Antonio Pena, Villanova University

This was supposed to be the year the Big East dominated the NCAA Tournament. Instead, three days into the Big Dance, five of the eight Big East squads that made the cut have been sent home before the Sweet 16.

Villanova was the latest to go down, losing decisively to 10-seed St. Mary’s earlier today. Marquette, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Louisville all lost in the first round, while Syracuse, West Virginia and Pitt are the last Big East teams standing.

If you watched ‘Nova struggle to squeak past 15-seed Robert Morris on Thursday, today’s result shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise. The traditionally small ‘Nova lineup couldn’t handle St. Mary’s 6-11 center Omar Samhan, who put up 32 points (13-16 FG), seven boards and two blocks.

Channeling the memory of a past Big East tourney nemesis — former Vermont guard T.J. Sorrentine — St. Mary’s guard Mickey McConnell gave the Gaels the lead on a 25-foot bank shot with about one minute to go. Samhan blocked Reggie Redding‘s shot on the other end, then added two free throws to put his team up five. The Wildcats never got any closer.

‘Nova star PG Scottie Reynolds had another bad game, going 2-for-11 from the field for eight points. In the first round, Reynolds — who came off the bench after coach Jay Wright sat him to “make a teaching point” — scored 20 but shot 2-for-15 from the field.

Like I said after Samhan dropped 29 points in the first round, if he wasn’t already getting attention from NBA scouts, he is now. The senior is a solid 6-11, 260, and can obviously score around the basket. He isn’t much of an athlete, and while he can rebound, he’d have trouble trying to guard quicker big men. But if Hamed Haddadi and Aaron Gray can get NBA jobs, I don’t see why Samhan can’t at least get a look.

As for the Wildcats moving on, Reynolds may or may not get drafted, and his poor tourney performance definitely didn’t help him. He’ll be pegged as a “tweener” by pro scouts — not big enough to play two-guard but not quite a point guard. The biggest things he has going for him are his clutch ability, experience and that he is simply a tough player who makes things happen against the odds. As somebody who wants to see players that were productive in college get their shot, I hope he gets drafted, but I could see Reynolds going on to have a Marcus Hatten-like career overseas.

The only underclassmen on ‘Nova I could see even thinking of leaving early is 6-10 freshman Mouphtaou Yarou. After missing a chunk of games earlier this season after contracting Hepatitis-B when the team traveled overseas to play some exhibition games, Yarou got stronger as the season went on. He posted 17 points, 8 boards and 3 blocks against Robert Morris. He’s got size and NBA-caliber athleticism, but if he listens to the right people, Yarou should know he’s still a year or two away.

To be completely honest, Jay Wright may be the one person at Villanova most likely to be in the NBA next season.