Old friends will fade from memory faster than last season’s national title game. Personal anecdotes will be forgotten before the greatest shot in basketball history.
The images are constructed of crystal — Ryan Arcidiacono sprinting up the court, Daniel Ochefu setting a screen, the point guard quickly glancing at Kris Jenkins, then softly shoveling the ball to the trailing forward, elevating into eternity — the buzzer-beating, championship-winning 3-pointer, giving Villanova its first national title in 31 years.
After the explosion of fireworks and confetti and exhilaration, NRG Stadium eventually emptied. Days and weeks and months passed, and next season’s tip-off was nearer than the cutting of the nets.
But how do you return to earth after visiting heaven?
“Winning in that dramatic fashion, it definitely didn’t help,” senior Josh Hart said. “It’s tough. The greatest shot. … When you have a moment like that it’s a little harder to get over that.”
It is harder to move on when the future seems outmatched. It is harder to look ahead when you keep getting dragged back to the best night of your life.
You get stopped on the street and repeatedly are interrupted in the middle of your meals. You attend the ESPY awards and celebrities want to meet you. You go to the White House and receive praise from President Obama.
“We would talk about that that’s in the past and then we’d have to relive it,” Hart said. “Don’t get me wrong, I would rather have it this way than the other way around, but I could only imagine what it’s like for Kris.”
Jenkins is 22 years old and already immortal, his moment of glory set to be repeated each March.
“If I’m with somebody and I say this is Kris Jenkins, their eyes pop and they know who he is,” coach Jay Wright said at Big East Media Day. “I think he’s getting used to it. I think he’s handled it really well.”
Jenkins holds a quiet confidence, present long before the shot ever was released. When the ball fell through the net, he was the least surprised person in the building, perhaps the reason why he moved on well before the rest of the world.
“You have people come up to you and talk about it, but that comes along with it,” Jenkins said. “We’re just focusing on the upcoming year. That’s where all my attention and focus is.
“We have a totally different team. … In all honesty, we aren’t defending champions.”
Arcidiacono and Ocehfu are gone, the four-year stars — and captains — from the winningest class in school history. But the Wildcats are the favorites to win the Big East for the fourth straight season, ranked fourth in the AP preseason Top 25 poll and a strong candidate to become the first back-to-back national champions since Florida (2006-07).
For the returners, the roles have all changed.
Hart is the Big East’s Preseason Player of the Year. The spotlight never will stray from Jenkins. Sophomore point guard Jalen Brunson needs to replace “Mr. Villanova” and live up to every one of the five stars he earned as a recruit. Fordham transfer Eric Paschall — the former Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year — will play meaningful minutes for the first time.
There is enough talent. There is enough depth. There is enough experience.
And after years of underachieving in the NCAA Tournament, there is expectation, too.
“We haven’t had to go into someone’s arena as the defending national champion yet,” Wright said. “We haven’t been in games and been down as defending national champions. … If we’re successful this year, it’s going to be very different way from last year’s team just because these guys are such different guys.”
Enough of the faces are the same. Wright will be on the sidelines, his pinstriped suits only looking sharper in his 16th season with the school. Jenkins will be on the floor, a constant reminder of all that is possible.
So, where do you travel after heaven? Perhaps paradise.
“For all of us who were in that locker room, sitting there, we understood that it is not the end,” senior Darryl Reynolds said. “This is not the summit, and we have to continue to move forward. We have to be excited about how we do that after coming back down. It’s exciting because it’s a new season.
Things can always get better. We didn’t go 40-0 last year.
“Do we talk about the fact that we’re good enough to [win a national championship]? Yes, but we don’t talk about it as a goal. … Every year it’s a different team, a different challenge. You have to know that. You admit that. We’ll find a way.”