Has ‘the Villanova way’ proven superior to ‘the one-and-done way?’

As of Monday night, Villanova has now won two of the past three men’s NCAA basketball championships. Coach Jay Wright’s Wildcats have gone over 30 wins four straight seasons.

In an age when marquee coaches like Kentucky’s John Calipari and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski have gone full-scale into recruiting elite prospects who come to college expecting to be “one-and-done” en route to the NBA, Villanova and Wright have chosen the opposite path.

The 2015-16 Villanova team that beat North Carolina in the NCAA finals on Kris Jenkins’ buzzer beater started two seniors, two juniors and one freshman.

This past season’s Nova team, which rampaged through the NCAA Tournament beating all six of its foes by double digits, started three redshirt juniors, a true junior and a redshirt freshman.

Is it time to assert that “the Villanova way” has been proven superior to “the one-and-done way” as the most consistent path to men’s college basketball excellence?

Consider: Starting in 2013-14, Villanova has gone 29-5, 33-3, 35-5, 32-4 and 36-4 while winning two NCAA championships.

’Nova’s 165 wins over the preceding five seasons are better than Gonzaga (161), Kentucky (152), Kansas (147), Duke (143), Virginia (143), North Carolina (142) or Michigan State (135).

Wright has built Villanova into a mini-dynasty by specifically targeting recruits apt to be in college for multiple years.

“We recruit guys that just want to be in college,” Wright said in San Antonio on the Sunday before the NCAA title game. “We want them to enjoy the college experience and then we hope that, after one year of enjoying the college experience, they have a really difficult decision to make that ‘the NBA wants you but you really enjoy college.’ Rather than come to college saying ‘I want to get out as soon as I can.’”

This should not be taken to suggest Villanova is winning without high-level talent.

In Monday’s 79-62 victory over Michigan, the Wildcats started two five-star recruits (junior Jalen Brunson and redshirt freshman Omari Spellman), two four-star recruits (redshirt juniors Phil Booth and Mikal Bridges) plus a three-star (redshirt junior Eric Paschall, a transfer from Fordham).

Another three-star recruit (redshirt sophomore sixth man Donte DiVincenzo) nuked Michigan with 31 points off the bench.

You might notice the culture at Villanova seems to feature a lot of guys redshirting and waiting their turns.

“We’re honest with guys when they come in. They know the upperclassmen in our program are respected,” Wright said. “They know that they’re going to have to earn their playing time. And the guys that choose Villanova usually want that. They want the competitiveness to prove themselves. They want to be to be a part of something bigger than themselves.”

In comparing Villanova to the school most synonymous with the one-and-done — Kentucky — there is an interesting paradox.

You would think that a Villanova program built around experienced talent would prove over time a more reliable NCAA Tournament entrant on a year-to-year basis than Calipari-era UK with its teams perennially constructed around freshmen.

You would be wrong.

Even while making three Final Four trips in the past 10 years, Villanova has also gone out on the first weekend of the NCAA tourney six times while missing the tournament once.

Meanwhile, since Calipari came to Kentucky nine years ago, UK has made four Final Fours — and only gone out on the first weekend once while also missing the tourney one time.

Under Calipari, Kentucky has won 28 NCAA Tournament games. In the same nine seasons, Villanova has 16 NCAA tourney victories.

However, UK’s 28 tournament wins have “only” translated into one NCAA title. Villanova’s 16 Big Dance triumphs have yielded the 2016 and 2018 championships.

After Kentucky made four Final Fours in Calipari’s first six seasons, it has been eliminated in the round of 32, the round of eight and the round of 16 the past three years.

After Duke won the 2015 NCAA title with three one-and-done freshmen in its starting lineup, the Blue Devils’ last three seasons have ended in the round of 16, the round of 32 and the round of eight.

So while it would have looked differently as recently as 2015, it’s hard not to say in this moment that “the Villanova way” has the upper hand on “the one-and-done way” as the most effective route to college basketball excellence.

This story was originally published April 5, 2018 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Has ‘the Villanova way’ proven superior to ‘the one-and-done way?’."