Villanova turning to juniors to fill void

Jay Wright believes the amount of talent you have on the floor and on the bench doesn't matter as much as the senior leaders you have showing teammates the Villanova way.

The Wildcats have made the NCAA tournament in the last six seasons behind players - Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Mike Nardi, Curtis Sumpter, Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson, Shane Clark, Scottie Reynolds, Reggie Redding - who have contributed as much with leadership as with their basketball ability.

With Reynolds and Redding departing after Villanova's season-ending loss to St. Mary's in the second round of the NCAAs, the Wildcats need their three juniors - Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes and Antonio Pena - to fill leadership roles.

However, when asked yesterday whether the three players were prepared to step up, Wright replied candidly, "I really don't know."

"That's going to be, I think, the great challenge for us next year," Wright said before presiding over the Wildcats' final team meeting of the season. "Those three are very talented players. I think their greatest challenge personally is not how good players they will be, but how good leaders they'll be. I really look forward to working with them in the off-season."

Wright said the junior class "hadn't felt much pain" before this year's early exit, having gone to a Sweet 16 two years ago and a Final Four last year.

"Sweet 16, everybody's excited," he said. "Final Four, everybody's excited. Now, second round, people are down on them. But it's not a bad thing. We need to feel a little pain and we need to get hungry from all that pain."

Fisher, who will be the top returning scorer and assist man next season, and Stokes, who was second to Reynolds in three-point baskets, said they are up to the challenge of becoming leaders.

"I know playing under guys like Scottie, Dante, Shane, Dwayne, Reg, that I've been in good hands for my three years here," Fisher said. "I've learned from them and it's something I want to do. We've got to continue to get better."

Stokes said, "I think we're prepared. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. It's going to be hard at first because we have new roles on the team. It's going to be different with [Reynolds and Redding] gone. Hopefully, the younger guys will look up to us."

Villanova also returns one sophomore (Taylor King) and five freshmen (Mouphtaou Yarou, Maalik Wayns, Dominic Cheek, Isaiah Armwood, and Maurice Sutton), all of whom averaged at least 10 minutes of playing time and combined for 20 starts.

The Wildcats have another fine recruiting class coming in. JayVaughn Pinkston of Brooklyn, N.Y., a 6-foot-7 forward from Bishop Loughlin High, is a McDonald's all-American who is expected to sign his national letter of intent next month.

Two others have signed: 6-5 swingman James Bell of Montverde (Fla.) Academy and 6-9 forward Markus Kennedy of Philadelphia, now attending Winchendon (Mass.) Academy. The Wildcats are still in the hunt for 6-3 guard Cory Joseph, a McDonald's all-American from Findley (Nev.) College Prep who is considered the nation's third-best point guard.

A familiar candidate. Wright is smart enough to know that he'll be mentioned for various vacancies in the off-season - the 76ers, if Eddie Jordan is fired, and the New Jersey Nets appear to be two of them - but admits he would rather not be tempted by offers.

"I hope no one contacts me and I can just coach at Villanova," said Wright, who just competed his ninth year on the Main Line. "That's what I want to do. That's really the truth. No one has contacted me and I'm happy about that. I love my job. Unless something changed here, I don't think I would go anywhere."

Wright spoke to president and general manager Ed Stefanski about the Sixers' opportunity last year before Stefanski hired Jordan. He also was mentioned for the opening at Kentucky but pulled his name out early.