Wright says Villanova has high expectations

LAST YEAR at this time, for the first time in a while, the expectations for Villanova's basketball team were, well, lukewarm at best.

The Wildcats were coming off a 19-loss season and had to replace their starting backcourt of Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek, who'd both left for the pros a year early. But somehow, they figured out a way to get back to the NCAA Tournament, mostly because they beat three Top 5 teams, all in South Philly, as well as No. 17 Marquette on the Main Line. Then they came from 20 down to take the lead before losing to North Carolina in an 8-9 four-letter second-round matchup.

So now what?

Well, the Wildcats were picked to finish fourth in the new 10-team Big East, which consists of the seven Catholic schools from the old Big East plus Butler, Xavier and Creighton. They have most everything back, but the one missing piece is no minor loss. Big man Mouphtaou Yarou was perhaps their best player down the stretch. He was their best rebounder, by far. So there is that. Then again, they've added guard Dylan Ennis, who sat out last season after transferring from Rice. He'll help. So might their two freshmen from Washington, guard Josh Hart and forward Kris Jenkins.

The good news is, there are more than enough perimeter players to make coach Jay Wright a happy camper. Don't be surprised if a lot of them are on the court at the same time. Just like many of those good, old days.

But what does it all mean? The Wildcats, who won three NCAA games (all first-rounders) from 1989-2004, went 12-6 from 2005-10. That included two Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight and a Final Four. But the reality is that no player on this team has won an NCAA game. The Wildcats have lost their last three.

It all starts Nov. 8 against Lafayette and former Villanova backcourt star Fran O'Hanlon at the Pavilion. The first conference game, in what is again back to a double round-robin, is at Butler on Dec. 31.

"I can feel that there's definitely more expectations this year than last," said Wright, who acknowledges he's not comfortable being the longest-tenured coach in the conference (but not the oldest, thanks to DePaul's Oliver Purnell) at yesterday's mediafest at the Davis Center practice facility. "I definitely like it better that way. By the end of last year we were a pretty good team. Not great, but pretty good. The challenge is to build on what we were last year and get better . . . I think we're in a better place.

"We got in by the skin of our teeth. When that happens, you realize you're just a game or two away - and not even your own game, [but] someone else's game - from being in the NIT. Then we'd be speaking differently now. Or [at least] the fans would. We've got to become a very good team, and [then] hopefully become a great team.

"This group has a unique combination of experience and youthful experience, in that the sophomores have played a lot. And the freshmen seem to be the kind of guys who pick up quickly. You have seniors and juniors who have to play like upperclassmen. I think they will."

The only certainty is that nothing's ever a given, no matter how it might project on paper. They'll have at least 32 games to prove themselves all over again. And hopefully at least a few more.