Wow.
It was a shining moment that lasted 40 minutes of textbook basketball.
Villanova oozed perfection offensively and defensively from every pore Saturday night with a record-setting 95-51 win over Oklahoma at NRG Stadium in Houston to reach Monday night’s NCAA Tournament championship game against North Carolina.
It was the utter abduction of the Sooners and their star Buddy Hield. The Wildcats incinerated them with an absolute grease fire.
Nova continues to lay down its Superman cover in this tournament. The Wildcats right now are honed to maximum sharpness.
The Wildcats’ 44-point margin of victory is a Final Four record by eight points, and their 95 points are the most in a national semifinal since Maryland beat Kansas 97-88 in 2002.
The 44-point margin of victory marks a 67-point reversal from Oklahoma’s 78-55 win over the Wildcats in Hawaii in early December.
Villanova’s furious defense held a team averaging 81 points per game to its fewest in more than three years.
And the Wildcats shot an otherworldly 71 percent from the field, second-best in Final Four history behind only the 1985 Villanova team that made 79 percent of its shots in the championship game victory over Georgetown.
Granted, North Carolina is literally a tall order. So Villanova’s Saturday night buoyancy must be unflagging to ensure that the envisioned magical moment does indeed dawn Monday night.
