Don't expect a Final Four run from 'Nova

Don’t even bother drawing a correlation between this year’s Villanova first-round scare and the one that occurred a year ago in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

There’s no comparison.

“We were at home,” Wright said after his Wildcats pulled out a 73-70 win in overtime against No. 15 Robert Morris.

“And we were down 14 points. What else could they give you?”

Last year’s struggles against American were far more disappointing due to the circumstances. This season’s squeaker against Robert Morris wasn’t nearly as surprising.

That’s because Wright doesn’t have the same confidence in this group.

The Wildcats, this time around, were somehow handed a No. 2 seed despite losing five of their last seven games.

Leadership and toughness were question marks, and then Wright made the decision to bring starting guards Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher off the bench in an effort to provide a “teaching lesson.”

It didn’t exactly inspire the level of play.

Reynolds and Fisher didn’t combine to make a field goal in the first half. Reynolds was just 2-for-15 from the field in the game, and Fisher managed just six points.

None of Wright, Reynolds or Fisher would elaborate on exactly why the pair was benched to begin the game.

“It was a responsibility that me and Scotty didn’t do as being starters,” Fisher said afterwards. “Coach taught us a lesson, but Saturday we’ll be back in the starting lineup.”

Reynolds was non-committal on whether they would be back starting in the second round this weekend but said that the benching had nothing to do with his shot being off the mark.

“Heck, no,” Reynolds said on whether his struggles were affected by coming off the bench. “It was just me not making shots. You just have those days sometimes.”

Despite his inability to make shots throughout the game, it was still Reynolds — known for his ability to make clutch plays with the game on the line — who came through and nailed a 3-pointer with a little more than a minute left that gave ’Nova a 67-61 lead.

Surprisingly, a Wildcats team that lives and dies with its abundance of guards needed its two big men to put the game away. Maurice Sutton delivered a potentially game-saving block on Karon Abraham, and Mouph Yarou canned all four of his free throws in the final few minutes of overtime.

But it was truly The Great Escape.

’Nova was one play away from making history and becoming the fifth No. 2 seed to dance for only one round, joining Syracuse (1991), Arizona (1993), South Carolina (1997) and Iowa State (2001).

Imagine getting outrebounded by an NEC team by double figures in the first half.

Villanova was down, 42-34, late in the second half.

“It was no surprise,” Villanova senior guard Reggie Redding said after the late comeback. “We knew what we were coming into.”

Give Robert Morris and its head coach Mike Rice credit, but the reason it wasn’t much of a shock to Redding or any of his teammates is because this team hasn’t exactly been performing as a viable Final Four contender of late.

The Wildcats desperately miss Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson and Shane Clark. Even Frank Tchuisi, who hardly played, was one of those “chemistry” guys.

Those guys played hard on both ends of the court, displayed toughness and grew into leaders.

“We lost four good leaders last year who did everything,” Fisher admitted. “This year, it’s a different team.”

One that is difficult to imagine making another run to the Final Four.