Young kids ran over with basketballs and sharpies, adults patted them on the back and girls squealed in delight. A security guard standing on the Pavilion court even got in on the action, calling out to the Villanova basketball players, “Take it all the way!”
But it wasn’t the stars of the team who were getting so much adulation following Villanova’s 83-62 win over DePaul last week — the Wildcats’ final game at the Pavilion this season. It wasn’t even anyone who plays regular minutes.
No, it was the program’s three senior walk-ons: Henry Lowe, Patrick Farrell and Kevin Rafferty.
“I’m really not that cool,” Lowe laughed at one point, taking a break between signing autographs and posing for photos.
Maybe not. But there’s no denying the popularity of the three players, all of whom have become an integral part of the fabric of Villanova basketball over the past few years.
“It’s really cool,” Rafferty said. “It’s a product of how hard our team plays. People like to watch us and you get a little recognition from that. We don’t deserve the fanfare but it’s cool. It’s enjoyable for now. We just got to keep everyone grounded and make sure we’re just getting better.”
The Pavilion crowd certainly goes nuts when the three get called in at the end of games when Villanova is up by a lot (luckily for them, that happens often). But as Rafferty alluded to, the walk-ons can’t get caught up in the excitement and try to do something crazy on the court.
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As veterans on the team — even leaders — they take those appearances, however brief, very seriously.
“We hear all the fans and they want the walk-ons to come in and do something fun or score,” Rafferty said. “But we’re just there to play the same way the guys play for 40 minutes. For us to get in there, we have to play Villanova basketball. And if there’s the opportunity to dive on the floor, you’ve gotta dive. You can’t care if you’re up 30 or down 30 — you just have to play the same way the guys play.”
There was a time where the Wildcats’ walk-ons perhaps cared more about having fun than fostering a certain kind of culture. As freshmen, Lowe and Farrell, along with then-walk on Nick McMahon, earned the nickname “Bench Mob” for their creative antics on the sideline, especially in March.
But as Villanova went from an upstart in 2012-13 (following a bad 13-19 season in 2011-12) to a nationally dominant program the last three seasons, the walk-ons changed too.
They will, of course, still be animated on the bench at times when No. 3 Villanova opens postseason play in the Big East Tournament on Thursday. But their biggest role these days is going hard in practice and counseling some of the younger players.
That’s why, during interviews and other media appearances over the past few weeks, head coach Jay Wright has gone out of his way to mention Lowe, Farrell and Rafferty when he praises a senior class that also includes standouts Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu — the one that recently became the all-time winningest class in program history.
“My freshman year, they had to bring energy because we were at a low point in our program,” Arcidiacono said. “But from that point on, they’ve brought just great commitment to the team. They’re leaders on this team. Everyone looks to them as leaders. To have five seniors, not just two, means a lot. We’re on the floor but they can control everything from how people come off the bench, go into games, how they run off the floor — all the little things that no one sees, especially in games and in practice.”
Perhaps not everyone would be suited for such a behind-the-scenes role without much playing time to show for it. And it should be noted that all three walk-ons had opportunities to play at Division III schools. Rafferty, in fact, played at D-III Tufts following a good high school career at Malvern Prep before deciding to move closer to home because of a family member’s illness.
At that point, he expected his college basketball career to be over. But, with the urging of his high school coach, he made the necessary connections to try out for the Wildcats as a walk-on. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising that he made it; his father, Kevin Sr., was also a walk-on at a Big 5 school — at rival Saint Joseph’s.
“The Holy War was interesting in our house,” Rafferty said with a smile. “But now he’s a converted Villanova fan. He’s got the flag outside our house and everything.”
Lowe and Farrell, meanwhile, have been on campus from the very beginning, deciding to initially attend Villanova largely for academic reasons. They never expected just how good the ’Nova hoops team would become, with their classmates Arcidiacono and Ochefu leading the way. Or how Wright would call on them to be leaders.
But they’ve relished the unique opportunity.
“For us, it’s really about carrying the culture of the program around,” Farrell said. “Obviously every year we get new guys coming out of high school. For us, it’s about instilling the culture of playing hard, playing together, playing smart and playing with pride. That’s really what we do on a daily basis — try to hammer it into the younger guys’ brains so the culture lasts forever and it just gets passed on.”
“We all try to implement the core values that Coach Wright preaches,” Lowe added. “That was kind of our role in the resurgence of Villanova. That was really the key to our success — we had to get back to defense, rebounding, playing hard, playing together, playing smart and having way more pride in the Villanova jersey than the other team has in their own.”
Like any seniors, the end of the season has been jam-packed with emotions for Villanova’s three walk-ons. There was the senior night ceremony on Feb. 20, then the final game at the Pavilion last week and then the regular-season finale at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, complete with an on-court celebration of the team’s third straight Big East championship.
But there’s still more games to be played as Villanova now eyes its second straight Big East Tournament title and a deep run in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009. No matter what happens in the coming weeks, though, the walk-ons will depart the program grateful for being part of one of the best teams in college basketball — and forming special bonds along the way.
“The opportunity to be a walk-on here is the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Lowe, who added he might even try to go into business with Rafferty and Farrell after they all graduate later this year. “I’m so happy Coach Wright gave me the opportunity. I didn’t know it would go as well as it did the last four years. But the team has welcomed me, Coach has welcomed me and it’s been an incredible experience — life-changing for sure.”