To say there's a buzz around Liberty High School this week could be an understatement, as March Madness gets ready to enthrall the nation. For people at Liberty, Bethlehem and the surrounding Lehigh Valley, this year's tournament hits home a little bit deeper as former Hurricane, Darrun Hilliard, has been Villanova's top-player this season.

The Wildcats (32-2) earned a No.1 seed in the East Regional and tip-off against No. 16 Lafayette (20-12) on Thursday at 6:50 pm at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

It's an intriguing matchup between the Big East champions and their Patriot League counterparts, as the local ties between Hilliard playing a school that recruited him during his sophomore year puts the Lehigh Valley on the national scene.

"We played them last season," Hilliard told Philly.com, referring to the Wildcats 75-59 win over the Leopards in last year's season opener. "They're a great team. I know they've got a good point guard and it's going to be a tough matchup.

"I hope the [Lehigh Valley] fans vote for 'Nova Nation. I hope they don't vote for Lafayette, but it's all love."

Liberty head coach Chad Landis has been taking all the fun in as well, making trips to Madison Square Garden three days in a row last week to watch Villanova win the Big East championship, culminating in Saturday's 69-52 victory over Xavier to win their first conference tournament since 1995.

That helped them land their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament since 2006.

Landis doesn't know if he'll be able to travel to watch the Wildcats this weekend, but he certainly will be in tune with their games if he's at home, just like many local basketball fans.

"I don't miss many 'Nova games," Landis said. "It's great to see a kid from Bethlehem have this type of success and also handle it the way he does. I mean he still comes back to Liberty and works out with us and then you'll see him on TV getting interviewed on Fox Sports 1. It's what we hoped for him going into college, but it's also a little surreal too."

The 6-foot-6 senior guard has averaged a team-high 14 points a game this season, to go along with 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 2 assists per game. He was a unanimous first-team Big East selection and was the only player from the conference to garner All-American honors from the Sporting News, as he was named to the second-team.

Coming out of high school as a three-star recruit, Hilliard has blossomed in head coach Jay Wright's team first philosophy.

He's led the Wildcats in scoring his junior and senior campaigns and is their best player this season.

If Villanova can outlast Lafayette on Thursday, they'll move on to play the winner of No. 8 seed North Carolina State vs. No. 9 Louisiana State on Saturday.

"Darrun's a winner and always has been," Landis said. "There are plenty of people around here that are excited for him and he deserves everything he's getting right now. He's worked for it."