Lowry traded to Rockets

Point guard Kyle Lowry, who was a major star at Villanova during the 2005 and 2006 tournament runs, has been traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Houston Rockets, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

At Houston, Lowry will get to play with superstars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, at least once McGrady recovers from knee surgery. Playing for the Rockets might also allow Lowry to make his first trip to the NBA playoffs.

Lowry will join his former assistant coach Brett Gunning in Houston, who left the Villanova for the Rockets last summer. Gunning is Houston's director of player development.

The Rockets' modern methods of player evaluation and statistics-derived strategy were showcased in an excellent cover story by Michael Lewis in the New York Times Magazine last Sunday.

The Grizzlies receive a first-round pick from playoff-bound Orlando in the three-way deal. Orlando gets point guard Rafer Alston from Houston to fill in for the Magic's own injured all-star point guard, Jameer Nelson from St. Joseph's.

According to Stein, Houston will also receive Brian Cook from Orlando and possibly more players to round out the trade.

Wright admits coaching error

In a long article in the Philadelphia Daily News today, Villanova coach Jay Wright is quoted at length regarding his position at the helm of Villanova basketball.

Of particular interest to Let's Go Nova readers may be Wright's reference to his coaching decision in the West Virginia game to keep star forward Dante Cunningham on the bench in the first half with two fouls.

Wright actually praises Villanova's atmosphere of lesser scrutiny, and the fact that talk of the error died down quickly. How this is compatible with Wright's ostensible goal of striving for excellence is a little incomprehensible to me, but here is the quote:

We get plenty of attention. But you're not under the scrutiny every day. Like, 'Why didn't I play Dante Cunningham with two fouls in the West Virginia game in the first half?' Which I probably should have. But it didn't become a 2-day issue (emphasis added).

This quote demonstrates Wright's excellent understanding of public relations, possibly at the expense of his basketball knowledge and competitive edge. Is Wright correct about the public relations benefits of not being under a microscope like one would be in Lexington or Bloomington? Absolutely. But how does that help Villanova become a better basketball team? It sure is nice for Wright that his voicemail is not overflowing on Day Two of the Dante Cunningham Benching Scandal, but why brag about it?

Is Wright really that saying he is glad that the uproar over his mistakes dies down quickly, instead of saying that scrutiny over mistakes motivates him to make fewer of them?

For the record, Let's Go Nova was all over this issue, even a day after the game. In my review of the WVU loss, I wrote the following:

He got into minor foul trouble early on Friday, and his absence definitely cost the Wildcats dearly. But why did he have to sit so long? I think Wright was too cautious. Villanova was getting blown away with Dante on the bench. Dante picked up his second foul with 14 minutes to play in the first half, and didn't see the court for the rest of the half? Are you kidding me? That would have been ridiculous if we were winning, and it's patently absurd when the 'Cats are being blown out. Sitting Cunningham for the last 14 minutes of the first half might have cost Villanova the game. Oh, and by the way, Cunningham finished with just three fouls thanks to Wright's abundance of gutless caution.

It's nice that Wright admitted his mistake, but why does he think the issue is over, especially considering the NCAA and BET seeding ramifications this loss will most certainly have?

Wright also made what some may also consider to be a revealing statement: winning a national championship is not essential. Ever.

I don't need to win a national championship. Honestly, as long as these guys are graduating and I continue to get the enjoyment I do from the relationship with these guys, I would be fine . . .It wouldn't bother me one bit (emphasis added) [...] Our fans need a national championship. And I would love to do it for them. But for me, personally, I love where we are right now. I love what we're doing.

Gee, thanks, Jay.

Again, it's great that Wright cares more about the players graduating and running a clean program than winning at all costs. But why can't we have it both ways? It would be nice to have a coach who has a larger competitive drive. This is another reason I think Wright would be much better suited as a PR person than a head coach, but I digress.

Anyway, the full PDN article is definitely worth a read. I don't want to harp on only the negatives, as Wright said some good things in the interview. Those two quotes, however, struck me as being worthy of a bit more scrutiny.

Wright calls into WFAN

The drive-time host Mike Francesa interviewed Villanova coach Jay Wright today on WFAN, New York's leading sports talk radio station.

Jay came off very well in the 20-minute interview, and Francesa praised the team profusely.

Wright covered several topics, including the team's recent hot stretch, the grueling Big East season, the upcoming NCAA tournament, his desire to win the Big East tournament, and the Wildcats' team make-up as competitors.

Wright called his 2009-2010 recruiting class one of the best in the country, though he said he could only talk about three of them -- Yarou, Wayns, and Armwood.

Wright also said he believed Connecticut was the best team in the country, but the interview occurred before it was announced that the Huskies had lost Jerome Dyson to knee surgery.

Later in the interview, Francesa and Wright spent a lot of time talking about the NBA and the Philadelphia 76ers. Wright attended last night's Memphis-Philadelphia game to see Villanova alum Kyle Lowry.

Francesa predicted that Wright would definitely be an NBA coach in the future.

You can listen to the full interview online.

Around the Wildcat Web

With Villanova ranked in the top 25 and this whole "blogging" thing catching on, there's a plethora of information for Villanova fans to digest these days.

Here's a quick look around the 'tubes for relevant news at the start of the week:

• Zagsblog runs some lengthy Jay Wright quotes in a piece on Villanova's 2009-2010 recruiting class, headlined by Mouphtaou Yarou and Maalik Wayns.



• VUhoops reports, via Zagsblog, that Villanova is now involved in the recruitment of the awesomely named Jarrid Famous, a transfer from Westchester.



• Bleacher Report calls Villanova a potential Big East wildcard and takes a look at the Wildcats' 10 biggest games.



• Villanova by the Numbers has its usual numbers-filled preview for the Fordham game, penned by none other than Greycat, the Nate Silver of Villanova basketball.



• I Bleed Blue and White also runs a Fordham preview. You can tell they really mean what they say when they start writing in italics.



• Nova News recaps the Albany game 007-style, in honor of the worst James Bond movie I have ever seen.

Got any more interesting links? Let us know in the comment section below.

NASA computer picks Villanova to win championship

According to an article on the Serious Sports News Network, a supercomputer constructed by NASA predicted in November that Villanova would win the national championship:

Barry, as the supercomputer is affectionately known around NASA headquarters, was constructed in late 2007 with the sole purpose of determining the outcome of the 2008 tournament. While the exact cost of Barry remains classified, estimates of the machine’s price tag range between two and three billion dollars.

“We were pretty nervous back in November when we flipped Barry on for the first time and saw ‘VILLANOV’ on Barry’s old-timey, all caps, eight-letter-maximum LED readout,” said Dr. Michael D. Griffin, chief of America’s space agency.

In case you couldn't tell, the above article is satire, but it's good to see Villanova get some press as a Cinderella.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, fiction turned into reality this week when Villanova fulfilled to the letter the exact "best-case scenario" proposed by ESPN's Pat Forde, the best writer in all of college basketball:

Best Case: Last at-large team in the Dance justifies its inclusion by stunning Clemson, then takes advantage of upset in the bracket to face No. 13 seed Siena in the second round. Suddenly Nova has won two games and has advanced to the Sweet 16, and everybody remembers why they loved Jay Wright so much when his team won 30 games in 2006.

Those eerily-prophetic words were published on March 19, and, strangely, the only thing to correct in the entire statement is that Villanova won 28 games in 2006, not 30.

Finally, an excellent straight piece about Villanova's surprise visit to the Sweet 16 runs today in Sports Illustrated, and is worth a read.

You may also check out the automatically generated news feeds at the top of this site. It's a big week for Villanova in the media.