Hello, old friend
March 17, 2016 by Mike Casazza
USA Today photo
Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats are here in Brooklyn, and they’re the No. 2 seed playing tomorrow against the No. 15, UNC Asheville.
Q. You’ve spoken before about your affinity for playing in New York and playing at the Garden. You’re obviously in New York, but you’re not at the Garden. Does it feel differently when you’re playing at Barclays as opposed to Madison Square Garden?
JAY WRIGHT: It is a little different. When you’re at the Garden, it’s like pure tradition. You feel like it’s old school 1New York. When you’re at the Barclays Center, it just feels like it’s like hyped hip-hop New York. Everything’s new and black and hyped. It’s just different. I love both of them.
But for our fans, our strongest alumni base is the Metropolitan area. So when we’re here, our fans love to be here. We’re having major issues with tickets because the NCAA cut back tickets this year, and this place is sold out. We’ve got a lot of people that normally come when we’re in New York that can’t get in.
Wright, who Colin Dunlap and I state is the first coach to go 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament, and his players took a lot of questions today about the coach and the program’s habit of not lasting long in the tournament.
Q. Jay, Fran Dunphy has his own issues with the NCAA Tournament and his record. You just mentioned yours. Is the NCAA Tournament success or failure the best measure by which to judge a coach? Is it indicative of what a college coach is or isn’t?
JAY WRIGHT: I think that nationally it’s the only fair way to do it. I think it’s fair. Because nationally you don’t get to — people in Texas and California, they don’t get to see us coach every day. What do they see? They see you in the NCAA Tournament. What do you do? So that’s your national perspective. I think that’s fair.
In Philly, I think you bring up the greatest example. If you ask anybody in Philadelphia, they’d say Fran Dunphy is one of the best college basketball coaches in the country, based on what they see him do every day. It’s just reality, and I do think it’s fair.