Jay Wright's first thought about the Delaware Blue Hens, as his Villanova Wildcats prepare for Friday afternoon's MarchMadness showdown? “Scared to death,” he said.
PITTSBURGH — An NCAA day-before shootaround is not the real practice, more a public workout, part of March Madness promotional efforts, so if anyone who showed up Thursday afternoon at PPG Paints Arena saw the Villanova Wildcats get a workout in … actually, it was not low-key.No, wait, that was Collin Gillespie. The fifth-year point guard just can sound like a coach at this point.
It would, however, be historically noteworthy for Delaware to win this game. The Blue Hens, who swept through the Colonial Athletic Association tournament after finishing fourth in the league, are ranked 145th nationally in the KenPom.com rankings. Villanova, 11th in those same computer rankings, hasn’t lost to a team out of the top 140 in any game — home, road, NCAAs — since dropping a home shocker to Columbia on Nov. 20, 2012.
So, that’s it? Not so fast. Although the Blue Hens were eighth in the CAA at defending the three, their CAA wins over Drexel, Towson, and UNC-Wilmington were fueled by strong perimeter defense. Both Drexel and Towson made just 4 of 23 threes. In the final, UNC-Wilmington made just 4 of 15. “I said, ‘You guys, I believe we’re the best basketball team in the CAA,’” Ingelsby said. “Like, we have to play like that now or it’s over.”“We look good in them blue jerseys,” said Blue Hens fifth-year guard Ryan Allen. “I think we’ve kind of taken on the underdog role and embraced it.”
“One thing Coach preached on Selection Sunday was for nobody to go in the gym the next day and for everybody to take time to focus on something else, that way we can refresh our minds and be ready to go for this tournament,” said fifth-year forward Jermaine Samuels. “That’s probably the biggest thing he’s harped on. Honestly just for our mental — it’s a good thing for us and it’ll help us prepare for this tournament and this game.
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