Villanova Wildcats at Finneran Pavilion
The Main Line of suburban Philadelphia is home to one of the most successful teams in the Big 5, the Big East and the nation. The Villanova Wildcats play at the William B. Finneran Pavilion, which originally opened in 1986 but was completely renovated during the 2017-18 season, and currently seats 6,500. The 20,478-seat Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia hosts several important Villanova home games each season, and was the full-time home for the Cats during the Pavilion renovation.
Villanova Wildcats Men's Basketball History
Villanova University first fielded a men's basketball team in 1921, and eventually became a mainstay in Philadelphia-area college hoops as one of the Philadelphia Big 5. The informal conference (which also includes Temple, St. Joseph's, La Salle and Penn) plays each other in a round-robin format each season, with Villanova winning over two dozen Big 5 championships since its inception in 1955. The Wildcats have won three NCAA championships, in addition to a since-vacated appearance in the 1971 national championship game. In 1985, Rollie Massimino led Ed Pinckney, Dwayne McClain and the Wildcats to their first title in dramatic fashion, holding off reigning champion Georgetown 66-64 in the greatest upset in championship history.
In 2013, the Big East Conference split, with the football-centric programs forming the American Athletic Conference and the remaining "Catholic Seven" (including Villanova) forming the core of the "new" Big East. Villanova has dominated both Philadelphia-area basketball and the Big East in recent years, with the Wildcats closing out the 2010's by winning the Big East tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and the regular season conference title in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Villanova shocked the world again in 2016, when Kris Jenkins made a game-winning three-pointer which gave the Cats a 77-74 victory over North Carolina to garner their second championship. The Wildcats' third title run was more dominant, with Villanova winning each game in the 2018 NCAA tournament by at least 12 points, including a 79-62 beatdown of Michigan in the final.
