Thursday, March 17, 2011
Posted: 2:55 p.m.
By Reuben FrankCSNPhilly.com
CLEVELAND -- They still believe. Even if nobody else does.
A Villanova team that two months ago was seen as a realistic Elite Eight candidate now goes into the NCAA tournament as the coldest team in the field.
And all the praise senior guard Corey Fisher and teammates had lavished on them not too long ago has been replaced by doubt and uncertainty.
Seems like these days, nobody expects anything out of the Wildcats.
Yeah, youre always going to get that, Fisher said Thursday. If we would have won (a couple more) games, then you might hear, Villanova can win this, can win that. But you cant get into that. You cant control that, what anybody is saying on the outside.
We played good all year, and we struggled down the end, losing a couple games. We know how good we are, and thats all that really matters. ... Were not going to talk. We're just going to prove ourselves.
News
Villanova, the first team in NCAA tournament history to go into its first-round game on a five-game losing streak, is 5-10 since mid-January after a 16-1 start.
The Wildcats, a No. 9 seed, face No. 8 seed George Mason at 2:10 p.m. Friday at Quicken Loans Arena in an East Regional first-round game.
On Thursday, Fisher and the other seniors, Corey Stokes and Antonio Pena, spoke bravely of confidence, of how theyre all healthy now for the first time in a couple months, of how its a new season and everything that happened down the stretch is ancient history.
Five-game losing streak? No biggie.
Youre going to win some games, youre going to lose some games, Fisher said before Villanovas brief open public practice on the Cavs home court, which followed a real practice at nearby Cleveland State. And playing in one of the best leagues in the country in the Big East, night out, night in, you're going to go out and (face top teams often).
When youre losing, it's tough. But if youre trying to achieve something, youre not going to stop, youre going to keep trying to get better, try to get to something youre trying to achieve. Our confidence is high right now. Were going to come out and let our game speak for itself.
Villanova hasnt won a game since Feb. 19, when they needed overtime to get past lowly DePaul by two points. They havent defeated a team with a winning record since Feb. 5, when they topped West Virginia. Theyre 2-7 since.
This team, weve been through a lot and had some tough times, said sophomore guard Maalik Wayns, Villanovas leading scorer since mid-January at 15.9 points per game. But I think all the hard times and the adversity has brought us together as a group and made us stronger. We dont give up. We know what kind of team we have. We lost some tough games, but we still feel like we can go out there and play with any team in the country.
Hes right.
Six weeks ago, Nova went to the Carrier Dome and beat then No. 3 Syracuse. Earlier this month, the Wildcats led No. 4 Pitt on its own floor midway through the second half. They also beat Temple, Cincinnati and Louisville when all were nationally ranked.
Were the same team, Wayns said. Were the same team that won a lot of big games. The big difference is that were finally healthy again. Weve had nine days off, and that was big for us to give Fish (knee tendinitis) and (Corey) Stokes (turf toe, hamstring) time to heal.
They all still believe, and why shouldnt they? Two years ago, Fisher, Stokes and Pena played in a Final Four.
Its going to take a lot more than a 5-10 stretch to beat these guys.
These seniors have remained confident, Wright said. We had a lot of time. Time does heal wounds. The further you get away from the regular season and the more you're engaged in this tournament, it seems that everyones mind set is about being in the tournament again.
Theres just a lot more positives now, a lot more confidence going into this game than there was a week and a half ago.
How can a team that hasnt won a game in a month and just blew a 16-point second-half lead against a team that was 3-17 in its previous 20 games be confident?
Just clearing our minds, just getting back to being ourselves, Fisher said. And staying as a family. And not listening to anything on the outside.
Wright said he expected Villanova to be better than 21-11 this year but he also put that 21-11 record in perspective.
I was reading the New York Post (Wednesday), and there was an article about St. John's and what a great year they had and how they've been restored to prominence, Wright said. I just happened to read that their record was 21-11. And it was the same as ours.
In Philly, 21-11 is a horrible season. But that's OK. That's part of what you have to deal with.
And that's what I'm most proud of about this team. There's a lot of things on the courtdefense, rebounding, shot selectionI'm not happy about. But I'm really proud of how these guys have handled expectations, how they've handled this (losing streak) here, and I think because they've handled it so well, they put us into a position to really enjoy this tournament and really be confident going into it.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com
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