ESPN flashed a statistic towards the end of the 2nd half that superbly illuminated why the game unfolded the way it did, but Bilas, et al failed to pick up on it. I want to highlight it here, because it might be overlooked amid all the hoopla about our amazing rebounding, defense, assertiveness, etc that’s going to emerge in tomorrow’s media:

That stat pretty much explains why Villanova was competitive — even leading — for a while in the first half, and why SU was quickly able to turn things around, and eventually bring down the hammer. 57 straight possessions with only one give away? With a team like this year’s Orange, that’s a recipe for victory against anyone.

If we’re not #1 come Monday afternoon, you can expect a level of indignation as yet unseen from this site. And that’s saying something.