Villanova's Wright learns to embrace zone defense

For much of Jay Wright's first 14 seasons as head coach at Villanova, a zone defense by his team was seen about as often on the basketball court as a unicorn.

Despite the fact that former Wildcats coach Rollie Massimino, one of his mentors, urged him to play a zone, as did Hall of Fame coach and longtime 'Nova practice observer Larry Brown and former UCLA and St. John's coach Steve Lavin, Wright resisted.

"Even though I coached under Coach Mass, there are certain aspects I don't like," Wright said. "I feel like it takes away our aggressiveness. So I thought if we could figure out a way to play it where we're still aggressive, we'll try it.

"The other part was, Larry Brown would always say to me, 'At least play it so you practice against it.' I think that was the final part because a lot of people were playing zone, so we'll start it so we can practice against it."

The zone advanced out of practice and into game action at the start of the 2015-16 season. There were growing pains in the early going, but the zone has played an increasingly significant role as the season has progressed, reaching its peak Saturday in a 64-59 win over Kansas that sent the Wildcats to the Final Four.

"I can be a hardhead sometimes," Wright admitted.

The zone saw its longest run against the Jayhawks. It helped in limiting Perry Ellis, Kansas' top scorer, to four points, but Wright said its primary purpose was to keep guards Wayne Selden Jr., and Frank Mason III from driving to the basket.

Ryan Arcidiacono, who has played in every one of the 142 games that Wright has coached the last four years, said the zone provides a change of pace and disrupts an opponent's rhythm. The Wildcats have gotten better at playing it, as was seen Saturday night.

"We struggled at the beginning of the season because we never played zone before," Arcidiacono said. "But I think just the experience of playing it has really helped us. It helped us limit the touches for Ellis. Whenever he got the ball, we kind of collapsed on him. So we're just trying to be aggressive in it and not to give them easy looks."

Daniel Ochefu, the Wildcats' 6-foot-11 senior center, is the rim protector in the zone. He said his main role is communication because "I'm the guy that sees everything back there, so I have to be the most talkative guy."

That communication was effective against Ellis and must continue at a high level in Saturday's national semifinal against Oklahoma and all-American Buddy Hield.

"Buddy Hield is going to be a major factor and we have to know where he is on the court at all times," Ochefu said. "I'm the guy that's letting the other guys know that Buddy is coming through or whatever. Even though we're in a zone, we have to make sure that we have a body on him."

That's one little tweak that Wright uses in his zone that keeps Villanova aggressive. And yes, he's starting to like the zone more after being "a little bit squeamish" at the start of the season.

"We put it in a couple of times and it worked," he said. "Then when it doesn't work, you don't give up on it. Now it's a good part of our system and I think our players have confidence in it. I do because I still feel we play aggressively.

"This probably should have happened a couple of years ago."

Hart honored

Junior swingman Josh Hart, the Wildcats' leading scorer and No. 2 rebounder, was named a third-team all-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He also was honorable mention on the Associated Press all-American team.

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