Each Friday, Inquirer photo editors pick the best Philly sports images from the last seven days. This week, the Philadelphia Public and Catholic League basketball playoffs were decided, with three of the four champions — Imhotep and Father Judge on the boys’ side and Audenried on the girls’ — picking up where they left off last year. In the case of Imhotep, it was the sixth straight Public League title, while Audenried captured its fourth. Meanwhile, the Archbishop Carroll girls won their first title since 2019. Down at spring training in Clearwater, the Phillies’ Grapefruit League schedule began, giving fans their first taste of baseball in more than four months.
Imhotep Institute Charter players celebrate their sixth straight Philadelphia Public League boys basketball title with head coach Andre Noble (red shirt). They beat West Philadelphia High School, 39-35, on Sunday at La Salle University’s John E. Glaser Arena.
Archbishop Carroll won the Philadelphia Catholic League girls’ championship behind the trio of senior Alexis Eberz (holding trophy), and her sisters, sophomores Kayla and Kelsey Eberz.
Father Judge fans celebrate after their team won its second straight Catholic League boys’ championship. Last year, the Crusaders followed it up with a state title.
Imhotep had a chance to win both the boys’ and girls’ titles, but Universal Audenried Charter and junior Nasiaah Russell took home the school’s fourth straight crown Sunday at John E. Glaser Arena.
Andrew Painter spent most of last season in Lehigh Valley with the IronPigs, where he was selected to represent the Phillies at the 2025 All-Star Futures Game. He’s expected to be a part of the big-league rotation this season.
Phillies shortstop Edmundo Sosa hugs new outfielder Adolis García during Wednesday’s 5-3 win over the Detroit Tigers in Clearwater. The victory was the Phillies’ first of spring training.
Even on the berm at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Eagles fans aren’t hard to find, including this one in a kelly green Saquon Barkley jersey. It was Sunday.
Bryce Lindsay isn’t very superstitious, so he didn’t take Kevin Willard up a few weeks ago when the Villanova coach suggested maybe he should reorient himself in bed and sleep a different way.
Lindsay did, however, take Willard and his family and support staff up on their advice in recent days. Lindsay was 13-for-65 from three-point range in the 11 games that preceded his 15-point effort, behind four triples, last week in an overtime road win over Xavier. The redshirt sophomore guard carried Villanova at times through its nonconference schedule, but being the focus of the opposing team’s scouting report was taking its toll.
“They’re telling me, ‘Go out there and be you,’” Lindsay said Wednesday night after Villanova’s 82-73 win over Butler. “‘Don’t think too much. Focus on defense, focus on the other things, and your shot will come.’”
Lindsay scored 19 points Wednesday and helped Villanova get to 22-6 on the season and 13-4 in Big East play. He went 2-for-6 from three-point range and was 6-for-14 from the field overall and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. It was Lindsay’s first time making six shots in a game since a Jan. 3 road win at Butler. He made six or more in eight of Villanova’s first 14 games before a 13-game drought.
Villanova has fared just fine despite Lindsay’s prolonged slump. But there’s no denying how much easier the offense comes when Lindsay — who shot 40.8% from deep at James Madison last season — is filling it up.
Bryce Lindsay and Villanova are third in the Big East behind St. John’s and UConn.
It did take a bit for Lindsay to understand that there was more to impacting a game than just making shots. This was the first real slump he remembers going through. He had some off shooting nights at JMU last season, but things never snowballed the way they did in recent weeks.
“That was probably one of the hardest things I have ever went through in my life,” Lindsay said. “I’ve never, ever played that bad until now. It comes with the game. When you’re the No. 1 player on the scout, they’re going to try to take you away and that’s what they did. I’m just figuring out ways to maneuver through that.”
Willard would certainly disagree with Lindsay’s assessment of his play, and he spent recent weeks trying to build him up and remind him of that when he noticed Lindsay’s frustration showing up in his body language.
“Sometimes when you’re a shooter and you’re not shooting good and you’re standing on the court and you’re thinking about it, it’s like the worst thing you can do,” Willard said. “Just trying to get them to focus on all of the positive stuff.
“There are times on the floor where he’s plus-8, plus-9, but he’s 0-for-4. You can see his body language. You can see everything going down. But your team is playing well when you’re out there.”
Lindsay, who is averaging 14.3 points over the last three games, was plus-12 in 31 minutes Wednesday night. The advanced stats show a team that has a much better net rating in conference play with Lindsay on the floor.
“In my head I feel like I was playing bad, but in their head I’m not playing bad because [of] the stats, my plus-minus is good,” Lindsay said. “I was always able to make shots, but when I don’t see the ball go in it’s hard.
“These past few games I tried not to focus on it as much.”
His effort Wednesday helped Villanova bounce back from Saturday’s deflating loss to No. 6 UConn in front of a sold-out Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Wildcats built a 14-point halftime lead but started sloppily in the second half and allowed Butler to climb back into the game. The lead was one before Lindsay extended it back to three with a layup with more than eight minutes to play. He again scored inside to bump an eight-point lead back to double digits with four minutes to go, then helped seal the game with four free throws inside the final two minutes.
The fact that Lindsay scored all 10 of his second-half points inside the arc is a positive sign, too. It seemed at times that he was becoming too reliant on shooting threes in trying to break out of his slump.
“Just focusing on other things,” Lindsay said when asked how he navigated it all. “My defense, my rebounding …”
Willard, who was seated at the postgame podium between Lindsay and Devin Askew — who scored 16 points Wednesday — leaned over as Lindsay went on with his answer and circled a stat on the sheet in front of Lindsay.
Focused on rebounding? Lindsay had zero rebounds Wednesday.
The player and coach shared a laugh. After six weeks of slumping, Bryce Lindsay can finally smile.
Inside a sold-out Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday night, Villanova endured a 40-16 UConn run over a 20-minute stretch that turned the biggest home game of the season into a blowout loss.
The loss dropped the Wildcats to 21-6 and 12-4 in the Big East, and, barring the unforeseen, all but ensured them the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, which begins in two weeks at Madison Square Garden.
Just four games separate the Wildcats from the postseason, starting with a home game Wednesday night vs. Butler (15-13, 6-11). A trip to the NCAA Tournament, which would snap a three-season drought, is basically a foregone conclusion, but, as Saturday showed, there are things that need to be corrected if Villanova wants to finish the season strong and threaten to get to the second weekend.
Here are five things to watch in the final four games of the regular season.
The second unit
It was a rough night all around vs. the fifth-ranked team in the country on Saturday, but it was especially difficult for much of Villanova’s second unit. Sophomore wing Malachi Palmer was minus-17 in 18 minutes. Devin Askew, who has provided a big boost as a veteran ball handler and scorer off the bench, was minus-16 in 18 minutes. Backup center Braden Pierce was minus-13 in 11 minutes.
Plus-minus numbers never tell the whole story. But Villanova caused eight turnovers in the first half and couldn’t take advantage in part because the second unit struggled offensively. The two-man game with Askew and Pierce, for example, was ineffective.
Villanova guard Devin Askew and UConn’s Solo Ball fight for possession in Saturday’s matchup.
Pierce has made some strides in recent weeks filling in for Duke Brennan when the starter needs rest. Palmer emerged in the second half of the season as a reliable reserve on both ends. Freshman Chris Jeffrey returned from injury and has occasionally provided a spark. Askew, meanwhile, has been the reason Villanova has won a few games. But the 23-year-old guard is 9-for-44 from the floor (20.4%) over the last five games and has not made up for it by creating efficient offense and generating assists.
Villanova coach Kevin Willard talked recently about needing to figure out which lineups to get out there at the right times now that his team is healthier and the bench has expanded. Perhaps we’ll see some new wrinkles over the next two weeks.
Bryce Lindsay’s shot
Lindsay got the weight of the world off his shoulders when he made 4 of 8 three-point shots and scored 15 points during an overtime win at Xavier last week. Before that, Lindsay was 13-for-65 (20%) in the previous 11 games.
Lindsay’s shooting prowess helped Villanova to a 9-2 start through nonconference play, but when his shot wasn’t falling, it wasn’t as easy to justify playing him 30-plus minutes, which Villanova asked of him when he had it going earlier in the season. Villanova’s offensive analytics are much better with Lindsay on the floor than off, even when his shot isn’t falling. But his perimeter defense can leave a little to be desired in critical moments of the game.
Villanova guard Bryce Lindsay shoots the basketball over UConn’s Malachi Smith on Saturday.
Everything is easier for Villanova when Lindsay’s shot is going in. Willard would probably be wise to try to get Lindsay going over the next four games. The coach said the redshirt sophomore guard was feeling the mental side of his slump but was confident that Lindsay would be a big boost going into the postseason.
Free throw woes
Villanova has missed at least five foul shots in each of its last 10 games. The Wildcats missed eight and almost lost to a Xavier team with five conference wins last week. They missed 13 on Feb. 10 and almost suffered a home loss to Marquette because of it.
After that game, Willard pointed to a young team shooting important free throws in bigger college basketball games for the first time and needing to work its way through it.
Villanova “didn’t come out with enough urgency” after it left the locker room following halftime trailing UConn by just two, leading scorer Tyler Perkins said.
It led to an embarrassing loss in front of the home crowd, and Willard said his team seems to have a better mentality on the road than it does at home.
Villanova guard Tyler Perkins grabs the basketball in front of UConn’s Jayden Ross on Saturday.
“We’ve really struggled at home at times just playing well for good stretches,” he said. “Some of it is a little bit of youth. This is really only our second time in this building. The crowd was unbelievable. They were into it. I think some shots that we’ve been making, we were a little juiced up and missed some shots early.”
He also said that “every once in a while you get your [butt] kicked.” That’s happened only once or twice (depending how you’d classify the home loss to St. John’s on Jan. 17), but the last time the Wildcats were blown out, an 89-61 loss to No. 3 Michigan on Dec. 9, they responded with a dominant home win over Pittsburgh and two tough road wins at Wisconsin and Seton Hall.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Willard said.
Bouncing back starts Wednesday, when the Wildcats have a chance to also play well in front of a home crowd.
The seed line
With a road game at St. John’s looming on Saturday, Wednesday night’s game vs. a Butler team that Villanova blew out on the road on Jan. 3 isn’t one to fool around with.
Bracket Matrix, the website that tracks all of the NCAA Tournament bracket projections, shows Villanova as the top No. 7 seed in the bracket with an average seeding of 7.04. Losing to Butler at home would probably be a seed-line loss, and dropping back into the 8-9 range means the possibility of having to face a No. 1 seed on opening weekend.
There’s some runway left, and moving up a seed line — or two, pending a big run at the Garden — is still possible. It’s just a bad time of year to fall backward.
The Villanova women’s basketball team bounced back from a loss to No. 1 UConn with a 64-39 victory over Marquette Sunday on Senior Night at Finneran Pavilion.
With the win, Villanova (22-6, 14-5 Big East) maintained its second-place spot in Big East standings in a crucial final week of the schedule.
For coach Denise Dillon, Sunday’s game encapsulated the team’s trajectory of improvement across the season. It was a significant turnaround from the Wildcats’ 85-69 loss at Marquette on Jan. 4.
Sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe led the team with 18 points, four rebounds, and seven assists. Graduate forward Denae Carter added 14 points, and freshman guard Kennedy Henry scored 13.
“After the last game, we knew that wasn’t us, and we were ready for this game,” Bascoe said. “We’ve had quite a few in between, but it’s always kind of been in the back of our minds. I couldn’t tell you how excited we all were for this game. The win’s amazing, and we’re so proud of everyone because we fought today.”
Villanova sets the tone on defense
Sunday afternoon’s game was a testament to Villanova’s improvement on defense after giving up 85 points to Marquette (16-11, 10-8) in their previous matchup.
The Wildcats were especially effective in stopping Halle Vice, who dropped 32 points back in January. Vice finished Sunday’s game with nine points.
“We put Denae Carter on [Vice] to start the game, so that adjustment was made,” Dillon said. “Today, [Carter] rose to the occasion and certainly set the tone. I don’t think [Vice] felt that she had any breathing room. Even when she caught it on a kick-out, Denae’s closeout was tremendous. … Those defensive stops are a team positive, but when one person on the ball is setting the tone, it makes it a lot easier for the rest.”
Villanova held a 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Freshman guard Kennedy Henry brought energy on both sides of the ball, scoring a team-high nine points and notching three steals in the first half. The Wildcats forced 14 turnovers from the Golden Eagles in the first 20 minutes, which ended with a 29-18 advantage.
Villanova held Marquette to just 31.7% shooting from the field across the game.
“When we were leaving Milwaukee in January, this group had [this game] circled on their calendar, so they wanted this one back,” Dillon said. “They were locked in to what needed to be done defensively, and certainly executed it.”
Both teams struggled with shooting from outside the arc. Marquette was 2-for-13 from three-point range, while Villanova was 3-for-16.
Seniors go out strong
For five graduating Villanova players, Sunday’s game was their last at the Finneran Pavilion.
“It was a big game for us, but we were thinking about [the seniors] the whole time, so we got our emotions out early,” Bascoe said. “We kind of had to bring it back in. But I’m just so proud of all of them. They’ve done so much for our team, and for me as an individual as well. So I couldn’t be more thankful for all those girls.”
As Villanova led, 60-38, with just over three minutes to play, senior forward Annie Welde came in off the bench. Dillon praised Welde, a Cardinal O’Hara alumna and team captain, for her “commitment to what Villanova’s all about, the community, and making this place better.” Welde cut inside and scored on a layup to finish her career on the Main Line.
Up next
In its final game of the regular season, Villanova will go on the road for another key matchup against Seton Hall on Thursday (7 p.m., Peacock). The Pirates (18-9, 12-6) sit third in the conference.
The Big East tournament, hosted at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., begins on March 6.
Kevin Willard has been pretty proficient when it comes to using his timeouts. The first-year Villanova coach has used them quite a few times this season to stop an opposing team’s run.
He called one 3 minutes, 27 seconds into the second half Saturday, his Wildcats trailing by 10. He called another, less than two minutes later, and another, the last one he had left in the holster, with 10:21 left on the game clock.
“I ran out of timeouts,” Willard quipped after Villanova’s 73-63 loss to No. 5 Connecticut at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Ideas, too.
The final deficit was 10, but the Huskies led by as many as 21 inside of five minutes to play before Villanova chipped away in garbage time and put the lipstick on the pig.
It was — given the lead-up, the 20,261 sellout crowd, the six-game winning streak Villanova carried with it — the Wildcats’ worst performance of the season. When they were ran out of the gym on the road at No. 1 Michigan on Dec. 9, you chalked up a 28-point defeat to a young team still finding its way.
This time felt like more of a reality check.
Villanova guard Acaden Lewis gets his second-half shot blocked by UConn forward Tarris Reed Jr.
Villanova is 21-6 and 12-4 in the Big East and well on its way to snapping a three-year NCAA Tournament drought. But if you were wondering if the Wildcats were in the same tier as UConn and No. 17 St. John’s, the answer to that query was delivered one beautiful UConn offensive set after another, and one Villanova turnover after another.
It was 30-27 Villanova with 4 minutes, 29 seconds until halftime. A Matt Hodge putback in transition off of one of eight first-half UConn turnovers caused Dan Hurley to call a timeout and had the rally towels waving. Unlike Willard’s later attempts at stemming the tide, this timeout was a turning point. UConn outscored Villanova, 40-16, over the next 20 minutes.
“Every once in a while you get your [expletive] kicked,” Willard said.
“Sometimes it’s just, when guys don’t have it going … or they got into us pretty well, and we missed a couple layups, missed a couple free throws … sometimes it just snowballs.”
Villanova made just 6 of its 28 shot attempts over those fateful 20 minutes and turned the ball over six times. The Wildcats shot just 40.7% on the night, including 6-for-24 (25%) from three-point range. They opened the second half trailing by just two points and proceeded to commit a few quick turnovers while also missing their first five attempts from the field.
“We were too soft in the second half to start,” said Hodge, who finished with 13 points. “They came out ready to go, and it’s been a problem a couple games now so we really have to take care of that.”
Willard referenced the slow start Villanova had to the second half against St. John’s on Jan. 17. Villanova eventually found its way back into that game, but on Saturday never cut the deficit lower than eight after UConn’s initial second-half surge. The Wildcats got beaten to almost every loose ball. UConn’s rebounding advantage was 37-24. The Huskies, who shot 55% from the floor and had six players with eight or more points, had nearly as many offensive rebounds (10) as Villanova did defensive rebounds (13).
The game was all but over quickly in the second half, and there weren’t enough timeouts for Willard to find a way to get his team out of it.
“It was very deflating,” Willard said. “Give them credit. They’re an older team, they kind of impose their will on you at times. The game there we did a really good job taking care of the ball.”
Willard is referencing his team’s 75-67 overtime loss at Connecticut on Jan. 24, a game the Wildcats could have won. Among the many differences this time around was Duke Brennan’s ineffectiveness. Villanova’s center had 16 points and 14 rebounds in the first meeting and was held to seven points and a season-low three rebounds Saturday night. Huskies big man Tarris Reed Jr. defended Villanova’s high post action and his pick-and-roll defense limited Brennan’s touches.
“We’ve been playing good basketball,” Willard said. “You just got to bounce back. It’s not the end of the world. That’s a good basketball team, and they’re coming off a tough loss against Creighton. I thought their defensive intensity was so much different than it was against Creighton.
“Sometimes you come off a tough home loss and you go on the road and you can really find a way.”
Villanova won’t have the same luxury, though maybe hunkering down at home and practicing after a forecast snowstorm for much of the region will yield a bounce-back performance Wednesday night at home against Butler (7 p.m., FS1).
Tyler Perkins, who scored 10 points in the first 14 minutes of the game and finished with 15, said the Wildcats will draw on their experience from what they learned after losing to Michigan in December. They responded with an 18-point win over Pittsburgh. A similar result Wednesday night would be a confidence booster before next Saturday’s game at Madison Square Garden against a surging St. John’s team.
“We’ve been through it before,” Hodge said. “We played Michigan and got our [expletive] kicked and bounced back. We just got to stick together.”
Mike Nardi turned 41 a few weeks ago, and considering he arrived on Villanova‘s campus as an 18-year-old freshman in 2003, played under Jay Wright for four seasons, then joined Wright’s staff in 2015 after seven years playing professionally overseas and remained on the bench through the end of last season, Villanova basketball was basically all Nardi knew for most of his adult life.
He was there in the nascent days of Wright’s dynasty as a player and was back on the bench in time to enjoy the two national championships he laid the groundwork for.
Xfinity Mobile Arena has been the site of many memories. Villanova fans still recite Sean McDonough’s “Nardi for three and the lead” call during an ESPN Big Monday broadcast on Feb. 13, 2006, with reverence. Nardi, who had missed the previous two games with tonsillitis, drilled a transition three-pointer from the right wing in front of the Villanova bench during a 22-4 run that erased a 12-point deficit and gave fourth-ranked Villanova its first win over No. 1 UConn in three years.
A year earlier, the building was where Villanova, during a freshman season that saw Nardi make the All-Big East rookie team, announced its arrival on the national stage with a blowout victory over second-ranked Kansas.
Nardi is returning to that building Saturday night. It’s the latest installment of the Villanova-UConn rivalry (5:30 p.m., FOX). But Nardi will be on the visitor’s bench, and he’d like nothing more than to prevent Villanova from getting its best win of the season over his fifth-ranked Huskies.
Mike Nardi joined Jay Wright’s staff in 2015.
“I had a great experience, but the emotions for me now are, ‘Hey, it’s competition,’” said Nardi, who was hired by Dan Hurley to be an assistant coach after Villanova brought in Kevin Willard last year. “I’m competing and I’m at a place where we want to win. The emotions and all of that, I’ve never been a guy to get caught up in that kind of stuff. There’s a task at hand and we want to go there and get a win and that’s the most important thing.”
Nardi already got some of those feelings, if there were any to begin with, out of the way during Villanova’s trip to Connecticut in January. He caught up with Ashley Howard, JayVaughn Pinkston, and Nick DePersia, the only holdovers from Kyle Neptune’s staff; longtime radio voice Whitey Rigsby; athletic director Eric Roedl; and longtime sports information director Mike Sheridan. Then it was all business. Villanova was Nardi’s scouting assignment for each of the matchups this season. He exchanged his pleasantries, said his hellos, and then he helped coach a UConn overtime victory.
“I was sad to see it end, but I landed in a place where, again, it’s like the standard of college basketball,” Nardi said. “I’m working for another Hall of Fame coach, a guy who has won at every level. For me, it’s a great learning experience because I played at Villanova, I coached at Villanova, and besides going overseas and seeing different systems and playing for other coaches, I really haven’t had a chance to branch out and see a different system and learn the game a different way.”
If it were up to Nardi, this story probably wouldn’t be written. He returned a reporter’s call Friday in part, he said, out of respect for Villanova. He doesn’t want Saturday night to be about anything more than UConn trying to go on the road against a good team in a tough environment and get a win in its pursuit of a Big East regular season title.
“I don’t want to make this about me,” he said. “It’s really not Mike Nardi and coming back to Villanova. This is about UConn and Villanova. That’s what’s most important to me.”
Former Villanova coach Kyle Neptune (left) and assistant coach Mike Nardi shown during the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden last March.
It didn’t take very long to get over being on the other side of the rivalry despite all his history with it. The good and the bad. He made that crucial three to earn his first win over UConn in 2006, then watched the meaningful portion of the 2024-25 season end at the hands of Hurley in the Big East tournament, only to have his friend, Neptune, fired a few days later.
Nardi respects winning, he said, and respects excellence. He always viewed Connecticut in that light, from Jim Calhoun’s teams to Hurley’s. It was a good landing spot for him for basketball reasons and because Hurley, he said, respected everything Nardi was about, from playing for St. Patrick High School in New Jersey against Hurley’s father’s St. Anthony, to playing and coaching in the rivalry.
Nardi wasn’t asked to stay by Willard, he said, and never expected to be.
“I never felt slighted. I never felt a certain way,” Nardi said. “I kind of knew there was a slim chance of me being asked to stay. And that was OK. I didn’t take that the wrong way. I think I’m good at what I do. I think I could’ve been an asset, but I never ever looked at it like this is messed up, why aren’t you keeping me? That’s not how this works.”
Hurley, meanwhile, thought Nardi could be an asset in Connecticut. The Huskies are 24-3 after a Wednesday night home loss to Creighton, and they’re pursuing a third national title in four seasons. Villanova, meanwhile, is 21-5, 12-3 in the Big East, and in line to snap a three-season NCAA Tournament drought.
Nardi was happy, he said, that Willard got the job. He wanted the school to hire someone who cared about the program, and Willard fits that description. Part of him is happy to see Villanova back in the mix, but he’s not watching Villanova games in his free time with his old No. 12 jersey draped over his shoulders.
“It’s good to see them doing well,” Nardi said. “It’s obviously good for the league. I think that’s a big piece of it. But I’d be lying to you if I said I was rooting for them. I don’t root for anybody else in the league. I’m rooting for UConn and that’s it.”
If the Melchionni name was not already decorated enough in Villanova history, now it is getting a second chance.
Villanova junior long-stick midfielder Jake Melchionni was a unanimous selection on this year’s All-Big East preseason lacrosse team. Last season, he was named the Big East’s Co-Specialist of the Year — the first Wildcat to ever earn that honor — and to the All-Big East First Team after collecting a team-high 24 forced turnovers, eight goals, three assists, and 49 ground balls.
Sixty years earlier, Melchionni’s grandfather, Bill Melchionni, was a household name in college basketball. He averaged 27.6 points during his senior season on the Main Line and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1966 National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Villanova retired his No. 25 jersey in 1995.
Melchionni was drafted in the second round of the 1966 NBA draft by the 76ers, with whom he won the 1967 NBA title. He also won two American Basketball Association (ABA) championships with the New York Nets and was a three-time All-Star in the ABA, leading the league in assists three times. With the Nets, he played alongside Rick Barry and Julius Erving.
Jake Melchionni, who also wore No. 25 the past two seasons, has the opportunity to carry on his family’s name at Villanova, but this time on the lacrosse field. He remembers going to Villanova basketball games as a kid with his grandfather, and the school has since held a special place for him.
“Just kind of growing up around the Villanova basketball culture with his friends, Coach [Jay] Wright is obviously a good friend of his, always seeing him,” Melchionni said. “And he’s obviously the biggest Villanova person that I know. So I think when I was getting recruited, it’s just knowing that there are people who really love and care about this place. It’s just such a special thing to me.”
Jake Melchionni pictured with his grandfather, Bill Melchionni, at Finneran Pavilion.
Bill Melchionni is partially to credit for his family’s involvement in lacrosse. When Bill was playing in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the New York Nets, he and his family lived on Long Island, one of the most popular lacrosse hotbeds in the country.
“When my grandpa was playing for them, it was the New York Nets,” Jake Melchionni said. “They were living in Garden City, N.Y., which is Long Island, which is obviously the lacrosse powerhouse. So my dad played lacrosse [at] not too young an age, but has played pretty much his whole life. I played hockey and soccer and a couple other sports from a young age, but it’s always really been lacrosse at the forefront.”
Melchionni grew up playing lacrosse in Bernardsville, N.J., after picking up the sport from his parents, Christina and Keith Melchionni. His father played Division I lacrosse at Duke, while his mother played at Trinity.
Melchionni’s father was also a long-stick midfielder.
“He was an All-American at Duke,” Melchionni said.” He obviously knows the game better than anyone. So I think obviously some parents like to give advice to kids and sports, and even lacrosse and stuff like that, but just having a dad who played the same position and knows that position really well, he knows the little things that I did wrong, the little things that I did right. It’s just so easy from a young age to lean on him and just always have him in my corner after games and before games.”
The first time Bill Melchionni saw Keith play lacrosse, he was stunned.
“I never saw a lacrosse game until [Jake’s dad played],” Bill Melchionni said. “So his dad didn’t start playing lacrosse until ninth grade. And I had never seen the game. I had no idea about the game, but I remember the first time I went to see him play, I said to him, ‘This is nuts.’ I mean, these guys are out [there] whacking each other over sticks and stuff, and the goalie’s got no protection.”
It was a large contrast from basketball, which Bill Melchionni is all too comfortable with. But it did not stop him from supporting his family in playing lacrosse.
Jake Melchionni is a junior midfielder for Villanova lacrosse.
“My grandpa, he’s a massive supporter of mine,” Jake Melchionni said. “I pretty much talk to him every day and definitely after every game and stuff like that. And it’s just really fun.”
Recently, the two were seen in the crowd for Villanova basketball’s game against Seton Hall on Feb. 4, where they were shown on the video board during the second half.
“When he comes back, he’s really respected at basketball games,” Melchionni said. “So that’s really cool to see. And it’s definitely something that I think is really cool.”.
With most of the season still in front of the team, Villanova men’s lacrosse coach Mike Corrado saw a large improvement from Melchonni in his sophomore year and expects the same this season.
“He plays long-stick middie, which is kind of a unique position,” Corrado said. “And I’ve coached a long time, and we’ve had some great ones, and they’re usually great with sticks.
“They’re usually really good off the ground. They’re usually very good at transition. And a lot of times, they aren’t the most studious with six-on-six basic base core defensive principles. I would say the area that Jake has improved in the most is his ability to operate in the six-on-six defense. They have the ball, and we’re on defense, and we got to try to stop them. And so he’s definitely improved in that area.”
Villanova is coming off back-to-back seasons in which they lost in the Big East championship game. Melchionni and the Wildcats (1-1) will look to get past that obstacle and earn their way into the NCAA Tournament this time around.
“The Big East tournament, Big East championship is number one on our list,” Melchionni said. “But it’s deeper than that. I know it’s a little cliché to say, but it’s really just focusing on one game. Just the step ahead. I just think it’s getting 1% better every day.”
The NCAA Tournament is coming to Philadelphia for one of its eight opening-weekend sites, and Villanova made sure to plan for the occasion.
The Wildcats hosted four games at Xfinity Mobile Arena last season but scheduled only two home games there this season — the second of which is Saturday evening vs. No. 5 Connecticut. NCAA rules prohibit a team from playing tournament games in a venue where they host more than three home games, and the lowest seeds typically are rewarded geographically with first- and second-round locations.
It was rather ambitious planning for Villanova, given that the Wildcats had a new coach and a new roster and hadn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2022. And it remains lofty even now, after a six-game winning streak has Villanova at 21-5 overall and 12-3 in the Big East. The Wildcats are almost guaranteed to snap that tournament drought, but they remain unlikely to get to a seeding that would reward them with some home cooking in the first and second rounds.
“There is a path,” ESPN bracket master Joe Lunardi said Thursday when asked if Villanova could get as high as the No. 4 line, but when asked how realistic it was, Lunardi said “minimally.”
Lunardi spoke via phone from an interesting location, given the subject of the conversation. He was in Indianapolis, where a mock NCAA Tournament selection exercise with media members was taking place. In his own bracket projection, Lunardi had Villanova 25th as of Thursday morning, otherwise known as the top seventh seed on his big board. The Wildcats were 28th, the lowest possible seventh seed, and slotted in Buffalo to face 10th-seeded Auburn in the first round when the mock committee went through its process Thursday, 24 days from Selection Sunday.
The mock committee ranked the top 20 seeds and placed the last four at-large teams into the field, but it used computers to seed most of the rest of the bracket. Of note, those computer models had Temple, which is tied for sixth in the American Conference, winning its conference tournament and getting into the field.
Back to Villanova and to Lunardi’s bracket … not much has changed since Jan. 28, when we last caught up with him to assess the Wildcats’ tournament path. They were a No. 7 seed then, and while they moved up a few spots on the seeding line, they’re a No. 7 seed as of Friday even after reeling off six consecutive wins following their overtime road loss to UConn on Jan. 24.
Similarly, Villanova was 34th in the NCAA’s NET rankings on Jan. 28 and 29th on Friday. And at KenPom, the Wildcats were 27th on Jan. 28 and 27th on Friday. That is life in the 2025-26 Big East. Six wins in a row doesn’t move the metrics much.
Kevin Willard has Villanova in line for an NCAA Tournament bid in his first season on the Main Line.
“They’re certainly looking the part,” Lunardi said. “The problem is, the dirty little secret, the league standing is flat if not declining.”
The mock bracket on Thursday had just three Big East teams in the field of 68: UConn, St. John’s, and Villanova.
Villanova has just three Quad 1 wins to date: Wisconsin, the road win at Seton Hall, and last Saturday’s road win at Creighton. That game was a Quad 2 game until Creighton knocked off UConn on Wednesday and moved back into the top 75 of the NET rankings. It could slip back into Quad 2 territory if Creighton moves back in the rankings. As it stands, the Wildcats have just two more chances at Quad 1 victories in the regular season: Saturday vs. UConn and next Saturday at St. John’s.
Why are those opportunities important? As of Thursday morning, the top 21 teams in the NET rankings all had four or more Quad 1 wins. NET standings don’t necessarily translate to tournament seeds, but it’s hard to imagine Villanova climbing high enough in any tournament bracket without adding another regular-season Quad 1 win and another one or two en route to cutting the nets down at Madison Square Garden after winning the conference tournament.
What the winning streak has done, though, is shift the floor a little bit. As of three weeks ago, getting a No. 9 or 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament seemed just as likely as a No. 6 seed. Now, a No. 6 seems much more likely than a No. 10.
“Six is a great spot because you should win your first game, and it’s not too heavy of a lift in the second game,” Lunardi said. “And you avoid the one [seed].”
“They’re going to wear white,” he said later, implying that Villanova seems like it’s on a path to be, at worst, a No. 8 seed and be the de facto “home” team in its first-round game.
Home just probably won’t be South Philly. How does a mid-March trip to Buffalo sound?
The Finneran Pavilion was the loudest it had been all season for Villanova women’s basketball as the Wildcats hosted No. 1 UConn on Wednesday night.
The energy in the packed arena intensified at halftime when the unexpected happened: Villanova led the undefeated Huskies by three points. It was the first time all season that UConn trailed at the half.
“The atmosphere that was created was tremendous,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon. “I loved hearing [the fans]. They were here for us. That was the difference, and you felt it from the beginning of the game and carrying through.”
The magic of Villanova’s first half eventually wore off, as UConn pulled away in the third quarter. The Huskies then held a double-digit lead to secure an 83-69 win. Villanova will be back in the Finneran Pavilion on Sunday to host Marquette, which stands fourth in the Big East (3:30 p.m., Peacock).
However, Villanova’s tough stance against the nation’s top team was enough to remind the 41-year UConn coach Geno Auriemma of what he called the “old-school Big East.”
The conference rivalry, which has dissipated since the advent of the NIL and transfer portal era, seemed to have been revived — at least for the moment.
Looking back
Auriemma reflected on the rivalry between Villanova and UConn over the years. Although UConn owns the all-time record 49-7, the longtime coach, who grew up in Norristown, suggested the competition intensified since UConn rejoined the Big East in 2000 after a seven-year stint in the American Confernce.
Now, UConn (28-0, 17-0 Big East) and Villanova (21-6, 14-4) hold the top two places in the conference standings. But the gap between the two programs remains wide.
Villanova’s Jasmine Bascoe finished wih 26 points in a loss to UConn on Wednesday.
“Every mistake we made in the first half [tonight], we paid for it,” Auriemma said. “The crowd was great. The two best teams in the league are playing, it’s a great atmosphere. I love the way Denise does things with her team. As much as I enjoy coming [to Villanova] because a lot of friends and family are down here, I didn’t really miss it those seven years.”
Wednesday’s game was a much different contest than the last time the two teams faced off just over a month ago. The Huskies bulldozed their way to a 99-50 victory on Jan. 15 on their home court.
“It honestly was a train wreck at their place,” Dillon said. “So the growth from a month ago is fantastic. That’s what you want, especially when you have younger players and [Jasmine Bascoe] leading the way, directing out there on the floor.”
After being limited to just eight points in January’s matchup against UConn, sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe was all over the court on Wednesday night. Bascoe scored 18 of her 26 points in the first half. She also added nine rebounds and seven assists, while playing the full 40 minutes.
Carter’s veteran view
In each of Denae Carter’s three seasons at Villanova, a win over UConn was out of sight. UConn recorded 100 points against Villanova for the first time last season and went on to win the national championship. The Huskies were one point away from repeating that in January.
Carter, a graduate forward who joined the Wildcats in 2023-24 as a Mississippi State transfer, is one of Villanova’s few veteran players.
Against UConn, she recorded a career-high 21 points, shooting 8-for-9 from the field and 3-for-3 on three-pointers. She also notched three steals and three blocks while being matched up with Sarah Strong, the Big East’s top scorer.
Villanova’s Denae Carter (left) scored a career-high 21 points agains UConn on Wednesday.
“[Strong] is a great player, and our focus really was just stopping everybody and helping each other,” Carter said. “I think we did a really good job in the first half, and we just have to sustain that.”
With two regular-season games remaining of her college career, Carter is a player the program will continue to lean on.
“I think that maturity came through tonight and she’s tough to take off the floor at any point,” Dillon said. “We’re going to keep [Carter] out there longer as she finishes her career.”
What was once an intense rivalry between UConn and Villanova may not be achievable in the current college sports landscape. But Villanova’s unprecedented first half on Wednesday showed that the program is hungry to change that.
“We have such a great connection,” Carter said. “On the court, we’re able to display that a lot. We have fun together. We’re playing all five out there, and I think Sunday is just going to be a really great opportunity for us to get that one back.”
Alexis Eberz knew she wanted play in the Big East. So when it came down to deciding between Maruqette or Villanova, the Archbishop Carroll senior guard did what most high schoolers do: she asked for her mother’s advice.
“I just told her to pray on it,” said Michelle Eberz, Alexis’ mother.
Her advice came at the perfect time. It was the end of Eberz’s junior year, and she was about to embark on a religious retreat called “Kairos,” which was hosted by Carroll. It was a four-day, three-night retreat at the Malvern Retreat House with no cell phones. It was the perfect opportunity for Eberz to reflect on where she wanted to play college basketball.
“I said, ‘Alexis, listen to me. Go to Kairos and pray on it. You will find your answer,’” Michele said. “And, honestly, it was almost like the pressure melted off her.”
— Archbishop Carroll Girls Basketball (@Carroll_GBball) February 12, 2026
Eberz decided on Villanova and signed with the team in November. Besides getting to play in the Big East, Villanova has always felt like home, which stems for her parents. Michele and her husband, Eric, played basketball on the Main Line and exposed their daughter to the school at a young age.
However, Alexis has forged her own connection to the program and is ready to take her game to the next level. But first, the senior has some unfinished business to take care of at Carroll.
This season, Eberz is averaging 17.5 points and was named Catholic League MVP. The Patriots will face Cardinal O’Hara on Sunday at the Palestra in the Catholic League final, marking their third consecutive appearance. The last time Carroll won a PCL title was in 2019.
No stranger to ’Nova
Long before she picked up a basketball, Villanova has been part of Eberz’s life.
“It’s a parent’s dream that she’s actually not only at [our] alma mater, but so close to home,” Michele said. “So many people know her already before she even steps on campus.”
Alexis Eberz added: “I’m really close with Maddy Siegrist. I would shoot with her and do workouts with her [and former coach] Harry Perretta.”
Learning from Siegrist, Villanova’s all-time leading scorer for men and women, contributed to Eberz wanting to play for Villanova. But it wasn’t the only factor.
“I was around Villanova at such a young age,” Eberz said. “And then I never really went away from it. You’re never going to get that tight-knit community anywhere else. It’s awesome. The players, the coaching staff, everyone’s so nice. That really stuck out to me.”
Plus, Villanova coach Denise Dillon viewed Eberz as an elite addition to the roster.
“I think [what stood out to us] was a combination of the tangibles and intangibles,” Dillon said. “The tangibles being her ability to make shots. She’s a great shooter, great passer, moves well without the ball. The intangibles [being] her toughness. I just think she is a competitor. She doesn’t care who it is: post player, perimeter player, she’s going to battle.”
It also doesn’t hurt that Dillon has been longtime friends and former teammates with Michele.
Their time also overlapped at Villanova from 1993 to 1995. During Michele’s senior season, the Wildcats went 19-9 overall and 13-5 in the Big East.
“The years I played with Denise, we really grew as a team and friends,” Michele said.
Alexis Eberz was named Catholic League MVP this season.
The two even are in a group chat with old teammates.
But Michele and Eric were careful to stay out of their daughter’s recruiting process. They wanted their daughter to make the decision for herself, even if they were rooting for her to be a Wildcat.
“A coach is going to be hard on you on the basketball court, but [Villanova] also cares a lot about developing players into a young woman or becoming successful in school,” said Eric, who played at Villanova from 1992 to 1996. “You know that your coach’s job is to help kids find their path in life, too, and I think Denise does a great job at that.”
‘A really good teammate’
Alexis Eberz has had quite an accomplished career with the Patriots.
During her junior year, she averaged 17.6 points and earned first-team All-State honors. She also was named first-team All-Philadelphia Catholic League, first-team All-Delaware County, and scored her 1,000th career point.
“When [Alexis] was a freshman, she was a very good shooter and had a great IQ for the game,” Archbishop Carroll coach Renie Shields said. “What she’s progressed into was a really good teammate [who] understands more about the game, and that’s just what her continual growth has been: increasing her skill set, shooting, ballhandling, and then now it’s movement without the ball and how to find openings for herself and her teammates.”
She’s one of the senior leaders this season, alongside Ursinus pledge Bridget Grant, who happens to be Dillon’s niece and Eberz’s best friend. Also on the roster are Eberz’s younger twin sisters, Kelsey and Kayla, who are sophomores.
“It’s awesome,” Eberz said. “It’s been surreal. It’s so special getting the chance to play with my sisters. I’m also really blessed, because some people don’t get a chance to play with their younger sisters, so I’ve been really grateful to have that chance.”
With Grant and her sisters, Eberz is leading Carroll to a memorable season, as the team is 19-5 entering Sunday’s matchup. While the Palestra is an arena filled with history and tradition, for Eberz, it represents redemption.
Archbishop Carroll will face Cardinal O’Hara in the Catholic League girls’ basketball final on Sunday.
The Patriots have been to the PCL final the past two seasons, but lost both years.
“There’s no other option,” Eberz said. “I have to win.”
With one final shot at a PCL title, Eberz is looking to rewrite her team’s story.
“Obviously we have a target on our back, being undefeated. … but I think that also gives us more of a reason to want it more,” she said. “It’s just the fact that we played so hard all season, and we beat all the teams so that we can get to this point. I think it just makes us want it more.”
