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INDIANAPOLIS – Villanova is on the move.

You remember Villanova. The slow starters who lost to Columbia by double digits at home, coughing up 90 points to the Ivy League, and were 3-4 after seven games. The fallen giant that treaded water at 18-16 last year and 17-17 the year before and by the end of both seasons was nowhere to be found, either in the rankings or the ������Ƶ Tournament bracket. The forgotten blueblood picked to finish seventh in the Big East this season, while never receiving one single, solitary vote in the Associated Press rankings.

Yeah, that Villanova.

The Wildcats lost to Drexel, Saint Joseph’s and Penn last season, Saint Joseph’s again in November. Carry the nation like they once did in the Jay Wright glory days? Lately they can’t even carry Philadelphia. But notice what they’ve been up to. They’re 9-5 and have won six of seven, and Wednesday night put on a display of resilience that can help push a team through a hard, cold Big East winter. Down 13 points to Butler with five minutes left, Villanova turned up the heat on the defense, attacked with abandon and put on a 22-1 final kick that crumbled the Bulldogs 73-65. The Wildcats pounded Butler 43-30 in rebounding and had only six turnovers.

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All that sounds a lot like . . . well, Villanova used to.

“I didn’t even look up at the scoreboard until like a minute was left. We were just locked in, scrapping, fighting, trying to get back in it,” Eric Dixon said, after 28 points kept him the nation’s top scorer. “I’ve said it before, this team is young. Each day that passes by, we’re a little bit better.”

Not that young. Villanova sent out a starting lineup Wednesday of two graduate students, two seniors and a junior. Maybe young to Villanova since three are transfers. Some of the supporting cast is on the kiddie side. Clearly, it has taken a while for the mixture to work, but maybe now it’s trending up. “For us it’s just got to be one at a time,” coach Kyle Neptune said. “We’ve got some older veterans but we’ve got a lot of young guys that are finding their way for the first time in big-time moments. This was good, now we’ve got to move on to the next one. Unfortunately, the Big East is a hell of a league.”

Some would suggest Neptune’s seat is getting on the toasty side. Replacing Wright – a man with two national championships and four trips to the Final Four – was going to be challenging enough. But the Wildcats going 38-37 in Neptune's first 75 games was one way to quickly kill the mood. It must be something of a burden carrying the Villanova brand when things aren’t going well.

“I think having the Villanova across your jersey gives you comfort because you know you have it on for a reason,” said Dixon, who has played 140 games for the Wildcats. “For me, I’m here for a reason, I’m here to do what I can do.”

But as a program, Villanova hasn’t been doing what Villanova is supposed to be. The masses have been getting restless.

“I think our coaching staff did a good job of blocking out all the noise,” Dixon said.

“We’re just getting better,” Neptune said. “Throughout the season our goal is to be the best team we can be by the end of the season. We didn’t start where we wanted to start but we kept our heads up and kept battling.”

And Dixon has kept scoring, win or lose. He had 33 against Columbia, 38 against Maryland, 31 against Cincinnati. His shooting range is out there, but we’re not talking crazed-eyes Hail Marys, since his 26-point average comes on 53.5 percent shooting, including an even 50 from the 3-point arc. “My teammates have faith in me and trust,” he said. “I’ve put in a lot of work and If I look at the rim and it feels good I’ll probably let it go.” Even if occasionally from the next zip code.

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Dixon is atop the nation in scoring and should he finish the season with a 25.0-point average or better, it’d be the first time a Villanova player did that in 52 years. “A lot of people make a big deal out of the scoring,” he said. “But at the end of the day I’m just trying to win games.”

That hasn’t been easy lately for Villanova, including Wednesday. Take away Dixon's 28 points and the 18 of Miami transfer Wooga Poplar and the rest of the roster shot only 8-for-26. But they played defense and rebounded and didn’t buckle on the road. And of course they made their free throws, 14 of 16. The Wildcats have been the Jedi knights of free throw shooting. They became the first Division I program in ������Ƶ history last season to lead the nation in free throw percentage for three consecutive years, and are eighth at the moment this season.

That part of the Villanova tradition hasn’t faded. The overall record has, though, and they’re trying to rectify that before their coach runs out of time. So far, so good in 2025.