Big East: Daniel Ochefu’s Improvement Turns Villanova into Contender
By Bobby Reagan
Is it possible for a player to win Most Improved Player in a conference two years in a row? If so, Villanova’s Daniel Ochefu deserves to win it in the Big East again this season. In fact, he should win the award at a national level as he has transformed Villanova into a national title contender.
This may seem like an odd statement after Villanova just lost by 20 to unranked Georgetown. But that game was more of a fluke as the Wildcats shot just 34 percent from the field and 30 percent from deep while Georgetown connected on 51 percent from the field, including 50 percent from the three-point line.
Meanwhile, the improvement of Ochefu has made Villanova a true national title contender. He’s upped his scoring from 5.7 points per game to 10.1 points per game while also grabbing more than two rebounds more per game in 2014-15 than he did in 2013-14.
Now, Ochefu isn’t the best player on the Villanova roster. In fact, he’s probably the fifth best starter. But the fact Villanova head coach Jay Wright can still secretly play four guards with one big including Ochefu is allowing the Wildcats to be on the short list of national title contenders.
Wright wants to start Ochefu and JayVaughn Pinkston to create the illusion that Villanova wants to play two post players and not be dependent on outside shooting. However, Ochefu is averaging just 23 minutes a game and Wright will often have a quick hook for whoever is playing worse between the two in order to get Josh Hart on the floor.
With Hart on the floor, the Wildcats are able to run their traditional four-out, one-in offense, surrounding either Pinkston or Ochefu with four shooters.
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Last year Ochefu played nearly the same amount of minutes, but hasn’t been nearly as effective as this season. Not only has he improved his scoring and rebounding, but he’s fouling less and providing even tougher defense to an already small team.
More importantly, Ochefu is giving the ability for Villanova to do what it does best for the last decade. Since Wright became head coach in Philadelphia and had success, his teams have been the best with four guards on the floor. While Pinkston is sometimes thought of as a stretch-four, he’s far from it.
In fact, when Pinkston and Ochefu are on the floor together, Villanova’s offense becomes more cluttered, with driving lanes disappearing and opposing defenses able to pack the line, forcing Pinkston to shoot jumpers.
Ochefu’s defensive ability allows the guards to pressure on the perimeter more than Villanova has been able to in the past. Ochefu is blocking 1.5 shots per game, but also altering numerous more. Watching the Wildcats play you can tell the intensity of the guards grows knowing Ochefu is behind them to help with botched assignments.
After making the Final Four in 2009, the Wildcats have had a laundry list of tournament failures. In 2010, they lost in the third round. In 2011, they lost in the second. They didn’t make the tournament in 2012. In 2013, they lost in the second round and last year they lost in the second round to eventual champion UCONN despite being a No. 2 seed.
As the perceived best team in the Big East, Villanova is long due for a tournament run. A run that will be all thanks to the improvement of Ochefu.