What are the keys to a Big East Conference tournament championship run for Villanova? Here are four big ones.

At the beginning of this season, Villanova guard Maddy Siegrist knew that this team had what it took.

“I think this year’s gonna be really special,” she said back in November. “I’m excited to be part of it.”

It’s safe to say that the last four months for the Wildcats have been special. And it’s even more safe to say that Siegrist has been more than just a “part of it.”

Siegrist has had a record-shattering season in leading the Wildcats to an overall record of 26-5, including 17-3 in the Big East.

Villanova enters the Big East Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The Wildcats have a first-round bye and will play in the quarterfinals on Saturday (7 p.m., FS2) against the winner of No. 7 DePaul and No. 10 Providence. The Wildcats swept both teams in the regular season.

Villanova has put itself in a good position to advance to the tournament championship game on Monday (7 p.m., FS1), but there is still work to be done.

Here are a few keys for the Wildcats to clinch a championship berth.

It’s pretty simple. When Siegrist plays well, Villanova plays well.

The senior forward finished the regular season as the leading scorer in the nation at 29.0 points per game and was named the Big East player of the year for the second straight year.

The Wildcats’ offense runs through Siegrist. It is rare that Villanova has a trip down the floor in which the ball doesn’t touch her hands. Even if she is not the one to score, opposing defenses almost always send multiple defenders at her — creating open looks for her teammates.

With 31 games played this season, teams are starting to figure out ways to slow her down. While her point total may not fluctuate much and Siegrist may still reach her average, teams have been able to lower her efficiency. Siegrist is shooting 51.6% from the field on the season, but in three of her last four games, she has been held to under 40%.

Two of those games were against DePaul and Providence.

Since her introductory news conference in 2020, Villanova head coach Denise Dillon has made it clear that defense will always be the focus. Dillon’s teams played this way at Drexel, and it has been no different in her first three seasons at Villanova.

Dillon harps on “defense creating offense,” something that Villanova has thrived on this season. The Wildcats force an average of 14.6 turnovers per game and have converted that into 15.4 points per game. Villanova has also held its opponents to 60 or fewer points in 20 games, with a record of 19-1 in those contests.

Dillon always has a strong scouting plan entering each game. Brooke Mullin guards the top opposing guard, Lucy Olsen locks up the point guard, Siegrist and Christina Dalce tag team the forwards inside and every once in a while, they throw in some full-court pressure.

It’s a strategy that has carried them this far, and it will be needed to carry them to Monday.

Maddie Burke, a junior transfer from Penn State, has had her ups and downs this season. But her impact, especially on the offensive end, has been clear. Her shooting abilities flow perfectly with Dillon’s spread motion offense. Leading the team with 64 made threes on 39.5% efficiency, Burke has proven herself as an offensive threat for the Cats.

Burke’s most notable performance this season came in a 73-57 win over Creighton when she went 5 of 6 from behind the arc for 15 points. She also hit back-to-back threes in the midst of Villanova’s 16-point comeback over St. John’s to cut the lead to one in the final minute. The Wildcats are 11-0 in games in which Burke scores in double figures.

With Siegrist drawing extra attention from the opposing defense, Villanova will look for Burke to make some big shots in crucial moments.

Something that the Wildcats have lacked in previous years is a rim protector. They have found one in Dalce. After not seeing much time as a freshman, she has earned a starting spot and has shown continued improvement.

Dalce leads the Big East with 2.23 blocks per game, and she holds the program single-season record for blocks with 69.

Powered by Dalce, Villanova improved from eighth in the conference last season to the leader this year with 5.58 blocks per game. This causes hesitation from opponents in the paint and has created an advantage inside for the Wildcats.

While each of these pieces are important to Villanova returning to the Big East title game, each of them alone is not enough.

The Wildcats will need a little Siegrist magic, the stifling defense they have shown all year, a few big shots from Burke and a dominant Dalce at the rim to get them to Monday night.