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King will play crucial part in Villanova's season

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Jeff Goodman

Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. Check out his Yardbarker blog. MORE>>
 
Updated Nov 23, 2009 2:57 AM ET
     
 

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Taylor King has always been known, if nothing else, as a gunslinger. His success was more often than not solely judged on whether the ball went through the net when it came out of his hands. So, when the 6-foot-6 forward misfired on all four of his attempts from beyond the arc and then air-balled a free throw with less than a minute left in Villanova's 79-67 victory over Ole Miss during the title game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, it would have generally been considered a poor outing. However, King just smiled. "He was outstanding tonight," Villanova coach Jay Wright said of his new addition. "Outstanding." That's because King has expanded his game since his arrival on the Main Line. He's no longer one-dimensional. King finished with nine points, 11 rebounds, a couple steals and actually defended against an ultra-athletic Ole Miss group. Through the first five games, he's second on the team in rebounding. "I don't have a choice here," King said. "If I want to get on the floor, I have to guard people." King has been on the scene for what appears like an eternity dating back seven years ago when he debuted at Sonny Vaccaro's ABCD Camp prior to his freshman year in high school at Mater Dei. There was the early pledge to hometown UCLA and then the de-commit shortly thereafter. King became a Dookie two years ago as a freshman, but personal issues and a lack of playing time promoted a change in scenery and he left Durham. "It was rough for me," King said. Everyone figured he was a lock to head back to the West Coast. Maybe to USC or even Gonzaga, but Villanova? No chance. What they didn't know was the hook that 'Nova coach Jay Wright had over the rest of the competition. Former Villanova point guard Whitey Rigsby, now the color commentator on the Wildcats' radio network, is basically an uncle to King — and the kid who struggled under Mike Krzyzewski desperately needed family in his next destination. King's godfather is Rick Horstmann, whose sister, Becky, is married to Rigsby. "I've known his parents since before he was born. I have seven kids," Rigsby said. "He's like my eighth." Wright is a coach who has built the Villanova program with kids from Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey. Rarely does he step outside of his comfort zone. Wright and the Wildcats threw their hat in the ring the first time around and came up empty against Duke but got King on the rebound. "I didn't really push it the first time around," Rigsby said. "But when Taylor decided to transfer from Duke, the gloves came off." While sitting out last season, King became a diehard fan — driving on his own to numerous road games — including the NCAA tournament sites en route to Villanova's Final Four run. "He was dripping with sweat in the student section," Wright said. King also revamped his body, going from a 240-pound chunky kid to a 220-pounder who has trimmed his body fat from 18 to 10 percent. "He can do a lot of things," Wright said. "And he's been coached. He spent a year at Duke and played at Mater Dei. You can't do much better than that." Despite bringing back a handful of key guys from last season's Final Four team to go along with a highly touted recruiting class, Wright was nervous entering the tournament in San Juan. The only player who had performed consistently was Scottie Reynolds. Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes were set for expanded roles, as well as Antonio Peña. Wright is also without veteran wing Reggie Redding for the first semester after an arrest for marijuana possession. Talented freshman big man Mouphtaou Yarou was sent back to Philly shortly after the team landed in Puerto Rico due to a health issue. Villanova needed a 3-pointer from freshman Isaiah Armwood to knock off George Mason in the opening game, then got past a ranked Dayton team before pulling away from Ole Miss in the final five minutes. "The trip started rough when we found out Mouph had to go back," Wright said. "But to finish like this is amazing. This trip couldn't have worked out any better." Two of Wright's key concerns, after losing seniors Dante Cunningham, Shane Clark and Dwayne Anderson, were defense and rebounding — and they may have wound up being the team's two strengths in the three games in San Juan. Peña, a role guy who logged just eight minutes in the loss to North Carolina in the national semifinal contest, won tournament MVP honors and is averaging 14.2 points and 11 rebounds thus far this season. "We didn't even shoot the ball well," he said. Not even a smiling King.
Tagged: Villanova, UCLA, North Carolina, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Duke, Dayton, George Mason

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