Feb. 7, 2003

Each week during the school year, VU director of media relations Mike Sheridan takes you inside the Villanova Men's Basketball program with notes, quotes and anecdotes from the Wildcats.

VILLANOVA, Pa. - As Villanova prepares to face Miami on Feb. 8, it has now played 20 games (12-8 overall, 5-2 Big East). With the regular season more than two-thirds complete, the Notebook thought it might be time to get the perspective of head coach Jay Wright on the 2002-03 season.

In this instance, though, we have added a twist. Instead of having the coach address our questions, the forum was opened to alumni, students and fans via vusports.com and villanova.com. More than 35 questions were emailed to the coach this week; the most interesting were selected for inclusion in this feature.

Q: Jay, what were/are your expectation for this year? (wins, etc...) How many years do you think it takes a coach at a new school before his "system" is in place? Submitted by: Chris (Villanova alumnus)

Wright: I really didn't have expectations this year, Chris, because I knew it would be unpredictable how freshmen would mesh with seniors; how they would react to different situations. It's more a situation where we are monitoring things and working hard to try to get everyone to play hard, play together and play smart. I just wanted to see how long it was going to take.

We're still inconsistent in all of those areas.

Q: Does our lack of a highly structured offense put too much individual decision-making on our players? Submitted by: Dick Milner (VU alumnus)

Wright: We might look like we don't have a structured offense, but we are supposed to have a structured offense. I think that's more a result of having a freshman point guard than anything else. But Randy Foye is coming along and I think he's going to be a good one. And we've got another point guard coming.

We also have an older group whose strength never was decision-making. Our experienced players didn't have great strength in that area and our younger players are learning it. That's why we can look unstructured at times.

Q: Do you think allowing our students to sit courtside, similar to the set-up at Duke's Cameron Indoor (Stadium), would increase our team's home court advantage, and if so, would you support, or recommend, a change to this type of a set-up? Submitted by: Chris McCarty (VU alumnus)

Wright: As a coach and active participant in games, I would love to have the students right around our bench. As the coach off the court, and knowing our needs in terms of budgets to compete with the Syracuses, Connecticuts and Notre Dames, I understand why we can't do that at this point. I would support any type of plan that would allow us to maintain the revenue we get from those seats and get the students closer to the court.

Q: Jay, you preach defense and rebounding. Your man-to-man defense has been suspect of late (allowing frequent penetration, too many back-door lay-ups, and frequent wide open looks from three). You were mentored by a guy who was great at switching defenses (Rollie Massimino). Given that the basketball IQ of the average point guard is way down, why is it that you insist on playing almost entirely man-to-man? (switching defenses forces your opponent to think on the fly and makes it tougher for other coaches to scout you - does it not?) Submitted by: Eric Watkins (VU alumnus)

Wright: We just believe that to be a great program you have to be able to play man-to-man defense. If we're going to make our players into the best players they can be, they are going to have to be able to learn to play man-to-man.

Much like the turnovers, we are in the process of continuing to teach a group that had never been a good defensive team to be a good defensive team and teach a group of freshmen how to be good defensive players. We were caught in that transition again.

We are trying to build for the long-term. We don't want a quick fix. We do switch defenses up. We trap and we do have a match-up zone. But I think you have to be a great man-to-man team if you want to be a great program.

Q: Why don't we run a little more of our offense through Ricky? If he touches the ball every time down the floor, he can open up the rest of the team. Why not run him to the elbow, get him the ball, run one of the wings back door (especially if they double)? If the guard is not open on the cut, Fraser would be sitting right there on the block in position to screen for the slashing guard, leaving him open on the baseline. Question is, why isn't Ricky the focal point of the offense? Submitted by: Tom (VU student)

Wright: Rick is the focal point of our offense. Some teams defensively understand that and try to take that away from us. Our leadership on the floor is developing so that we can get Rick the ball more. Also, Rick is learning how to be more of a go-to guy and free himself against defenses that try to take him away.

Q: I am curious as to why we haven't been using Derrick Snowden to cover the likes of a Troy Bell or Jameer Nelson, who are both really quick guards that scored a lot of points against us. In both games, it appears you used everyone but Derrick, and none of the combos seemed to contain either player. I also remember the West Virginia point guard streaking past whoever was defending him, and again we never used Derrick. Submitted by: Nova '97 (VU alum)

Wright: We used Derrick on Drew Schifino (West Virginia) and we used Derrick on Jameer Nelson. So we do try to put Derrick on guards of that caliber. We have great confidence in Derrick as a defensive player. We love his intensity and we need the other perimeter guys to step up defensively as Derrick has.

Q: It is a shame that some of the traditional rivalries in the Big East are not playing each other some years. What is the likelihood that the coaches will consider switching the Big East men's teams schedule to the type that the women's teams use, that is, play every team in the conference once, and some teams in your division twice? Submitted by: Hardy (alum)

Wright: That always is a possibility. It's something that is discussed every year at the Big East meetings. They are always looking to address that subject.

Q: Coach, we sure didn't look ready to play against Saint Joseph's. What happened to the team that played against St. John's, Rutgers & Boston College? I know we use four freshmen....but I believe West Virginia and St. Joe's don't start any seniors. Submitted by: Ed Birchler, (Yardley, Pa.)

Wright: Every team has its own personality. We are going through a difficult time right now. We are not a consistent basketball team. It comes not just from the freshmen but from the leadership of our upperclassmen. It's something all of our players are working on.

Q: Dear Jay, first, thank you for answering our questions. My question concerns Jason Fraser. Obviously, he has the raw talent to be a great player in the Big East. Right now, he seems to lack some of the agility and footwork needed to be a force inside. What types of drills are you working with on him to improve his footwork, agility, offensive game, etc. Thanks for taking the time and beat Miami!!! Submitted by: Tim DeSchriver (VU alum)

Wright: Jay works every day on post footwork. He also works each day on defensive footwork. We do it individually and as a team.

Jay is going to be a good player. We have to be patient. Big men often develop more slowly than perimeter guys. He is going to be a great player here.

Q: Can you comment on the development of the four freshmen at this point in the season? Where have you seen improvements/regressions in their overall games and in their ability to pick up your offensive/defensive systems since the season has started? In particular, could you comment on the play of Jason Fraser and his seemingly inconsistent performances at both ends of the floor? Submitted by: Tom Conroy (VU alumnus)

Wright: I am pleased with all of their development, Tom. Each one has had his ups and downs. But that is to be expected of freshmen. My main concern is that they understand what the main foundation of our program is and that is playing hard, playing together, defending and rebounding. If they can come through this year with that being a foundation for each one of their individual games, I think they can progress quickly in other areas as we move on.

Q: Coach, you have consistently preached pride, heart, rebounding and defense since you arrived here. Are you satisfied with the team in these areas (overall and over the past 3 games)? Submitted by: Gene Stroz (VU alumnus)

Wright: Obviously not in the last three games, Gene. But I think that's the inconsistency of our team this year and that's something we're trying to address. If you don't take care of those aspects of the game every night out, I don't think anything else will matter. We're trying to address having a consistency in those areas each night.

Q: I'd like to know Jay's take on Chris Charles. Is he a player we should expect big things from next year? Or is he just another body that will help our depth? Submitted by: John (VU alumnus)

Wright: Right now Chris is a question mark. He is a guy who didn't play organized basketball his senior year of high school. Last year he had very few practices and this is really his first full year of basketball in the last few years. He's someone I think can be a pretty good player. I just don't have a target date for when that will show.

Q: Coach, do you have a philosophical preference between the kind of over-extending man-to-man that Duke plays or the more conservative stay-between-your-man-and-the-basket man-to-man that Pitt plays? (Strikes me that we played more like the latter last year and are trying to play more like the former recently.) Submitted by: Mike Keffer (VU alumnus)

Wright: That's a good observation, Mike. We are somewhere in-between based on our own performance. We are trying to mesh a group that has potential with a group that has experience but has struggled in those areas in the past. We're trying to find our way in the Big East.

I think any team's defensive philosophy is based on its own personnel and how it matches up against teams in its conference.

Q: I thought Rollie Massimino was as good an X's and O's guy as there ever was. Give him a few days to prepare, especially come Tournament Time, and he'd have his team ready. Speaking strictly about on-court/game preparation, what is one thing you learned under Coach Massimino that you try to use in coaching your team? Submitted by: Gee and Johnny (VU Alumni)

Wright: To make your players understand the concepts of what your opponent is trying to accomplish in a game.

Q: What is happening to the team? They seem to be overwhelmed. Instead of getting better with the experience they are getting, they appear to be getting worse. I had to turn off the game (Monday) evening. I am afraid they are going to have a losing record by March. Do you think that they have been overrated as to their individual abilities? I am totally disappointed this year. I do not expect to see them in the NCAA. Submitted by: Rev. Bob Grodnicki, O.S.A.

Wright: This is part of building a program. We have to endure some tough times together to grow. I'm always concerned that every recruiting class is overrated. Ratings don't mean anything. How you play as a college player determines what kind of player you are.

I'm confident about our future. I like our freshmen and I enjoy going through these difficult times with these guys. I can't promise you when their efforts will turn into wins. But I do know it will happen.