Villanova Wildcats

1. I Got A Name. As if it wasn't rare enough to find one young African-American with the name Corey, Coach Wright went out and found two: freshman guards Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher, both McDonald's All-Americans in high school. Each has shown tremendous promise in their limited time on the court (Stokes is an 89percent free-throw shooter, and Fisher is third on the team in points and steals per game). Not since the days of Mssrs. Feldman and Haim has such untapped, dual-Corey-based potential lay waiting to be sprung upon an unsuspecting America.

2. Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels). Whereas most college athletic programs are content to limit their scandals to recruiting violations and date rape, Villanova's athletes strive to achieve a more genteel form of notoriety. And so, enter the phone cards. On two separate occasions, in 1996 and 2002, Villanova students were busted for unauthorized use of calling cards (a violation of an NCAA rule prohibiting extra benefits to student athletes), the latter incident resulting in a suspension of twelve players on the active roster which carried over into the 2003-04 season.

3. New York's Not My Home. Jay Wright's first coaching gig was at Hofstra University, which offered him a rich recruiting environment among the private schools and public playgrounds of New York City and Northern New Jersey. He continued to scout for players in that area even after landing the head coaching position at Villanova. In 2004 Wright recruited Kyle Lowry, a scrappy guard from Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philly. While a significant portion of the current underclassmen still hail from Brooklyn, the Bronx and North Jersey, local players such as Reggie Redding and Shane Clark show that Wright is now willing to seek talent further south along the Northeast Corridor. — Chamomiles Davis