GETTIN’ IT WRIGHT
VILLANOVA COACH SETS SIGHTS ON 2ND TITLE WITH WIN OVER MICHIGAN
SAN ANTONIO — Villanova’s Jay Wright stands 40 minutes from his second national championship in three seasons, and he knows Rollie Massimino’s presence and spirit will be with him and his Wildcats inside the Alamodome on Monday night.
It isn’t only the R.V.M. patch the Villanova players will be sporting one more time this season to remind everyone Massimino, who succumbed to lung cancer last August following a sixyear battle, is gone but not forgotten.
When Wright and his offensive machine duels John Beilein and Michigan, there will be 18 Massimino family members — 12 of Rollie Massimino’s 17 grandchildren — cheering for the school Massimino took to the top of the college basketball mountain the night he shocked Patrick Ewing and Georgetown at Rupp Arena 33 years ago.
Wright coached five years for Massimino and has seamlessly carried on his family tradition at Villanova. Massimino was on the court absolutely beaming with pride two years ago in Houston when Kris Jenkins hit The Shot against North Carolina that carried Wright to his first national championship.
Grandson Matt Massimino is a graduate student and the team’s video coach. He is the son of R.C. Mas-
simino, who played for his father on the ’85 championship team. His uncle, Tom Massimino, coached at Villanova.
“Coach Mass is with us in spirit,” Wright told The Post.
Tom Massimino chokes up as he talks about the text he shared with Wright after Villanova beat Texas Tech to reach this Final Four.
Tom Massimino: Wish Coach was here to see it
Wright: I do too. I really miss him.
“I really miss not having him here for this,” Wright said Sunday. “I do.”
Massimino’s ’85 team was hardly the offensive juggernaut this Wright team is.
“He would love this team,” Wright said. “Especially Donte DiVincenzo’s his favorite, the red-headed Italian.”
Matt Massimino couldn’t agree more.
“He would love this team, just as far as how together they are, on and off the court,” he said.
Wright and Tom Massimino were assistant coaches for Rollie at UNLV. Wright used to work at Rollie’s basketball camp. Rollie was drawn to the young man’s work ethic and knowledge.
“When you’re part of his inner circle, you’re his family,” Tom said. “And so Jay was his family. My dad’s always had great affection for his players and his coaches. And it just grew from there. And then when Jay went back to Villanova, he made sure that my dad was a part of it.”
Tom is 58 now and a consultant.
“I used to sit on the bench and go to practices since I was four years old,” Tom recalled. “[My dad] would take me with him. Every Saturday morning I would be in the gym with him when he was a high school coach. And even when he was in college, anytime they’d practice, even on weekends, I’d be there. And sometimes even after school.”
Tom was there that magical night when his feisty father shocked the world.
“I remember being at the pregame meal — they weren’t afraid of Georgetown,” Tom said. “Eddie Pinckney always played Patrick Ewing very very well all four years. Here’s the other thing my dad said at the beginning of that tournament: he said, ‘Nobody will beat Georgetown that hasn’t played Georgetown yet.’ Also at the pregame meal, he told the players, ‘Play the game to win. Don’t play not to lose.’ ”
They played the game to win, all right.
“Just watching my dad reach the pinnacle of his profession was just an unbelievable feeling,” Tom said.
“They had a little party up in his room, and the championship trophy was up there, along with the big yellow NCAA emblem from the press room.”
I remember standing next to Massimino on the court after Jenkins’ shot had deliv-
ered the national championship at NRG Stadium. He had only flown in earlier that day because he had been battling a blood clot and kidney stones. Rollie sat behind the Villanova bench. Tom was across from the Villanova section.
“Our seats were like directly lined up with the basket that Kris shot at,” Tom said. “And when he released it, I’m thinking, ‘ This thing’s got a chance.’ BOOM, it goes in and then I saw my dad on the court with his hat on and everything else.”
Matt Massimino is touched and proud that R.V.M. — Roland Vincent Massimino — will be on Villanova jerseys Monday night.
“His connection with his players was something that him and Coach Wright are both unbelievable at,” Matt said.
Towards the end, his father never stopped fighting the cancer, and never stopped coaching. They filmed a documentary called The Maestro that showed Rollie Massimino serving as an inspiration to his Keiser University basketball team, the last team of a coaching lifer.
“Here was a guy, he was 82 years old, he’s still doing the thing he loves, which is coach basketball, around the players, being part of a team — watching him go through that last year was difficult,” Tom said.
With a voice choking with emotion, Tom Massimino adds: “I think about him every day. “I miss him every day.” Gone, but not forgotten.