Nova's Dynamic Duo

Jay Wright needed a long moment to ponder the question, realizing he was anything but an impartial observer.

In his mind, how does Villanova's point-guard tandem of Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns rate against the top backcourt duos in the nation?

Wright finally exhaled.

"I hate to talk about it, because I know I'm biased," the Wildcats coach said. "But I'll always be honest. There's a lot of great ones, but I think they're as good as anybody in the country."

Ranking the nation's top guard combinations is a difficult task. There are great ones everywhere, particularly in the Big East Conference, including No. 4 Pittsburgh, which visits the Pavilion on Saturday night to take on the ninth-ranked Wildcats.

But if you want two guys who can handle the basketball, rocket from one end of the floor to the other in no time, and are relentless and fearless on offense and defense, look no farther than the Main Line.

Fisher, a 6-foot-1 senior from the Bronx, has evolved into one of the best guards playing college basketball. A finalist for the Bob Cousy Award given to the top point guard in the country, he is averaging 17.4 points and 6.0 assists in 11 Big East gamescq, with equally gaudy shooting and defensive numbers.

A reluctant shooter in the past, even though he scored 105 points last July in a New York summer-league game, Fisher finally is heeding his coach's wishes to launch more shots, which has placed him among the top guards Wright has coached.

"Fish probably has taken the longest to get where we want him to go," Wright said. "But he's at the point now where in the last few weeks, especially since the UConn game (Jan. 17), he's playing at a level as good as any of them. It's exciting to see."

The 6-2 Wayns, a sophomore who played at Roman Catholic, endured a rough outing in Wednesday night's loss at Rutgers, going the entire game without a field goal. But when he is playing at the level he did in the Cats' previous five games (16.2-point average, 52 percent shooting), he is a vital part of his team's success.

The similarities in the games of both Fisher and Wayns make it a challenge for defenses to figure out how to neutralize them.

"To me, Maalik and me are the same," Fisher said. "We both can shoot it and get to the rim. We get other guys involved. We're both tough, and we both want to win.

"It's a good feeling out there to know there's another guard who can attack in transition and get to the rim at any time and get somebody else shots. It's fun. We always hear that we're small, so we want to go out there and prove every night that we can compete with the best."

Wayns agreed that he and Fisher are "alike in a lot of ways.

"We both make plays for ourselves and each other, and we look for each other," he said. "I think it's a little hard to play against us. If I were playing against a team that's got two point guards that can drive and kick and shoot the ball, it would be really hard to prepare."

Wright said he likes seeing each player advance his game toward the area in which the other player does best, such as Fisher's ability to pass, and Wayns' ability to score.

"We're trying to bring each closer to the other, and it's working," he said. "They learn from each other. We'll watch film together and we'll show Maalik, 'You see what Fish saw here?' And then we'll show Fish, 'You see what Maalik saw here?' It's been really nice."

Wright also loves how close the two players are, how Fisher is teaching Wayns in the same manner Scottie Reynolds taught Fisher the previous two years.

Fisher put on a show at Connecticut, scoring a career-high 28 points and keeping the Wildcats in the game until the end.

"Nightmares, I think, is the best way to describe it," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. "It's your worst nightmare. We have some great guards in our league, and he and Kemba [Walker] were both great.

"Wayns is a terrific player. They're very difficult to defend and they shoot the ball very well. Their guards are terrific."

And these are just the ballhandling guards. Senior Corey Stokes, the Wildcats' top three-point threat with 68 baskets from beyond the arc, often plays with Fisher and Wayns in a three-guard lineup and can't be left alone for a second. Sophomore Dominic Cheeks is showing improvement coming off the bench, and freshman James Bell performed well at crunch time against Rutgers.

But as Fisher and Wayns will tell you, rankings don't mean a thing.

"We don't really talk about that," Wayns said. "We just try to come out and be the best we can be. We can't really control what other guys do or how other guys see us, or how people see us. There are a lot of great guards in the Big East."

On 'fix'Nova, too?

"Yeah, I would think so," he said with a laugh.

Villanova is 2-2 since coach Jay Wright removed guard Maalik Wayns from the starting lineup. Here's Wayns' and backcourt partner Corey Fisher's averages this season.

Games      20          4         24            24

Points       14.1       11.5      13.7         15.9

Rebounds      3.0      1.5      2.8         3.1

Assists      5.1      3.8      4.8         5.3

Steals       1.3      0.25      1.1         1.7

Minutes       29.5       25.8      28.9         33.5

FG%         41.5      43.3      41.7         42.7

3-Pt%         23.9      33.3      25.0         36.9

FT%         82.5      81.0      82.3         78.7

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