Nov. 11, 2005

The Nova Notebook, by Villanova director of media relations Mike Sheridan, appears each week beginning in the fall and continues through the basketball regular season. This week we spend some time with junior point guard Mike Nardi.

Seated at a baseline table just off the court at the Pavilion as the clock approaches 3:00 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon, Mike Nardi is waiting patiently. Dressed in his practice gear, he watches quietly as the Villanova women's team completes its workout.

In many respects this is a fairly typical daily scene. The women's team often completes its practice session in the Pavilion immediately prior to the start of the men's practice.

However, on this day, there is no men's basketball practice session. On an afternoon when he could have been catching up on any number of errands or even just some sleep, Nardi was doing none of those things. Instead, he was under the bright lights of the Pavilion, firing jump shots at the basket in front of the student section.

Over the course of his two plus years at Villanova, Nardi's considerable work ethic has never been in doubt. It is part of what has brought him to this point, as one of the key ingredients on a squad driven by its backcourt. Yet that same push has been known to work against him too.

Indeed, there were moments over his first two seasons on the Main Line that the coaching staff urged Nardi to become more forgiving of his own mistakes. In his quest to become an elite college player, the 6-2 native of Linden, N.J. was frequently his own worst critic. And while none of Nardi's passion has ebbed, he has come to realize that mistakes are just as much a part of the game as pinpoint passes or savvy steals.

"I guess it's a part of maturing and becoming a junior now," he says. "It's hard for me to say that, but I think it's true. You learn from your mistakes and you don't want to be too hard on yourself because you don't have a whole lot of time. It goes very fast.

"You might as well not dwell on the bad stuff. When you make a mistake, you try to understand what you did wrong and learn from it. But you have to stay positive and not keep going over the mistake in your mind."

As Nardi acknowledges, it hardly seems possible that two years have passed since he arrived as a decorated point guard from St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth, N.J. Villanova head coach Jay Wright and his staff turned the keys to the offensive attack over to him upon his arrival and the on the job training was instant.

In his rookie campaign of 2003-04, Nardi held up well, earning a spot on the Big East's All-Rookie team. He was the only Wildcat to start all 35 games and averaged 9.9 ppg. In addition, he connected on .401 of his 3-point field goal attempts.

Yet Nardi wasn't content. The young Wildcats were inconsistent in 2003-04 and the point guard himself was none too happy with his assist to turnover ratio (a team high 130 assists to go with 106 turnovers). So he headed back to the gym in a quest to prepare for year two.

As a sophomore, Nardi made clear strides. His assist to turnover ratio improved greatly (107 assists to just 60 turnovers). He became a force at the front end of Villanova's 1-3-1 full-court trap, disrupting opponents and setting a defensive tone for his teammates. Most importantly, the `Cats turned a significant corner, posting a 24-8 record and advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before being eliminated by eventual NCAA champion North Carolina 67-66.

"It was exciting," he says of 2004-05. "Ending on that note, even though it was sour, kind of gives us the incentive to come back strong this year with everybody back."

As always, Nardi went back into his own basketball laboratory in the summer, both here on campus in open gym sessions and in his native New Jersey. Although he averaged 8.2 ppg and enjoyed a strong offensive effort in the first round NCAA Tournament victory over New Mexico (15 points), Nardi did endure a tougher time shooting from beyond the 3-point arc as a sophomore than he did in his debut. He began the season in a rough stretch and never did fully manage to dig himself out of the hole.

"I worked on a few things this summer," he says. "Obviously, my shooting was one of them. I think I've gotten better with it. Part of it is psychological - moving on to the next shot or the next play. And a little bit of it is technique. I just want to keep using the same motion over and over again.

"I feel like I've improved."

Nardi also spent time honing his ability to break opponents down off the dribble.

"My one-on-one ability off the dribble is something I spent a lot of time on," he says. "We started going towards that at the end of (last) year and that's something I wanted to get better at."

As 2004-05 unfolded, Nardi's role in the offense evolved. The ballhandling responsibility is often shared with backcourt partners Kyle Lowry, Randy Foye and Allan Ray. Each can break foes down off the dribble and also is capable of scoring in other ways. The result is a diverse attack that forces defenses to extend far out to the perimeter.

After spending his first two seasons as one prong of a three-guard attack, there is now a likelihood that Nardi will see considerable action as one component of a four guard system.

"It comes down to doing the little things each and every play," says Nardi of being on the court with Foye, Lowry and Ray, none of whom stands taller than 6-4. "There is a lot of execution we have to do, especially at the defensive end. You have to help and make sure we all have each other's back.

"From my standpoint I really need to rebound more. Obviously when we are playing four guards we don't have another big body out there grabbing rebounds. I also think there is more I can do defensively with steals - just get out in the passing lanes and really pressure the ball a lot more because we have so much quickness behind us."

Although all four guards figure to see ample action, Nardi is encouraged about the new Wildcats who have joined the roster and will serve as reinforcements.

"The young guys add a lot of athletic ability," Nardi states. "They don't have the experience but Dwayne (Anderson), Dante (Cunningham), Bilal (Benn) and Frank (Tchuisi) are all athletic and bring us more depth. I think Dante can give us quality minutes, Bilal is really getting into the flow of things, and Dwayne and Frank can help us too."

Of course, as a byproduct of last season's success come elevated expectations. Villanova is ranked No. 4 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and No. 5 in the Associated Press poll to begin the campaign. Like his teammates and coaches, Nardi tries not to get swept up in it all.

"It's great for the fans to get caught up in that," he says, "but I try to stay focused on what Coach Wright says. We want to concentrate on what we need to do within our own family and get better every day we go to practice."

And, sometimes, even on days when there isn't any practice.