Jay Wright is punching his ticket to Springfield this tourney

This is Jay Wright’s third trip to the Final Four leading the Villanova Wildcats. Has he already punched his ticket to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame?

It’s been a long time coming, but we really have to give credit where it is due. Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright has built one of the most dominant men’s college basketball programs in the country.

While he has been a fixture in the Big East since 2001, 2017-18 looks to be a year of great importance to him and his program. Sure, Villanova could win its second national title in three years, but just making the Final Four has cemented his college basketball legacy. Wright has in essence punched his ticket into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Though still in his 50s, Wright has plenty of time to improve his already impressive accolades at Villanova. But so far, it just looks so good. Wright has won 67.6 percent of his NCAA games split between Villanova and Hofstra (1994-01). At Villanova, Wright has gone 420-165 leading the Wildcats.

While his 71.8 winning percentage at Villanova speaks for itself, his dominance of both incarnations of the Big East really standout. Wright is 191-103 in conference play, having won the Big East regular season title five times and the conference tournament three times. So far, Wright has made it to three Final Fours, winning it all just two years ago on a buzz-beater off the hands of Kris Jenkins.

More from Section 215

That all-time classic win over the North Carolina Tar Heels certainly put him in the Springfield conversation. However, it has been his team’s utter dominance in 2017-18 that has him all but locked into basketball lore forever. The 2017-18 Wildcats have gone 34-4 (14-4) up to this point. Villanova is the presumptive favorite to win it all when compared to the Kansas Jayhawks, Loyola Ramblers and the Michigan Wolverines.

Adding a second national championship to his résumé would put Wright in rarefied air. He would have more national titles than John Calipari, Tom Izzo and Jim Boeheim, all basketball hall of famers. Should Wright beat Kansas’ Bill Self along the way, he will have beaten a very recent addition to the hall of fame. Self has just one national title in his career. His 2007-08 Jayhawks beat Calipari’s Memphis Tigers.

Next: 3 takeaways from Wildcats' Elite 8 win over Red Raiders

Any way you slice it, Wright just may very well be the best men’s college basketball coach not yet in the hall of fame. He’ll get there one day for sure, but this year’s tournament for the Wildcats was the straw that broke the camel’s back that could have ever hoped to keep him out. You can’t overlook two trips to the Final Four in three years. Two national titles in that span would be impossible to ignore.

Home/Villanova Wildcats