VILLANOVA 87

RUTGERS 55

Coaches, like lawyers or politicians or college basketball analysts, can fall victim to an affliction whose symptoms are heard but not seen.

They become enamored with the sound of their own voice. They begin to believe that what they say has never been said before, certainly not in such a brilliant, insightful manner.

The good coaches, the ones players come to trust because they know talk is the cheapest currency, are the coaches who know when not to speak too much.

Villanova coach Jay Wright is one of those coaches. He knew prior to last night’s quarterfinal-round game against Rutgers in the Big East Conference Tournament that there was nothing he could say that would be more powerful than what his players had already seen.

Syracuse 86, Connecticut 84.

The message was sent as loud and clear as if Wright had brought in the horn section of the Villanova pep band.

If Connecticut, the No.1 seed in the tournament, could get taken out in its opening round game by a Syracuse team it had beaten twice in the regular season, then No.2 ‘Nova surely could get whacked by a carefree Rutgers team that took the Wildcats to overtime before falling earlier this year.

“It was simple,” Wright said. “I got up front and said, ‘Hey, you just saw what happened. Everyone’s been talking the matchup with UConn. It’s not to happen now for them. If we don’t beat Rutgers, we don’t have a chance to play anyone either.'”

Villanova – which plays like a fast-spreading rash, getting under your skin on defense and irritating the eyes with a stream of 3’s and stinging drives – pulled away in the second half for an 87-55 win. The Wildcats (25-3) will face the winner of Pittsburgh-West Virginia in tonight’s semifinal.

Rutgers (18-13) was right there at halftime, trailing 34-33, because Quincy Douby of Brooklyn had one of the hottest 20 minutes in the history of this tournament. He had 24 of the Scarlet Knights’ 33 points on 5-of-7 shooting on 3s.

But in the second half he found himself covered by the ‘Nova rash and was held to just seven points. If Allan Ray (26 points) of The Bronx wasn’t running at him, Newark’s Randy Foye was and then came Philadelphia’s Kyle Lowry.

“They have every angle covered,” said Douby, who scored 49 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished eight assists in two games.

The Scarlet Knights could get an NIT berth that would extend the odd tenure of coach Gary Waters, who resigned a week ago Wednesday. Villanova has much grander plans.

In addition to eyeing only the university’s second Big East Conference Tournament title, Connecticut’s loss opens the door for Villanova to get the No.1 seed in the Washington Region of the NCAA Tournament. This talk can distract Villanova from the task at hand, but Wright now has a teaching aid courtesy of the Huskies.

“We watched the game and we saw what happened and we said ‘hey, the No.1 team is out,'” Ray said of Connecticut. “It could easily happen to us. We have to go out there and play hard. We don’t want to be the ones going home. We worked too hard for it.”