NCAA Sweet 16 - #3 Villanova Demolishes #2 Duke, 77-54 - 1st Win over Blue Devils Since 1958 - Wildcats Return to Elite Eight! (initial recap)

To the Villanova Wildcats faithful-

It was one for the ages.

The third-seeded Villanova Wildcats demolished the second-seeded Duke Blue Devils on Thursday night in Boston, 77-54, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

(Let that sink in for a moment...)

A 23-point victory over Duke in the NCAA tournament.

It was among the greatest Villanova performances of the 21st century.

It was the first Villanova victory over Duke since 1958, and their first victory over Duke in the NCAA tournament, since ousting Duke from its first-ever tournament in 1955.

Villanova allowed just 54 points, the second-lowest output for Duke this season. The entire team defense clicked tonight, crushing Duke's offense and never permitting the Blue Devils to get into a rhythm - Duke shot just 26.7% from the floor (a season-low for field goal percentage). making just 16 field goals. (Thanks, March Madness Highlights on CBS College Sports Channel for that last fact.)

The statistical heroes for Villanova were Dante Cunningham (14 points, 11 rebounds), Scottie Reynolds (16 points, three rebounds), and Reggie Redding (11 points, nine rebounds, four assists).

And in the most crowd-pleasing moments, Frank Tchuisi scored four points against Duke in the final minute.

It's now very much in the realm of possibility that the Wildcats could win the entire tournament. They will face top-seeded Pittsburgh - whom they've already defeated once - on Saturday at 7 PM or so...

This is just the brief, initial recap, but I'll be exploring the various aspects of the victory in a series of posts throughout today... so check back for much, much more, later today...

You can also take a look at the other Villanova blogs included in Various Viewpoints on the right sidebar, for their takes...

Go Wildcats!

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