Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby is ready for the blood feud against Villanova on Friday

There are pictures, many, many pictures of Martin Ingelsby as a baby, as a child, with Villanova equipment. Sweatshirts, jerseys, hats, everything with the Villanova ‘V’ drop. Ingelsby was in it. Its name “Ingelsby” hangs from the asparagus of the Finneran Pavilion, where the Villanova Wildcats play their home games. Three of his four siblings are Villanova graduates, including his brother, Brad, the award-winning writer and creator of the HBO smash hit “Mare of Easttown.” His uncle, Ed Hastings, played for Villanova. His father-in-law, Baker Dunleavy, now Quinnipiac’s head coach, was a Villanova assistant.

His father, Tom, is a Villanova legend who is inducted into the School Hall of Fame, was part of the Wildcats starting backcourt with Chris Ford losing to UCLA and iconic coach John Wooden in the 1971 NCAA Championship game. Tom’s number 24 hangs under his name from the roof.

A Friday for 40 minutes from 2.45pm at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Villanova, the basketball team Martin Ingelsby honored will be the enemy. That’s the way Martin, in his sixth season as head coach of Delaware, it will be seen when No. 15 seed Blue Hens (22-12) vs. No. 2 seed Villanova (26-7) in the opening round of the NCAA Fighting Tournament.

Ingelsby, a 1997 Archbishop Carroll graduate who finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer (1,425 points) and a three-year starter at Notre Dame, led the Blue Hens to their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. third in the last 23 years (2022, 2014, 1999, 1998, 1993, 1994) after winning the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament.

Delaware has never won an NCAA Tournament game.

The Blue Hens are also all the time 0-14 against Villanova, losing 78-70 in their last meeting on December 14, 2019.

Maybe that will change on Friday.

Upsets were announced in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. What better person to do it than Ingelsby against what can only be described as an extended family wearing another shade of blue against a local iconic coach, Hall of Famer Jay Wright.

It will just be a weird feeling because Ingelsby comes from a “Villanova family” whose name just hangs from Villanova’s asparagus. Tom would take the kids to the game, park the car at the Radnor Hotel and take the yellow school buses to the pavilion to see the Wildcats.

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been around the game of basketball and sports was a big part of my childhood and if you have a dad who was successful at Philadelphia high school level, and obviously at Villanova, who was in her hall of Fame, you learn about Villanova basketball pretty quickly, “Martin said, laughing. “When I was growing up, I was a diehard Villanova basketball fan. We went to every home game with my dad when we were younger. That was something I enjoyed so much. I remember being in front of the TV in 1985 when I was six was when they won the national championship.

“Villanova was my team. My dad played there. My uncle Ed (Hastings) played there. One of my dad’s best friends, Mike Daly, God rests his soul, he was one of my dad’s best friends, played with my dad at Villanova, and Mike’s son, Mike Daly Jr., is my best friend to this day, who’s like a brother to me, and my brothers, Brad and Tom, and my sister, Christine, are all went to Villanova, so the ties with this place are long.Villanova basketball was really a part of my life.

“I’m a big Jay Wright and Villanova fan, except for the days when they play Delaware. Jay does it the right way. He gets good kids who work hard, and I could not be more proud of what they do there. They were a Model program for me to try to replicate here. My dad always texted me the scout reports (laughs). He’s really excited about it. I know his phone is blown up, with calls from everyone. But my dad’s one of the most competitive. People I know, and he will be excited and ready to go Blue Hens.

In his six years at Delaware, Martin, 43, has a record of 95-86 (.525), including two 22-win seasons in the last two of the last three years. He has the program in a good direction, and he picks talents from the Philadelphia region, whose roots he knows so well. Junior Guard Jameer Nelson Jr., son of St. Neumann-Goretti’s Kevin Anderson, a senior guard for the Blue Hens, is one of the team’s leading scorers (10.8 ppg), as is the 6-9 sophomore forward Andrew Carr (9.9) from West Chester East.

“I’m proud of the program we’ve been able to build here over the last six years,” Martin said. “It took a lot of hard work to get to where we are. Of course, this breakthrough moment can further increase our basketball brand and this university. You are never satisfied. But for a team like us, and a program like ours, you have to spend three days in our Conference tournaments are good because we only get one offer.We will ride this wave and enjoy this moment.

“I’m really proud of these guys. I wanted our team to experience the March madness.

“Villanova did not give me much love (coming from Haverford School),” said Nelson, who may have borne a little residual fear towards Villanova from his father, Jameer Sr. “We have a lot of people who show us a lot of love. On social media. We felt like no one thought we could win the (CAA) tournament. We play together and everyone plays well in their role. We play a great defense of the. They play very similar to UNCW (UNC-Wilmington), but Villanova is obviously better.

“Those guys are trying to drive us, and post us up, and we have to watch. We respect Villanova. We are not afraid of them at all. We have a lot of guys on our team who have played against a lot of their guys in high school. We see these guys are not like everyone else. I’m super excited about it. My dad has not sent me anything yet but I have a good idea how he feels (laughs). It’s a great game. We’re ready to be physical and we they’re ready to be hard, and I’m sure they are too.

Tom Ingelsby and large portions of the extended Ingelsby family will be coming out to Pittsburgh this Friday. Tom and Rose, Martin’s parents, started the week with a full plate. They went to Delaware to see Martin and his Blue Hens, who were selected in the tournament to play Villanova, then ran home in time to win Brad a Critics’ Choice Award for a limited series on national television for To accept “Mare of Easttown”.

“I’m a proud Villanova graduate, but I’m a proud father of his son,” said Tom, 71. “I love Jay Wright. He’s a great guy and a great coach. Every day of the year, except Friday , I’m a cheerleader for the Wildcats. I will not root against Villanova. I will root for my son’s team. At the end of the game, when the Wildcats win, I’m back on board in search of Villanova for to win the national championship. I think Jay Wright runs the best college basketball program in the country. He recruits excellent kids. He trains them. They graduate.

“I’m very proud of Martin and what he did in Delaware. He built the program where he won a championship. My brother-in-law, Ed, is a professor at Villanova, and my brother-in-law, Baker, trained under Jay. There’s Villanova everywhere. I’m very blessed. But this will be a little hard because I’ll be happy with my son in Delaware and I have very close friends who are with Villanova but they wish all my son the best. This will be like a Big 5 game. It will be intense. “

Wright knows the intertwining connections. He also knows that his wildcats run into a hot team.

“It’s cool for everyone else, the fans, but for us they know us,” Wright said at Selection Sunday. “They’re comfortable with us. It’s a challenge, but it would be a different challenge with a different team. That’s just the challenge for this team. I watched (Delaware) and they are really good. They are an experienced Team.They have older guys and they have been together for a while.They fought their way through the CAA.They were up there but they end up playing their best basketball team.

Martin knows the reality of the situation. Villanova is a 15.5-point favorite. The Wildcats and Wright carry national prominence. Delaware is a mid-major. Martin admits, he, his team and the program staff may be the only ones who think the Blue Hens have a shot. Well, she, and Martin’s large family and friends.

But this is a game that can be played in the hotbed of Palestra – and a dangerous game for Villanova. Perhaps no opponent in the first round knows the Wildcats better than Ingelsby and certainly no better than 6-10 graduate student Dylan Painter, who played for Wright and is very close to many former teammates.

“I have immense respect for Jay Wright and I try to keep my team as relaxed as I can,” said Martin. “I love our staff and I love how we finished the season. We have nothing to lose. That’s the great thing about this. We want to put some game pressure with the arena that surrounds the Blue Hens as an underdog. rally and see what happens. We’ll have guys on the court who understand Villanova basketball and the brand that machine. We’ll be honored to be with them on the court. But when we step between the lines, we’re ready to asshole compete.

“I will say that too. I know my guys. They are not afraid of them. One of their guys is now one of our guys. Dylan Painter knows the Villanova culture and how they play like everyone else. Our guys are ready for this. big stage and big moment.They worked hard and they were ready for this fight.And I have to say this, Jay was so great to my dad over the years and he is fantastic with the guys who made that program great.

Wright was still in Hofstra when Martin played for Carroll. Steve Lappas, who took over from Wright, was then head coach of the Wildcats. Ingelsby had many big-time programs recruiting him hard – except one.

“Lappas never offered me a scholarship,” said Martin, who at the time went into a better program, Notre Dame, where he graduated with a degree in marketing. Martin remained at South Bend as part of head coach Mike Bray’s staff for 13 years, the last seven as assistant coach. “Notre Dame was a better situation for me. Back then it was a bitter pill to swallow (that Lappas did not offer a scholarship). My father did not like it. But I would not be where I am if I did not take the course. take what I did.

“We’re excited and relaxed. We have to defend, and we have to be tough. We know they’re coming after us. And after the game I’ll be a Villanova and Jay Wright fan again. For 40 minutes on Friday I will not.

Follow Joe on Twitter: @JSantoliquito