Yes, Villanova began the year where it always has, at least since the start of the newly-configured BIG EAST. That would be at the top of the coaches’ preseason poll.
But this time around, it felt like it might be different on the Main Line. How could it not? The Wildcats saw four key cogs - Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Omari Spellman and Donte DiVincenzo - all leave Philly for NBA riches and leave behind a team full of youngsters and transfers to go along with senior holdovers Phil Booth and Eric Paschall.
Heck, even Booth, the stellar veteran of those two Villanova National Championship teams, was not too sure what the Wildcats would look like this season. Bridges and Brunson? Sure, everyone expected them to go. But Spellman and DiVincenzo? Surely that came as a surprise, no?
“I wasn’t so surprised they left after the way they played last season,” said Booth, who is leading the Wildcats in scoring (18.2 ppg.), assists (63), and 3-pointers (48) this season. “They all deserved that and earned that. But I knew this year would be interesting, that’s all I knew. With four new freshmen and the transfers, it’s a different type of year. I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I definitely thought things would be harder when you lose so much talent like that.”
Yet here is Villanova, as we enter mid-January, and the two-time defending conference tournament champions are once again sitting atop the BIG EAST standings as the conference’s lone unbeaten program.
As Roger Daltrey of The Who has crooned on more than one occasion, “Meet the new boss. The same as the old boss.”
“I just think we came together and are playing well together these last few games,” Booth said. “We have a young team so the experiences we had in the first half of the season helped us in our conference schedule. We’re just playing good basketball right now. The BIG EAST is very tough so every game has been pretty close so far.”
There was concern earlier this season that the Wildcats’ reign as BIG EAST royalty might be coming to an end. First there was the loss to Michigan (a 26-point beatdown at home). But even more concerning was the following game, when unranked an unheralded (at the time) Furman took down the Wildcats in overtime, also at home.
That was the time Villanova needed a talking to by a senior captain who had been through the battles. So what was Booth’s message to this young Nova outfit following that Furman loss?
“To just keep doing what we’re doing,” Booth said. “It was just a time where we weren’t ready to beat those type of teams yet. We just didn’t have the experience yet to play those type of games. But now we’ve gained experience from those games and learned from those losses. I just told them to stay with it. It’s a long journey, it’s a long season, it’s a process. And I think we did that.”
There have been two other losses since that Furman game, a somewhat surprising loss to Big Five foe Penn and a down-to-the-wire, 3-point defeat at then-No. 1 Kansas on December 15. That loss to the Jayhawks, however, just might be the game that turned Villanova’s season around.
“I think the Kansas game was a big building-block game for us,” Booth said. “We think we actually should have won that game but we came out of that knowing how good we could be and we kind of built off that. That was our last loss and we’ve moved forward from that game.”
Yeah they have.
The Wildcats are currently riding a five-game winning streak that began with a 23-point thrashing of UConn at Madison Square Garden and has continued with four straight wins to open BIG EAST conference season. Order, it seems, has been restored in the Villanova universe and though he has two championship rings in his jewelry collection these days, Booth points to this season as one of the more entertaining of his brilliant career.
“This year is kind of the most exciting and you kind of appreciate it the most because of the kind of journey it is and how much improvement this team has shown already,” Booth said. “It’s kind of a fun year in that way, the grind of it, just trying to get better. It’s kind of an interesting year and it’s still a group that’s kind of coming together.”
Outside expectations have never meshed with those inside the Villanova program. Mostly because these Wildcats put no such limits on what they hope to achieve each season. And this year is no different.
“We don’t really place expectations on ourselves or as a team,” Booth said. “Our thing is just to be the best team we can be by the end of the season. Every day we get on the court for practice or for a game we’re just trying to get better.”
There are just 14 regular-season games remaining in Booth’s BIG EAST career starting with Friday’s game against Xavier, followed by his final BIG EAST Tournament and his last NCAA dance party. And if Booth could change one thing about this season, he’d just like to slow it down a tad as he takes his final laps around the league.
“Oh for sure. You only have so many games left and the season flies by,” Booth said. “You got to enjoy it and take what you can out of it. It goes by really quick. So I’m just enjoying every practice, enjoying every game, just enjoying everything I can with these guys.”
Two NCAA titles, multiple BIG EAST regular-season and tournament championships and, of course, that memorable 20-point performance versus North Carolina in that 2016 title game. So you could say, without question, Booth’s place in Villanova history is secure. Isn’t it?
“I don’t know. There are a lot of the greats that still come around and they’re around a lot so we’ll see how it is when the story is written for me years from now,” Booth said. “But I’m definitely part of a great tradition here with so many great players so I’m honored to be in that conversation.”
Perhaps a Phil Booth Bobblehead day on his final home game against Butler on March 2?
“Maybe so,” Booth said laughing.
Yes, it’s been quite the ride for Booth since arriving at Villanova and there are still more chapters to be added this season. And, really it won’t come as a surprise to see Booth, on March 16 at MSG, going for one final shot at another BIG EAST championship? It shouldn’t, even if Booth will make no such predictions.
“That’s a long way from here,” Booth said. “The way the BIG EAST is, how tough it is, you never know what’s going to happen in any of these games. I can’t think that far ahead. I just need to focus on the next game at hand."
It’s an approach that seems to work rather nicely for Booth and Villanova.