The Construction of a Winner

[riot and frolic]

This season has been pretty damn good so far hasn’t?  It’s not even the end of December, and after being picked virtually unanimously to finish 4^th in the New Big East, Villanova has beaten a top 10 team, won a pre-season tournament, jumped to 8^th in the AP poll, and beat the pants off of our Big 5 rivals thus far by an average of 24.6 points per game.  What stands out though isn’t the accolades or the wins, but the type of team that we are and the way we play.  Villanova is a team in the traditional sense of the word, where everyone plays hard, the stars stand out, and the role players play their part to a T.  But the thing I can’t stop thinking about is the way in which this particular team and these particular players fit perfectly together; the way in which this team came to fruition.  Throw in the uncertainty and problems of the last couple of years, and this my friends, is one of the most overlooked storylines of the season.  So allow me to eschew my normal amateur statistical ramblings, and with all apologies to Dana O’Neil, this is my story of how Jay constructed a winner.

The best place I can think of to start this little story, and put everything in context, is sometime in the fall of 2009.  Villanova and Jay Wright finally made a Final 4, and all was good in the world.  Jay had snagged arguably his most talented recruiting class ever – ranked 3^rd nationally with Yarou, Cheek, Wayns, & Armwood - and with Scottie and the two Corey’s still around, plus the addition of Duke transfer and McDonald’s All-American Taylor King, anything seemed possible.

So things aren’t just good they are great at the beginning of 2010.  In case you forgot, Villanova started out 20-1, with our only loss coming to Temple at Temple.  Then the Big East schedule got a little tougher, we dropped a couple of games, lost in the first round of the Big East Tourney, and held on just enough to earn a 2-seed.  Now we will never know what happened between Fisher and Scottie before the first tournament game that year, but both were benched to start it. (We do know that the stupid story that went around was bullshit, but in case you are inclined to believe it, do you also remember the one last year about Jay and the cheerleader?  Yeah, both are a crock)  We barely beat Robert Morris in OT, and then lost to Saint Mary’s in the second round.

It’s difficult, and generally a fool’s errand, to look back and pin point the exact moment when things started to go south, but this was the first sign that all was not well at Villanova.  In the subsequent off-season Taylor King was kicked off the team and left the school.  Additionally, the two incoming recruits didn’t even make it to next season’s opening tip unscathed.  James Bell had surgery on both of his legs and played sparingly throughout the 2011 season, while JVP got caught up in an unfortunate off campus incident that got him suspended.  On the court, the season started well enough (16-1) before Villanova dropped six of their last eight games, lost to lowly USF in the BE tourney, and finally were put out of our misery by George Mason in the first round of the NCAA.  Down the stretch there was no spark and no chemistry, and the careers of Stokes, Fisher, and Pena ended without too much of a fight.

While there were a handful of small seemingly innocuous and unrelated incidents, no one really seemed too worried about the future of the program yet.  Mostly because the best recruiting class in the school’s history was about to take the reigns as Wayns, Cheek, Yarou and Armwood were rising Juniors.  Bell, who was largely a footnote, was finally healthy, and JVP was about to play his first ever game for Villanova.  Also, Jay had landed another supposedly decent recruiting class in Ty Johnson, Marcus Kennedy, and Darrun Hilliard. 

But then right before the season started Armwood decided he wanted to transfer.  In case you forgot, he was our goddamn captain!   What the hell is going on here?  Even when it happened it didn’t seem too terrible, as most people were expecting Armwood to at best be the third banana behind Wayns and Cheek.  But after the total and complete disaster of the 2012 season, Armwood’s transfer as the team’s captain stands out as the moment everyone should have realized that something was clearly screwed up.

Here is Jay talking about Armwood when he transferred:

"He’s the greatest kid in the world," Wright gushed. "He’s our hardest-working guy, our captain. We started him every game on our trip. I love him to death…I just want to see him achieve his goals”

The hard part comes when trying to explain what exactly was screwed up, what was the problem.  I don’t think there is a real answer to this, and as outsiders we will never know.  Hell, I don’t even think Jay really knows what exactly it was that caused such internal turmoil and for many talented players to not live up to expectations the last couple of years.  I think he has his theories, however, and I think it changed they way he recruited, the way he coached, and the way in which he went about constructing a team.

The reason I feel that this situation changed Jay as strongly as I do, even though to remind you I know nothing, is what happened next.  By mid-June after the end of the season that shall never be talked about again, 4 underclassmen decided to leave the team.  I repeat 4 underclassmen – Wayns, Cheek, Johnson, and Kennedy.  That’s more players departing then when new coaches come on board.

I am pretty sure the message was crystal clear.  Anyone who doesn’t want to play defense, anyone who doesn’t want to work their ass off, anyone who doesn’t want to be a team player, and anyone who doesn’t want to play when and how I tell them to should leave right now because I will bench your ass.

After the alleged ultimatum by Jay here is who was left: Yarou, Sutton, JVP, Bell and Hilliard.  That’s it, and after Yarou and Sutton graduated, the guys who accepted Jay’s coaching and attitude are the current stars of the team – JVP, Bell, and Hilliard.

So with that core group of players to build around Jay needed to fill in the surrounding pieces.  With a 2-guard, a small forward, and a power forward on board, Jay went out and recruited a point guard in Arcidiacono and a center in Ochefu.  Players that are smart and tough.

But filling out the bench with players who have those same qualities and willing to accept their roles has been the biggest reason for Villanova’s ultimate success.  Chennault has accepted his role as facilitator beautifully this year after transferring to Villanova a year ago and struggling offensively.  Ennis had to sit out a year while he transferred and he provides good defense and badly needed outside shooting.

The two incoming Freshmen this year have fit in perfectly as well.  Jenkins is an undersized big in the Villanova tradition like Cunningham, Pena, and JVP before him.  And Hart who dealt with a fairly severe injury his Junior year of High School, but who Jay and Villanova continued to recruit due to him 'fitting' our team, has been nothing short of awesome.  Playing defense and unselfish basketball while and adding some much needed raw athleticism.

And that brings us to where Villanova basketball is today.  After a couple of down years with chemistry issues and players never fully blossoming, Jay has put together the pieces for a complete team 1 through 9.  A team built on defense, chemistry, and toughness with enough talent and offensive firepower to make a deep NCAA tournament run.  And from the fan's perspective, damn fun to watch.