March 24, 2005
By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - As an assistant coach at his alma mater, Ed Pinckney spends a lot of time with the Villanova players, teaching them about basketball, life and everything in between.
The one subject he tries to avoid is the one they most often ask about - he and the Wildcats winning an improbable NCAA championship in 1985.
"I try not to talk to them about it," Pinckney said Thursday. "Any time I talk to the players, it's about present day things. I never reference what's going on with what I did when I played."
It's harder than ever now, with the Wildcats making another run in the tournament. They play top-seeded North Carolina in the semifinals of the Syracuse Regional on Friday night, stirring memories of a victory over the Tar Heels 20 years ago in the regional final that sent Villanova to the Final Four.
Once there, the Wildcats upset Memphis to get another chance at mighty Georgetown, which swept the regular season series with its Big East rival in 1985. In the final, with Villanova playing flawlessly, the Hoyas had no answers.
Much has been made of Villanova's shooting that night - 22-for-28 in the game, 10-for-11 in the second half - but just as important was the confidence shown by the Wildcats.
"Those guys played Georgetown, which was supposedly unbeatable," said Kyle Lowry, a reserve guard on this year's team. "They just went out and played. They never feared anything."
In Friday night's game, the Wildcats aren't as big an underdog as they were in 1985. They had a surprisingly easy victory over Kansas back in January, a couple of weeks after handing West Virginia its first loss with an 84-46 rout.
Then Villanova beat Florida in the second round of the NCAA tournament to advance to the round of 16 for the first time since 1988.
"It's not exactly like me playing Tiger Woods," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams, an avid golfer. "I've got a chance, but it's not a very good one. Wake Forest beat us, and West Virginia beat Wake Forest. Villanova beat West Virginia by 38 points. I think they've got a pretty good chance."
Pinckney does, too. He returned to Villanova in 2003 after working in various capacities with the Miami Heat, and he immediately turned his attention to the post players. One of them is 6-foot-10 Jason Fraser, a junior who has battled injuries throughout his first two years.
In the victory over the Gators, he finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, only his third double-double of the season. He played 30 minutes in that game, the 17th time in 78 games during his career that he's reached that total.
Fraser is slated to start in place of second-leading scorer Curtis Sumpter, who tore his ACL in the first half of the Florida game.
"From Day 1, when coach Pinckney stepped on campus, all the big guys on the team turned into sponges," Fraser said. "He speaks to us 24-7 about everything, about basketball, about life."
Pinckney is just as impressed by what Fraser and his teammates have accomplished in their first trip to the NCAA tournament; this is Villanova's first appearance since 1999.
"My team, we were all seniors and we had been to the tournament before," Pinckney said. "This team, I think they should have a sense of what they've done individually. They've done a great job. If it was my first tournament, my head would have exploded."
Earlier this season, the members of the '85 team came back to Villanova to celebrate the anniversary of their title. It's part of the family like atmosphere started by then-coach Rollie Massimino and continued under current coach Jay Wright.
Former players are welcome at practice and at games, and they often share their experiences with the current team.
"Harold Jensen, Dwight Wilbur, Dwayne McClain, those guys are around Villanova all the time," Wright said. "That's the beauty of coaching at Villanova. Those guys are always there, all of the guys know them. And so they are always a part of this team, and any team that we have, that team will always be a part of it."
