It was a play Villanova had run hundreds of times this season. The team ends each practice with late-game situations identical to the one they found themselves in Monday night in Houston.
This time the atmosphere looked and felt a bit different from the comfortable confines of their on-campus practice facility outside of Philadelphia. This time 74,000 people – including Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson – were on hand at NRG Stadium watching the Wildcats execute this play. This time the program's first national championship since 1985 was at stake.
But for the five Wildcats on the floor – Ryan Arcidiacono, Phil Booth, Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Daniel Ochefu – the court was the same "94 by 50 feet" they had practiced the play on so many times before.