http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22436614/inside-villanova-epic-five-year-run
Great article about how Jay Wright has built the Villanova program by recruiting players to fit the team's culture and system and not taking just any player because they've got stars next to their names. Explains a lot when compared to the Rice era of 5-stars and consistent under-performance. Villanova experienced the same problems we had under Rice when Wright abandoned his principles and went after the highest rated players - lack of buy-in into the program's philosophy and teams that peaked early and then faded as the players' commitments to the philosophy faded. For Menzies, his recruiting appears to be following a principled plan rather than chasing the stars, excepting McCoy. At least I hope that's the case. Signing a kid based upon his talent only rather than first looking at their toughness, heart and desire to buy into the program's philosophy is a recipe for more of what we've seen out of UNLV over the last few years. We all want tough, hard-nose teams that play "old style" Runnin Rebel basketball. It takes a principled approach that requires patience as well as buy-in from the school and the fans.
Great article about how Jay Wright has built the Villanova program by recruiting players to fit the team's culture and system and not taking just any player because they've got stars next to their names. Explains a lot when compared to the Rice era of 5-stars and consistent under-performance. Villanova experienced the same problems we had under Rice when Wright abandoned his principles and went after the highest rated players - lack of buy-in into the program's philosophy and teams that peaked early and then faded as the players' commitments to the philosophy faded. For Menzies, his recruiting appears to be following a principled plan rather than chasing the stars, excepting McCoy. At least I hope that's the case. Signing a kid based upon his talent only rather than first looking at their toughness, heart and desire to buy into the program's philosophy is a recipe for more of what we've seen out of UNLV over the last few years. We all want tough, hard-nose teams that play "old style" Runnin Rebel basketball. It takes a principled approach that requires patience as well as buy-in from the school and the fans.
