Everybody knows what Temple's victory over Penn State Thursday meant for Fran Dunphy.
"Right now . . . it sucks," Wright said after 'Nova's season finally skidded over the edge with a 61-57 loss to George Mason yesterday in its first game of the NCAA Tournament. "They're really dying.
"We're all dying. And I think that's why I like being a college coach. If I was a pro coach? With what happened here? I wouldn't be talking about learning lessons. We'd all be out of here."
Well, maybe that's a little extreme. But he'd be on the clock. Truth is, without the glory days that preceded these recent disasters, Wright would be viewed no differently from his predecessor, Steve Lappas, whose teams won 20 games or more six times, but broke into rashes once the postseason appeared.
Is it fair? Hell, yeah, it is. As the coach pointed out: "We got a lot of positives when we went through the good times. And I remember saying to myself we're not that perfect. I'm not that good of a coach. So when it goes this way, you've got to take it. It's all part of it."
If it soothes you at all, know that Wright might do a few things differently if he could do it all over again. The experiment of playing big men, such as Isaiah Armwood, out of position when Corey Stokes missed games didn't work. Replacing Corey Fisher with lengthier-but-younger Dominic Cheek in the waning moments of that South Florida game probably cost the 'Cats that game.
Rethink things? Sure, he said. Maybe he could have handled Taylor King differently. What if they hadn't given 6-9 Markus Kennedy another year of prep-school seasoning? Would the swoon have occurred? Would they have earned a higher seed?
