Villanova's new title has nice ring to it

REIGNING national champions.

Has that certain ring to it, don't you think?

And for the next 12 months, it belongs to Villanova's basketball team. The Wildcats, who beat North Carolina in Monday night's final game in Houston, will of course be able to call themselves national champions for the rest of their lives. Nice perk.

"I mean, right now it sounds cool," junior forward Kris Jenkins - whose three-pointer at NRG Stadium just before the horn averted overtime and elevated them onto the victory podium - said Wednesday afternoon at the Davis Center practice facility. "When the (next) season starts, we won't even look at that. Other people will. They'll use that to get ready for us. We just have to add it to the list of things we have to block out.

"One thing about this team, and we did it all year, we never looked a possession ahead. We were always in the moment. We use that term, 'Be here now.' We use that in everything we do. It helped us do this."

And his shot, which was historic the moment it left his hand, was the exclamation point. It even merited a tweet from Christian Laettner, whose straightaway two-pointer from just outside the foul line at the end of overtime gave Duke a one-point win over Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional final at the Spectrum en route to a second straight national title. The Blue Devils star said he was now passing the "crown" to Jenkins.

"That was humbling," Jenkins smiled. "Man, for Christian Laettner (to do that), that's big-time. That's all I can say."

So, did he send a response back?

"No," he said. "I don't think I'm worthy of that. I just looked at the tweet and said, 'That's crazy.' I'm still in shock."

Welcome to their new world.

"I still don't know what to believe," Jenkins said. "We worked so hard, even in previous years. For it to happen the way it did is so special. It's ours, something we'll always have together. They'll never be able to take it away from us. That's pretty cool. It's been fun, humbling and honestly an honor."

And how many times has he seen a replay of the winning dagger?

"A lot," he admitted. "It gets better each time."

Because the ball always goes in.

"Like I think they all are," he quickly added.

Josh Hart, another junior forward, has tried to remain as normal as possible since the confetti fell.

"When we got back, all I did was play Xbox and catch up on the O.J. (Simpson) story (on the FX network)," he said. "I started playing NBA 2K and I looked at the time and it was like 10:30. So I said I'll (watch TV) for the rest of the (night)."

It was, after all, the series finale. Even if, unlike the season, he knew how it was going to end.

"It's definitely going to hit us a little more as time goes on," Hart went on. "The biggest time is when we get that ring and see 'National Champions, Villanova,' on it. Just being able to be called national champions is amazing . . .

"The '09 team (that made the Final Four) was a great team. The teams we had the last two years (that lost in the second round) could have been in this same position we are now. That just shows how tough it is. We're not greater than any of them, not at all. They built this. We were just, sometimes a little luck comes into it."

They played pretty well, too. Ask Miami, Kansas, Oklahoma and UNC, who all were pretty good themselves. But in this tournament, nobody can say they were better than the group from the Main Line. There was nothing the least bit fortuitous about the run.

The Wildcats are always about dealing with whatever's next. Now, the next game is seven months away.

"It's weird, not getting questions about looking forward," Hart said. "Now there's no more games. I'm not sure when we're going to get started (on next season)."

The Wildcats' world has changed. Things changed after 1985, too. Not necessarily for the better.

"I'm enjoying teaching after a win," coach Jay Wright readily acknowledged. "You can't learn how to deal with celebrity, how to deal with success, unless you experience it. We did after our previous Final Four, but not to this level. I've tried to share those lessons with these guys. This can't be what you expect people to treat you as. JayVaughn Pinkston, Darrun Hillard, Tony Chennault, James Bell, those guys were just as important here as they are. They just won a couple of extra games. They just got an extra experience.

"The experience in '09 taught me a lot about the business, about myself, about handling success. We did a lot of good things, but . . . People can tell you about it, but until you feel it, it's hard to know. I don't know what it's going to be like. The last two years we were good enough to win it. (In 2014) we were up 14 (in the first half) against (Connecticut), and that team won the national championship. We don't deserve any more because we won it. You handle it the way you handle it after we lost. The right way.

"We have to define success next year the same way we did this year. If we're the best team we can possibly be by the end, then we've done everything we can do."

And this time, it was good enough for them to stand alone. Until somebody takes the trophy away from them.

@mikekerndn