Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright checks in with Sports Illustrated.
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00:00 The coronavirus is having a huge impact on the world of sports and perhaps none other than the
00:04 loss of March Madness. Today we are honored to be joined by two-time national champion head coach
00:12 Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats. Thank you for joining us today coach how you doing?
00:16 Hey great to be here with you guys today.
00:19 Okay yeah it's great to be on with you. I wish it was under different circumstances but uh
00:26 how is life back on the main line? How are you guys adjusting to this coronavirus?
00:30 It is wild times you know Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area has been hit pretty hard. We're
00:40 on we're on lockdown here. As a matter of fact today the governor just said we've got eight
00:46 o'clock curfew in the five counties around Philadelphia here. So we're locked up here and
00:57 most of our players are all almost all of our players are at home. We've got a few local players
01:03 and we're trying to convince them that this time actually is a good time for rest after a long
01:09 season. But last week they were buying this week to try to get back into gyms.
01:14 Okay yeah well it's definitely uncertain times.
01:20 I mean are you able to make it back into your offices and everything on the main line?
01:25 No our campus is completely shut down. As a matter of fact students all all the classes are
01:32 just today our president announced that we will complete the school year with online classes. No
01:42 one will be allowed back on campus and the graduation has been canceled. This was actually
01:52 the 100th year of Villanova basketball. We had a big gala scheduled for mid-April to celebrate
02:01 the 100th anniversary of Villanova basketball where we had a really extravagant event planned.
02:10 But that's been canceled. So I think I could sneak in there and get something if I needed it.
02:17 But I did bring most everything home with me so I think I'm good for a while.
02:23 Yeah well coach as we know I mean these are definitely uncertain times right now but
02:29 there's also the rumor going around that the you know possibility of the NCAA adding a fifth year
02:33 of eligibility for athletes. If you had that possibility for some of your players who may
02:38 who've missed out on March Madness this year what's your stance on that?
02:45 Well I think the the offering of a fifth year to the spring sport athletes I think that's
02:55 almost have to be a given. I don't know how they're going to implement that. You know with
03:03 incoming freshmen how you're going to deal with the the scholarship limitations. I would assume
03:09 they have to put in an addition to those limitations. In terms of the basketball season
03:19 I think we'd all like to get our guys back but you know most teams most teams were finished
03:27 their season. They don't get to play in the state tournament which is
03:32 which is really sad for a lot of our guys. Fortunately for us most all of our guys will
03:40 be coming back so you know we have Tim Saunders one of our our only senior who would not be able
03:47 to play this year and you really feel for him. But if you look at the impact that would have on
03:55 you know incoming players it's a lot to take on. I think we might be best served in just biting the
04:03 bullet and you know counting this as a complete year and moving on from here as much as I hate
04:11 to say that for the seniors.