Head Coach Jay Wright | Phil Booth | Eric Paschall | Collin Gillespie | Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree | Jahvon Quinerly 

Jay Wright on Phil and Eric's Leadership
"They are two of our best leaders ever. Phil has always been a leader. In the BIG EAST Tournament last year, Eric really started to step up as our defensive leader. His voice was strong, and that's one area I think we're going to be strong in, our leadership, and I have no concerns about that. In other areas, we have some work to do."

Jay on if it is different because they are fifth year guys
"I think a fifth-year guy means you sit out a year, so you have a unique appreciation, you use your head academically. You can focus a little bit more on basketball since those guys have already graduated and are taking graduate courses. They can be a little more committed to basketball and the team. They have a perspective that not many other college players can have getting five years of experience."

Jay on what he learned from the scrimmage with North Carolina
"Eric and Phil are our leaders and our go to guys. I thought the freshman got a great taste of the physicality and intensity. It was great to do that against a great program who ran a lot of great plays, they got banged on screens, they got lost out there, and it didn't cost us a game. Those experiences are invaluable. I thought the sophomores started to get a feel for being go to guys and starters. Collin and Jermaine and Dada. All three of them started and they got a feel for it so it was really valuable."

Jay on how the approach changes when you lose your top four scorers
"This is a rare situation for us, I'd rather have at least two of those guys back, and that would be more of a normal transition for us, but it's also kind of refreshing because there is a lot of new roles except for Eric and Phil. It kind of reminds me when Allan Ray, Randy Foye, and Jason Fraser and those guys were freshman. I hope some wisdom has sunken into our coaching staff and we have some more patience with these guys than we did back then, so it is a whole different perspective for us this year."

Jay on the younger guys taking steps forward from last year
"Definitely, our four sophomores are kind of the X-Factors this year. Collin Gillespie, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, Dylan Painter, and Jermaine Samuels, for different reasons. Jermaine because of injuries, Collin broke his hand, Dhamir coming along as a big guy, Dylan sat out. They've got a big opportunity this year with a lot of expectations on them, it might be a year early for some of them, but if the four of them can step up then that could make us a pretty good team."

Jay on if the patience with the freshman comes more on the defensive end
"I like to think that our defensive philosophy is simple, but all of my assistants tell me it's not and they must be right because our freshman do struggle with it a lot. It's not just the individual defense, the communication with their teammates, this is where they struggle. It breaks us down, but they're really working hard at it."

Jay on if he thinks Collin as a starter
"Other than Eric and Phil it is to be determined, but I do like him in that spot because he is a good leader and he is a tough kid and has experience. There isn't a lot of experience on this team so I'd like to see him in there."

Phil Booth on if he's comfortable with his role on the team
"Yeah, I embrace it. I like this team, I like the young guys and how they listen, how much they're open to coaching, and how much they want to get better, so when you get a group of guys like that it makes it easy to work with."

Booth on what he's learned so far
"It's a tough team that plays hard, when you get these guys in the lines and play five on five, it doesn't matter against who, they want to compete and want to win, so when you have that type of team it's a good thing."

Booth on his relationship with Eric and how to deal with certain situations
"Every day it comes up. Me and Eric are tight and talk about everything and this team is always a topic of our conversation. How to get each other going, how to make each other better, push ourselves, push our teammates around us, that's kind of what we're doing."

Eric Paschall about wanting to be the hunter instead of the hunted…
We try not to even think about it to be honest. We just try to go out there and play hard every day and play Villanova basketball. That's all we really worry about, we don't worry about the rankings or what we're picked to do in the BIG EAST, we just try to do what we do every day.

Paschall on the sense of pride on the respect from around the country…
Of course, I mean of course, and we respect all the other teams in this country. So I mean we still gotta go out there and play.

Paschall on the youth of the team…
We got a young team, a lot different team but I like it a lot. It's a different journey, a different season I'm excited to see where we're going to be at the end of the year.

Paschall on the journey from his perspective now he's a senior leader…
Just me personally, it's a lot I mean I've been here since [Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu's] senior year so I've seen a lot of great players come through here and learn from each of the great leaders. It was a great ride.

Paschall on outsiders' expectations…
We try not to think about it at all. We just go out there every day, try to get better every day and play Villanova basketball for forty minutes and see where that takes us by the end of the year.

Paschall on the freshmen learning the Villanova way…
They're doing a good job. I mean they're open to learning, they're trying to play hard and they trying to do all the little things and we respect them for that. By the end of the year I feel like we'll be a pretty good team. It's going to be a journey, I mean it's a lot different, four freshmen is a lot different but it's going to be fine. We believe in them and I feel like we will still be pretty good.

Paschall on how to tell the freshman not to get discouraged…
Try not to worry about mistakes. The game is full of mistakes and I mean it's about what coach says, attitude. How you move on from the next play, not everybody's perfect in this game, so I mean everybody's going to make mistakes, just try not to dwell on them and move on to the next play and keep playing.

Paschall on the depth of the team because of the freshmen…
I feel like we have great depth. We have a lot of kids that are very good. So I mean of course, like I said before it's going to be a journey but we'll be fine. These young guys are very willing to learn and very willing to get better and be open to coaching so we're going to have a pretty good year.

Collin Gillespie on how the summer has been going and what he's been working on
"I was definitely here a lot since I'm so close to home, definitely offensively, scoring, shooting off the dribble, using ball screens. I think I've always done a good job of sharing the ball with my teammates, and just maintaining my defense. Laterally in the weight room, trying to get as strong as I can, being able to move laterally, and becoming a better defender."

Gillespie on him, JQ, and Booth being on the court at the same time defensively
"I have full confidence in all our guys on this team to contribute, I feel like me, JQ, and Booth can all be on the court at the same time, we're a tough group of guards, as long as we defend and rebound for our position as guards, and help out the bigs, I think we can all be on the court at the same time."

Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree on what is most exciting about this season…
How young we are and how much we're learning and picking up things so quickly. I feel like that's going to be one of the great aspects about this team is that we can learn a lot of things and pick up on things quickly. So I feel like that's something to be excited about.

Cosby-Roundtree on the versatility of the freshmen…
I feel like they're all very important to our team, ya know. Being that it's four of them that means there's only a good six or seven of us that's really been here before. Them coming up, understanding everything as quick as possible will definitely help us a lot this season.