Rich Hofmann: When Anderson started, Villanova Wildcats roared
TO MAKE UP your mind that a kid cannot do something is to make a mistake - because kids change. They change by definition. They grow, they mature, they improve, they get something into their head or they get something out, and it happens all the time.
TO MAKE UP your mind that a kid cannot do something is to make a mistake - because kids change. They change by definition. They grow, they mature, they improve, they get something into their head or they get something out, and it happens all the time.
A college coach with a closed mind is a fool. Because, with 20-year-olds, you never know what the next sunrise is going to bring - if your eyes are open to see it.
Which brings us to Villanova's Jay Wright and junior Dwayne Anderson. After a couple of years of butting heads, and with Anderson considering a transfer, they are going back to the NCAA Tournament. There are people who believe that Anderson's insertion into the starting lineup 11 games ago against Seton Hall helped to trigger the team's turnaround.
As the Wildcats prepare for their first-round matchup against Clemson, Anderson's is a story that is more typical than you might think. Change really is what college basketball is all about.
"He was actually dominant in early-season practices, but we kind of knew the history," Wright said, telling the story of a player who wasn't all that interested on the defensive end of the floor in his first two seasons. "He came off the bench in the Bucknell game and kind of saved the game for us with hustle plays, attitude plays, which was unusual for him. So we thought, 'All right, we see it once but we've known him for 2 years.'
"It gradually got to the point where we said, 'He's doing this every day. He deserves to start. He's earned it.' And it was just a great moment for our team. They knew what he had gone through and they saw that he earned that spot, that the tiger changed his stripes a little bit. I think it was inspiring for everybody."
Since joining the starting lineup, after the 'Cats' blowout loss to Saint Joseph's, Anderson has averaged nearly 11 points and eight rebounds per game. It represents a complete turnaround from what was, as he said, a "very frustrating" situation.
"I just stayed hungry and motivated, every day in practice, every game," Anderson said. "Just not taking any possessions off. I learned that, and that's what I'm trying to teach all the guys, that we're all on the same page."
As for the possibility of transferring, he said, "A lot of people were telling me that I should leave but when it came down to it, I said, as a man, I'm not going to walk away from the situation and whatever it is. If I'm playing, if I'm not playing, I'm going to remain here."
The realization that his time was running out came after a summertime conversation with Jason Fraser, the former Wildcats big man. When you listen to Anderson talk about the differences between him and Wright, he sounds young, talented, hard-headed.
"We were on different pages," Anderson said. "I wanted to do it my way. I didn't want to do it the Villanova way, and I wasn't going to play that way. I finally just had to give in, believe in what he said, and everything would work out."
The big change?
"Doing something I never did in my past, and that was playing defense," he said.
Still, there was one more piece of this: Wright had to keep his eyes open to the change, to accept the fact that kids do evolve, to be willing to alter his opinion despite 2 years of evidence to the contrary. And don't kid yourself: There are plenty of young players who get buried and stay buried in this sport because first impressions tend to be lasting impressions, and because some coaches just cannot recognize the possibility of growth.
"I'm proud of myself that I did keep an open mind but when I look back on it now, I probably was hard-headed for a while, sticking to our standards maybe a little too long and not giving him credit for being a kid," Wright said.
"When he decided to come back, I thought it was one of two things: either he's given up and was saying, 'OK, I'm not a player, I'm just going to be on the team,' or he's going to really fight to earn a spot. And he really fought to earn a spot. I probably should have rewarded him a little bit earlier, but at least I did. I'm happy about that."
At practice, some guys wear blue jerseys and some guys wear white. Blue is for the first team, white the reserves.
Anderson does not wear blue. It is an interesting symbolism, given everything.
"As you see, I still represent the white team," he said. "The guys on the white team are just as important. That's why I wear this white jersey." *
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