College Basketball Power 10: Seven of Top 10 Went Down Last Week
By Jeremy Karll
4. Villanova (20-2)
Villanova has looked unbeatable for most of the season, but last week Villanova was almost beaten twice. Marquette stunned the Wildcats at home with a 74-72 win on Tuesday. Then, Virginia almost beat Villanova in Philadelphia but blew it at the end.
While Josh Hart mightily struggled for Villanova against Virginia, Kris Jenkins had the roughest week. In two games, Jenkins had 10 points on 2-of-17 shooting and 2-of-14 shooting from three. In fact, Jenkins didn’t make his first field goal until the second half against Virginia.
Jenkins is Villanova’s three-point specialist, therefore his poor shooting led to Villanova shooting just 26 percent from three last week. While it’s not all on Jenkins, the Wildcats struggled to find a consistent outside shooter in either game.
That said, Villanova did see the emergence of sophomore point guard Jalen Brunson, who averaged 17 points and four assists in two games last week. Brunson has emerged throughout the year but is waiting for his chance to lead Villanova next year when Hart leaves.
That said, Villanova, who lost point guard Ryan Arcidiacono from last year’s team, would benefit from productive point guard play in the NCAA Tournament. While Brunson hasn’t been bad this year, last week showed why many believe he’s their future star.
It’s a week that Villanova will want to forget, but beating Virginia after beating outplayed for 35 minutes says a lot about how hard it is to beat this team. Ugly but impressive win at the same time.
Villanova travels to Providence and hosts St. John’s this week.