It wasn’t long ago – four years, to be exact – that Villanova coach Jay Wright considered himself a tide turner. He was building a program, and it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Negativity came in. He deflected it out.
It’s different now.
He has turned the program around, demonstrated conclusively by the Wildcats’ thrilling 69-64 win over top-ranked Connecticut on Monday night.
Negative has turned to positive. But as a result, Wright has had to recall some of what he learned in the early stages of his tenure.
Whether Villanova gets a No. 1 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament and how far it goes hinges on many factors, but how well Wright’s team deals with success is an understated yet important aspect. As experienced as the Wildcats are, they’re new to the top of the rankings, to increased media attention, to Big East and national title chatter.
For instance, since Northern Iowa cracked the top 25 in both polls on Jan. 29 for the first time in school history, the Panthers have lost three of five. They didn’t handle the novelty well.
Wright hopes his team is different.
“You learn to respect what the Dukes and the Kentuckys go through every year,” Wright said. “There’s a lot more attention put on your players. There’s a lot more demands on your players.
“You’ve got to keep your values within your family and not let the positive influences become a distraction. In the same way that when you’re not playing well and there’s a lot of negative influences, you can’t let that affect you.”
And from the “timing is everything” department, Wright has to keep an even keel and a steady eye on the immediate future, made more challenging with the announcement of a seven-year contract extension this week.
He’ll keep that in perspective. Keeping his players’ heads on straight is something different.
“Let’s not let this overly positive atmosphere affect us,” Wright said of his message. “We try to handle it the way we’ve handled everything. Now, that sounds all great and it’s easy to say, but you’re dealing with 18- to 22-year-old kids that are on campus with their friends (or) talking to the media maybe 10 hours a day, and they’re with you only three hours a day.”
Upperclassman leadership will help. Four of Villanova’s starting five are juniors or seniors. And sophomore guard Kyle Lowry has displayed maturity beyond his years. One of ‘Nova’s top reserves, forward Jason Fraser, also is a senior.
“This is new for us,” Wright said. “I don’t know if we’re doing a good job or not. We’ll find out in the end.”
Not so fast
The walk in the park that was supposed to be Nevada’s run through the Western Athletic Conference to a second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid is hitting some speed bumps.
Former Ralston Valley High School standout Nick Fazekas saved Nevada (19-5, 9-3) from losing a grip on first place in the WAC on Monday night on a tip-in with 1.3 seconds left that gave the Wolf Pack a 50-49 win over second-place Louisiana Tech (16-10, 9-4).
This has been one of the nation’s best conference races. Four teams are within two games of Nevada for the conference lead. The question is, how many teams will the WAC get into the tournament?
The answer: probably two. If any team but Nevada wins the conference tournament, two teams would be assured, because Nevada would be an at-large selection. If Nevada wins the conference tournament, look for Utah State to get some NCAA Tournament love, as long as it finishes strong. And that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, because Idaho, Northwestern State (a nonconference opponent), Boise State, Fresno State and San Jose State are five of the Aggies’ last six opponents of the regular season.
Shockers on solid footing
With one buzzer-beating, 3-point heave from sophomore guard Matt Brauer, Wichita State beat Creighton 62-61 in overtime on Tuesday, vaulted itself to the top of the Missouri Valley Conference and all but solidified an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament.
At 21-6, 12-4, the Shockers have a one-game lead over Northern Iowa, Creighton and Southern Illinois. More important, they got a much-needed win over one of the top four in the conference. Going into Tuesday’s contest, Wichita State was 1-4 against those teams and 11-0 against the rest of the MVC. The victory over Creighton shows Wichita State is capable of beating top competition, pleasing to the NCAA selection committee.
Footnotes
Yes, Duke’s J.J. Redick broke the NCAA record for career 3-pointers this week, but that’s only part of the story. Redick is closing in on becoming the ACC’s all-time leading scorer, a mark held by Wake Forest’s Dickie Hemric, who scored 2,587 points from 1952-55. Redick has 2,527. … Looking for a threat to surpass Hemric and Redick? Look no further than North Carolina center Tyler Hansbrough,who set a Carolina single-game freshman scoring record with 40 points against Georgia Tech on Wednesday. … Look for vintage uniforms in SEC games for nine days, beginning Saturday. The conference has designated it “SEC Throwback Week,” and each of the 12 teams has chosen an old-time uniform to wear in a game that week. They’ll also wear the throwback uniforms for every game of the SEC Tournament. … Anyone else wondering what’s going on at Arizona, where the Wildcats need a strong finish to ensure an NCAA Tournament bid and key senior guard Chris Rogers (10.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 31 assists) was reinstated after being kicked off the team in January? … Vanderbilt forward DeMarre Carroll averaged 18.5 points and 11.5 rebounds against Kentucky, helping the Commodores record a season sweep of UK. The sophomore averages 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds.
