Sports Poets Society

di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO, SKY SPORT 24 (31 gennaio 2015)
«Da giocatore sviluppi una specie di sesto senso per i vincenti. Be', Lattek lo era». Parole datate e non di circostanza di Franz Beckenbauer, la bandiera che – da giocatore – al Bayern prima lo impose per vincere e poi lo cacciò per ricominciare a farlo. Altri tempi, altro Bayern: vincente, come e forse più di quello attuale.
Uno degli ultimi maestri di calcio tedesco, Lattek era nato il 13 gennaio 1935 a Bosemb, oggi Polonia, allora Prussia orientale. Primi passi al Marienheide; tre stagioni al Leverkusen, quattro al Wipperfürth e tre da riserva all'Osnabrück come onesta carriera da ex attaccante scalato, con gli anni, a centrocampista. Già dall'ultimo, trascorso senza giocare, inizia ad applicare gli studi in pedagogia allenando part-time i ragazzini del vivaio. Deve avere del talento, se la Federazione gli affida subito le rappresentative giovanili. Da lì al posto di assistente del Ct Helmut Schön in nazionale mag…

Jerold Taylor "Jay" Wright, Jr. (born December 24, 1961) is an American basketball coach. He is currently the men's coach at Villanova University. He was born in Churchville, Pennsylvania and is married to a former Villanova cheerleader. In 2006, Wright signed a seven-year contract extension with Villanova University which kept him in the position through the 2012–2013 season.
Education Wright is a graduate of Council Rock High School North in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1983, where he played on the basketball team and became a Brother of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
Coaching career Upon graduating from college, Wright got his first job as an assistant coach at Division III University of Rochester. In 1986, he got his first position in Division I college basketball as an assistant coach at Drexel University. His next job came as an assistant to Rollie Massimino at Villanova, where he remained fr…

JayVaughn Pinkston (born November 27, 1991) is an American college basketball player for Villanova University. He redshirted his first year with the team, and is currently a senior on the 2014–15 team.
Pinkston was selected to play in the McDonald's All-American Game during a stellar career at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School. As a senior, he was selected to the All-American second team by Parade Magazine. He was named New York's Player of the Year as a senior. He became the first player in Loughlin history to earn the honor of playing in the McDonald's All-American game.
Early life JayVaughn Pinkston was born on November 27, 1991 in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Kerry Pinkston, gave birth to him when she was in high school. She worked several jobs, including security officer, to support him as a single mother. JayVaughn suffered several bouts of asthma as a child. He began playing basketball at the age of 11 after a growth spurt. Pinkston recalls being awful at firs…

Ryan Curran Arcidiacono (born March 26, 1994) is an American college basketball player for Villanova. He is currently a junior on the 2014–15 team. He attended Neshaminy High School, where he averaged 20.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as a junior to lead Neshaminy to the PIAA playoffs. He missed his entire senior season due to suffering a lower back injury in the summer of 2011. As a freshman at Villanova, he was named to the Big East All-Rookie Team. Arcidiacono was an honorable mention all-Big East selection at the conclusion of his sophomore season.
Early life Arcidiacono was born on March 26, 1994 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has three older siblings, Sabrina, Nicole, Michael; and younger twin siblings, Christopher and Courtney. His parents, Joe and Patti Arcidiacono, met at Villanova University, where Joe was an offensive lineman on the football team. When he was young, his father installed a 6-foot plastic hoop in the family livingroom. Ryan would often practice shootin…

Wright is extremely comfortable with what he calls “a really mature group... we don’t really have to push them because they’re self-motivated.” The first seven members of Villanova’s rotation all played key roles on last year’s team, and the coach liked what he saw of his two freshmen during summer drills. 
The question is whether the Wildcats can deal with heightened expectations and the knowledge that opponents will zero in on them this season. 
“We know the key is for us to be able to grind like we did last year,” he said. “We’ve got everybody back basically. So we need to keep these guys fresh and then we need to get them at the latest point possible, ready for a grind, because last year the grind was from the summer all the way through.” 
The team’s three oldest players — Pinkston, Hilliard and Arcidiacono — have combined for 265 starts and have the talent, experience and wisdom to guide the younger players through any rocky patches. Still, the ’Cats don’t have a tremendous amoun…