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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: HARTFORD

March 22, 2019

Jay Wright

Hartford, Connecticut

Q. Jay, Matt Painter has talked about how getting old and staying old has been a big part of their success. I am curious how that's playing into what you've been able to do at Villanova.
JAY WRIGHT: Definitely important to us, and it's something we're really trying to work on with our recruiting and our roster structuring. And we got caught this year. We expected to have Donte DiVincenzo and Omari Spellman back. But for all good reasons, it worked out great for them. So we're willing to take that hit. And it probably will affect us more even next year than it will this year because we won't have any seniors next year. Thank God for Phil Booth and Eric Paschall. They've had a lot of responsibility, and the old guys still carry this team.

Q. Matt Painter lost four seniors last year, probably one of his top classes. What can you say about the job he's done this year to get his team here?
JAY WRIGHT: I just saw him in the hallway. That's exactly what I said to him. I said I'm so happy for you to have a season like this and impressed. It's amazing, it really is. Because like we just talked about, I know in their program, they rely on guys that understand their system and that have played in their system and are proud of being a part of something bigger than themselves. That's what makes them good. And then you lose four of them. It takes time to build that again.

And I think not just what they've been able to do this year, but the way they've been able to improve throughout the entire season. To win the Big Ten -- they were 16-4, I believe, right? In the Big Ten? That's impressive any time, any year, but after losing four guys, that's amazing.

Q. Are you excited that it's a single session tomorrow so there will actually be people in the building when you tip off?
JAY WRIGHT: I feel bad about saying that now. Everybody in the building's been awesome. The building's been great. We have great locker rooms. Everyone treats us great. Everything's set up. I just meant it was just shocking to the players who have not been in an NCAA Tournament, when you tell them how special it is. I know it was because of TV and the NCAA, but I didn't mean to say anything bad about the people of the building. It's not their fault. The building's been great. We've been treated extremely well. So I am happy to have a crowd there.

Q. Jay, just your thoughts on what Matt Painter's been able to build over his 15 years at Purdue, the sustained round of success?
JAY WRIGHT: Yeah. You can look around college basketball. It's the hardest thing to do. It's the hardest thing to do in anything is sustained excellence, right? You can get hot for a while and then how do you handle success, right? Or you can be down for a while and how do you handle failure?

He's handled everything, and every year you just know that team is going to be well-coached, disciplined. They're going to execute and they're going to compete for championships every year. It's really impressive. And greatness is sustained excellence, right? And that's what he's done.

And I'm sure Coach Keady is really proud. I was watching film and just to see him sitting in the stands at one of their games. I think that's a big part of it. I think Matt respects Purdue's history, respects Coach Keady, and that's what makes him so good. It's not about him, it's about the tradition of Purdue basketball. To be as successful as he is and as good a coach as he and not make it about him is probably what's unique about him and Purdue.

Q. Jay, Carsen Edwards, a guy who has such an incredibly high volume of takes and makes, the kind of guy that scares you a little bit because if he goes off, it doesn't matter in some ways what else you're doing. I don't want you to give me your game plan. I asked Booth for it. He wouldn't give it to me.
A guy that quick is it hard to deny. Is it then just switch and help and make sure he doesn't have a lot room to maneuver. How do you look at him?

JAY WRIGHT: But similar to those guys, Powell and Howard, where you're not going to stop them. And part of the game is not getting frustrated. If he comes down in transition and pulls up literally from 30 foot and makes a shot, that can't break you mentally.

And the thing about Purdue more than any team we've played is the other guys are really good, too. Cline could put up the numbers that Edwards did if Edwards wasn't on the team. Again I think that's what makes them a great team that it doesn't bother any of them and it's obvious the way they play together.

Haarms, yeah they can go inside if Edwards -- if they just choose. Eifert shoots the hell out of it, right? And then you look at Eastern, that kid can do a lot. He can post up. He can drive the ball. He can score and guard anybody. So we can't just try to hold Edwards. He could score 25 and maybe you could win, because he's just so good. But what makes them so difficult is his explosiveness and then the ability of the guys around him.

Q. You mentioned sustaining excellence and obviously you've had player turnover. You've also have an enormous amount of staff turnover because of the all of the winning and guys going on to get jobs. How have you handled that? I think you started a little feeder system in your program. I wonder if that's intentional or happened organically?
JAY WRIGHT: You know what, that is something we're really proud of this year. Over last two years, we lost our top two assistants to head coaching positions. Baker Dunleavy is here at Connecticut at Quinnipiac and Ashley Howard at LaSalle.

From our top assistants to our third assistant Mike Nardi to Dwayne Anderson, everybody is in a new position for the first time. That was one of our struggles about being young this year, too. And those guys have done an incredible job and I'm really proud of them. And when you talk about the feeder system, one of the things that we've learned over the years is all of those guys on our staff have either been previously assistants on our staff or have played for us.

And it's harder to teach our culture than it is to teach the X's and O's of what we do. So we want to keep guys that understand the culture when they come in, so it's an easier adjustment to whatever we're doing X and O wise. That's been part of our feeder system.

Q. Jay, I don't know if you had a chance maybe to sneak a peek at Murray State yesterday or if you've seen them in person in the past, but I just wonder as a basketball guy, your take on Ja and what you like about him, what's unique about him?
JAY WRIGHT: I haven't seen a lot. But the thing that I have -- so take this with a grain of salt. But I love when guys that are that talented, that could play to get outrageous numbers in terms of scoring always makes the right play and always plays to win. That's what is really impressive to me. Now, I haven't seen a lot. But when you have that much talent, and you know you can really get a shot off any time you want and you could score as much as you want, but you still make the right pass and make the right play to your teammates and you still defend and rebound, that's always hard to do, but in today's players' mindset it's really rare. It's really impressive.

Q. Jay, offensive rebounding last night was a bit of a problem and it seems to have been --
JAY WRIGHT: It was non-existent.

Q. Non-existent, I'll use your word. But it's been hot and cold. What do you guys have to reinforce especially tomorrow night because Purdue averages over 12 offensive rebounds a game.
JAY WRIGHT: There's two sides of that. Number one, is keeping them off the glass. You know, even their guards offensively rebound really well, which is rare. So that's what's interesting about the NCAA Tournament. When you go against different styles and you really only have a day to prepare and that team that you're preparing for has not just a different style, they're really successful at it or they wouldn't be here. How we can quickly get our guards to rebound against their guards is going to be important.

And then for us to just do a better job of stealing an extra possession or two. We got a couple at the end of the game that were -- last night, but we only got a couple, but they were crucial. We watched film today and we've just got to commit to it and maybe do a better job, but they're a great rebounding team.

Q. You talked a little bit about Purdue's offense. What do they do defensively that concerns you?
JAY WRIGHT: Very disciplined in terms of using their size. They've got great size, to keep you in front of them, but still remain close enough to contest your threes. Some teams could back off and keep you in front of them, but they can't guard the three. And then some teams can get up in you but you can go by them. Again that's why Matt's a great coach, and they all do it. They just give you just enough space that you can't go by them, but they can still get up and contest you and they keep you in front of them.

So offensive rebounding is difficult when you don't go by anybody, and they always keep you between them and the basket, though a, great job of that.

Q. Question related to Ja. The kid comes in, he's a little off the radar and takes big steps each year. So many of the superstars, like a Zion, in the one-and-done era, seem to be sort of ready-made superstars. Do we underrate the development that happens in college basketball? In other words, like guys can actually take some time to develop into stars?
JAY WRIGHT: Yeah. We do. And I get it. You know, I get that everybody likes to see the phenom and the new guy that just came on the scene, and he's going be a great NBA player. And it's a no-brainer, right? I get that. And you have to celebrate that. It's pretty cool. I actually feel bad, I've never seen Zion in person. I want to see it. It would be nice in a game, because that means we advanced.

But I think true college basketball fans really desire knowing more about the guys that develop, you know. And I wish we would do more of that. And I wish somehow we could figure out in college basketball -- -- I do not want to take away anything from those guys that are the stars, because they make the game. They make people come to the game and watch it on TV. But the true college basketball fans, I wish there's a way in college basketball we could really celebrate those guys.

There's some awards, like the best senior in the country that stayed for four years, but I don't feel it gets the publicity, you know, maybe of the one-and-done guy that's a great player, too. And those guys are really valuable to our game and those guys are valuable in the NBA, too. So it's something that, hey, maybe we can all work on together.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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