Jerardi: Right now, Villanova a darn site better than most

EVEN THOUGH Gonzaga and Villanova each lost last week, no change in my four No. 1 seeds if the NCAA Tournament started now.

Villanova: East

North Carolina: South

Kansas: Midwest

Gonzaga: West

If these are the four No. 1 seeds on March 12, Villanova potentially is in a battle with UNC for ranking among those seeds. The higher-rated by the committee between them likely will get New York, the lower Memphis. I think Villanova is ahead at the moment.

That was a bizarre loss by Gonzaga. The Bulldogs led BYU, 18-2, at home on Saturday and still led 58-46 with 131/2 minutes left. Then, going for that unbeaten regular season, they played very tentatively down the stretch and were outscored 33-13.

They honored the three Villanova seniors before their game with Creighton. Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins and Darryl Reynolds went 45-0 at the Pavilion before Butler, playing a near-perfect game and going on an almost-inexplicable 18-0 second-half run, ended the streak Wednesday night. The seniors finished 46-1 on campus after beating Creighton, 79-63.

Butler is brilliantly coached and one of the few teams with the right personnel to match up with Villanova. Creighton (22-7, 9-7 Big East) has a good mix but not the right mix to beat the Wildcats (27-3, 14-3).

It was 45-45 before the 'Cats had one of their patented Ski Lodge charges to put the game away, outscoring the Blue Jays 34-18 in the final 131/2 minutes. It was the last game in the building until the 2018-19 season. It will be closed next season for renovations.

The 'Cats won despite getting outscored 33-12 from the three-point line. Like last season's national champs, these Wildcats are not nearly as reliant on three-point shooting as some earlier 'Nova editions because they are so good inside the arc and the foul line. The 'Cats were 25-for-36 (69.4 percent) on twos and 17-for-22 from the foul line. Creighton, by contrast, was just 4-for-6 from the foul line. Those 13 points were nearly the difference on the scoreboard.

Eric Paschall was 8-for-9 on twos and finished with 19 points. Hart and Jenkins combined for 31 points. That Villanova, which has gone a ridiculous 62-9 in new Big East regular-season games over four seasons, has a week off until playing at Georgetown Saturday, should be a good thing for its center Reynolds (missed a fifth consecutive game with a rib injury) and his teammates. They have survived short-term with that six-man rotation, but that won't work long-term.

Penn, going for its sixth straight win, could have clinched fourth place in the Ivy League and a spot in the league tournament at the Palestra if it had won at Columbia. The Quakers were close the whole way and made a late defensive stand, which gave them two shots to tie at the end with a three. The first shot missed, the second was blocked. And Columbia won it, 70-67.

Penn trailed 67-60 before getting seven straight stops. A Columbia three with 64 seconds left at the shot-clock buzzer turned out to the winning points.

Now, nothing has been decided in that race for fourth. Penn (12-13, 5-7 Ivy) plays Dartmouth and Harvard at home Friday and Saturday. Columbia (11-14, 5-7) is at Brown and Yale. They split, so the tiebreak would come down to records against other Ivy teams, starting with the top team down to the bottom.

If each team finishes 7-7, they would be 0-2 against Princeton, 1-1 against Harvard and Yale, the teams above them. It would then go to records against the team or teams that finished sixth. Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell are tied for sixth at 3-9, so there is no way to know how that will shake out.

If each wins Friday against a team below it and loses Saturday to a team above it, Columbia would win the tiebreak because of its Jan. 28 win over Harvard, a clear second in the league.

Temple (15-15, 6-11 American) has had more than its share of excruciating losses (eight by seven points or less) this season. Losing at home to Tulane (5-23, 2-14) would have been the worst. After leading the whole game, the Owls were staring at a 65-60 deficit with 21/2 minutes left.

With seniors Mark Williams (20 points), Daniel Dingle and Mike Robbins all contributing in their final home game, the Owls got into overtime and then a second, before finally pulling away to win, 86-76.

Sophomore Shizz Alston had a game that was a microcosm of his terrific season - 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals, no turnovers. He was 10-for-10 from the foul line and has made 28 straight going back to Dec. 28 against Cincinnati. Back to the beginning of December, he has made 48 of 50 despite having 11 games when he did not attempt a free throw.

Saint Joseph's trailed 20-8 at Saint Louis (10-19, 5-11 Atlantic 10). The Hawks led 50-37, so they had a 42-17 run spanning the halves. They had the ball and a 58-53 lead with two minutes left. They lost, 61-60.

How is that possible? In a season when whatever can go wrong has gone wrong, it's possible for the Hawks, who have lost eight straight. The how here was turnover, made three, two missed free throws, made three, turnover, layup. Just to make it worse, SJU (10-18, 3-13) made a layup at the buzzer when it had to shoot a three.

The Hawks got eight threes and 33 points from freshman Charlie Brown and sophomore Chris Clover. But St. Joe's shot just 16-for-29 from the foul line, continuing a season-long trend that had led directly to two of their losses.

This was always going to be a tough go for first-year Drexel coach Zach Spiker. His team had little depth when the regular season began, even less (without two injured rotation players) as it ended at Charleston (23-8, 14-4 CAA) with an 80-67 loss. The Dragons went 14-for-23 from the free-throw line, Charleston 27-for-40.

The Dragons (9-22, 3-15) will head right back to Charleston this weekend for the conference tournament. No. 10 seed Drexel will play No. 7 James Madison Friday in a first-round game. If the Dragons win, they will play No. 2 Charleston Saturday at the North Charleston Coliseum.

jerardd@phillynews.com

@DickJerardi