April 3, 2003
With the basketball season complete, the Nova Notebook now shifts into its off-season mode. Updates now will arrive monthly instead of weekly. The April edition features Wildcats head men's coach Jay Wright answering email questions that were generated at villanova.com and vusports.com
Q: What are the chances of having a recruit sign during the spring?
David Harnan (alumnus)
WRIGHT: It is a possibility. We always try to keep a scholarship open for a special guy. A lot of times that is a local guy who qualified. We do have our antennae out there. But if we don't bring someone in we feel very good about the recruits we have already signed and the players we have returning.
Q: Based on the inconsistency this year on offense, would you consider reevaluating your philosophy to run more structured sets? Secondly, how do you intend to address the lack of a dominant inside offensive presence next year?
Chris P. (alumnus)
WRIGHT: We were actually more inconsistent defensively than we were offensively. We were inconsistent, however, in both areas. I'm more concerned with our defense and outrebounding people. I think our players will become more comfortable in our system. Our roles will be more defined with the returning players we have. We actually do run sets. We just didn't execute them well enough so that someone could recognize them.
Q: Jay, I happened to have seen a proposed design for the Villanova Basketball and Recreation Center, or at least one of the designs, if there is more than one. Does the fact that there's a design in place mean you're closer to having the facility built, or is this just a formality in the beginning of a long process?
John McLaughlin (alumnus)
WRIGHT: To answer that question honestly all I can say is that I'm not sure. However, I do have confidence that our administration recognizes that this is something that is important for the basketball program, men's and women's. We are all working together to try to make this a reality.
Q: This year there were deficiencies on both sides of the ball that were exposed. What kind of program will each member of the team complete to better prepare themselves for next year (i.e Pete Newell camp for Jason Fraser, etc)?
Aroon Gursahaney (alumnus)
WRIGHT: One of the areas that we hope to distinguish ourselves in as a coaching staff is our off-season instruction program. That also includes off-season summer tours, where players can take foreign trips or go to something like Pete Newell's Big Man camp. A summer program takes money. We need to raise revenue so that our players can make these trips. Alumni need to support these players making these trips. In a lot of instances, facility availability affects our ability to work with guys in the spring and fall. That's why a practice facility is so important.
But our staff is committed and I think the finest in the country at working individually with our players. It is a big part of our program.
Q: Why did we not utilize the press more this season? It seemed as if every time we fell in a deep hole the press brought us out of it, yet we never tried it at any other time.
Brian Cull (alumnus)
WRIGHT: We believe the press is an opportunistic tool. A lot of times in games when you are down it can get you back in the game. But it only wins games a small percentage of the time.
We truly believe that to be a great program you have to be sound in half-court defense and half-court offense. My biggest disappointment this year is that we had to go to the press sometimes to mask our inadequacies in our half-court offensive and defensive execution.
Frank Clark (alumnus)
Q: Besides the violations, what disappointed you most this season? The record? The fans? The seniors? The chemistry? The freshmen?
Brian Cull (alumnus)
WRIGHT: Considering all that we went through - high expectations, disappointment at the end - I thought that our fans were great. We had a good crowd for the Connecticut game at the First Union Center after a difficult St. John's game. Attendance at the Pitt game after receiving bad news was excellent. We can't thank the fans enough for their continued support.
I truly believe our seniors gave us everything they could. Our inability to establish a go-to guy offensively and a defensive mentality hurt us at times.
As I said last year, we will judge ourselves by how we fare in the Big East to judge our progress. We were 8-8 in the Big East and we want to continue to improve on that.
Q: Jay, Now that you have played three games using almost exclusively a zone defense, do you plan to play some zone next year? I realize that man-to-man will be played most of the time.
Denis Fogaroli (alumnus)
WRIGHT: We have always had a matchup zone in our repertoire. We didn't use it much but we have always had it in our arsenal. It's always a necessity that you have it in your program so that you can practice against it at least.
Q: Randy Foye intimated at the end of the season that players on the court weren't doing as they were taught. Do you see this as a problem going forward or was this a valuable lesson learned for our young players?
Bob Destefano (alumnus)
WRIGHT: I think it was a valuable lesson. One of our team's accomplishments this year is that we prevailed through great adversity. We faced injuries and some other problems that can come with building a program that fans might not be aware of. Through it all I thought our seniors have a great respect and love for Villanova University. I think our young people have a hunger and desire to learn in the off-season so that they can return strong and committed next season.
I feel like our momentum was slowed but it is still moving forward. That I see as an accomplishment based on our tribulations of the past season.
Q: You tacitly warned us all year that our team lacked leadership and we saw how that unfolded as the season went on. Can you give an honest assessment of how our team will fair in the leadership department on an ongoing basis?
Dave Van Buskirk (alumnus)
WRIGHT: I can't predict that yet. I do want to make it clear that our seniors tried to be the kind of leaders we asked them to be. I believe that if they had been in our program for four years they would have been much more effective in that quest. They did give us great effort in that area.
We are looking for Derrick Snowden to be an effective leader next year. This is a person we invested in when we got the job here by naming him a captain as a sophomore and I believe he will be a great leader.
Q: What aspect of this past season did you find most enjoyable? Is there any one moment or one experience that stands out as being a personal highlight that brought you a great deal of satisfaction?
Bill K. (fan)
WRIGHT: This probably qualifies as a small thing that would only have meaning to a coach. Something I really enjoyed was seeing a guy like Andreas Bloch go through a large portion of the season not playing yet remain committed to his coaches and teammates. When Jason Fraser was injured, Andreas then got a chance to play and made a meaningful contribution. Andreas felt great about his commitment and his patience. I think the other players saw that if you remain patient and put the time in, good things can happen. As a coach, I was happy that Andreas got his chance and was able to enjoy it.
Q: There have been remarks made that our offense was very unimaginative this year. How would you respond to that assessment?
Tom Werner (alumnus)
WRIGHT: I wouldn't argue with that assessment. We weren't trying to be imaginative and creative. We were trying to be effective. At times we were effective and efficient but overall that is an area that we did struggle in this season.
Q: Jay, how is Chris Charles' health and what will his role be on our team next year?
Paul Kelly (alumnus)
WRIGHT: Chris Charles is 100 percent healthy and we are all very excited about the way in which he took advantage of his redshirt season. I think redshirting is the highest compliment you can give a player. You are telling him you want him here for five years. In a return, it is the player telling you through his commitment that he likes the program and wants to be here for five years.
I really think this is going to be a positive and I hope it's something that other players in our program can take advantage of.
Q: With basketball being our only revenue producing sport and in many cases our only link to far away alumni contributors, when do you think our school administration will wake up and see the light? What are you doing to educate the administration on how beneficial a clean, winning basketball program can be to the school and what can we as fans do to help.
Frank O'Connell (alumnus)
WRIGHT: I believe that everyone, from (university president) Rev. Dobbin on down, understands what you are saying. We are all working hard to put Villanova back where it belongs as one of the elite programs.
Since the time I was an assistant (1987-92), there are areas that need improvement. But we are all working diligently to put Villanova back into its place as one of the great programs of tradition.
Q: First, best wishes for a very successful career at Villanova. (Duke coach) Mike Krzyzewski when asked by a reporter to describe the qualities of great coaches, responded that, "a really good coach allows his best players to showcase their skills." I think I saw the antithesis of coach K's team this year with our best player being compelled to fit into a preconceived system, or risk being benched rather than allowing him to showcase his skills. How do you see it and might you in the future better adjust to the skills of your best player[s]? Bill Nolan Sr. (alumnus)
WRIGHT: Bill, I always appreciate your loyalty and honesty. We can always agree to disagree, which I am going to have to do in this case. But I do agree with coach Krzyzewski's statement.
Q: What is your assessment of this past season (pre-suspensions)? Is there anything you would do differently if you could repeat this season?
Paul Stroud (alumnus)
WRIGHT: There are a lot of things I would do differently in hindsight. But I feel very secure in why we made some of the decisions we did in the pre-season. Looking back on it we understand there were some personnel decisions to be made that might have been handled differently. But that's part of being a coach. You have to try to predict what is going to happen and you also have to try to adjust during the season when things don't work.
We never really had a go-to guy that we could offensively count on. Defensively, we never had that team attitude we needed to get big stops. We would have committed ourselves even more to that mentality earlier in the season.
Q: Have you been watching the NCAA Tourney? If so, do you watch with the other coaches, at home with the family, (or in a dark room somewhere...)? Who do you think will be cutting down the nets?
Peter DePasquale (alumnus)
WRIGHT: I do try to watch all of the games. This year I watched the women's NCAA Tournament more than I ever have before and really enjoyed our women's team's run. I never got to watch Tennessee or Connecticut in women's basketball before this and was very impressed with them. But from a pure basketball standpoint, I think our women play the best basketball in the country.
I watch the men's tournament with my sons. I take notes on a lot of things teams do and also try to evaluate their talent levels to help us make decisions on our recruiting. That's our goal: to get to the Final Four. Those are the people we have to beat.
As for my pick, I like Kansas to win it.
