HOUSTON — Rollie Massimino walked gingerly down the hallway inside NRG Stadium toward the Villanova locker room. This was not the first such trek he had made following an NCAA championship for the Wildcats, but it was the first time he needed to explain to the gentleman guarding the door who he was and why he was there.
It had been 31 years, and now Coach Mass was part of college basketball history yet again.
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He coached The Perfect Game three decades ago, but now he had seen the greatest title game in the eight decades the NCAA has been staging this tournament: Villanova’s 77-74 victory over North Carolina, a game that concluded with the most impressive 3-pointer the Final Four has seen topped almost immediately by the most consequential shot in the event’s history.