VILLANOVA, Pa.– Jay Wright was considered the hottest young coach in the country when he arrived at Villanova from Hofstra in 2001 and he expanded his reputation when he coached his Big East team from the Philadelphia’s Main Line to the No. 2 ranking nationally and an Elite Eight appearance in 2006 and a well deserved trip to the Final Four in 2009.
Then the magic in the bottle started to evaporate.
The Wildcats signed a four man recruiting class for the 2010 season that was ranked in the top three in the nation. It included two high profile McDonald’s All Americas– point guard Maliik Wayns from Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High and 6-5 wing Dominic Cheek from St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey City, forward Isaiah Armwood from Montrose, Md. Christian and 6-9 African import Mouph Yarou, who prepped for a year at Montrose. Wright also picked up a celebrity transfer, shooting forward Taylor Knight from Duke.
Three years later, in 2012, the program nearly crashed and burned, stumbling from two early round NCAA exits to a 13-19 record that ended badly with no post season appearance for the first time in eight years. There was no effective leadership in the locker room, no chemistry on the floor and only one of those high profile players– Yarou– was still in the program. Wayns and Cheeks, who were both convinced by their posse they were ready for the NBA–both declared for the draft after their junior year. The nomadic King left for personal reasons and Armwood, dissatisfied with his role, transferred to George Washington.
If nothing else, it taught Wright an important lesson.
Talent can only carry you so far if it not accompanied with players who were totally invested in the success of the program.
Wright has rebuilt this proud program from scratch in the last two years, giving it back the respect it had when All America guards Randy Foye and Scottie Reynolds and future NBA forward Dante Cunningham were in school. The Wildcats are a only ranked team in the newly re-configured Big East, which must find a way to replace marquee teams Syracuse, Notre Dame, defending national champion Louisville, who have or are in the process of leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference; and UConn, which will be the flagship program in the Atlantic Athletic Conference.
When this season began, most of the talk in the new Big East centered around Marquette, Creighton with its three-time All American forward Doug McDermott, Georgetown and St. John’s. But the Cats have barged into the conversation with a 10-0 start. Villanova has gone from unranked and unnoticed to a spot in the AP Top 10 with two huge wins over No. 2 Kansas and 23nd-ranked Iowa to win the Battle from Atlantis in the Bahamas over Thanksgiviing. They followed it up by knocking off three typically competitive Big 5 opponents– Penn, St. Joseph’s and La Salle– by a combined total of 74 points.
Wright is performing one of his best coaching jobs ever with a deep, balanced mix of unselfish players who has grown into a cohesive team that plays for one another and is developing a reputation for making clutch three point shots from various spots on the floor and winning the effort categories– out rebounding taller front lines and playing with the type of relentless defensive energy that is visible by the floor burns they picked up from constantly diving after loose balls.
All this with only one senior starter– 6-6 forward James Bell; just one player– 6-11 sophomore Daniel Ochefu– taller than 6-7 and no lock NBA draft picks.
Villanova is not Kentucky, Kansas or Duke, elite programs currently involved in an arms race to sign the best prospects in the country, even if they are one and dones.
But he has come to the conclusion you can win with Top 75 players from New York City through Washington, D.C. who want to be there and do not think they are doing the program a favor by enrolling.
“Obviously, there’s a certain talent level we look at,” Wright said. “But we really wanted to make sure we found the guys who wanted to be a part of Villanova and wanted to trust how we play and if they’re going to be pros, they’re going to be playing the way we play. They’re going to get their degree. The guys who remained really wanted to be there and the new guys we bought in really wanted to be there.
“That sounds simple, but it’s not always easy to find kids who want to play the way you play, be part of the student body, a part of the program and trust the outcome.”
Jayvaughn Pinkston, the Cats’ powerful 6-7 redshirt junior forward; scored 27 points; and Bell had 25 during a 98-68 blowout of bitter rival St. Joseph’s on Hawk Hill. Bell nailed five threes and the Cats shot 9 for 16 from beyond the arc in a 58 point second half that turned a four point lead into a blowout. .
Eight days later against La Salle at the Pavilion, Nova’s two 17 point scorers combined for just 10 between them. But it didn’t matter. Nova blew away La Salle, 72-51, with another huge second half, getting 21 points from 6-6 junior guard Darrun Hilliard , who is rapidly becoming the Cats’ most complete player; 11 apiece from precocious freshmen Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, who have both sped up their process with their work ethic; and nine from sophomore point guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who is the heart of this team. In addition, guard Dylan Ennis, a confident transfer from Rice, contributed 5 points, 7 assists and no turnovers. The Cats had 20 assists on 25 field goals, which speaks volumes about the depth on this team and their unselfish ball movement.
The Big 5 city series, which has been around since 1956, is one of Eastern basketball’s richest traditions and the tradition been embraced by students, fans and coaches who grew up around the city like Wright, St. Joe’s Phil Martelli and Temple’s Fran Dunphy. But league play in the Big East and big intersectional games precedence over local rivalries at Villanova in recent years.
“I didn’t really take too much notice of the Big 5,” Hilliard said “I didn’t even know what it was until I came in here.”
“You really don’t expect this,” Wright said. “Sometimes our guys not being familiar with all the history is a good thing. Usually it bites us in the butt. Our guys look at La Salle as a team that went to the Sweet 16 last year, and they’re just their next game.”
La Salle was the best team in Philly at the end of last season when they made a surprising trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. But the Wildcats have clearly retaken control.
“They’re an infinitely better basketball team than they were eight months ago,” Giannini said. “Each person on that team is just better.”
Wright can go nine deep with players who can contribute, far more than the inconsistent team that got to the tournament last year on the strength of one special week where they beat two Final Four teams– Louisvillle and Syracuse. The rotation has been markedly improved with the addition of Ennis, a transfer, rejuvenated ;pass first point guard Tony Chennault; and Hart and Jenkins, two prize D.C. imports who were on the floor at the end of the Iowa game, which Villanova rallied to win in overtime.
“These guys–Josh, Kris Jenkins, Dylan–are really starting to give us good minutes,” Wright said. “If you do it one game or two it’s one thing, but when you do it consistently you really start to develop some depth and I think we’re most excited about that with this team.
“It’s productive depth, too,” he added a little later. “It’s really nice to have.”
‘Nova is two wins away from tying its best start in school history. They have Rider Saturday at home and then will get a healthy dose of truth serum Dec. 28 when they play second-ranked Syracuse at the Carrier Dome.
Wright knows now how delicate success can be.
“We’re a jump shot away losing the Kansas game, a three ball away from losing to Iowa,” he said. “But we made them. There’s a value to becoming a team instead of just bringing in good individuals. Jayvaughn, James, Darrun and Tony have been together for three years. They’ve been through a lot. They’re been in college basketball, been in tough games. They’re learned a lot and they know each other well.
”There’s a lot of different ways to succeed in college basketball. The teams we’re seen early– Kansas and Kentucky– we know they’re gooing to get a lot better. We got to make sure we get better, too.”
