St. John's (which was a shocker as it finished next to last in the Big East), Providence and Creighton. After that loss, the Wildcats beat Seton Hall 69-68 in overtime and then peeled off 10 consecutive wins by 10 points or more.

Their two closest games in the tournament were 12-point wins over West Virginia and Texas Tech. They blew No. 1 seed Kansas out 95-79 in the semifinals and then knocked out Michigan, a No. 3 seed.

All because a kid who was content to come off the bench had the game of his career. Going into the championship game DiVincenzo was averaging 12 points per game in the tournament, or about one less than he had all season, although he was the third leading scorer for the Wildcats.

DiVincenzo is a redshirt sophomore who broke his foot his freshman season after eight games. He grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, 29 miles south of Philadelphia, home of Villanova.

He played for a Catholic school, Salesianum, which he led to two state championships and was named the Delaware player of the year after his senior season. A four-star recruit he was rated as the 124th best player in the country and 37th best shooting guard.

He was offered more than 20 major college scholarships.

By the time the final buzzer -- which was an unusually ugly noise -- sounded he and the Wildcats stood amid the shower of confetti and Villanova was crowned as one of blue bloods, having now won two championships in three years and the Wildcats did it the old-fashioned way.

With stay-and-play guys instead of one-and-dones.

The best team won on the night when a substitute had a dream come true.

Sports on 04/04/2018

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