The NCAA Championship Tournament and the college basketball season came to a close last night, just in time for opening day of Major League Baseball, with the Villanova Wildcats defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 77 – 74 on Kris Jenkins’ three-point buzzer-beater in the game’s final seconds.
Jenkins’ coolness under fire as he swished the ball came just seconds after North Carolina’s Marcus Paige tied the game with his own three pointer that left the Wildcats with only 4.7 seconds left. They could have won with any basket, but with so little time left, they had little choice other than a shot from beyond the arc.
For the geographically challenged, Villanova is located in Radnor Township, a northwest suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest Catholic University in the state.
Villanova last won the NCAA title in 1985, when they elevated their game well above their eighth-seed status to shock the Georgetown Hoyas.
The Wildcats led the 2016 game by six points with under two minutes remaining, and then appeared to go into a state of shock when the Tar Heels mounted a furious attack that to all observers appeared to be sending the game into overtime until Jenkins’ long-range jumper swished.
