Small ball

Villanova sophomore Scottie Reynolds is the veteran in a young, but talented guard-oriented attack. AP

VILLANOVA, Pa. -- In December 2005, Scottie Reynolds, then-an Oklahoma recruit who had given a verbal commitment to Kelvin Sampson, watched as the No. 5 Sooners battled No. 4 Villanova.

Just a three-hour drive from his family's home in Herndon, Va., Reynolds could not make the trip north for the Sooners East Coast visit, so he watched Villanova's guard-oriented attack against a bruising Oklahoma team on television. "I was rooting for Oklahoma," says Reynolds. "But I loved how tough Nova played. Randy Foye (6-foot-4, 213) was at the four, Kyle Lowry (6-feet, 175) was on the 6-8 center. They still created and got to the basket."

Villanova went on to win, 85-74, and four months later the 6-2, 195-pound Reynolds reopened his recruitment when Sampson left Oklahoma for Indiana. Memories of the aggressive guard play made him inquire about joining the Lilliputians on Lancaster Avenue. "I'm not even sure if Kelvin [Sampson] knows this but he said, 'We wanted you to run plays.' All we ran was isolations. As a coach, sometimes you have to give up your ego to win," says Villanova coach Jay Wright, who instituted the offense the previous March out of necessity when he lost forward Curtis Sumpter to injury against Florida. "I guess I didn't realize the chaos it created for other teams until Kelvin told me that. The fact that we drew Scottie's eye means I owe Kelvin twice."

Two years later, the four-guard offense is reappearing as the vanguard of Villanova's attack. Gone are Foye, Lowry, Allan Ray and Mike Nardi, the core of a team that made the Sweet 16 in 2005 and the Elite Eight in 2006. Now Reynolds, a sophomore captain averaging 16.7 points and 4.4 assists per game, is helping usher in this year's freshman class of Corey Fisher (6-1, 200), Malcolm Grant (6-feet, 175) and Corey Stokes (6-5, 220). "The Villanova way is that we don't see guards and forwards, we see basketball players," says Reynolds, who earned Big East Freshman of the Year honors last season.

Though Wright has recently done his best recruiting between Exits 13 and 15W on the New Jersey Turnpike, Reynolds is different. A Huntsville, Ala. native who was adopted by Pam and Rick Reynolds and spent two-and-a-half years in Chicago before settling in Virginia for high school, does not fit the general demographic of a Wright recruit. "New York guys definitely bring their own attitude and style but I'm proud to be the South guy here," says Reynolds. "We each bring a little bit of where we're from."

As Wright says, there are no centers at Villanova (11-3; 1-2 in the Big East), and in the current crop there are no seniors, either. Last season, Reynolds landed in a lineup led by three senior leaders in Sumpter, Nardi and Will Sheridan. Reynolds reaped the benefits of playing off the ball, but now he is charged with leading, especially as sophomore Casiem Drummond (6-10, 275) recovers from a stress fracture in his right ankle.

In their own ways, Grant and Fisher are making immediate impacts. Grant, a Brooklyn product who originally committed to Seton Hall then spent last year at the Winchendon (Mass.) School, has been a spark in wins over Pitt and LSU. Fisher, who is from the Bronx and struggled with a knee injury earlier in the season, is averaging 12.3 points and starts alongside Reynolds. Stokes, a sharpshooter who was the trio's lone McDonald's All-American, is still searching for his spot in the lineup. "I think the transition from playing with seniors to guiding freshmen has helped Scottie mature," says Villanova associate head coach Brett Gunning. "There's little things we teach guys like always moving their arms to create deflections and not being afraid of mismatches to make up for size."

Reynolds was not the only potential Villanova recruit watching the Wildcats' guard-oriented teams. The four-guard offense has also gotten the attention of one of the nation's top high school players. Watching those teams play was what really got me interested in them," says Tyreke Evans, the nation's top unsigned recruit who is considering Villanova as well as UConn, Memphis, Louisville and Texas. "There's a lot of competition there with the Coreys and Malcolm, and you can get better with that level of guard play."

The notion of playing four guards has not been lost on rival Big Five schools, either. "What Jay is getting done is what coaches have wanted to do for a long time, and that is getting his best players on the court," says St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli. "Opponents spend time adjusting to matchups with bigs moving outside and guards defending inside. In recruiting, there's a lot more guards out there than there are big men."

But can a big man also thrive in that setting? "It really gets me when I hear no guys over 6-4 can play here," says 76ers executive vice president Larry Brown, who often attends Villanova practices and games. "Twenty-five years ago you would have thought Jay was nuts to go with four guards, but we're living in a time where two guards, two forwards and center are not always on the court. The three-pointer and European influence have certainly helped that along."

Last Saturday, despite 32 points from Reynolds, the Wildcats lost to Cincinnati, 69-66, while being outrebounded 38-28. "Foye and those teams knew the Villanova way before they played four guards. We're going to grow with these current guys," Wright says. "It's not easy playing small. It's the little things we need to work on."

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