Sept. 8, 2006
The Nova Notebook, by Villanova director of media relations Mike Sheridan, appears each Friday from September through February and monthly from April through in August. This week we offer the second of our five portraits of Villanova Men's Basketball newcomers as we visit with Scottie Reynolds.
Surrounded by microphones and cameras at media day for the prestigious McDonald's High School All-American team in San Diego last March, Scottie Reynolds had much to smile about. Only two years removed from relative anonymity at Herndon (Va.) High School, the 6-0 guard had authored a brilliant senior season in 2005-06, landing him a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma and a berth in this elite event.
The visit to California figured to be the capstone to a wonderful prep career.
And then Reynolds' looked down and noticed that he had missed a cell phone call. When he saw that the number belonged to Kelvin Sampson, his heart sank. Reports had begun to swirl that Sampson would be leaving the Sooners to take over as head coach at Indiana.
"When I heard Coach Sampson say `I have some bad news', I knew what it meant," Reynolds says.
Prior to the start of his senior season at Herndon, Reynolds had signed a national letter of intent to attend Oklahoma. It was one of the programs that had pursued him most ardently and Reynolds was pleased to have that decision settled. However, when Sampson accepted the Indiana job, Reynolds felt suddenly adrift.
"It came as a total shock," he says. "Once he told me that, I was speechless. I honestly didn't say anything the whole conversation."
Reynolds' support system - which includes his parents, Rick and Pam Reynolds, six siblings and his high school coach, Gary Hall - did all it could to ease his anxiety.
"Coach Hall was out there with me," Reynolds says, "and he just jumped into a cab and came over after he heard the news."
Thus began a period of soul searching Reynolds never anticipated. Soon, after consulting with his parents and Hall, he elected to re-open his recruitment. New Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel released Reynolds from the letter of intent and suddenly the guard was back to mulling his options regarding his collegiate future.
The good news was that Reynolds didn't lack for options. The Sooners still wanted Reynolds as did a host of other schools, including the University of Michigan. So too, as fate would have it, did Villanova.
Head coach Jay Wright and his staff had always admired Reynolds from afar. They liked his tenacity and ability to make plays. But in the summer of 2005 the Wildcats were seemingly set at the point guard position with both Mike Nardi and Kyle Lowry prepared to begin their junior and sophomore seasons, respectively.
The `Cats eye-catching 2005-06 campaign, though, changed the equation. Lowry became a National Basketball Association prospect and eventually was taken in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies. Reynolds, meanwhile, watched the Wildcats and took a liking to the guard-oriented engine that drove Villanova to a Big East regular season title.
"I liked watching them and the way they played," Reynolds says.
The more the two parties learned about one another, the more each liked the other. Villanova's staff heard about a pleasant young man who was revered on and off the court at his high school. And Reynolds appreciated the family atmosphere and proximity to his roots that this program afforded him.
Reynolds studied the choices closely before making the call for the `Cats. He thus becomes the second McDonald's All-American of Wright's tenure as head coach, joining Jason Fraser in that department. His addition adds a vital second point guard to the roster along with Nardi and should help cushion the blow of Lowry's early exit.
"It's gone great," he says of his transition to campus. "It was a little different for me at the beginning. Most of the other freshmen were a little more familiar to the team - they're from the area or knew some of the guys from camps. I didn't really know that many guys when I got here but everyone has been great. It's a real close group and it's fun to be a part of that."
One advantage Reynolds enjoys is that he is accustomed to entering new environments. He was born in Alabama, where he was adopted by the Reynolds, who had been his foster parents. The family moved to Virginia and then relocated to Illinois when Scottie was in the sixth grade before moving back to Virginia as he began high school.
"One of the reasons I came here was because of Villanova's location," he says. "My family is a big part of my life and they were really there for me in those two months when I was trying to decide about college."
It was at Herndon where Reynolds began attracting the attention of the basketball community. Over the course of his career he averaged 23.8 points and 5.0 assists. As a junior in 2004-05 he averaged 34.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists per outing. He was named all-state as both a junior and senior and was the Virginia Class AAA player of the year in 2006.
The package of skills Reynolds brings to the floor is impressive. A superb long distance shooter, he is also capable of creating scoring opportunities for himself and others. His style seems well-suited to the Villanova attack and he already appears to have a knack for working alongside Nardi.
You will hear no bold proclamations from Reynolds, however. He understands there is much to learn at this level and plenty of competition from a talented cast of underclassmen all eager to help fill the void left by the departures of six seniors and Lowry. As a guard, he is particularly cognizant of the role his predecessors, men like Randy Foye, Allan Ray, and Lowry, played in building this new age of Villanova Basketball.
"I think we all look up to them," he says. "You see what they accomplished here, where they are now, and the kind of people they are, and you have to be impressed. We can only hope to uphold that tradition."
Like those individuals, Reynolds enters Villanova with his basketball priorities in the proper perspective.
"I play with a lot of heart," he says. "I just go out there for the team and will do whatever the coaches ask of me. We want to play together and play hard and the rest will take care of itself."
It's a mantra that's been spoken before in these parts.
But it still sounds good.
