Villanova will have a new face on the sideline — and a new face waiting in the wings — when the team faces Colorado in the first round of the inaugural College Basketball Crown on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
The Wildcats (19-14) fired coach Kyle Neptune March 15 after missing the NCAA Tournament in all three of his seasons. Those struggles looked even worse when compared to Jay Wright’s successes as he led the program to two national championships during a two-decade run of excellence.
This season, Villanova showed flashes of brilliance with wins over ranked opponents such as UConn, St. John’s and Marquette. However, it wasn’t enough to prevent the administration from replacing Neptune with assistant coach Mike Nardi on an interim basis.
“This program has been built on attitude,” said Nardi, a four-year starter for Wright in 2004-07. “Going out the right way and finishing this (season), paying our respects to all the former players and coaches that have put on this jersey, is my responsibility now as the leader. Our guys are buying into that.”
The school announced over the weekend that Maryland coach Kevin Willard will take over as the program’s coach once Villanova’s Crown run closes.
Unfortunately for Willard, he won’t have the services of third-team All-American forward Eric Dixon, the fifth-year senior who enters Tuesday’s matchup with 2,235 career points. Only 1995-96 first-team all-American Kerry Kittles (2,243) has more in Villanova history than Dixon, who leads the nation in scoring this season at 23.0 points per game.
Colorado (14-20) has a pair of dynamic scorers of its own in Julian Hammond III (12.5 ppg) and Andrej Jakimovski (10.4 ppg), who have combined to make 105 3-pointers this season.
Jakimovski scored 25 points against Houston in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals, but the team came up short 77-68 despite a valiant effort against one of the top teams in the nation.
“Our guys battled,” Buffaloes coach Tad Boyle said. “I have no problem with our fight and our competitiveness. We came here with a new season in mind, and we played like it, and I’m proud of these guys for it.”
Colorado and Villanova have only met once — on Dec. 27, 1999 — when the Buffaloes posted a 79-56 win in Honolulu behind 32 points from Jaquay Walls and 12 points from Jamahl Mosley, who is now the coach of the Orlando Magic.
–Field Level Media
