PHILADELPHIA– Jay Wright was in the house Saturday for Villanova’s 70-66 victory over a good Oklahoma in the Big East-Big 12 Challlenge before a healthy crowd of 17,079 at the Wells Fargo Arena here.
But he was nowhere near the Villanova bench.
Wright retired from his job as head coach there last spring after a Hall of Fame career that included two national championship runs in 2016 and 2018.
He works for CBS TV now as a color analyst for the network that was doing the game.
It seemed strange. Wright did 10 minutes camero in his braodcast debut no one asked him about Kyle Neptune, a long time assistant, his successor and the man he personally pushed to replace him after a year at Fordham. He avoided calling the Cats we and stuck to the script, remarking it was unsual to see the Cats with two freshman on the floor at the start of the second half.
Neptune is learning on the job at this blue blood program and was desparately needed a statement win after the 3-5 Cats returned from an 0-3 week at the Phil Knight 85 Classic in Portland,
The Cats gave it to him and they took a huge step forward with the emergence of 6-7, 232- pound freshman forward Cam Whitmore, a ,McDonald’s All America who missed the last seven weeks with a broken right thumb that required surgery. Whitmore suited up for the first time and provided the Cats with instant energy and physical presence, scoring seven points and grabbing three rebounds in 20 minutes.
But it is obvious he has a huge upside and should become the program’s first one-and-done since Tim Thomas in 1996.
Whitmore, playing with his thumb taped, and freshman guard Mark Armstrong, a teammate of Whitmore on the USA U18 gold medal team in the Tournament of the Americas. could change the dynamics of this team once they fit into the rotation in a fluid league that has seven teams that should make a run at an NCAA tournament bid. Armstrong finished with 10 points n 16 minutes.
The Cats looked a lot more like the team they were supposed to be, getting 22 points from senior guard Caleb Daniels and shooting 56.8 pecent and making 7 of 17 threes with only three turnovers. They made up an 11 point deficit and took a 64-63 lead when Daniels buried a dagger three to incease the lead to four with 1:18 to play.
Guard Grant Sherfield, the Big 12 newcomer of the Year, scored 21 for the 7-2 Sooners but it wasn’t enough. . ,
