Underdog Villanova to play George Mason

UNLIKE THE LAST two seasons, when Villanova got into the NCAA Tournament as first a No. 3 and then a No. 2 seed, there was no Selection Sunday Party on the Main Line campus yesterday.

Certainly understandable.

That's what happens when you become what is believed to be the first team to enter the Mayhem on a five-game losing streak, and officially the only one since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985. So does that year ring any bells?

But, for the seventh consecutive season, the Wildcats are indeed dancing. The only other Big East team that has made it every year in that stretch is Pittsburgh. There is obviously something to be said for that. It's just not what many folks had in mind 6 weeks ago, when the Wildcats were 17-2 and coming off a double-digit win at Syracuse.

A lot of things have transpired since, most of it not good. The Wildcats (21-11) have dropped seven of their last nine, with the wins coming against Seton Hall by three and DePaul (in overtime). They lost to 15th-seeded South Florida in the first round of the conference tournament in New York, where they set a record by blowing a 16-point halftime lead.

Nonetheless, because this stuff is based on a body of work and not only how you finish, they are headed to Cleveland as a 9 seed and will play 8 seed George Mason (26-6) on Friday in a second-round matchup. Tipoff is 2:10 and the game will be shown on TNT.

"It's a new season," said coach Jay Wright, who has won 12 NCAA games in the last six seasons. "We're saying, 'Let's go.' We just have to get healthy and get back to our midseason form. It is what it is.

"It's probably the first time a team went 16-1 and lost five at the end [too]. Let's give ourselves some credit for [what we did] early in the season. You want to learn from the mistakes. But let's not forget that. We just want to reinforce of the habits of playing [good] basketball.

"This is a reward. Let's have some fun with it. But it's a different perspective for us going in. We know we're in the underdog role . . . us against the world. It's almost like we have to prove ourselves. That's how people are looking at us. The last few years there were expectations that we were supposed to go [far]. Now, a lot of people are expecting us to fail. I can't blame them. We relish that position. We know how to do it, [because] we've done it. We have to use that to our advantage."

In 2009, the Wildcats barely got in as a 12 seed and somehow made it to the Sweet 16. In 2008, they lost to Kentucky in an 8-9 opener.

On Nov. 19, 2009, they played George Mason in the first round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan. They trailed by nine at halftime. They won by one on a late three-pointer.

"Man, they had us," Wright recalled. "We kind of lucked out. We have [drawn] a tough opponent."

The Patriots, who made an epic Final Four run in 2006, were the regular-season Colonial Athletic Association champions. They had won 16 straight before losing to Virginia Commonwealth in the semifinals of their tourney.

The opponent always matters. But at this point, for the Wildcats, it's basically more about them.

"I wasn't worried about making it," said Corey Stokes, one of three senior starters. "We were just waiting to see who we'd play."

Now they know.

"In our eyes, we don't feel like underdogs," Tony Pena said. "We feel we can compete with any team out there. We've got to do it."

For what it's worth, Villanova's RPI is 33 according to Statsheet.com, with a 23 strength of schedule. George Mason's numbers were 26 and 104. The Patriots beat Drexel at home on Jan. 19 by 24. The CAA got three teams in. Villanova was one of a record 11 from the Big East. Marquette, which got an 11 seed, was the only Big East team seeded lower.

"We hear everything people are saying about us," Corey Fisher said. "We've just got to keep playing. We've got to get better in some places. There's a lot of room to improve.

"Five losses in a row is over. That happened in the past. We've moved on from that. We feel we're close. Nobody on the outside might understand that. Coach is always talking about the next game. This is it."

Yet for the first time, it could also be the last one.

The winner will likely get top-seeded Ohio State on Sunday. The Buckeyes, who won the Big Ten title yesterday, drew the winner of Wednesday's play-in game between Texas-San Antonio and Alabama State. The Wildcats haven't beaten anybody that's in the field since Feb. 5. They haven't beaten anyone outside Philadelphia since Jan. 22.

Stokes (hamstring) and Fisher (knee) have been playing hurt the last month. Center Mouphtaou Yarou (shoulder, ribs) missed the second half of the USF meltdown. Wright anticipates they'll all be ready.

Who really knows what that means for sure, except that everyone's 0-0? *