Villanova Heads for Detroit, a Year Older, Wiser and Better Prepared

PHILADELPHIA -- Detroit's Ford Field is the place where Villanova's NCAA tournament ended last year, with a Sweet 16 loss to eventual champion Kansas. The site of this year's Final Four, it's the place where the Wildcats' 2009 tournament will end as well. This time, they're hoping they can win a couple of games before that happens.

This time, they think they'll be better prepared for the unique challenge of playing a basketball game in a converted indoor football stadium -- in particular the unusually long walk from the locker room and a raised floor that apparently shakes a bit when you play on it."It definitely impacted us last year," coach Jay Wright said Wednesday, before his team's practice at Villanova's Davis Center. "I think it impacted our shooting. There's a unique depth perception there because you're above the crowd. The elevated floor makes you feel like you're on a stage. It's different, but I think we'll be better off for having played there last year."

The Wildcats' semifinal opponent, North Carolina, was thinking ahead. Knowing that this year's Final Four would be at Ford Field (and planning on being there), the Tar Heels and Michigan State scheduled their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at the venue.

"Which was smart," Wright said.

On Dec. 3, North Carolina beat the Spartans 98-63 in front of a crowd of 25,267. The crowd Saturday is likely to be almost three times that size, but at least Carolina will have some sense of what it's like to play on that elevated court.

"It's definitely a help to have played there," VIillanova forward Dante Cunningham said. "It's unusual. I remember when you'd move side to side, you felt the floor vibrating a little bit. So I think it's good that it's not our first time."

A couple of other assorted notes from Villanova's final practice before they boarded their flight for Detroit:

-- By now, the story about Rollie Massimino giving Scottie Reynolds shooting tips in the lobby of the team hotel on the morning of the team's regional final victory over Pitt is well known. Massimino, who coached the 1985 Villanova team to a famous upset of Georgetown in the tournament title game, has been hanging around the games and practices, giving everybody a good feeling.



"He's completely passionate about everything that's good and Villanova, which we think are the same," Wright said. "It's been a joy to have him around and to be such a presence."

"It's great, because it reminds us that it's possible," Reynolds said. "Seeing him around, you immediately think about 'Villanova won the national championship.' And nobody thought that team could do it either."

-- Asked if his team faced any team comparable to North Carolina this year, Wright thought for a while and then said, "No."

"There's no one like them," Wright said. "Maybe a little combination of UConn and Louisville, but there's no one that can go up and down and bring the depth that they can."

Wright said the rapid tempo at which Carolina plays will pose a strategy problem for his team.

"We like to play that way, but we don't like to play that way against North Carolina," Wright said. "They're better at that. So we've got to be smart. We've got to pick our spots, when we play that way and when we slow it down. That's the challenge for us."

Villanova's regional final game was against a familiar conference opponent, and it was played at a familiar pace. Saturday's game against the high-octane Heels will be more difficult to control.

"A Big East game has fewer possessions and it's more of a grind-it-out game," Wright said. "North Carolina, that's what their system is built on -- never getting into that. Any coach I've talked to who's played against them has said the same thing: 'Don't try and run up and down the floor with them.' So we've been talking a lot about that, and we'll continue to."

-- Cunningham said he's had an additional role as one of the team's seniors this week.

"It's been important for us to talk to the younger guys just about not getting too much into the hype," Cunningham said. "Just make sure everybody's staying focused and not getting too caught up in all the excitement that's going on around here."

For that reason, Wright was looking forward to getting on that plane to Detroit on Wednesday afternoon.

"I think it'll be best for us right now to get away," the coach said. "It's really strange, being around here with all the media here, all the friends and family here. We don't come to practice every day during the season and have media like this, students waiting outside, people talking about us...it's just not normal around here."

The Cats said being on the road would make it feel more like the regular season, and to stay focused on their task instead of the buzz.

"This is going to be a business trip for us," Wright said. "You don't work all season to get to this point and just go there to enjoy yourself. We're going out there to work."