Villanova's Jay Wright tries to put NCAA tourney loss behind him

ONE OF THE FIRST things Jay Wright does after every Villanova game is go back over the video.

"You always want to see, immediately, what we can improve for the next game," said the man who has the third-most wins in school history.

Except when that game is suddenly another eight months away, which is what happens when you unexpectedly get ousted in the first week of the NCAA Tournament.

"Once there's not a next game, you know it's going to hurt to watch," Wright said. "So you kind of delay it.

"I probably didn't watch for a couple of weeks."

Instead, he spent that time watching other teams play on in the NCAA Tournament, which might have been the cruelest part.

"Until the championship game, it just kills me," Wright said. "Every game, you're saying, 'What would we have done against that team?' Or, 'Could we have beaten that team?' You just do it.

"As soon as it ends, I [finally] feel like [the season's] over. Then it's the next season. But while it's still going on, it's really hard."

Wright should know. He's had to do it two straight years now.

In 2014, a 29-4 Wildcats team that was seeded second was eliminated in its second game by eventual national champion Connecticut. In March, your 33-2 Wildcats - after again setting a Main Line record for best regular season and then winning the Big East tourney for the first time since 1995 - lost their second game once more, as a No. 1 seed, to 13-loss North Carolina State.

Close to two months have gone by. Yet while time might indeed have healing powers, nobody said it ensures a painless closure.

"The difference is when you really believe your team is good enough to win [the title]," said Wright, who also went down in the second game as a 2-seed in 2010, 11 months after getting to the Final Four.

From 2005-09, the Wildcats made it to the second week four times, including an Elite Eight and that national semifinal.

Since then, they're 3-5. Which means there will be some explaining to do, even if you have won 62 of your last 70 in the overall.

"That really doesn't bother me," Wright said. "When things are going good and everybody's saying you're good, I don't listen to that, either. It's a great opportunity for me to remember, and our guys to learn, if you're going to play at this highest level, then people are going to judge you. You can't hold it against them. That's just the way it is in sports. You just don't have to believe what they say."

What a bunch of them are contending is that Wright somehow needs to change the way he recruits, the way he schedules and/or the way his team plays. Even though he did it much the same way from 2005-09. And when he did try to get taller, after losing to Kansas, 72-57, in the 2008 Sweet 16, he thinks it, in part, led to what happened in 2011-12, when they at times started a frontcourt that averaged 6-9, yet ended up tying a Villanova record by losing 19 times.

Now he finds himself in a position in which he almost has to apologize for somehow "failing," which he absolutely gets.

"What we have to do is find a way to win that second game," Wright said. "That's the right answer. But it's too simple for today's fans. In that aspect of our season, we didn't get it done. So people have legit arguments. But we can't try to be a better Kentucky than Kentucky. They'll always be better at that. I really believe our best chance is not trying to [do that]. The reality is we have to be the best Villanova we can be.

"In our program, we've moved on. I know our players are smart enough to understand. But it's definitely in the back of their minds. One game isn't going to define who we are. Still, it becomes a challenge. After two years in a row, I don't think you can say it's a good thing. We know it's something we have to overcome, when the time comes. But the thing is, we can't even talk about it. Because it's going to be inconsequential unless we get to that point again. But if we do, it's something we have to deal with. In no way do we dismiss that."

Fair or whatever, it's become a perception issue. The Wildcats could get to 35-0 next season, yet, until they at least make it beyond the Round of 32. how much of America will allow itself to take them seriously enough? Not that any of those lingering doubts should be their concern.

"All [outsiders] care about is, 'Did you get there or not?' " Wright said. "When we were 13-19, I got some nasty emails. I mean a lot. I don't think I got one [after N.C. State]. I got a couple of suggestions, but really in a pretty good way. I know when it's bad and when it's not. And I know if we don't get to the second weekend next year, it's going to be a big deal.

"But until we get there, there's so much work to do. And the only thing that would be worse is if we don't get there. But I don't know if our guys think that way during the season. What if we're 17-7 at some point? I really think they understand the difference in what goes on with the fans and the media and what goes on with us."

Wright acknowledged that when an N.C. State happens, you question everything. Yet you also must maintain a certain perspective.

"We overreacted to the Kansas loss [in '08]," he said. "And it was just one game. With everything that happened [against N.C State], we had a wide-open shot with 15 seconds left with a [36 percent] three-point shooter [Dylan Ennis] to take the lead. It was more than we just didn't make that shot. When you're watching [the video], it's never as bad as you thought. But before you watch it, it's so hurtful. And every little play seems so monumental. Then you realize they all weren't. If the pressure got to us, I would use the choke word. We didn't play our best game. We have to live with that.

"If we get back there, and we're a high seed again, part of that game is going to be the opponent. The other part's going to be all the attention on us getting to the next weekend. That's what's so amazing about the Dukes winning and Kentucky going undefeated. These days, it's being able to handle that and still do it. That's how good you are. We're going to have to be a little bit better to handle both. But we wouldn't discuss it until after we won the first game. I'd sign up right now for that, definitely. But we would discuss it."

A lot of teams would trade places with him. Not that it makes life in their world any more navigable. The noise will start early. And it won't subside unless they get back to 2005-09. Even if many of their players were in junior high at the time.

"There's no hiding from it," Wright conceded. "We're talking about it, and it's [May]. I wouldn't be talking about it if someone didn't bring it up. The fact that there's maybe a possibility of us being a high seed in a second-round game [next year], you know that's pretty good. We know there's going to be questions to answer if we're not in that position [too]. It's better than sitting here saying we missed the tournament a couple of years.

"Look at Texas [where Tom Penders got fired after making it 16 times in 17 years]. That's incredible. What would be interesting is to see if that ever changes here.

"We have the most passionate, committed fan base, that's the most realistic. Even though we have some crazies. There are some realistic fan bases that just aren't passionate. Or some that are really passionate, but aren't realistic. The real key is, does your administration get affected by that? We've got great balance at Villanova. The people that are critical now are the same ones that said I should be fired [after going 13-19]. Everybody's got a group like that. We had over 800 people at our banquet. It wasn't a morgue. It was a celebration of the program. Everyone there was saying this was a great year."

It just ended at least one step too soon. Again. Maybe they'd be better off going 20-12 and then winning two games as a 12 seed, which is what happened in 2007-08. How many remember the 20-12 part of that?

"That's the price you pay, for all the good things we have going for us," Wright insisted. "A lot of our fans invest so much of themselves to support us. They have to right to criticize what we do. That's the biggest thing that's changed. But you can't complain about it. You can't. You have to be strong enough to stick you what you believe in . . .

"If we changed and didn't win, they'd be killing me and wanting to go back to what worked, you know. You can't get caught up in all that."

Even if the next endgame happens to be among the first things broached at this fall's tipoff media scrum. And it could mostly remain that way right through Selection Sunday. Because there's only one thing that can make it go away.