Villanova's Jay Wright at Media Day
NEW YORK -- Jay Wright was surrounded by the usual media throng he tends to draw wherever he roams. On this particular day, it was Madison Square Garden as he took the train up from Philly to take part in the BIG EAST’s annual media day festivities.
Now when you lose four thoroughbreds from a blue-blood program like Villanova, it would not be all that unexpected to see the Wildcats, winners of two of the past three NCAA national championships, slip a tad in the preseason poll. There would be no shame in placing fourth or fifth, not after Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo and Omari Spellman left the Main Line for NBA riches.
And no matter where the Wildcats were placed in the poll, Wright would still be the best dressed man in the building, so he would still have that going for him. But when the poll was released, and there again was Villanova’s name etched at the top, you had to figure if the Wildcats will ever have a fall from grace in the BIG EAST.
If Wright was surprised or not at his spot atop the poll, he wasn’t saying. He prefers not to hold a mirror up to his team, especially before even a single game has been played.
“When it comes to how we look at ourselves, I answer those questions because I have to,” Wright said. “Then we leave here and we just go back (to Philly) and concentrate on us.”
When senior guard Phil Booth, part of both of the Wildcats’ two national title teams, was asked how is it possible to lose so much in talent yet lose nothing in conference prestige, he pointed to the revolving door of young talent that keeps making its way to the Wildcats’ campus.
“We got some good young players coming in and some good players that are already here,” said Booth, who dropped 20 points in the 2016 national championship game victory over North Carolina. “So we know we still have a very good team this season. We have a lot to prove and we can’t wait for the challenge.”
Booth and fellow senior Eric Paschall are the new leaders of this young Wildcats team. And they know a thing or two about evaluating young talent. So when Booth was asked if there was a particular player in the new crop of Wildcats that caught his eye, he naturally said all of them. Of course it would be all of them. This is Villanova we’re talking about after all.
“They’ve all kind of stood out,” Booth said. “They all do different things for the team. One day it could be JQ (Jahvon Quinerly), one day it could be Cole (Swider). One day it could be Saddiq (Bey) and one day it could be Brandon Slater. It just depends on the day. They all bring a lot of great things to this team.”
Quinerly is a one of the more hyped freshman guards in the country (of course he is, this is Villanova after all) and has already made Providence coach Ed Cooley take notice with his great speed. (“The kid is a jet,” Cooley said.) Swider, who was also recruited heavily by Cooley at Providence, is a 6-7 forward who chose the Wildcats over Duke while Bey and Slater arrive in Philly from D.C. where they were both four-star recruits. (Of course they are, they are going to Villanova after all).
Both Booth and Paschall did offer that due to a major exodus of talent, whether to the NBA or graduation, that the league just might be a little more fluid this season. And the Wildcats tandem said it is possible that many teams could be in the hunt for the BIG EAST title this season.
“We lost a lot of players but with Xavier losing Bluiett and Macura, their best players for the past two or three years, (the losses) are all over the board,” Booth said. “Seton Hall lost (Desi) Rodriguez, (Khadeen) Carrington and (Angel) Delgado, that’s a big class. We lost Mikal, J.B., Donte and Omari so it’s a wide open league and you have to prove how good you are.”
Paschall, who made the brilliant decision to leave a Fordham program and transfer to Villanova after his freshman season, said the Wildcats will not live off their reputation. Every season, he said, brings new opportunities.
“We appreciate it and we feel we’ve earned a lot of respect around the league,” Paschall said. “We appreciate being picked No. 1 but it’s still a new season. We still have to play all these games so where we’re picked doesn’t really affect us. We know what we have to do and know where we have to get better.”
Two national titles in three seasons. How much better can this program get?
“We just try to be the greatest Villanova basketball team we can be,” Paschall said. “From opening day that’s our goal and we see where that takes us.”
The top of the preseason poll is the first place - so far - it’s taken the Wildcats.