GLEN MILLS, Pa. (AP) — Kris Jenkins owes a Villanova fan a drink. Or maybe a shot as memorable as his in the 2016 national championship game.
At the very least, the next time he’s in the French Quarter, the former Villanova star who sunk a March Madness buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win a national title needs to keep his championship ring more secure on his finger.
“Let’s just say,” Jenkins said, “having a good time can turn into a disaster.”
Jenkins needed about a second to lift the Wildcats past North Carolina to win the 2016 national championship. He needed more than two years to get his prized ring back.
“I didn’t technically lose it,” Jenkins said with a laugh. “I just misplaced it.”
Ah yes, a brain cramp is a common refrain from anyone having a good time anywhere, much less at New Orleans landmark Pat O’Brien’s during the 2022 Final Four. The Wildcats, under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright, reached the Final Four played that year at the Superdome. Villanova players past and present — and of course, thousands of fans and alumni — swarmed the area to root on the Wildcats.
One of them was Jenkins, whose name is forever etched alongside Keith Smart, Lorenzo Charles, Christian Laettner and everyone else who ever made a late game winner to win a big one in March Madness.
At some point that weekend, in one of the few cities where the madness outside the arena often exceeds what’s happening inside for the pinnacle of college basketball, Jenkins showed off his ring and — poof! — somehow it disappeared.
Gone for good?
Not quite.
The ring was recovered somewhere in the bar by a patron who presumed it belonged to someone important — a big clue, the oversized V in the middle of “national champions” on top of the ring and “Jenkins” on the side. So when the person spotted a woman in a Villanova shirt, the bling was handed off to 2014 graduate and fellow reveler Deirdre Keane.
“He said, ‘this one looks important,‘” Keane recalled of that moment.
Think, for a moment, of all the Wildcats who have worn national championship rings. Wright and Jenkins. Rollie Massimino. Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges. Deirdre Keane.
“I was wearing it on my hand all day,” Keane said with a laugh. “It didn’t fit. It was a little big.”
And it was, honestly, she says, her intent to return to the ring to Jenkins. She tried passing it along through another former Villanova basketball player, but when that attempt fell through, well, what’s that expression about possession is nine-tenths of the law?
“I just kind of forgot to keep pursuing to get it back,” Keane said.
Jenkins, who scored 1,382 career points, was too sheepish about the incident to tell anyone he lost the ring. Plus, it’s not like he expected to find it on eBay.
“What can you do with it? You can keep it and try to sell it and do whatever, but at the end of the day, my name is on it,” he said.
Fast forward to October 2022, and Keane’s dad attended a Hudson Valley financial institution’s client appreciation reception with Wright as the keynote speaker. Also at the reception was 1985 Villanova national champion Brian Harrington, who was there when Kevin Keane dropped this doozy in front of Wright: I think my daughter has Kris Jenkins’ national championship ring.
The trio got Jenkins on the phone and he confessed, yes, he lost his ring.
“Yeah, that’s mine,” Jenkins said. “Can I get that back?”
For a variety of reasons, the return process dragged to November 2024 when Harrington and fellow ’85 Wildcat Chuck Everson returned the ring to Jenkins ahead of his duties when the novice color analyst called a St. John’s game for FS2.
“Had that ring gone somewhere else, they might not have been interested in giving it back to Kris,” Harrington said.
Jenkins flashed that ring — a bit more snug, this time — and posed for a photo with Harrington and Everson.
There is a reason the school's fanbase is called Nova Nation — and thankfully for Jenkins, a Wildcat had the ring.
“Of all the people in the world, a Villanova Wildcat? It’s just how we roll,” Jenkins said. “Somehow, someway, we’re just always showing love and looking out.”
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
FILE - Villanova forward Kris Jenkins (2) in action during an NCAA college basketball game with Butler, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014, in Villanova, Pa. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)
