So far, Eagles comparisons fit almost eerily with another team: Villanova in 2018

Jay Wright didn't want to talk about it and disturb the vibe, but he sees the comparison.

Jalen Brunson (right) and Jay Wright, a couple of Eagles fans.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / MCT

Published Feb. 1, 2023, 9:00 a.m. ET

You want a comparison for what the Eagles have looked like when healthy this season? (Avert your eyes, Temple, St. Joseph’s, and La Salle folks) …

It’s Villanova men’s hoops, circa 2017-18. The similarities are almost scary.

Some of the players already have experienced a title, but many key players have new roles, adding to their hunger for a title. (Check)
Explosive offense, shutdown defense. (Check, check)
A team quarterbacked by a no-emotions-on-display leader named Jalen who is national MVP material. (Check, check, check, check)

Jay Wright, in an airport the other day, returned a message, but the former Villanova coach said he did not want to talk about this comparison. He sees it, agrees with it. He sometimes texts with Eagles coach Nick Sirianni. But Wright does not want to be perceived as anything but a fan of the Eagles, a team he sees as so unselfish and professional. Wright said he has turned down all interviews about the Eagles since he and Sirianni talked to Jeff McLane for an Inquirer story in the preseason.

“When you’re early in your career, and I know for me and I think he’s the same, your passion and your energy is really impactful to the team,” Wright told McLane in July. “And you can’t have all that passion and all that energy and be totally under control also. Dick Vermeil was like that, right?

“But as long as you’re truthful and honest about it with the guys, they’re going to respect it. And you’re working on it. The good thing with him, when I’m down there, there’s no doubt who’s in charge.”

This week, Wright said previous interviews could stand as a guide to what he considered important when a team hits this late stage in the postseason. He talked quite a bit when Villanova reached the 2016 Final Four (ultimately winning) that there were lessons learned from reaching the 2009 Final Four, when ‘Nova lost in the semis.

The big lesson: Stop trying to include everyone — alumni, former players, families. Stop worrying about making sure everyone enjoyed this ultimate experience. Take care of business. He used the word “heightened distractions.” (His wife, Patty, even apologized to some players’ parents that year, he once said, for her husband’s keeping their children away from them in Houston. The parents kind of understood.)

That 2016 ride was more like the Eagles in 2018 … plausible, but not expected, right until Kris Jenkins hit a shot that stays nestled in that historic net forever, and in local sports history up there with the Philly Special. Who could have predicted Villanova decimating Oklahoma on a neutral court in the semis when Oklahoma had decimated Villanova on a neutral court in the regular season?

The 2018 conversations with Wright were more applicable to the Eagles right now. Wright wrote a book after the 2016 season, but a 2018 update would have been interesting, Wright talking about how a good team on a roll presents a very sensitive challenge for a coach.

Wright once told me, “It’s like holding a dove in your hand. If you squeeze it too much, it dies. If you hold it too loose, it flies away.”

Different levels of ball, but the comparison to the Eagles still holds. That season, Villanova had the No. 1-ranked offense and the No. 11-ranked defense in the country. The Wildcats won all their postseason games by double digits, Big East and NCAA Tournaments. There was talk along the way … whom did they beat?

Their talent level has been proven by their NBA abilities. It turns out Jalen Brunson, NCAA player of the year that season, wasn’t just a pro backup, isn’t even just a pro starter. He’s a team centerpiece, a player to build around. Who knew that when he was drafted in the second round?

The comparison with Jalen Hurts is eerie. Second-round draft choice. Separate from his abilities, Hurts had proven what kind of team player he was with how he handled losing the starting job at Alabama. Brunson started the 2016 NCAA title game, but he didn’t finish it. That really wasn’t his team. His championship team was 2018.

Emotion? Not until Villanova won it all. (Then the tears really flowed.)

“You peel his face off, he’d probably have wires coming out of it,” Xavier’s coach Chris Mack said after his team lost to Brunson and ‘Nova that January.

Sound familiar, Eagles fans?

Wright talked later about how X’s and O’s weren’t the most important part of coaching that 2018 ‘Nova team, a group talented enough that Final Four most outstanding player Donte DiVincenzo came off the bench, even though he was a first-round NBA choice that spring. Mikal Bridges, lottery pick, one of four ‘Nova first-round picks. (Eric Paschall and Omari Spellman, too.)

“You know it’s special,” Wright said after that season. “You know what’s making it special — it’s not your schemes. It’s keeping this gentle vibe right where it is. … Giving a little bit more intensity, then a little more looseness. That’s the greatest challenge along the way. Not playing zone or man. Just keeping that hunger and humility.”

That all fits, and you also get why Wright, an Eagles fan and Sirianni fan, does not want to talk about it right now. In his mind, how could that help the gentle vibe the Eagles have going right now?