For much of Jay Wright’s first 14 seasons as Villanova, his team playing a zone defense was about as rare as a unicorn sighting.
Wright resisted even though former Wildcats coach Rollie Massimino, one of his mentors, urged the use of a zone, as did veteran coaches such as Larry Brown and Steve Lavin.
“Even though I coached under coach Mass, there are certain aspects I don’t like,” Wright said of a zone defense. “I feel like it takes away our aggressiveness. So I thought if we could figure out a way to play it where we’re still aggressive, we’ll try it.