Speedy Claxton to Jay Wright: Go ahead and win it

Former Spurs guard Speedy Claxton led Jay Wright-coached Hofstra to the 2000 NCAA tournament.

Craig “Speedy” Claxton made history in San Antonio 15 years ago when he came off the bench to spark the Spurs to an NBA title-clinching victory over the New Jersey Nets.

Claxton was on the floor playing point guard in Game 6 of the 2003 NBA Finals when the Spurs slammed the Nets with a 19-0 run to rock the SBC Center.

Later, he helped the city celebrate its second championship.

Tonight, another basketball title is on the line in San Antonio, and Claxton has a rooting interest.

Now an assistant coach at Hofstra, he would like nothing more than to see the Villanova Wildcats beat the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA finals at the Alamodome.

Why Villanova?

Well, it’s simple, really. Villanova’s coach is Jay Wright, a man who helped mold Claxton’s remarkable career.

As head coach at Hofstra in the 1990s, Wright recruited Claxton to the school in Long Island, New York.

Together, they led a downtrodden program to the 2000 NCAA tournament.

As a result, Claxton’s career took off.

He spent the next nine years cashing NBA paychecks after being selected on the first round of the 2000 draft, 20th overall, by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Claxton, naturally, has always been a big Jay Wright fan.

But considering that the NCAA title game is being held in San Antonio, he’d really like to see his mentor win, so the two could share in some personal hoops symmetry.

“I just thought about it when we got on the phone earlier,” he said in a telephone interview with The JB Replay. “Oh, wow, (what if) we both win in the same city?

“I’m going to have to text him and tell him to go ahead and win that championship. That’s pretty dope.

“I’m going to have to text him and say, ‘Go ahead and win it.’ ”

Wright joked with the media covering the Final Four that he started his career with three losing seasons at Hofstra and heard rumblings that he might get fired.

But the coach kept plugging away.

Things started to change quickly when he recruited Claxton, a 5-foot-11 dynamo from Christ the King High School in Middle Village, N.Y.

“You could tell that he was energetic and passionate about the game,” Claxton said. “I came (to Hofstra) because of his off-the-court personality.”

Claxton said he thinks there are two sides to the coach. Off the court and on the court.

Off the court, the coach is charismatic and charming. On the court, he can be intense and demanding.

“Oh, he was very demanding of his players,” Claxton said. “He wants high energy at all times, you know, taking charges. Diving for loose balls. Up in your man’s face on defense.”

What Claxton learned from Wright at Hofstra served him well in the NBA.

“He made me the player that I am,” Claxton said. “When I played (for Hofstra), I played every possession like it was the last, because of him.

“I didn’t just want to get a stop one time down. Or two times down. I wanted to get a stop every time my man had the ball.

“I mean, I took it personal, that I didn’t want my man to score. Like, I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t like my man scoring at any time. Not once. Twice. Any time.”

Claxton has worked on Hofstra’s staff for the past five years, including four as an assistant coach, under Joe Mihalick.

In December, Claxton got an up-close look at Villanova when the Pride hosted the Wildcats off campus at Nassau Coliseum.

“Oh, as you can see, they’re one of the best teams in the country,” Claxton said. “They really have no weakness.”

Two years ago, Villanova entered the Final Four at Houston and broke through with its first national title since 1985 by beating both Oklahoma and North Carolina.

This time, its’s a different feeling for Claxton.

“In the first one, I was excited,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe coach Wright is really in the championship game.’ Now, I expect it. I expect him to win.”

It’s down to two: Villanova, Michigan to duel for a title

The Villanova Wildcats and Michigan Wolverines on Sunday kicked into high gear their preparation for Monday’s NCAA basketball championship game at the Alamodome.

Coaches and players were also meeting with the media.

Villanova coach Jay Wright (pictured, above) talks to reporters Sunday on the eve of the national title game against Michigan.

Wright won his first NCAA championship in Houston two years ago when Villanova topped North Carolina, 77-74.

He’ll get a shot to seize the second crown of his career on Monday night at the Alamodome in downtown San Antonio.

“We are thrilled to be here, obviously,” Wright said. “Every time you come up here, you just kind of pinch yourself, like, we’re still here. This is really cool.”

Villanova forward Eric Paschall emerged as one of the stories of the Final Four Saturday when he hit 10 of 11 shots and scored a team-high 24 in a 95-79 victory over Kansas.

With his performance, Paschall put himself in position to play in his first title game for the Wildcats.

He sat out under transfer rules in 2015-16 when Villanova beat Oklahoma and then North Carolina in Houston.

Michigan coach John Beilein addresses the media at the NCAA Final Four.

Michigan coach John Beilein said Villanova put on an “offensive clinic” against Kansas.

“It was an offensive clinic against a very good defensive team,” Beilein said. “We’re just pleased to be in this forum right now, where we’re playing the last day.”

Michigan advanced to the title game with a 69-57 victory over Loyola-Chicago.

Michigan guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman on Sunday afternoon discussed the impact that coach John Beilein has had on his career.

Abdur-Rahkman came to Michigan as a two-star recruit and worked his way into a starter’s role.

He told reporters that he always appreciated that Beilein treated players who weren’t playing the same way he treated athletes in the rotation.

Abdur-Rahkman will be a key figure in the championship game with his ability to guard the three-point line.

It’s confession time.

On Saturday afternoon, I got myself into a bit of a rush on my way to the Final Four.

Preparing to leave my house, I left my phone charger in the living room.

Once I arrived in the dome press room, I unpacked my gear and discovered the mental error.

Fortunately, my wife was home and, as usual, was more than willing to help me out.

She drove downtown and delivered the phone charger, handing off to me in front of the Express-News building.

I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of having to walk from the dome to the newspaper, and back, but I’m glad I did.

It was a chance to see and hear the sights and sounds of visitors on their way to the game.

In a sense, a mental error allowed me to feel the pulse of the tournament.

It was special.

Villanova hits a record 18 threes to sink Kansas

The record-setting Villanova Wildcats buried six three-pointers in the first seven minutes Saturday night at the Alamodome en route to an easy 95-79 victory over Kansas in the NCAA Final Four semifinals.

With the win, the Wildcats set the stage for a Monday night showdown against the Michigan Wolverines for the national title.

Michigan advanced earlier in the evening by rallying in the second half to down Loyola-Chicago, 69-57.

In the blowout over Kansas, Villanova set a Final Four record for three-pointers in a game with 18.

Villanova also established an NCAA single season record for threes in a season with 454.

Remarkably, the Big 12-champion Jayhawks led only once in the game at 2-0 before the Wildcats started to rain threes on them.

Eric Paschall, Mikal Bridges and Omari Spellman hit three straight from long distance to make it 9-2.

Spellman, Donte DiVincenzo and Collin Gillespie added three more to cap a 22-2 run.

Suddenly, the Jayahwks were down by 18 and struggling.

The struggle lasted for the duration of the half as the Wildcats maintained a double-digit lead though intermission.

Trailing by 47-32 entering the second half, the Jayhawks hit a couple of free throws to cut the lead to 13.

Not to be outdone, Paschall nailed another three to start a 7-0 run for the Wildcats, boosting the lead to 20.

Kansas never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.

Statistics

Attendance in the dome was announced at 68,257.

Villanova continued to bury tournament opponents with its prolific shooting from beyond the arc, hitting 18 of 40 threes against Kansas, increasing its totals to 66 of 156 in five NCAA games.

Paschall, who sat out Villanova’s 2016 NCAA championship run while sitting out under transfer rules, led the Wildcats with 24 points on 10 of 11 shooting from the field and 4 of 5 from three.

Guard Jalen Brunson produced 18 points, including 13 in the first half, to go with a team-best six assists.

The recently-named Player of the Year in college basketball by the Associated Press and the U.S. Basketball Writers also nailed 3 of 8 from deep.

Spellman, a 6-foot-9, 245-pound redshirt freshman, contributed a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Stepping outside, he showed off great touch, hitting 3 of 9.

DeVincenzo was 3 of 5 from deep to go along with his usual energetic play off the bench. He had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

Quotable

“Well, that was just one of those nights, man,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Man, we made every shot to start the game. And when you do that, you get up 22-4, if you’re a decent free-throw shooting team, it’s tough to come back on that.”

Notable

Kansas guard DeVonte’ Graham finished with 23 points and three assist in 39 minutes, and came off the floor with tears in his eyes, having played his last game for the Jayhawks.

Malik Newman, who had 32 points in an Elite Eight victory over Duke, scored 21. But he had only 7 points on 3 of 8 shooting when Kansas was getting blown out before intermission.

Quotable

Graham said coach Bill Self told the players to keep their heads up.

“We had an unbelievable season,” Graham said. “You know, it’s not the way you want it to end. But even if you lost by one point it will still hurt. And we all just need to keep our heads up. It’s going to hurt now but we’ll be all right.”

Self disagreed gently with a question that suggested the season had a “sour ending” with the blowout loss.

“I don’t know if I totally agree with that,” he said. “To me it would be a sour ending if you lost on the last possession. Do you feel better, you know, losing the way we did today or losing on the last possession?

“You always want to perform in a way to put yourself in position to win. But when it’s the last game, certainly it stings and hurts no matter what. I’m really proud of our guys.

“We did not have the perfect roster in many ways to probably win 31 games and win the league in a great league and conference tournament ad get to the Final Four, in a lot of ways.

“And, today, it felt like today it just kind of caught up with us.”