Literary adventurers would identify him as the Fifth Musketeer. To football historians, he is the equivalent of the Fifth Horseman. In terms of musical groups, he is the Fifth Ace, the Fifth Lad, the Fifth Prep, the Fifth Top and the Fifth Season.

The reason Will Sheridan is not an outsider on his Villanova team is that he is the lone inside presence among a cast of perimeter players.

He is tall where they are short, strong where they are vulnerable and the immovable object that complements their irresistible force. The Wildcats may have assembled the greatest quartet of guards in college basketball but they wouldn’t have reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament without him.

“He’s always doing the dirty work,” coach Jay Wright said of his 6-8, 238-pound junior forward. “He keeps battling and battling. Will Sheridan is everything that Villanova basketball is about.”

Still, the honors go elsewhere. To Randy Foye, All-America. To Allan Ray, All-Big East first team. To Kyle Lowry, All-Big East second team.

Even Mike Nardi, Sheridan’s slender 6-2 classmate, receives more attention for his three-point percentage, the best on the team, and his skill in utilizing the strengths of the other guards. It’s as if a media blackout has been declared on Sheridan.

“I don’t mind,” he said last weekend when Villanova (27-4) defeated Monmouth and Arizona to qualify for a regional semifinal tomorrow night against Boston College (28-7) in Minneapolis. “I hate being interviewed. I like not being on camera. I’m not content as a player because I want to get better. But I am comfortable with where I am.”

Even Wright concedes he has overlooked Sheridan at times, citing his failure to mention his 10 rebounds against Monmouth in a game where the Wildcats’ shooting was subpar.

Sheridan earned more than passing attention Sunday when the Arizona big men attempted to shut down the lane against Villanova’s penetrating guards, allowing Sheridan to position himself for layups and short turnarounds. He shot 7-for-8 and scored 16 points, his second-highest output of the season. “I definitely like to come through for my teammates,” he said afterward.

But he doesn’t expect that one performance to change the thrust of the Wildcats’ offense. After all, Foye and Ray totaled 49 points in the victory.

“There are four great guards on my team and it’s an honor and privilege to play with these guys,” he said. “I feel I play a pivotal role. I rebound, screen, hit some open shots. I try to complement the four guards as much as possible.”

Sheridan doesn’t envy their skills or their awards. He is a realist who never dreamed of being a playmaker, of having the game in his hands with the clock running down.

“Maybe if I was from New York, I’d be a guard,” he said with a smile. “I wanted to be a shooter. But in Delaware, I was always the tallest person I knew. So I always played in the post.”

Limited in his on-court movements, he demonstrated his versatility in high school, where he also played baseball and the saxophone, ran cross country, worked on the stage crew and served as a class president. An English and communications major at Villanova, he has performed in talent shows and was an orientation counselor at the start of the school year.

“I wake up a different person every day,” he recently told the Bucks County Courier Times. Yet to Wright and his teammates, he is as dependable as the sun. His value was enhanced after star forward Curtis Sumpter suffered a season-ending knee injury in early November and center Jason Fraser’s balky knees reduced his effectiveness.

That Sheridan signed with Villanova despite the presence of those two formidable frontcourt players said a lot about his maturity.

“I didn’t come with any expectation of playing time,” he said. “I didn’t want it to be easy. I had a good relationship with the coaching staff and it was close enough for my parents to get to the games.”

His parents, Will Sr. and Josie, work for the New Castle County Police Department. Fittingly, Sheridan has become the long arm of the law for the .Wildcats, their last line of defense, the blue-collar specialist in Villanova blue.