March 5, 2009
It wasn't officially senior night on Thursday at the Pavilion - that had taken place two weeks earlier before the Nova Nation student population headed off on spring break - but in the eyes of Villanova head coach Jay Wright, it was very much a fitting sendoff for seniors Dwayne Anderson, Shane Clark, Dante Cunningham, and Frank Tchuisi.
On a night when a victory would assure the Wildcats the No. 4 seed in next week's BIG EAST Tournament and a double bye into the conference quarterfinals, the core leadership group made certain that no one got too far ahead of himself.
"Everyone else is talking about it, so you know (what's at stake)," stated Wright in the aftermath of a 97-80 victory over Providence that secured the No. 4 seed for VU. "I never mean to tell you that we don't know what's going on. We work hard, though, not to think about it. We really count on the seniors for that."
A tone had been set earlier in the day at Villanova's pre-game walkthrough on the Pavilion court. Wright asked his team what was different about this game than the 30 that preceded it and it was Anderson who stepped forward to say that nothing at all was.
"That's what we want them to do - not look too far forward," Wright says. "This senior class has done an incredible job of that. I'm in amazement of this senior class - I am just so impressed."
Wright cited the rugged nature of the BIG EAST Conference in 2008-09. No less a figure than ESPN's Dick Vitale labeled it the best conference he has watched in his 30 years of broadcasting for the network during Wednesday night's Pitt victory over Marquette. Even though Wright's team returned virtually intact from a Sweet 16 appearance in 2007-08, he understood that the ebb and flow of this conference in this season would be unlike anything the Wildcats had experienced.
"Going into this year, with this league, everyone asked, `what's it going to be like?," stated Wright. "People called it a monster conference but nobody knew how it would be. We talk all the time about not letting one game affect us. That's what we counted on the seniors for."
Wright pointed out how inherently challenging the mantra of "one game at a time" could be in a year when the top 25 was filled by as many as nine BIG EAST squads at different points of the campaign.
"It's hard for me to do that and I'm 47," noted Wright. "The concentration level you need to do that is really high. For these guys to do that for 18 games in this league and finish 13-5 is (amazing). It's not just the record but how they did it, keeping that concentration level so that we took it one game at a time."
Villanova was picked to finish fifth in the pre-season BIG EAST poll. By completing their pre-tournament work tonight, the `Cats matched the school record for regular season victories (25).
"I'm just very, very impressed," stated Wright. "I am concerned about every game, like this one. (Providence) had been playing great, beat Pitt, won at Rutgers. At the end of the game I watched our guys and said to myself, `wow, these (Villanova) seniors are really good.' That's how I feel about them."
Despite foul trouble that sidelined him for a good chunk of the first half, Anderson was a force in his final Pavilion appearance, finishing with 19 points and seven rebounds in just 17 minutes. Cunningham also delivered 19 points to go with eight rebounds and the energy of the two pals from Silver Spring, Md., helped the Wildcats break open a contest that was only a six point game at halftime.
"Dwayne and Dante both gave us great energy at the start of the second half," said Wright. "Dwayne did it at the start of the game and got two quick fouls playing that way. He got his second foul playing aggressively and took himself out of the game. But it set the tone for the rest of the players that he was here to play Villanova Basketball and not to stay in the game. And then he was fresh for the second half." Clark had three points and five rebounds before fouling out trying to help contain the Friars. And Tchuisi got into the scoring column with a free throw in the final minute.
"You've got to bring it every night," stated Wright, "and that's what these seniors have done a great job of."
- MIKE SHERIDAN
