Jerardi: Wildcats trying to put NCAA title in rearview mirror

NEW YORK - "How heavy is the ring, Josh?"

"It's a little heavy, but I think it gets a little lighter every time I wear it," Josh Hart said with a smile Tuesday morning, sitting at a round table just off the Madison Square Garden floor, flanked by fellow members of a Villanova senior class that has gone 97-13, 48-6 in Big East regular-season games, 12-0 in the City Series, with one Big East Tournament title and one legendary national title won last April in Houston.

That was my first question, the championship ring hard to miss on Hart's finger, along with the bow tie, the glasses hanging stylishly out of the jacket pocket and no socks, an outfit so sensational that even GQ Jay Wright noticed and commented positively.

Kris Jenkins, whose 100th three last season will be the one nobody ever forgets, and Darryl Reynolds shared the table with Hart at Big East Media Day, Wright eventually finding his spot across from his players.

It won't be the same at Villanova without Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu. When asked whether they could be replaced, Wright acknowledged the obvious, saying: "No, I don't think so, but there's a lot of different ways to be successful. If we're successful this year, it's going to be very different than last year's team."

This Villanova team was again picked to win the Big East because of Hart, Jenkins, Reynolds, Jalen Brunson, Phil Booth and Mikal Bridges, six players good enough to compete with anybody's.

"We all kind of have the same heartbeat," Hart said. "We all love basketball. We're competitive. We want to win every possession, every drill, so the fire's still there."

Hart was picked as the Big East preseason Player of the Year. Jenkins was named to the first team. This season will be different because that is the nature of it, but the Wildcats will be very good - again.

"Josh, we were recruiting other guys on his AAU team," Wright said, "and we kept seeing this kid is making all the plays. There were a couple of guys on his team that are getting all the hype, but this kid gets every rebound, this kid gets every loose ball, this kid's getting to the foul line. We just liked him. He's our kind of guy."

So really were all of them who played the 2015-16 season that will be celebrated forever on the Main Line. The caliber of play in the six-game run to the title was at such a high level as to be almost mesmerizing. You will be able to relive it all in my great friend and Daily News alum Dana O'Neil's book Long Shot, set to go on sale Feb. 1, 2017.

Meanwhile, there is a season to get ready for, the celebration more for the fans at this stage than the coaches and players.

"I don't think we are going to be able to put last year behind us completely until we start playing games," Wright said.

Wright and his players were at the Garden on Monday night to see Ochefu play in an exhibition game with the Wizards.

"Nobody said to us, 'Good luck this season,' " Wright said. "We're here to start this new season, but everybody was talking to us about the game, they wanted to take pictures with Kris. That's just part of the challenge."

The 2017 Big East Tournament will be the 35th straight at MSG, a fact brought home before the players and coaches repaired to their tables, when the league had Bill Raftery moderate a "panel of historians" that included Jim Calhoun, P.J. Carlesimo and Chris Mullin.

"Growing up in New York, this was a sacred place," Mullin said.

The Garden still is that, the arena where each of the league's eight national champions had their final tests before the biggest exam in college basketball.

"You can never separate the Big East Tournament and Madison Square Garden," Carlesimo said.

And that was why it was so cool to have the morning on the floor, the giant scoreboard lowered so it almost touched the wood. In fact, it was on that floor where Villanova last lost a basketball game, a fact Wright was reminded of when he walked across it on the way to his table.

"We've been getting accolades all summer," Wright said. "Come back to Madison Square Garden, that presentation ends and I'm walking across the court to come here and somebody grabs me, I don't know who it was. 'Hey, Jay, just one question, not to be negative, but two minutes to go in the Big East championship game, Daniel Ochefu was wide open and you guys didn't get him the ball. Why didn't you get him the ball?'

"I was, like, 'We're back, we're back in New York, back to reality.' It's exactly what I needed. It was perfect."

@DickJerardi