PROVIDENCE, R.I. — So, it’s still a couple hours before Georgetown takes to the microphones for their mandated press availability, but the quotes are flying fast and furious here at the Dunk, a.k.a. Dunkin’ Donuts Center, a short walk downhill from the Providence train station. With coaches and players going separately, there’ll be 16 press conferences between 11:30 and 7 today. Head-spinning.
Of course, Villanova is the highest-seeded team of the eight that are here to play tomorrow, and that means one more re-visit to our old friend Scottie Reynolds, whose life journey, which included a significant stint in Herndon, is the stuff that cinematic tear-jerkers are made of. Reynolds said it himself when asked to think about taking off the Wildcats jersey for the last time, which will happen in sometime in the next two weeks or so.
“I’m thinking about making a movie,” said Reynolds. No idea who would play him, but Villanova head coach Jay Wright? “George Clooney, maybe.”
I will say this — people were talking about making a film about him from WAY back. This I know. The last four years is the difference between a Sundance film going gangbusters and a big-time studio swooping in with a huge budget.
Not that Reynolds doesn’t deserve it. How fast can I recap it: Given up for adoption by a teenager to white parents who eventually adopt even more kids after their own are grown; picks his AAU coach, Gary Hall, to coach him in high school; misses games for bible study; commits to Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson, who bails on him; Hall helps him pick Villanova instead, where he’s leaned on heavily as a freshman even if the older guys didn’t like it; goes into ‘Nova history with last-year’s game-winning runner in the Elite Eight against Pittsburgh (a short drive away in Boston, by the way); national player of the year candidate mops Verizon Center floor vs. Maryland (calls VC his Madison Square Garden); and named first team All-Big East. I’m sure I’ve missed something.
“It’s been just amazing,” said Reynolds. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think people that had doubted me wouldn’t even think that I would be in this position right now. I’m very blessed to be in the position I’m in right now, trying to make this team be the best it can be.”
Yes, it is all about team for him. Like his parents, Reynolds walks the walk.
“To get what you want, the only way you get what you want is for everybody to be on the same page, everybody committed to one thing,” said Reynolds. “Your way is not going to get what you want. It’s coach Wright’s way, and everybody buying in and being committed to one thing a hundred percent. For me to think about that is selfish and not something that I will never do.”
One thing the Wildcats must do, however, is figure out how to stop their late-season slide. Reynolds leads Villanova with 18.5 points per game, but he’s down to 15.0 in the last four games, in which he’s shot under 40 percent, well down from his season average of 47.8.
“The west Virginia game was just a tough game,” said Reynolds. “They played great defense, and against Marquette, I missed some shots that I usually hit. That’s the way it goes. I have some ideas where I can make some changes and I’m trying to work on that, and so is everybody else on this team.”
The Wildcats have lost five of their last seven games too. But they’re convinced that they’re playing better basketball now than they were when they were 20-1 and ranked No. 2 in the country. A reporter asked Reynolds about replacing the toughness and grit of Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson and Shane Clark.
“We feel like we’re heading in that direction,” said Reynolds. “Now, we’re running out of time, of course. If you give it two more months, maybe we could be an even better team. We can do it in a different way. We don’t have to be those guys, but we have to take on their personality like we know how to do. We’ve done a great job with that the last couple of days.”
As for the potential for an upset of what some have called the weakest No. 2 seed?
“The biggest fear we have is somebody coming into a basketball game, playing hard and more together than us,” said Reynolds. “Coach Wright always says, full effort is full victory. It’s about your effort, and for us, it’s about playing harder and more together than the other opponent. If we can do that, we feel like good things will happen for us.”
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