Villanova’s Chris Arcidiacono making a name for himself | Mike Jensen

Bill Raftery simply is the best college basketball analyst in the business because Raft has this ability to capture the tone and excitement of a ballgame without taking himself or anything else in the building too seriously.

Sunday late night, Villanova taking on North Texas, first half, Chris Arcidiacono buried a three-pointer — his second make in his second three-point try. Raft, on the air for this NCAA second-round matchup, went into full Raft mode: “Who needs Ryan anymore? We’ve got the real Arch!”

OK, the old Arch still has his place in Villanova lore, for his crucial role in, you know, the greatest play in NCAA championship-game history.

But the kid brother — more than a footnote these days.

You see the final score, 84-61, or even the halftime score, 47-27, Villanova up big, and you’d raise an eyebrow that there was ever a turning point. Maybe not crucial points, given the slew of them, but turning nonetheless, what Chris Arcidiacono threw into the mix, as it was North Texas that had jumped out first, up 17-11.

» READ MORE: How Villanova took out North Texas to reach the Sweet 16

In his second start of this NCAA Tournament, Chris Arch took his first shot, just over 3 minutes in. Jumper, buried. His second one, the one that got Raft going, was bigger, or felt bigger at the time. It gave Villanova the lead for good, 23-21. Arch, wide-open, left corner, no hesitation.

“Let’s gooooooo!!!” Ryan Arch, now with the Chicago Bulls, tweeted.

Collin Gillespie, home recovering from MCL surgery, tweeted about his replacement, “ARCHIEEEEEEE!”

(These Villanova point guards, they like their extra vowels.)

A feel-good moment for the Wildcats turned into a feel-good half, Villanova scoring 34 of the last 40 points. Right after his second three, you saw Arcidiacono with a key box-out inside at the other end. Then, what was this? Arch posting up inside, in full Villanova point guard mode, kicking a pass out from there.

Was there discussion pregame, telling Chris Arch, if he was open, let it fly?

“They’ve got a really unique defensive package where they don’t play one guy and they help [off] him a lot, and we thought it might be Arch,” Jay Wright said afterward. “And it was. So he was ready. He’s a good shooter. It didn’t surprise us, because he’s a good shooter. But they wouldn’t know that, because you don’t really get to see him play that much.”

It took onions — have to go with the Raft speak — to head for the school where big brother made history. You could argue Ryan Arcidiacono was the most important Jay Wright recruit of the last decade, the guy who really started the change of direction that ultimately landed Villanova a couple of national titles.

Following that? Chris Arch was up for it. The first time I saw him play, I was in the gym at Girard College in 2017 to see Tasheed Carr, the former St. Joseph’s Hawks player who was working as a basketball trainer, including for Chris, who was a senior at Neshaminy High. It was just the two of them out there, going full-court.

Chris was a real strong high school player, averaging 26 a game as a senior, but wasn’t getting Division I attention. What I remember most about that day was how — in addition to Chris draining a lot of shots, and showing he was a legit ballhandler — his father was there, and just in a friendly conversation, nothing overbearing about it, Joe Arcidiacono mentioned that Chris was just as good as Ryan. That sort of serene confidence, it was memorable.

A high bar being set, and Chris went to the Perkiomen School the next year, taking a postgrad year, then Wright had a spot for him. Last season, welcome to the scout team.

More of the same this season. Then Gillespie got hurt and if you thought Wright would try to press on with the players already in his rotation, Villanova’s coach had another idea. He had one true point guard left on his roster, a guy who had played 16 minutes all season but handled those responsibilities for the scout team.

Talk about serene confidence. Arcidiacono played 25 minutes in the regular-season finale at Providence and while a big Villanova comeback fell just short, and Arch’s four shots missed, he was far from overmatched. Look at the new guy taking a charge.

“When Collin first went down, we knew we would use Arch,’' Wright said. “Arch is one of those guys at practice that we always say to him, ‘Just be ready, Arch, because we’ll throw you in a game at any time.’ You just know, he knows what we’re doing, he’s tough, he’s smart. I always would say to him during the season, ‘Just be ready.’ We don’t play him on the first team …”

Or didn’t play him on the first team …

“... because he’s always so good at running the other team’s plays. He was ready. He was ready for this, and our whole staff knew it.”

Against Georgetown in the Big East Tournament, another close loss, but the new point guard played 34 minutes, had 4 assists, no turnovers, and 3 points from the foul line. The win over Winthrop, less time, 12 minutes, but again no turnovers.

The positives were obvious. Chris wasn’t hurting them. But if he wasn’t going to take any shots, defenses could react accordingly.

» READ MORE: Villanova's NCAA rookies making their mark

If that’s the way North Texas saw the film, there’s a new attraction. Cue the tweets and vowels and Raft having fun.

Arch eventually missed a shot, and finally had an NCAA turnover. But setting the tone and making the right decisions, no small thing in March. Big brother proved it right to the last play of his career. Little brother, doing his own thing, but it’s a good thing, Baylor up next in the Sweet 16.

Last 10 seconds of the game, Raftery looked out there.

“Is that Arcidiacono on the floor?’' Raft intoned with a touch of merriment. “Goodness.”