A 2-5 record since 2010. No trips to the championship game since 1997. No titles since 1995.
The Big East basketball tournament has been a nightmare for Villanova.
Villanova heads back to Madison Square Garden this week to try and end 19 years of frustration.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 4 this week in the AP poll and No. 3 in the coaches’ poll, open play in the 35th annual Big East tournament at noon Thursday against the winner of a game Wednesday between Seton Hall and Marquette.
With a win Thursday afternoon, they’d play at 7 p.m. Friday against the winner of Providence-St. John’s. The title game is 8 p.m. Saturday.
The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed, just like last year, when they lost by one point to No. 8 seed Seton Hall in their opener.
The last six times Villanova has been a top-four seed, the Wildcats have won three of nine games at the Garden.
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There’s a lot at stake again for the Wildcats. Not just a Big East title but a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Just like last year.
“It’s really important,” said Darrun Hilliard, Villanova’s leading scorer. “We know what happened last year and we’re just going to come out and not take any team lightly.
“We’re going to get a tough opponent, no matter what seed we are and what seed they are. We’re going to learn from what we did last year.”
Seton Hall beat Villanova 64-63 last year in the quarterfinals when Sterling Gibbs hit a buzzer-beater over Hilliard.
In 2013, Villanova lost by 19 to Louisville. In 2011 and 2012, the Wildcats lost to South Florida. In 2010, Villanova was No. 4 seed when it lost in the first round to Marquette.
The last time Villanova reached the semifinals was 2009. The last time the Wildcats won multiple games in New York was 2004. The last time the Wildcats reached the final was 1997, when they lost by 12 to Boston College.
Villanova’s only Big East tourney title came in 1995, a 94-78 win over Connecticut.
That team, featuring Alvin Williams, Kerry Kittles and Jason Lawson, was honored at halftime Saturday when Villanova finished its regular season with a 37-point win over St. John’s.
“They talked to us on the court (after the game) and wished us good luck and congratulated us,” Hilliard said. “We owe it to them. They kind of paved the way and we just tried to follow their footsteps. Hopefully we pave the way for guys coming up after us.”
Last year’s loss to Seton Hall cost Villanova a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Villanova wound up a No. 2 seed and lost in the second round in Buffalo to eventual national-champion Connecticut.
“After we lost the first game last year, it wasn’t losing to Seton Hall that got us concerned going into the tournament, it was how we played,” coach Jay Wright said.
“You can get beat by anybody in this league, especially in tournament play, but we didn’t play aggressively defensively, so leading up to the (NCAA) tournament we worked really hard on getting our defensive aggressiveness back and we got it.
“I thought we played well in the (NCAA) tournament, we just got beat by the national champions. But we didn’t play well in the Big East tournament.”
Villanova goes into this year’s Big East tournament on fire.
The Wildcats are 29-2 and have won 12 straight games by an average of 15.4 points.
Their only two losses, to Seton Hall and Georgetown, they avenged by a combined 42 points.
“We can get a lot better,” Hilliard said. “That’s what coach preached to us right after the [St. John’s] game. I know we came out and did what we had to do, but we can get a lot better. Our ceiling is so high.”
Seven of the eight players Wright uses in his regular rotation played in that Seton Hall game last year.
They endured the ignominy of losing their first game as a No. 1 seed, and they’re determined not to let it happen again.
“That’s the great thing about this team, we’ve been through it and we’ve learned from it already,” Hilliard said.
“We’re going to be humble about it and we’re going to go into the Garden and try to bring that humble mentality.”