NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL FOUR: VILLANOVA VS KANSAS

April 1, 2022

Jay Wright

Jermaine Samuels

Collin Gillespie

Caleb Daniels

Caesars Superdome

Villanova Wildcats

Semi-Finals Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by head coach Jay Wright.

COACH WRIGHT: We had another good practice today. I feel like we're in a good place with replacing Justin. I think just watching more and more of Kansas, I'm just so impressed with their team speed, their intelligence defensively and their execution in dead-ball situations.

Bill's a Hall of Fame coach. So it's not a surprise, but it's still cool to watch their execution and intelligence. And I think we're going to have to play extremely intelligent, tough against them. And I think we're ready to do it.

Q. Do you have to do anything with these guys to make them believe they can win this weekend? You're probably the underdog of the four teams without Justin. Is there anything you've had to do this week to build up their confidence?

COACH WRIGHT: No. Really, I don't. It's an interesting question because I called, I believe on Monday, I was just putting together myself watching film and putting together what adjustments we would make without Justin, who would be out-of-bound situations, press-offensive situations. And I was thinking to myself, do I need to talk to them about this.

So I just called Collin Gillespie and said, do I need to talk to these guys about being ready, believing we can do this without Justin. He's like, no, way. Everybody is good. Don't worry about it.

So I never had to approach it, because we talk about it all year, when anybody is out, Collin was basically out when we played at St. John's. He didn't practice. I think they believe in each other.

Q. When you got the job 2001, how difficult was it having, because of '85, how difficult was it having national championship expectations at a program that, frankly, was very far from being a national championship contender?

COACH WRIGHT: Interesting. I've always felt what's unique about Villanova, is you have the passionate fans of a national championship program, but you have -- I look at it like being in a pro town and being in the northeast, reasonable people. They have other interests.

So they won a national championship. And I always think, you guys have heard me, I think this is the best coaching job in the country. And that's another one of the reasons. They want to win national championships. And I knew it. But they look at your team and they say, okay, you're new, you're building a new team. We're going to give you time. We're going to support you. And they still sell out every home game. And we weren't great in the beginning.

Looking at Dana sitting in front of you. We had the famous breakfast where she said, you know I've got to write you're going to get fired if you don't win this year. But it's really unique about Villanova. I never felt that pressure. I never really felt that pressure. And still don't.

Q. I know you're not thinking about this now, because you still have a game. But at what point when you've had these seniors who have been with you for a long time, whether it's guys like Collin or Jermaine or Arch, whoever it might be, at what point have you found that it sinks in that they're not going to be there anymore, these guys who have been part of you for as long as they have?

COACH WRIGHT: Definitely you do not think about it at all because it's like almost you don't want to. But when that last game hits, it hits you like a ton of bricks. And that's what makes you emotional. When you lose the last game, that's what makes you -- it's not losing the game, because usually whenever you lose, especially if you get this far, everybody is giving all they've got. You're not disappointed.

But it hits you, like, this is it for my coaching relationship with Collin Gillespie on the floor with Jermaine Samuels and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, this is it. That's what makes you really emotional. I do not look forward to that. But I know it's going to come.

The great thing, if you win, you don't really deal with that. It hits you, like, gradually some weeks later but in your career most times you end with a loss.

Q. In terms of integrating Bryan Antoine into the offense, have you learned anything new in the last couple of days, since you spoke to us about his role, and what are realistic expectations about what Bryan can give you here in these games?

COACH WRIGHT: I haven't learned anything new. I mean, Bryan, we said this so many times, but he just has the most unique path ever of any player we've ever had with injuries and everything. What he brings is great speed defensively which against Kansas is important. He gives us perimeter shooting and a high-level basketball IQ offensively. That's what he brings us. And as he gets to practice and play it's going to start showing. This is a great opportunity for him.

I keep talking about the Kansas team speed, we've done it through the tournament, one of the things we've learned over the years is when you play teams out of your conference like this, you've got to get on the floor with them. I think I mentioned about the Houston game. You've got to get on the floor with them. And probably other coaches do this better than us, they can figure it out before the game. But there's certain things for us we've got to get on the floor, see what's working. Do we need Arch's ball handling more? Do we need, Bryan's speed, defense more? Where does it fit? Do guys get in foul trouble? So he's ready.

Q. Obviously the dress code has been casual these last two years and you have a bit of a reputation before that. And it's the first Final Four you've been to and you maybe don't have to wear a suit. But did you pack one in case? And are you thinking about wearing one?

COACH WRIGHT: I actually had to call our sports information director as I was packing to ask, do I need a suit, like, are there any events I need to go to? And he said, I don't think so.

So no, I don't think I'm going to wear a suit because I don't have one. But it was nice. It's easy packing. The hardest thing for me is we all dress the same so we have the same shirt, the same -- they send me pictures of what to wear. I can't tell the colors. I'm always nervous I match up the right gear. It's difficult, when you wear a suit I just pick whatever I want to pick. That's been challenging for me this year. The head coach not as good at using the phone, seeing what I'm supposed to wear.

Q. (Off microphone)

COACH WRIGHT: The choosing of it for me because the three-piece, putting on the suit, I can pick it right there and I know what I'm supposed to wear. No one cares what I wear. But if I don't match my guys -- because we have so much stuff -- and it looks like he screwed it up. So I'm more nervous about that than I ever was about what suit I wore.

Q. You preach culture and it seems "attitude" is at the center, what does that word mean to you?

COACH WRIGHT: It's something that we want our guys to learn about for life and we want to learn on the basketball court. The basic concept is in life we don't have control of what happens to us. But we have control of how we respond to whatever happens to us and we have a choice each day. Whatever is going on, what is our attitude going to be?

So on the basketball court we try to do the same thing. Like sometimes we're trying to do the right thing and we turn the ball over or we're trying to do the right thing and we do the right thing and the referee makes a bad call. We don't control that. But we do control what's our attitude on the next play. What's our mindset on the next play.

So when these guys are young, they're really interested in basketball. So we talk to them and we practice that on the basketball court. We practice it. And then we start talking about this is important in life, too. We really want you to take this in life more than we do on the basketball court. And they're great about that and we hope it helps them in life.

Q. Going into this final week do you give them advice on how to soak it in or how are you approaching that?

COACH WRIGHT: We approach it like we are blessed to continue to play and this is our next game. And our next game and us being together and being able to play basketball is more important than any outside event -- Final Four, semifinal.

It's all big-time stuff but that's how important our next game is to us and to keep that focus and that concentration that's been our advice. But I don't really have to say it because these guys, especially these guys, have been here. They lived it. They know what it is. And that's how we approach it.

I want to say we're not minimizing the Final Four. It's just that's how important playing a game is to us and our next game. Final Four is really important, but playing against Kansas and having a game against Kansas is more important to us.

Q. Jay, you've taken a lot of NIL questions, I'll ask one this way. You're one of the better paid coaches in this sport. Is it easier to morally justify it when you know these guys can get some things?

COACH WRIGHT: Definitely. I think there's a lot of great things about NIL. And I think it's going to be, I really believe it's going to be good for college basketball moving forward. I think it's going to be good for NBA basketball.

I think there are guys that I really believe that would like to stay in college, but it's just not a good business decision. It's not intelligent to do it if they can only make money in pro basketball. But there are guys that want to stay in college that can make money and they don't have to go to the NBA at a young age when they're not ready.

And I think NBA is going to benefit eventually and they're going to figure out there's some guys that are staying in college, they're making good money, and then we're going to get them when they're ready instead of taking a guy that just has to go. I think that's going to be good.

To answer your question, it's definitely something that has weighed on me -- I know a lot of coaches -- that we make money. And these kids are struggling and they're a big part of it. And they have the opportunities -- it's not even like they asked for it -- it's just that they have opportunities and they can't take them.

And to be able to see them pick and choose from those opportunities and know that they have that available to them and they're making money and they're not struggling and they're sharing in all of this, is really heartwarming for me as a coach and I know a lot of coaches.

Q. Your one transfer in Caleb, you don't have very many one-and-dones in the past 20 years you've been here. What is something you've realized to be the value of having an experienced team over the years?

COACH WRIGHT: It's just finding the right people knowing you have people that want to be a part of your community, want to be part of their team and that want to be the best student, the best man and the best person, the best student, the best player and the best person they can be.

That's why they're there. And they really believe that if I'm a part of this and my goal is to be the best player, student and person I can be, that gives me my best chance to be an NBA player. It's never a guarantee you're going to be an NBA player unless you're Zion Williamson or something.

But 99 percent of the guys, you have to have a path. They choose that their path is being a part of a community, being part of something bigger than themselves and they believe in it. And they believe that that's really going to help them be the best player they can be.

So to get someone that's going to be there for six, seven months, sometimes they believe it. And we've had a couple of those guys. And they did a great job. And you can see that they return to remain a part of the community.

And then Caleb, we didn't recruit Caleb out of high school. He didn't have the chance. But he played for Mike Dunleavy, who told me, this kid, I know your culture. He came to Tulane for the same reasons. He would come to Villanova for the same reason. He's fit in like a kid that started there from day one because he believes in that.

Q. Going back, you were talking about the emotions of saying goodbye to these guys. Could you put yourself in Mike Krzyzewski's shoes knowing that your career is coming down to the end? I know you're nowhere near that but could you try to imagine what that would feel like?

COACH WRIGHT: It's got to be mindblowing. I would be lying if I tell you I don't -- you think about it after each year, you think about where your life is, what are you going to do. It's difficult to think about.

And honestly, if you're him and you've done it for that long and you've been that successful and it's so much a part of your life and you think about the longer you do it the more relationships you have, and those relationships are meaningful to you so you're not their coach anymore -- that's probably something that's got to be really difficult to deal with.

And again, I think about it because there's going to have to be a time when it's time for the next coach of Villanova. There's going to have to be that time. You have to pick that time. I think Mike did it extremely intelligently. And it's got to be really difficult.

Q. Caleb, what song or movie would you use to describe your guys' Final Four run and why?

CALEB DANIELS: I would have to say possibly "Glory Road." That's my favorite movie. So I had to pick that. But I feel like in the beginning of the movie they were very separated as a team. We were never separated by any means, but we weren't as close as we are now. And throughout the movie they became closer and closer, each one of the players, with the coaches as well. And I just felt like now it's like we're all close, like we're brothers, literally. We're not like -- we are brothers. I feel that would be a movie that's similar to us, basketball.

Q. Jermaine, do you think "Glory Road"?

JERMAINE SAMUELS: I'm not going to lie, I haven't seen "Glory Road" in a while. I can remember bits and pieces so you might need to ask Collin that question.

COLLIN GILLESPIE: I've never seen "Glory Road".

Q. Any movie or song?

COLLIN GILLESPIE: Maybe "Hoosier's."

JERMAINE SAMUELS: I can't think of a song. Songs are too quick. I don't think I've seen "Hoosiers" either. But I know about it. I know about it. I don't really watch movies, guys, I'm sorry.