Villanova's Buchanan Status????
- Thread starter Sausage Fingers
- Start date
this is all i have:
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Talk about Villanova basketball in the preseason rarely had anything to do with basketball.
The team was discussed and analyzed as if it were a psychology case study - how four highly touted and hyped freshmen newcomers would relate to the veterans amid the fans' heightened expectations for the season.
Finally, the actual basketball season begins tonight, against 18th-ranked Marquette in the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden.
"It feels real good to finally start playing," guard Derrick Snowden said. "Everything we worked for before the season, we get a chance to show all that off. Everyone is excited, and I'm ready to get everything going."
"Everybody is looking forward to it," added forward Ricky Wright. "We've been beating each other up in practice for over a month. Now we can do it to somebody else. A lot of guys are excited to be playing their first game. It's the game everybody has looked forward to."
Actually, people have been looking forward to this game for nearly a year, or since 6-foot-10 Jason Fraser, a McDonald's all-American from Amityville, N.Y., signed a letter of intent to attend Villanova, completing a four-man recruiting class that ranks with the best in the country.
Fraser will make his debut tonight along with three other New York-area rookies - forward Curtis Sumpter of Brooklyn, and guards Randy Foye of Newark, N.J., and Allan Ray of the Bronx. They will join four returning starters.
"This has probably been my most enjoyable preseason ever," said Jay Wright, who is beginning his second season as the Wildcats' head coach.
"Right from day one, you know every practice means something because you're playing so early. I think the kids have realized that, too, so it's really been fun. I don't think we've ever hit that time where you just get tired of playing against each other. I've enjoyed this preseason, but I'm psyched to get started."
Villanova will be the first Big Five team to start its 2002-03 season. La Salle, St. Joseph's, Penn and Temple, along with Drexel, all begin next weekend.
The Wildcats' chemistry appears to be good going into the opener. In Monday night's exhibition game against the AAU Long Island Panthers, the freshmen shared the basketball. Foye dished out six assists, and Ray and Sumpter each handed out four. They also played some defense - Ray, Foye and Fraser combined for nine steals, and Fraser blocked two shots.
Ray and Foye could see plenty of playing time tonight. Senior guard Gary Buchanan, the team's leading scorer last season, averaging 17.8 points a game, has been sidelined since Oct. 25 with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. He has not been able to go all-out in practice this week and is considered doubtful for tonight.
It hasn't been a good preseason for Buchanan, who suffered a fracture of his left thumb (on his non-shooting hand) on Oct. 14. His inability to practice has enabled Jay Wright to work with his young guards and see how they mesh with the veterans.
"The chemistry is still real good," Jay Wright said. "Things have happened to keep it good. With Gary being injured, these guys know they've got to play, and everyone else knows that we need them to play. I really felt good about the way they played together [in the exhibition games]. So everything has been going good so far."
Don't expect the Villanova team you see tonight to be a finished product. The Wildcats have practiced together less than five weeks. The players know they need to improve at the defensive end.
"Defensively, we need to pick it up," Snowden said. "Basically we just need to talk a little bit more and know where everybody else is on the court. Our team defense may be a problem in this game. But we just want to go out and do what the coach has been preaching."
Wright is looking at the gaps in the Wildcats' schedule - one week until their second game next Friday against Drexel and one week from the time they finish the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 30 until they play in the Big Five Classic against La Salle - as a way to continue the preseason.
"We've used this whole week to prepare for this game," he said. "We feel like we still have two more weeks left in the preseason. We'll see how it works out. But I think the best thing about [tonight's] game is, we're going to get a great feel in mid-November for where we are. Last year, we didn't know what kind of team we were until maybe early or mid-January."
The Wildcats have stepped up their nonconference schedule. They are looking at a possible second-round pairing with No. 9 Michigan State in the Great Alaska Shootout, and also travel to Dayton, Ohio, on Dec. 22.
Then there is the Big Five, where Jay Wright predicts that four "young and hungry teams" will challenge Penn for the City Series title. He made that conclusion after watching coach Fran Dunphy work the Quakers last weekend at the Palestra during the annual Philly Six Coaches Vs. Cancer Day.
"Penn looked like a team where everybody knew what they're doing," he said. "Everybody was skilled. They had good players, and lots of them. [Dunphy] looked very calm and relaxed. They've got to be the class of the Big Five. But the other four teams are young but hungry. It could be wild this year."
=====
Talk about Villanova basketball in the preseason rarely had anything to do with basketball.
The team was discussed and analyzed as if it were a psychology case study - how four highly touted and hyped freshmen newcomers would relate to the veterans amid the fans' heightened expectations for the season.
Finally, the actual basketball season begins tonight, against 18th-ranked Marquette in the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden.
"It feels real good to finally start playing," guard Derrick Snowden said. "Everything we worked for before the season, we get a chance to show all that off. Everyone is excited, and I'm ready to get everything going."
"Everybody is looking forward to it," added forward Ricky Wright. "We've been beating each other up in practice for over a month. Now we can do it to somebody else. A lot of guys are excited to be playing their first game. It's the game everybody has looked forward to."
Actually, people have been looking forward to this game for nearly a year, or since 6-foot-10 Jason Fraser, a McDonald's all-American from Amityville, N.Y., signed a letter of intent to attend Villanova, completing a four-man recruiting class that ranks with the best in the country.
Fraser will make his debut tonight along with three other New York-area rookies - forward Curtis Sumpter of Brooklyn, and guards Randy Foye of Newark, N.J., and Allan Ray of the Bronx. They will join four returning starters.
"This has probably been my most enjoyable preseason ever," said Jay Wright, who is beginning his second season as the Wildcats' head coach.
"Right from day one, you know every practice means something because you're playing so early. I think the kids have realized that, too, so it's really been fun. I don't think we've ever hit that time where you just get tired of playing against each other. I've enjoyed this preseason, but I'm psyched to get started."
Villanova will be the first Big Five team to start its 2002-03 season. La Salle, St. Joseph's, Penn and Temple, along with Drexel, all begin next weekend.
The Wildcats' chemistry appears to be good going into the opener. In Monday night's exhibition game against the AAU Long Island Panthers, the freshmen shared the basketball. Foye dished out six assists, and Ray and Sumpter each handed out four. They also played some defense - Ray, Foye and Fraser combined for nine steals, and Fraser blocked two shots.
Ray and Foye could see plenty of playing time tonight. Senior guard Gary Buchanan, the team's leading scorer last season, averaging 17.8 points a game, has been sidelined since Oct. 25 with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. He has not been able to go all-out in practice this week and is considered doubtful for tonight.
It hasn't been a good preseason for Buchanan, who suffered a fracture of his left thumb (on his non-shooting hand) on Oct. 14. His inability to practice has enabled Jay Wright to work with his young guards and see how they mesh with the veterans.
"The chemistry is still real good," Jay Wright said. "Things have happened to keep it good. With Gary being injured, these guys know they've got to play, and everyone else knows that we need them to play. I really felt good about the way they played together [in the exhibition games]. So everything has been going good so far."
Don't expect the Villanova team you see tonight to be a finished product. The Wildcats have practiced together less than five weeks. The players know they need to improve at the defensive end.
"Defensively, we need to pick it up," Snowden said. "Basically we just need to talk a little bit more and know where everybody else is on the court. Our team defense may be a problem in this game. But we just want to go out and do what the coach has been preaching."
Wright is looking at the gaps in the Wildcats' schedule - one week until their second game next Friday against Drexel and one week from the time they finish the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 30 until they play in the Big Five Classic against La Salle - as a way to continue the preseason.
"We've used this whole week to prepare for this game," he said. "We feel like we still have two more weeks left in the preseason. We'll see how it works out. But I think the best thing about [tonight's] game is, we're going to get a great feel in mid-November for where we are. Last year, we didn't know what kind of team we were until maybe early or mid-January."
The Wildcats have stepped up their nonconference schedule. They are looking at a possible second-round pairing with No. 9 Michigan State in the Great Alaska Shootout, and also travel to Dayton, Ohio, on Dec. 22.
Then there is the Big Five, where Jay Wright predicts that four "young and hungry teams" will challenge Penn for the City Series title. He made that conclusion after watching coach Fran Dunphy work the Quakers last weekend at the Palestra during the annual Philly Six Coaches Vs. Cancer Day.
"Penn looked like a team where everybody knew what they're doing," he said. "Everybody was skilled. They had good players, and lots of them. [Dunphy] looked very calm and relaxed. They've got to be the class of the Big Five. But the other four teams are young but hungry. It could be wild this year."
