Villanova coach Jay Wright picked a Big East rival in his NCAA pool

Villanova coach Jay Wright met with the media in Houston at the Final Four on Thursday and was asked about the significance of being the first school from the new Big East Conference to advance this far in the NCAA tournament.  

Part of his answer was somewhat surprising to say the least.

“In my pool, my family pool, which we do, just in the family, everybody has to pick Villanova all the way through in one bracket,” Wright said. “I had Xavier in my other bracket. I just thought they were good enough, and they are. Just like Kansas is good enough to win this whole thing, just matchups in one game, you know.”

[NCAA mistakenly called South Carolina with tournament invitation]

Villanova won the Big East this season by two games over Xavier and split the season series with the Musketeers, including a win at home by 31 points. Yet, it’s easy to see why Wright has so much respect for Xavier.

The Musketeers were a popular dark horse pick for the Final Four this year after spending much of the season ranked in the top-10. Xavier was upset in the second-round by a Wisconsin team that had plenty of experience back from its run to the national title game last season.

Wright’s comment was a nice tip of the cap to a conference rival and Xavier coach Chris Mack.

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo