Villanova vs. Michigan: All eyes on the maestros of the three-point line

Villanova’s Donte DiVincenzo takes a three-pointer during a blowout win over Kansas. (Robert Deutsch/USA Today Sports)

SAN ANTONIO — In the eccentric American art of shooting a basketball in a dome or other football edifice used for the purposes of runaway capitalism, Villanova is the maestro of the 2010s period. That fact lends a geeky fascination to the Wildcats’ title match against Michigan Monday night and Michigan’s excellent unfriendliness toward shooters. A viewer might even keep a digital box score handy on the couch to follow along.

Thirty-two teams have reached men’s Final Fours in the 2010s, in stadiums where play the NFL’s Colts, Texans, Saints, Falcons, Cowboys and Cardinals, plus this Alamodome here. Amid the occasionally debated, alleged bugaboo of shooting in a monstrous cavern, nine of those teams have shot 50 percent or better in a game. The top four: Villanova in 2016, Villanova in 2016 again, Kentucky in 2012 and Villanova in 2018.

“It’s all in the work,” national player of the year Jalen Brunson said Saturday night, in a country where so many basketball players do so much work.

Then he repeated, “It’s all in the work.”

[ Villanova’s Jalen Brunson is a very serious person. Seriously. ]

In its three Final Four games this decade, Villanova has played Oklahoma in 2016 in Houston where the shooting had been somber in 2011, then North Carolina in 2016 in Houston, then Kansas in 2018 here Saturday. Its shooting percentages: 71.4, 58.3, 55.4.

Seven teams this decade have shot 50 percent or better from three-point range in a Final Four game. Two of those were Villanova, and a third Villanova production needs an asterisk.

It shot 61.1 percent against Oklahoma, 57.1 percent against North Carolina and 45 percent against Kansas. Of course, against Kansas, Villanova made a Final Four-record 18 three-point shots, as if possessing some secret.

“No, not really,” Coach Jay Wright said. “Just I think in ‘09 we played in Ford Field (in Detroit’s Final Four) and we didn’t get a practice. It was the first year they put the court in the middle of the field, and we didn’t get a practice on Thursday. And then when we came to Houston (in 2016), they gave us a closed practice on Thursday and then the open practice on Friday. And we had Thursday, Friday and Saturday shooting here and I think it makes a difference. I think it makes a big difference. By Saturday, you feel comfortable.”

Point of information: Villanova shot 32.9 percent in the 2009 national semifinal in Detroit against North Carolina, and 6-for-27 (18.5) from three-point range. Other point of information: As college basketball players clearly learned to shoot at a Houston Final Four between 2011 and 2016, North Carolina shot 53.8 percent in its semifinal with Syracuse, and 42.9 percent in the final with Villanova, but 11-for-17 (64.7 percent) from deep.

In the vast expanse of University of Phoenix Stadium last year, basketballs rolled across rims like tumbleweeds, and only one team (Gonzaga in a semifinal) shot better than 37.9 percent.

[ John Beilein recruited Moritz Wagner to Michigan over a big German dinner and a beer ]

Back in Texas now, Villanova has sizzled, yet one of two strong forces will figure to yield in the final. Michigan’s five NCAA tournament opponents have known the combined gloom of making 18 of 75 three-point shots, and Loyola Chicago got one, of 10.

The “10” was almost as important as the “1,” given that Loyola Chicago averaged 18.6 tries per game. Florida State averaged almost 22 but got 17 against Michigan (and made four), Texas A&M averaged almost 20 but got 15 (and made three) and so on.

“If you just look at the analytics of it,” Michigan Coach John Beilein said, “the three-point, it’s like baseball; people don’t sacrifice bunt anymore, which still bothers me when we don’t sacrifice bunt. But the analytics say do it, go for the three-run homer or the two-run homer. And this is sort of the idea that some teams, that’s what they do.

“And you’ve got to — every coach, every sport, you’re trying to take away what other people do. And we have sort of a plan for that that I won’t share. But I’m not talking about Villanova (as that kind of team). Over the year, we have some different analytical columns we try to fill to make sure we are on the best way the numbers say we can beat a team.”

It looks like a good night to study the box.

Schedule: The national championship game starts at 9:20 p.m. Eastern.

Television: TBS will broadcast the game, just the second time in the tournament’s 80-year history that the finale will appear on cable. The game will be called by Jim Nantz, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery, with reporting from Tracy Wolfson. Pregame coverage will begin at 7, anchored by Ernie Johnson and with analysis from Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg, Kenny Smith and others.

Series history: The schools have played four times before, most recently in November of 2014, a 60-55 Villanova win. All four previous meetings have come at neutral sites, with Villanova leading the series 3-1. The schools haven’t played in the NCAA tournament since 1985.

Fast facts: Villanova will play in its fourth national championship game, and second in three years … The Wildcats are just the fifth team to play in the national title game after winning their first five tournament games by double digits … Villanova now has the most three-pointers of any team in a single NCAA tournament (66), and the most by a Division I team in a single season (454) … Villanova’s 35 wins equaled the school record, set by the 2016 national championship team … Villanova has two previous national titles, while Michigan has one … Michigan’s 33 wins are already a school record … Beilein enters the game with 799 career victories … No Big Ten school has won a national title since Michigan State in 2000 … Michigan is holding opponents to just 58.6 points per game in the tournament, while Villanova hasn’t scored fewer than 64 points in a game this season … Michigan has won 16 NCAA tournament games since 2013, tied with North Carolina for the most in the country.

How Villanova got here:

The Wildcats smashed No. 16 seed Radford in the opening round, hitting 14 three-pointers in a blowout 87-61 win. Villanova led by 21 points at halftime and was never challenged.

The second round was barely more dramatic, a comfortable 81-58 win over No. 9 seed Alabama. That equaled the Crimson Tide’s worst-ever loss in tournament history, and put Villanova into its sixth Sweet 16 under Coach Jay Wright.

Villanova kept shooting it in a 90-78 win over No. 5 seed West Virginia, making 13 more three-pointers. That gave the Wildcats 44 in three tournament games, and put them in the Elite Eight for the second time in three years. Wright said his team showed no fear in the win, and The Post’s John Feinstein thought the performance boiled down to one word: grit.

Villanova overcame one of its worst offensive showings of the season in a 71-59 win over No. 3 seed Texas Tech. The Wildcats shot just 33 percent from the field, their lowest mark since 2015, but offensive rebounds and free throws helped carry the day. Villanova won its 134th game over the past four seasons, the most in NCAA history

Villanova overwhelmed fellow No. 1 seed Kansas, 95-79, in the national semifinal, breaking a 31-year old Final Four record with 18 three-pointers. The Post’s Jerry Brewer wrote that Villanova is the super team college basketball has waited for. And The Post’s Matt Bonesteel noted that Villanova is equally impressive against the point spread, with an amazing run of gambling dominance.

How Michigan got here:

The Wolverines trailed No. 14 seed Montana 10-0 before surging ahead for a 61-47 win.

Their second-round game offered one of the tournament’s most dramatic endings, when freshman Jordan Poole bombed in a long three-pointer as time expired to clinch a 64-63 win over No. 6 seed Houston.