Let's face the facts. Jay Wright, head coach of the Villanova University Wildcats, is an expeptional coach.He has taken Villanova Wildcat teams deep in to the tournament, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2005, cruising to the Elite 8 in 2006, where they lost to the future National Champion Florida Gators, and in what could be called his greatest accomplishment in his tenure at Villanova, taking this year's crew of 'Cats all the way to the Sweet 16.
Jay Wright is a man of very few flaws, but he and his team's Achilles heal always ends up getting exposed in the stretch run of their season. That heal that inevitably dooms the Wildcats? "The Big Man".
When Villanova big man Curtis Sumpter went down in the 2005-2006 season, Jay and his 'Cats adopted a four guard, one forward offense, consisting of Randy Foye, currently a Minnesota Timberwolf, Allen Ray, currently in the NBDL, Kyle Lowry, currently of the Memphis Grizzlies, Mike Nardi, and the oft injured Jason Frasier— the big man.
Villanova coasted through the 2005 season finishing 28-5, including an impressive record of 11-5 against RPI top 50 teams. They entered the Big East tournament as the top team and their matchup against Rutgers resulted in an easy double digit victory. Then the Wildcats had a matchup against the Panthers of Pittsburgh. This game ended Villanova's Big East run, as Pitt defeated them 67-54.
When tournament time came around, they easily put down Monmouth. Their following two games resulted in nail bitters, but both were victories for the Wildcats. They then faced Florida and were beaten handily. Summing up: the Florida combo of Al Horford and Joakim Noah spelled doom for the 'Cats.
Since then Villanova has not had a dominant big man and the results have been the same. In this coming year, the thrill of inking Tyreke Evans of Chester, Penn., has Villanova excited again. But to this I say, "Look to the past to see the future." Teams such as Georgetown, Louisville and UConn all have dominant big men and are consistently ranked. But 'Nova, who is always loaded with guards, have up and down streaks every year and are becoming a so called "bubble team".
The 2008-2009 Wildcats have some amazing guards such as Scottie Reynolds, The Corey's, Fisher and Stokes, Dwayne Anderson, and possibly Tyreke Evans. As of now, this roster is resembling that of the 2005-2006 'Cats—a team that had a good run but, in the end, had their flaw exposed.
If Jay Wright has proved anything as a head coach in Division I basketball it is that four guards aren't "Wright" for a championship team.
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3 months ago
Wow, didn't seem to hurt Kansas to much not to have a premier big man. Hibbert sure helped Georgetown down the stretch. This year lack of experience has certainly been the achilles heal of the team and injuries have certainly hurt us in the past.
I'll take my chances in March with a team led by players like Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Curtis Sumpter, Mike Nardi and Kyle Lowry any day.
Get a clue!!!
3 months ago
I'm not impressed with your argument. The Pitt loss may have also had something to do with Allan Ray almost losing his eye in the 1st half. That would shake any team up.
Thabeet and Hibbert's teams didn't advance past Villanova's.
Also, nobody else beat Florida that year either...or the next year for that matter.
Villanova's lost to the eventual NC 3 out of the last 4 years - advancing the the Sweet 16 all three of those years...the list of teams who have done that 3 of the last 4 is pretty impressive.
Every team but one eventually gets their flaw "exposed." You said it yourself - the four-guard lineup was born out of neccessity, not design. What next - an article about how four big men and one point guard won't do the trick, either? Not really all that insightful. Villanova has been very impressive over the last five years.
Bob Knight's quote during the tourney: "I'll take good players. Whatever size they are, the better players will win."
3 months ago
I agree that Villanova needs big men but we've done well with guards. It creates a self-fulfilling prophecy and has turned Villanova into "Guard U". Guards want to come here where they will be used but forwards don't see their place in this system. Given the number of new big men in the Big East, this might have to change.
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