No NCAA Tournament for Villanova, and no ducking the challenges ahead

NEW YORK — Kyle Neptune and Caleb Daniels were heading toward the Villanova locker room here just after midnight Friday, Neptune’s left arm draped over Daniels’ shoulders, Daniels’ right arm draped over Neptune’s. It was hard to tell who was supporting and consoling whom. Creighton had just shot the Wildcats out of the Big East Tournament and, for the first time since 2013, out of the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats are 17-16, and their 87-74 loss in the conference quarterfinals will be the last game of Daniels’ and Brandon Slater’s careers at Villanova unless Neptune accepts a bid to the NIT, a consolation prize that, for a decade, this program never had to settle for.

Nine NCAA Tournaments in that span, nine berths for Villanova, six Sweet 16s, three Final Fours, two national championships — all that history and all that excellence seemed a sack of boulders on the back of Neptune and each of his players all season. Jay Wright had retired. Justin Moore was returning, eventually, from a torn Achilles tendon. Cam Whitmore was expected, and is still expected, to play one season and bolt for pro basketball. Justin Longino was never fully healthy. The roster lacked a pure point guard. There were obstacles. But this was still Villanova, and there were still expectations, even if the men in the locker room did their best not to acknowledge them.

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“It was never about making it to the Tournament or winning an NCAA championship,” Daniels said. “It just so happened that, once we became the best team that we could be, that was the result. Honestly, I think that’s what we take pride in the most. If guys are giving it up for each other every single day, that’s the true commitment and the special sauce of a Villanova basketball team.”

Wright preached this gospel throughout his tenure. It was part of a term that became a cliche over time, Villanova basketball, and under Neptune, everyone is still reading from the same missal.

“The pressure, it comes from within,” Slater said. “It comes from wanting to play for your teammates and coaches. There’s really no pressure if you can look your teammates and coaches in the eye at practice, after every workout, after every game, and say that you gave it all out for them, that you played your heart out for them. That’s really where the mindset of pressure comes from. It comes from your teammates and coaches and wanting to play for them and doing the things that they ask.”

With every year removed from Wright’s last season, though, that mindset will become harder to maintain. Is that unfair to Neptune? Probably. It’s reality, for sure. Moore and Chris Arcidiacono could come back for one more year, and Eric Dixon still has his senior year ahead of him. They can carry on that culture, sure. But sooner or later, the results have to be there.

Villanova improved as this season went along for Neptune having his full complement of players, but Thursday night at Madison Square Garden was something different. “I wouldn’t say that was our best game,” Neptune said. The Wildcats didn’t score through the game’s first three minutes, never led, and over the final 20 minutes never cut into Creighton’s nine-point halftime lead.

“This same team just dominated us a couple of weeks ago in Philadelphia,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said, referring to Villanova’s 79-67 victory on Feb. 25. “And I told Kyle after that game the job that he’s done navigating all the injuries and guys coming back and losing guys — trying to get guys back in the lineup, whether it was Whitmore or Longino or Justin — that’s hard for a guy that’s been coaching 35 years, let alone a guy that’s in his first year in that job.

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“He did an unbelievable job navigating them and having them play their best basketball at the end of the season. Anytime we can beat Villanova, it’s a great win for our program because of the respect that we had when Coach Wright was there and we continue to have with Kyle.”

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Make no mistake, though: The Wildcats are going to have to re-earn some of that respect. That 2011-12 team, the one that went 13-19 and missed the NCAA Tournament, contributed to Wright’s famous self-evaluation and recalibration of his recruiting and coaching. It led to his understanding better the kinds of players he should be pursuing and the manner in which to develop those players. The rest was a dynasty. That’s the standard against which Neptune and the players who will return and remain will be measured for a while, whether they like it or not, and even they would have to admit that they didn’t meet it this season.

“Villanova’s not going anywhere,” McDermott said. He meant it as a compliment, as a prediction laced with respect. For the first time in a long time, it could have meant something else.