Villanova's star guard reflected Thursday — a day before the 12th-seeded Wildcats played top-seeded Kansas in the Midwest Regional semifinals — on the pivotal choice his birth mother made 20 1/2 years ago in Alabama.

The woman, who Reynolds knows only by name, later gave him up. Rick and Pam Reynolds adopted Reynolds, raising him in Virginia and Illinois.

"Yeah, sometimes I sit back and think about where I am right now," Reynolds said quietly in an interview with The Associated Press. "Without that decision and without the parents I have right now, I wouldn't be in this position and I might not even be alive right now."

Reynolds has made the most of his opportunity in life, just as he and his Villanova teammates have taken advantage of slipping into the NCAA tournament as one of the final teams to get a bid from the selection committee.

The Wildcats' unexpected presence in the second week of the tournament is expected to end late Friday night at Ford Field against the Jayhawks, who are double-digit favorites.

"We've been in that position before," Villanova's Dwayne Anderson said. "Everyone expected us to lose against Clemson. That's something we have, an underdog mentality.

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