NCAA tournament hero Reynolds returns to lead inexperienced 'Nova

VILLANOVA, Pa. -- For the entertainment portion of their Hoops Mania event on Oct. 23, Villanova's players performed a version of Michael Jackson's Thriller with the school's dance team, and as the Wildcats' senior leader, Scottie Reynolds defaulted into the front-row, "Michael" position, flanked by two females whose moves were more fluid, and less tentative. The YouTube of record doesn't reveal it to be a debacle, but the mere mention of it causes Reynolds to wince. "I really should have learned my steps better," he says. "Everybody else could blend in and follow somebody, but there was just no room for error up front. And I messed up a few times. I missed the shot on that one."

Despite Reynolds' perceived breakdown in dance-leadership, it would take far more than the Thriller affair to damage his pressure-situation reputation. Seven months ago, in Boston, he made Villanova's biggest shot in 24 years, a last-second leaner to beat Pitt and send the 'Cats to their first Final Four since 1985. The shot made Reynolds a 'Nova hero, and it'll forever be central to his identity. When I ask him, before practice on Tuesday, if he can find anything to critique about that clip; he says that, maybe, he wishes he hadn't put his hands up, confusedly, for a split-second after making the shot. But he's only nitpicking.

"I wouldn't change the actual play," he clarifies. "It was one of those spur-of-the-moment, instinct things, and you don't want to change your instincts."

In that way, Reynolds' signature highlight was quintessentially Villanovan: coach Jay Wright's teams have been defined by backcourt players making unscripted magic. And Reynolds is now considered an archetypal Villanova guard, even though he never considered attending the school until Kelvin Sampson, the coach of his original college choice, Oklahoma, left for Indiana in the spring of '06.

Who knows what would have happened had Sampson's top two recruits -- Reynolds and current Texas star Damion James -- played for new coach Jeff Capel in Norman, rather than ask for their releases. Capel's '08-09 team might have featured Reynolds at the point, Willie Warren at shooting guard, Damion James at small forward, and Blake and Taylor Griffin in the post. The Sooners made the Elite Eight with far less of a supporting cast around Blake. They might have won a national title with that supercharged lineup.

That thought crossed Reynolds' mind when Oklahoma came within one win of meeting 'Nova in the Final Four, a scenario he dreaded due to the media "mayhem" it would have created. "That would have been a good team," he says of the hypothetical Sooners. "I wouldn't have not wanted to be on that team ... but I wouldn't trade what we've gone through [at Villanova]."

Villanova was the team that needed Reynolds more. Wright says he has "no idea" where his program would be without Reynolds; Randy Foye, Allan Ray and Kyle Lowry jumped to the NBA after the Wildcats' '06 trip to the Elite Eight, and they were facing an extremely shaky backcourt future until Gary Hall, the coach at Herndon (Va.) High School, called Wright that April and asked, "Have you ever heard of Scottie Reynolds? Because he really likes Villanova."

Wright's team had beaten Oklahoma in December, a game that Reynolds had watched -- and remembered well enough to give the 'Cats a shot at him while LSU was also coming on strong in the spring. "Getting Scottie was total luck," Wright said. "It took all of 24 hours of recruiting. We had a McDonald's All-American fall into our lap."

Reynolds would go on to lead them in scoring in Big East play as a freshman, take them to the Sweet 16 as a sophomore, and then a Final Four as a junior. His legacy would've been fine without a senior encore, but now that he's back after pulling out of the NBA draft -- where he wasn't a lock to be selected in either round -- there are fans who believe a national title is within reach.

Just how realistic are those hopes? At Tuesday's practice I saw a team that will have to rely on plenty of inexperienced pieces after its excellent backcourt core of Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes and Reggie Redding (who's suspended until mid-December). Four members of its rotation -- sleeper freshman big man Mouphtaou Yarou, McDonald's All-Americans Dominic Cheek and Maalik Wayns, and Duke transfer Taylor King -- have never played a Big East game, and junior forward Antonio Pena won't seamlessly fill the hole that departed overachiever Dante Cunningham played in the post, leading the team in points, rebounds and possessions used.