Villanova’s Jay Wright once pointed to 2 talented KU freshmen as a prime examples of the importance of coaching

By Matt Tait     Mar 25, 2016

Villanova head coach Jay Wright talks with media members on Friday, March 25, 2016 at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

Villanova coach Jay Wright is one of the best in the business when it comes to taking and answering questions from the media.

And the man in charge of finding a way to knock out top-seeded Kansas on Saturday night was at it again on Friday, filling the room with thoughtful answers and interesting anecdotes.

Many of them had to do with his team or this specific match-up, but others focused more on philosophy and the bigger picture of the game of basketball.

One such story that illustrated that second aspect to perfection was born out of Villanova’s upset victory of second-ranked Kansas in the Bahamas early in the 2013-14 season.

Villanova defeated a young Kansas team that featured freshmen Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid and a handful of players on this year’s team on a late shot by then-sophomore guard Ryan Arcidiacono.

Kansas guard Andrew Wiggins hangs in the lane for a shot over the Villanova defense during the second half on Friday, Nov. 29, 2013 in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

The three-pointer was Arcidiacono’s only make of that game, but was far from the only thing Wright remembered about the contest.

Here is that story, in Wright’s words…

> “The other really unique thing about
> that game, I think I told Bill this,
> Wiggins had played, I don’t know,
> maybe one or two games before that,
> and we were pressing him a little bit.
> He had five turnovers. I think he was
> sick that day too.
>
> We, in the scouting report, pumped him
> up to our guys, how good he was. In
> the game, he had like five turnovers,
> didn’t play that well. I said to our
> guys, I said, All right, watch this
> team. I said, You think they turned
> the ball over and we just beat them?
> You don’t think they’re that good?
> This is why players need coaching.
> Wiggins had five turnovers. I
> guarantee you by the end of this
> season, this kid will be one of the
> top picks in the draft. The kid,
> Embiid, got in foul trouble in that
> game. I said, When he gets coached by
> Bill Self for a year, I guarantee you
> this kid is going to be a great player
> by the end of the year and this team
> will be a great team. They didn’t look
> good then, guys were sick.
>
> When teams win a game, they think
> they’re better. Then they watched
> them. At the end of the year, I said,
> You see that team now? Is that the
> same team that played us? They’re all
> like, No. I said, That’s why players
> need coaching. You need to be coached.
>
> It was helpful for our guys, who heard
> a lot about Embiid and Wiggins, to
> say, well, those one-and-done guys are
> getting coached. I better listen and
> be coached. It really helped our team.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.