Jay Wright

At the Pavilion just after this season's Villanova opener, a ho-hummer over Division II District of Columbia, a longtime Big Five stat-crew member mentioned: "This team is going to win 11 games. " The guy knew what he had been looking at and seemed prescient in the weeks just ahead as 'Nova hit bottom - forging a new bottom below the one established the year before - when the Wildcats lost at home by 18 points to Columbia, which later struggled to stay out of the cellar in the Ivy League.

Villanova experienced a wide swing in its level of play all season, from the embarrassing 18-point home loss to Columbia in November to the March win over Georgetown - its third over a top-five team, which enabled the Wildcats to virtually punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament. Even though two of their weakest areas were exposed in Friday night's 78-71 NCAA South Regional loss to North Carolina that ended their season in Kansas City, Mo., the Wildcats look ahead with optimism after posting a seven-win improvement over the previous year and returning to the tournament.

When Villanova stood at 13-9 after the first weekend of February, it was looking at a second consecutive year away from the NCAA tournament and probably many raised eyebrows from critics wondering whether the program was losing its mojo four years removed from a Final Four appearance. But coach Jay Wright thought he had a team that was improving, one that always recovered after bad stretches. The Wildcats won seven games the rest of the way, including quality victories over Marquette and Georgetown, and learned Sunday that they would be returning to the NCAA tournament.

Jay Wright's voice was scratchy as he greeted writers and broadcasters Thursday at the Davis Center, and the Villanova coach explained that the hoarseness came from being under the weather, not from yelling at his players. "This isn't a group that needs yelling," Wright said. "This is a group that needs loving. " The Wildcats have been off from practice for two days, or since their dramatic collapse in the first round of the Big East tournament, when they blew a 16-point lead and were upset by South Florida for their fifth consecutive loss.

NEW YORK - Until Villanova plays a basketball game, many questions pointed at the Wildcats will be pointed backward, toward what went wrong. The good news: There are plenty of ways to answer that question for Jay Wright and his players. "I knew we could be committed to our core values and we could still slip," Wright said Wednesday at Big East media day. "I didn't think we'd lose our core values. " When you bounce toward the bottom, to a 13-19 record and 5-13 in the Big East, above only Providence and DePaul, the questions keep coming.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - He played his last game as he did so many of the others, with unending hustle and an undying spirit. This was it for 6-foot-10, 250-pound Villanova senior Mouphtaou Yarou, who ended his career with another strong effort, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds during the Wildcats' 78-71 loss to North Carolina in a second-round NCAA South Regional game at the Sprint Center. During his time at Villanova, Yarou was as respected as much for his genial personality and leadership as he was for his game.

Jay Wright knows that last season wasn't just a failure on paper for Villanova, but an unwatchable debacle. When Wright's past teams made deep NCAA runs, "the stars all aligned," as the Wildcats coach put it. This time, it was more like space junk falling from the sky. "There were some recruiting decisions, there were some decisions on style of play for this year, there was development of players . . . a little bit of each," Wright said of...

The college experience could have gone so differently for Shane Clark. Had it not been for a clerical error, Clark would have spent the last four years exhibiting his versatile basketball skills and easygoing manner at Maryland. He'd be grabbing rebounds, draining the occasional basket, and guarding the likes of Tyler Hansbrough. Instead, the pleasure of Clark's talent and personality over that time has belonged to Villanova, the school he initially spurned but where he was accepted by his teammates and coach Jay Wright after fate intervened.

The more Jay Wright watched television in the days after Villanova's stunning 70-69 loss to South Florida in the Big East tournament, the better he felt about the Wildcats' chances of advancing to the NCAA tourney for the seventh consecutive year. And when Wright and his players watched Villanova come up as the fifth team on the 68-team bracket during the televised selection show, he felt better still. Despite a five-game losing streak, the 11/2-point underdog Wildcats drew a No. 9 seed in the East Region and will meet eighth-seeded George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association on Friday at 2:10 p.m. in Cleveland.

The basketball season will begin earlier than usual for St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli, Villanova coach Jay Wright, and Drexel coach Bruiser Flint. USA Basketball yesterday announced that Martelli will coach the under-21 national team that will play in the World Championships from Aug. 5 to 14 in Argentina. Martelli will be assisted by Flint and Georgia coach Dennis Felton. The selections were made by a committee chaired by Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. Although it has not been announced, Wright is expected today to be named coach of the U.S. team that will compete in the World University Games from Aug. 11 to 21 in Turkey.

VILLANOVA LEAD guard Tony Chennault, a Neumann-Goretti product, has decided not to transfer after all. Chennault came to the Main Line last offseason after spending 2 years at Wake Forest, where he started as a sophomore. He became eligible to play immediately when the NCAA granted him a hardship waiver, since he made the move to be closer to his ailing mother. Then last May, his older brother/mentor was killed in a still-unsolved shooting incident. When Chennault struggled with his game in the first half of the season, coach Jay Wright said that he thought the tragedy was a factor.

WITH THE departure of 6-10 senior Mouphtaou Yarou, who averaged 9.9 points and 7.8 rebounds last season, Villanova's basketball team needed to add a big man. Especially since 6-11 Daniel Ochefu, who averaged 3.5 and 4.1 in just under 18 minutes a game as a freshman, remained the only player on the roster over 6-6. Well, the Wildcats got some help Tuesday afternoon, when former Lower Merion High 6-8 power forward Darryl Reynolds, who is completing a...

SOMETIMES, for whatever reasons, things just don't work out. Former Neumann-Goretti lead guard Tony Chennault transferred to Villanova last offseason after spending 2 years (one as a starter) at Wake Forest, to be closer to his ailing mother. He even got a hardship waiver from the NCAA that made him eligible immediately. But now, after averaging 3.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 18 minutes a game off the bench for a team that won 20 games and made it back to the NCAA Tournament after a 1-year absence, he has decided to move on again.

Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright's salary is $2,290,346, 10th among coaches who made the NCAA Tournament, according to USA Today . Temple's Fran Dunphy's salary of $724,557 was 40th and La Salle's John Giannini's salary of $426,230 was 47th. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski was the top paid at $7,233,976, followed by Louisville's Rick Pitino ($4,078,327), Kansas' Bill Self ($4,750,763), Michigan State's Tom Izzo ($3,220,769) and Florida's Billy Donovan ($3,689,200). The newspaper obtained salary information from 62 of the 68 competing schools.

VILLANOVA SOPHOMORE guard Achraf Yacoubou is going to transfer, sources familiar with the situation have confirmed. Last season, the 6-4 product of Long Island Lutheran High in the Bronx averaged 3 points and 2.6 rebounds in about 12 minutes a game for a team that finished 20-14 and lost to North Carolina in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Next season the Wildcats will add Dylan Ennis, a Rice transfer who has three seasons of eligibility remaining. So does Ryan Arcidiacono, who led the team in minutes in his first season.

Shaka Smart turned down a chance to coach UCLA and instead signed a contract extension with Virginia Commonwealth, Sports Illustrated reported. According to the report, which cited an anonymous source, Smart's extension will run through 2023 and pay him about $1.5 million a season. UCLA will have to look elsewhere to replace Ben Howland. Former Bruins star and Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says he's the man for the job. Abdul-Jabbar said Wednesday that he wants to be considered for the Bruins job. "Like all Bruin supporters," Abdul-Jabbar said, "the recent trend at our school hasn't made me happy.

Villanova experienced a wide swing in its level of play all season, from the embarrassing 18-point home loss to Columbia in November to the March win over Georgetown - its third over a top-five team, which enabled the Wildcats to virtually punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament. Even though two of their weakest areas were exposed in Friday night's 78-71 NCAA South Regional loss to North Carolina that ended their season in Kansas City, Mo., the Wildcats look ahead with optimism after posting a seven-win improvement over the previous year and returning to the tournament.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Villanova did what it does every game. It tried. But trying wasn't enough against North Carolina on Friday night, and although the Wildcats made it more of a game than the Tar Heels wanted, they didn't complete the Philly sweep of second-round NCAA tournament games. Down by 20 in the first half, Villanova fought back to take a one-point lead midway through the second but couldn't keep the outcome from slipping though its hands in the final minutes. So, it won't be three for the show come Sunday, when Temple and La Salle will be playing for a berth in the Sweet 16 round.