Jimmy Sez

It only took about 25 years or so, but the New York Knicks are finally a part of the daily basketball conversation in America again. As a die-hard Knicks fan and Villanova graduate , I couldn't be happier about how they got here. But before we get there, let's briefly review their recent history. Since an improbable run to the NBA Finals in 1999, the Knicks franchise has been various combinations of disappointing, sad, embarrassing, comical, and just plain pathetic. They traded their way from a decent roster to a mediocre one to a bad one, then even worse. They tried piloting those rosters with Hall of Fame coaches who were clearly looking for a big contract and little else (as evidenced by Larry Brown literally choosing his starting lineup based on whose hometown they were playing near). They handed the keys to the franchise over to Isaiah Thomas who hit a dubious trifecta by failing as a GM, head coach, and human being during his tenure. Knicks decision makers almost came to ...

Fresh off his fourth career Final Four appearance, Jay Wright dropped a bombshell on NCAA men's basketball. He was one of the few coaches capable of taking the torch from Coach K as the reigning king of college hoops, but instead decided to join the former Duke coach in retirement. Nobody saw it coming, and that's exactly the way the former Villanova coach wanted it. A farewell tour filled with accolades and admiration would have stood in stark contrast to the program he worked diligently to re-build over the last 20 years on the Main Line. At a university where football is an afterthought, Wright never had the luxuries that most other top-tier basketball programs enjoy by riding the coattails of gridiron success. In order to compete with schools like Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, and Kansas, he was going to need to get creative. Simply poaching a few five-star recruits each year was not an option. It didn't happen overnight, but since 2009 Villanova basketball has been ...