The D.C. Boys


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Published: Mar 25, 2009

Four years ago last fall, Dante Cunningham and Dwayne Anderson arrived on Villanova's campus, both having made the trek from Washington, D.C., where the forwards were high school teammates. Though both had been good, neither were hotly recruited — major scouting services didn't list either among the top 200 players in their high school class. Not that 'Nova could have expected better. The school had just made its first NCAA Tournament in five years. For better or worse, Cunningham and Anderson were Villanova-level talents.

Initially, there was reason to believe that having these two as the face of the program might have been for the worse. In their freshman year, they combined to score under four points a game. The next season, Cunningham emerged as a role player, but Anderson stayed stuck on the bench. Jay Wright, Villanova's head coach, told the reserve swingman in no uncertain terms that he would probably never see big minutes with the Wildcats.

Anderson stayed anyway, and midway through last season, around the same time Cunningham was showing flashes of excellence, the two close friends and childhood neighbors worked their way onto the same starting lineup for the first time since high school. It was around then that the Wildcats turned their season around. Losers of five straight games early in the season, 'Nova ultimately made a surprise Sweet 16 run.

Villanova Athletics

THE INFERNO: We hope Dante Cunningham does very bad things to Duke.

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This season, with both Cunningham and Anderson firmly entrenched, the 'Cats are back in the Sweet 16. But this time, it's not a surprise to anyone. After dismantling a UCLA team that was trying for its fourth consecutive Final Four appearance, the seniors will leave Radnor with more wins than any group of Villanova players, ever. They've been to the tournament every year they've played, and made the Sweet 16 three times. Cunningham is 'Nova's leading scorer, and has emerged as a star in the guard-oriented offense; Anderson has been the glue that holds the team together, dubbed by Wright "the guy we can't play without." Behind Cunningham and Anderson, Villanova has become a program that probably wouldn't recruit Cunningham or Anderson.

Part of this change is talent: Thanks to Wright's tireless recruiting, the current team is stocked with blue chippers like Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes. But a bigger part may be the team's attitude. Thirty seconds into Saturday's showdown with UCLA, Reynolds delivered a hard foul to UCLA star Darren Collison, bloodying his opponent's lip in the process. From there, if anything, the intensity increased. After the game, Collison admitted complaining to the refs that Villanova was "fouling too hard." 'Nova has a toughness that isn't easily recruited at the McDonald's All-American games. It's a quality that stems from the graduating seniors.

Last Saturday, as they played the last collegiate game they'll ever be expected to win, the two forwards offered a further glimpse into what fuels their success. With the Wildcats up more than 20 with just over four minutes to go, UCLA was advancing the ball on a sort of half-fast break. Collison was directing the action, unaware that Anderson was trailing him. Anderson, who later admitted that he was "already exhausted," measured up the guard's dribble before launching himself forward, as if trying to save a falling vase. The forward knocked the ball away from Collison and right into the hands of Cunningham. Seconds later, the pair were on the bench, recipients of the last long in-game standing ovation they would hear from a Philadelphia crowd.

Villanova has morphed from Big East also-ran to national power. Coming into Thursday's tilt against Duke, they're playing as well as anyone in the nation. They're deep and tough, a combination that plays well together.

Can Villanova win the chip? Well, for the second year in a row they're peaking at the right time, and if they play like they have over the last 60 minutes of game time, they can beat anyone in the tournament. A win over Duke Thursday would hardly shock the world.

Will they? No, probably not. For all their strengths, the team does have flaws: Even with all their talent at the guard position, they lack a true point who can create off the dribble; their ball screen offense works well when their shooters are on, but can slow to a crawl when they're not; and as the first half of the American University game proved, they don't always play like they have those last 60 minutes. As talent becomes more and more important in the NCAA tournament — four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four last year for the first time ever, and every 1, 2 and 3 seed has advanced to the second weekend this year — the best teams win. 'Nova still isn't the best team.

More importantly, though, 'Nova has taken yet another step toward becoming a championship program. When this year's crop of seniors departs, it'll be replaced by Duke transfer Taylor King, Roman product Maalik Wayns and star guard Dominic Cheek, all three McDonald's All-Americans. That group will be joined by forwards Mouphtaou Yarou and Isaiah Armwood. Like Anderson and Cunningham, Yarou and Armwood will make the trek up from D.C. together, where they were high school teammates.

No one would mistake these two for unranked prospects, though: Yarou is ranked as high as 14th in his class, and Armwood isn't too far behind. Thanks to players like Cunningham and Anderson, both are Villanova-level talents.

Those 100 victories that Anderson and Cunningham have accumulated are impressive, and it's a credit to Villanova that they had players like the boys from Potomac represent their program. But the truer testament to their value could be Yarou and Armwood. If the next two forwards from D.C. who played with and against each other in high school can commit themselves to Coach Wright the way the last two did, they might just get 100-plus.

E. James Beale is the No. 1 seed at citypaper.net/sports.