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NEW YORK -- People will watch Villanova Sunday to see if it’ll fail. People will watch to see if it’ll get upset again. People will watch to see if Iowa will join the list of lower-seeded teams to topple Villanova as a No. 1 or 2 seed.
St. Mary’s in 2010. UConn in 2014. North Carolina State in 2015.
Will it happen again? Can it happen again?
“Everybody's been talking about this game for the whole year, even in the summertime before the season started,” senior center Daniel Ochefu said.
“The game is here and we can finally just get it done. Hopefully, we'll get the win, and people will stop talking about it.”
Since 2010, top-two seeds are 97-21 in the NCAA Tournament against teams seeded No. 7 or lower.
Three of those 21 losses belong to Villanova.
This has become how people define the Villanova program. Fantastic regular seasons, disappointing NCAA Tournaments.
“Everyone has the right to think what they want, say what they want,” senior Ryan Arcidiacono said.
“We played in those games. We haven’t come through in the second round of the tournament. We’ve had some great success throughout the regular season and in the Big East Tournament the last couple of years.
“Hopefully, we can win (today), but we're just excited to play. I can't really tell people how they should look at our senior class or myself in particular. They have the right to think of us how they want to.”
Villanova is a remarkable 92-13 over the last three years and is the only Division 1 school to win 29 or more games in each of the last three years.
The Wildcats' .876 winning percentage since opening-day of the 2013-14 season is best of any Division 1 school.
Yet the questions keep coming, and they keep answering.
“It’s in the past,” junior Josh Hart said after a short practice Saturday at the Barclays Center. “We can’t take those games back. There’s no sugar-coating it, really. But that’s the main qusetion. My answer would be you have to be in Brooklyn at 12:10 and watch that game and figure it out. But that’s the question we’re going to be judged on. And we’re ready to play."
Villanova faces Iowa at 12:10 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with a berth in the Sweet 16 in Louisville at stake.
“We put ourselves in this position, honestly," Hart said. "We've been disappointed the last two years not making a deeper run. I think last year we were the only No. 1 seed that ended up not being in the Final 4. So obviously we wish it had turned out better, but we know what it is. We’re ready. We’re just ready. There’s not much else to say.”
Only 15 schools have lost once as a No. 1 or 2 seed to an opponent seeded seventh or lower since 2010.
Villanova would become the first school in NCAA Tournament history to lose three consecutive years as a No. 1 or 2 seed in the Round of 32.
Head coach Jay Wright took Villanova to the Final 4 in 2009, but the Wildcats haven’t beaten a team seeded 14th or higher since.
Is it unfair for fans to brand the program a failure despite all of its accomplishments if it loses again Sunday?
“You know what? I really don't think it's unfair,” Wright said. “I just think it's sports, and that's the beauty of coaching college athletics. That you get to use these as life lessons.
“They're either going to go by this weekend, and they're going to be the winningest class in Villanova history and they're going to get to a Sweet 16, or they're not and they're going to be the winningest class in Villanova history and didn't get past the second round. Either way, it's going to be a learning process for them.
“I don't think they're going to define themselves by this for the rest of their life. It would seem unfair, but that is the way it is. You get a lot of benefits playing for Villanova. They're going to use those the rest of their life. But this is all part of it, man.
“I heard (Denzel) Valentine from Michigan State yesterday say, ‘This is something I'm going to live with the rest of my life.’ If you're a big-time athlete, you put yourself out on the stage in the arena, that's all part of it. That's why you've got to respect what these guys do.”
Wright has been at Villanova since 2002. The Wildcats have reached the tournament 11 of the last 12 years and the Sweet 16 four times under Wright. They’ve won 20 or more games 11 of the last 12 years and averaged 23 wins in Wright’s 15 seasons.
But does Villanova have an elite reputation? Five years without a signature NCAA Tournament win doesn’t help.
“Your national reputation in this sport is definitely based on how you perform,” Wright said.
“Do you get the Sweet 16s? Do you get the final eights? Do you get the Final Fours? Do you win National Championships? That puts you with the elite. We’d certainly like to be there, but we've got to earn it. We’ve got to go do it.”
It should be noted that the No. 7 seed Villanova lost to two years ago, UConn, went on to win the national championship.
Last year’s No. 8 seed that beat the Wildcats was a red-hot N.C. State team that had won eight of its last 10 games.
This year’s Iowa team was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country earlier this year, beat Michigan State when the Spartans were ranked No. 1 in the country and has beaten five ranked teams this year.
“I don't mean this as an excuse,” Wright said. “It's why I don't get overly upset about us not getting past the second round recently.
“We’ve played some really good teams. And when you see a Michigan State get beat, you see Cal get beat, the parity in college basketball is such that, given an NCAA Tournament atmosphere and pressure and the talent of mid-majors … every game is so difficult.
“It's not a surprise to anybody anymore. I think that's great for college basketball.”