#BIGEASThoops Preview: Villanova Wildcats
By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to BIGEAST.com
Kris Jenkins smiled and shook his head at the question, the one that asked how many times he has been asked about “The Shot.”
“I couldn’t give you a number. It’s been a lot,” Jenkins said.
How many times per day then? “Probably couldn’t give you a number on that either,” he said with a laugh.
You should also know that since watching countless replays of “The Shot” in the days following Villanova’s NCAA title clincher over North Carolina, Jenkins swears he hasn’t watched it in a while and has no plans to any time soon.
“I’m just trying to move past this and focus on the upcoming year,” Jenkins said.
Since that April night when Villanova was crowned the princes of college basketball, there have been a string of off-the-court activities. There was a trip to the White House, various excursions around Philadelphia where the Wildcats were feted and even a group outing to the ESPYs award show over the summer.
So how hard is it going to be for head coach Jay Wright to get the Wildcats focused on defending their title this season? A little more difficult than you might think.
“It was a thrill. Everything was a first. Going to the White House, going to City Hall in Philadelphia, going to the ESPY’s, going to the state capital,” Wright said. “We tried to start to put (last year) away then when we went to Spain (over the summer) and it was great being in Spain because no one really knew who we were. We were together and just playing ball and we really enjoyed it. But then we came back and we were in the airport in Philadelphia getting our bags and everyone was taking pictures all over again it kind of hit us with the reality that it was going to be a struggle for a little bit to put it behind us. I think it’s going to be a constant challenge. But I think once we start playing everything will go back to normal.”
Normal for Villanova has been dominating the BIG EAST the past three seasons as the Wildcats have posted a cumulative overall record of 97-13 the past three regular seasons while logging a superlative 48-6 conference mark (16-2 each year) along the way. Oh yeah, the ‘Cats have also won three straight regular-season titles as well as one BIG EAST Tournament crown over that span so you can see why “normal” is not such a bad thing for Villanova.
One thing that will be strange for these Wildcats will be the absence of long-time cornerstones Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu, who graduated last spring. Those will be some large sneakers the Wildcats will need to fill.
“There are going to be a lot of growing pains,” said senior Josh Hart. “Obviously those two were great leaders.”
Wright said the pieces are in house to help fill the void and is excited to see what this year’s version of the Wildcats will look like come opening night.
“Ryan and Daniel were such rare leaders,” Wright said. “That’s going to be a difficult dynamic to replace. Now these three seniors (Hart, Jenkins and Darryl Reynolds) are totally different kinds of people. Kris and Josh are characters, fun-loving, so they are going to have to find their own type of leadership. Darryl is much more like Arch and Daniel but it’s going to be a totally different dynamic. And adding (Fordham transfer Eric) Paschall and Dante Di Vincenzo, who were with us last year, it’s going to be a totally different team and we’re just going to have to enjoy the journey and try to be the best we can.”
Fellow coaches thought so highly of the Villanova roster that they anointed them No. 1 in the BIG EAST preseason coaches’ poll. But the Wildcats know that means little once the games begin to count.
“We know we’re going to have a target on our backs again, but we don’t really worry about that,” Hart said. “We’re not focused on years past, we’re focused on this year. Being ranked No. 1 in the preseason (coaches’) poll is great, but we haven’t done anything yet. Right now we’re 0-0.”
Wright said he is not sure yet what to expect from his Wildcats this season especially after all the distractions that come from being the newly-minted champions of the college basketball world.
“I don’t know how we are going to respond. We don’t know what it’s like yet to go into a road arena as the defending national champions and see how people respond to us,” Wright said. “But I think the goal is the same – just be the best team we can be by the end of the year and enjoy that journey.”
That journey began Nov. 5 when the Wildcats hosted Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Villanova has officially turned the page.
“It was a great moment for our team,” Jenkins said of the championship win. “I was happy for our team and our seniors but I’ve pretty much put it in the rearview mirror and am focused on the journey that I have ahead of me. That will be something that I will look back on when my basketball career is over which hopefully is like 10 or 15 years from now.”