Phil Booth unlikely to return for Villanova this season
The Villanova Wildcats have won four straight games, and yet one question always surfaces afterward: Are they tired? The solid eight-man rotation Jay Wright envisioned at the start of the season lasted just three games after the pain in Phil Booth's surgically repaired left knee became too great. Booth, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, has not played since Nov. 17 with inflammation in that knee, and Wright said "it doesn't look good" that he'll return this season.
The Villanova Wildcats have won four straight games, and yet one question always surfaces afterward: Are they tired?
The solid eight-man rotation Jay Wright envisioned at the start of the season lasted just three games after the pain in Phil Booth's surgically repaired left knee became too great. Booth, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, has not played since Nov. 17 with inflammation in that knee, and Wright said "it doesn't look good" that he'll return this season.
So the second-ranked Wildcats (23-2, 10-2 Big East), who defeated Georgetown, 75-64, Tuesday night at the Pavilion, go with a seven-man rotation. And the minutes continue to pile up for four starters who are at 30 or more minutes per game.
Josh Hart played 37 minutes Tuesday and scored 25 points, but he went scoreless for more than 16 minutes in the second half against the Hoyas. He missed seven straight shots in that stretch before scoring eight points in the last 31/2 minutes to blunt a rally in which the visitors cut a 17-point deficit to two.
Even if he did feel fatigued, Hart, who is averaging 33.3 minutes overall and 33.1 in Big East games, would never admit it. He said the Wildcats' strong finish resulted from getting defensive stops which "really fueled that last couple of minutes on the offensive end." He drained a key three-pointer in a 9-1 run that clinched the victory.
Asked if he thought Hart was tired, Wright responded, "He's a stud."
"Certain guys, just physically, can handle the minutes," he said. "I think Josh is one of those guys. I know you guys keep asking me [about fatigue] and I will look at it even deeper. But we run a play for him at the end and he drills it. That three . . . he's coming off the baseline to the middle of the floor. You've got to have strong legs to catch that and drill that."
The question is whether weariness plays a role in the Cats' giving up big chunks of sizable leads. They led Marquette by 17 and lost. At Providence, they saw a 13-point lead trimmed to two with just over two minutes to play. St. John's was down 26 in the first half and 24 in the second, and trimmed the margin to nine in both halves.
Then on Tuesday, Villanova led by 56-39 with 11 minutes to play and scored just one field goal over the next 9 minutes, 34 seconds. The Hoyas drew to within two at 60-58 and 61-59 before the Cats pulled away at the end.
As for Booth, who scored a team-high 20 points in the national championship game against North Carolina, Wright said that he has not yet returned to practice and that he had another setback.
"He went full-court the other day, just working out, not with the team, just on his own," he said. "He came up sore the next day and we had to rest him for two or three days. That's why I say it doesn't look good."
Wright reiterated that there was no deadline to make a decision and that he was leaving it up to Booth.
"Again, I'm going to let him make that decision," he said. "He hasn't had to make a decision because he hasn't been cleared for practice yet. The longer it goes . . . he's going to have to make a choice. So it's not looking good."
Wright said the choices were longer rest or surgery, the latter of which would end his season.
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