Swag Award of the Week March 23-March 29

I thought last week's entry was painful to write...This one is worse, but for the sake of being fair and balanced, I have no choice.

The Villanova Wildcats mens basketball team is the winner of this week's Swag Award following two statement victories in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats stifled Dukes array of shooters and crushed the Blue Devils 77-54 on Friday to advance to the Elite 8. Nova trailed 5-0 1:30 into the game, responded, took the lead, and did not relinquish it for the remaining 37 minutes of the contest. 

Last night, the Wildcats made an even more impressive statement defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers, the #1 seed in the East region. Nova was on the verge of blowing the game wide open, stretching their lead to 10 at one point, but the scrappy bunch of veterans from Pittsburgh showed resolve and kept it close.  

The outcome was not decided until the final play of the game. Scottie Reynolds, Nova's junior point guard received the ball near mid-court, weaved through defenders, and scored on a lay up with .5 seconds left on the clock (video below).

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The basket by Reynolds ended Pittsburgh's outstanding season much earlier than the Panthers had anticipated. Pitt had the talent, tenacity, and coaching to make it to Detroit if not win the entire thing. Reynolds was named the Most Outstanding player in the East Region for his contributions. 

Villanova is the only team to beat Pittsburgh twice this season, also ousting the Panthers 67-57 in January. The victory sends Villanova to the Final Four for the first time since 1985. In '85, Nova, an #8 seed defeated Patrick Ewing and #1 seeded Georgetown 66-64; a game that many call one of the greatest upsets of all time. 

Ok, I'm done blowing smoke in the direction of a Big East team other than Syracuse, but I had to give credit. Nice job Villanova. Thank you for continuing to validate the Big East's supremacy in college basketball. Good luck in Detroit.