Villanova reserves impress Wright with attitude

The depth on Villanova's team has allowed coach Jay Wright to use five or six players off the bench every game, making multiple substitutions to try to find the right combination for an opposing lineup.

That flexibility has had the potential to be a dilemma for Wright: The guys he recruited for this year's team were highly touted high school players accustomed to starting and playing a lot of minutes.

But Wright said he was "incredibly impressed" with the way his players - especially his freshmen class of Maalik Wayns, Dominic Cheek, Isaiah Armwood, and Mouphtaou Yarou - have handled themselves.

"It's so hard for guys like Maalik and Cheek and [sophomore] Taylor King to come off the bench and keep a great attitude," Wright said yesterday after practice. "That's where they've been amazing. I'm really impressed [with] how they're all responding."

In No. 4 'Nova's 82-75 win Monday over No. 5 West Virginia, the 6-foot-1 Wayns played just three minutes, none in the second half, because of the Mountaineers' tall guards. Wright elected not to use the 6-foot-10 Yarou because West Virginia played quick big men on the perimeter.

But Wright said both Wayns and Yarou have had "great practices" preparing for tomorrow's game against Providence at the Wachovia Center.

"We have so much depth, we've been able to kind of mix and match," Wright said. "We want to play everybody, but there are certain games when certain guys are more effective than others."

The 6-6 King, a transfer from Duke, has struggled with his shot in the last three weeks but has averaged close to 20 minutes during that time because of his defense and rebounding. King missed all six of his shots against West Virginia but contributed eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

"When I was at Duke, most of my minutes depended on how I was shooting the ball," he said. "Here it's a totally different story. If I defend, get rebounds, dive on loose balls, scrap, fight, and I don't make a shot, I'll still get the minutes. I want to stay on the floor and be a big part of this team."

Bonding time. Wright and his team had planned to attend an NBA game involving former Wildcats star Randy Foye and the Wizards in Washington on Saturday, but it was postponed because of the snowstorm.

So Wright used the time to talk with the Cats about Saturday afternoon's loss to Georgetown.

"We just met and talked about the big picture, where we are as a team, what we can learn from the Georgetown game," he said. "We talked about the fine line between playing Villanova basketball every night and just being a step off."

"You can say a lot of things about the Georgetown game, all the excuses," added guard Scottie Reynolds. "But a good team doesn't use those excuses. They come through. They find a way to win. We're trying to be that team."

Scottie on the subway. Reynolds attracted his share of stares Saturday when he accompanied teammate Antonio Pena and assistant coach Doug West to the Verizon Center on the Washington Metro subway.

"I was waiting [in the station] and somebody said, 'Here comes the Georgetown fans,' " Reynolds recalled. "So I just put up my hood and turned up my headphones and tried to keep as low a profile as possible. That didn't work too well."

Several Georgetown fans kept pointing to Reynolds as they waited. Once the train came for the five-minute ride, news of Reynolds' presence spread like a brushfire through the car.

"It was crazy," he said. "You know what? There wasn't any chanting or anything like that [from students on the train]. So it was actually pretty cool."

All-American recruit. Forward JayVaughn Pinkston of Bishop Loughlin High in Brooklyn, N.Y., who gave Villanova an oral commitment on Dec. 3, has been selected to the East team for the 33d annual McDonald's All-American High School game March 31 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

Here's a look at Scottie Reynolds' scoring in the two halves of Villanova's 11 Big East games:

Marquette    7   16   23

DePaul   10   11   21

Marquette   5   10    15

Louisville    6   30    36

G'town   14   13   27

Rutgers   4    5   9

St. John's   11   8   19

Notre Dame   4   13    17

Seton Hall   2    13   15

G'town   5   19    24

W. Virginia   2    19    21

Averages   6.4   14.3   20.7

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