SAN ANTONIO _ Villanova won the national championship Monday night for the second time in three years, defeating Michigan, 79-62, at the Alamodome. Donte DiVincenzo was the game's star, scoring 31 points.
The No. 1 seed in the East, the Wildcats were not deterred in their run through the NCAA Tournament. Prior to Monday night, they had defeated Radford, Alabama, West Virginia, Texas Tech and Kansas by an average margin of 17.8 points.
Villanova (36-4) won its third national championship and second in the coaching career of Jay Wright, who has led the Wildcats to an incredible 165-21 record over the last five years and certainly elevated his status to that of a potential Hall of Fame member. Villanova went a fifth consecutive season without losing back-to-back games.
Michigan, the No. 3 seed who won the West Region and earned its berth in the final by defeating Loyola Chicago, finished with a 33-8 record.
The game likely was the final one in the careers of Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, juniors who are expected to declare for the NBA draft with one year of eligibility remaining. Both players will graduate in May. Bridges is considered a lottery pick while Brunson, winner of several player of the year awards, is a likely early second-round pick.
Brunson, Bridges and junior guard Phil Booth were the leaders of a team that included three freshmen in Wright's eight-man rotation. Although the Wildcats didn't have a single scholarship senior, they had a pair of fourth-year players in the program in Bridges and Booth.
Villanova was ranked No. 1 in the country for eight weeks. The team won its last 11 games, rolling through the Big East tournament and sweeping its NCAA weekends in Pittsburgh and Boston. The Cats dominated Kansas in Saturday's semifinal, 95-79, and rode that momentum into Monday for the national championship.
