Villanova University

July 7, 2010

The Nova Notebook, by director of media relations Mike Sheridan, brings us up to date on senior guard Corey Stokes in the midst of a warm week in July.

Summer is a time on the basketball calendar where the game traditionally gets back to its roots. Devoid of all the trappings, there is a gritty focus on only the most rudimentary elements of the sport. The roaring crowds and the national television audience seem worlds away.

If your jumper needs work, there is nothing to stop you from draining 1,000 per day in an empty gym.

Should the goal be to re-shape your body, step into the weight room under the supervision of a strength coach and engage your system with an intensity the regular season does not allow.

To an elite basketball player, summer is both opportunity and trap. While coaches must stay away from the court until the fall session begins by NCAA decree, the student-athlete is left to make his or her own call. Embrace it or skate through it, the choice is yours.

Corey Stokes has never shied from the challenge of summer. At St. Benedict's Prep, he helped enhance his reputation as a feared long-range marksman on the AAU circuit in July which ultimately helped him become a McDonald's All-American. Since coming to Villanova, he has been the earnest craftsman on clubs that have advanced to the NCAA Final Four and Sweet 16.

Now, though, the mountain is steeper. In the soaking heat of July 2010, Stokes is both student and teacher, determined to pour all he has into his team and program. Alongside classmates Corey Fisher and Antonio Pena he must guide by example and that means never surrendering to the temptation to cut corners.

"This," says the 6-5 Stokes, "is the most vocal I've been since I've been at Villanova. Sometimes, when we're working out in the weight room, it's tough. We're doing the same things everyone is, but we have to make sure the young guys see that we're going to give them everything we've got."

At times like those, Stokes thinks back to another Wildcat, one whose work ethic he frequently marveled at during the three years they spent together on the Main Line.

"I took a lot from Scottie Reynolds," says Stokes. "The work he put into this was amazing. He's the hardest working player I've ever been around."

Stokes needs make no apology for his own standards. In three seasons, he has evolved from a stand-still jump shooter to a more well-rounded player. There were numerous occasions in 2009-10 that Villanova head coach Jay Wright and his staff leaned on Stokes to slow or stifle an explosive scorer on the opposition. That they did so was a testament to the gains the product of Bayonne, N.J. has made at the defensive end.

"When I first came in I was just shooting jump shots," Stokes states. "Now I think my game has expanded. I can drive to the basket. My ball-handling has gotten a lot better. I am working on becoming a great defender."

Stokes' calling card has always been a pure release shooting form that can ignite a crowd. He was introduced as the "Bayonne Bomber" at Hoops Mania last October and why not? His career 3-point percentage hovers near 37 percent. The irony is that the least consistent part of Stokes' game in 2009-10 may have been his jumper - he was spotty from deep early before finding his groove down the stretch to finish as a 9.5 ppg scorer and 38 percent shooter from outside the arc.

Yet he never fell out of the rotation on the deepest Wildcat team of the last decade because he was contributing in other areas, with rebounding (4.0 rpg) and the aforementioned defensive work. The coaching staff never hesitated to praise his willingness to pursue the less glamorous parts of the sport.

"As a staff, we really thought Stokes had his best year (in 2009-10)," stated Wright. "He made plays, got big rebounds and defended well. We think he has completed himself as a player and is much more than just a great shooter."

Of course, Stokes' solid offensive game in the second round NCAA Tournament loss to Saint Mary's that ended the Villanova season did nothing to salve the wounds of that abrupt end to his junior season. In a Dunkin Donuts Center locker room filled with sad faces and red eyes, the normally stoic Stokes was among the most visibly disconsolate `Cats.

"After the buzzer went off and I looked up I was (stunned)," Stokes states. "After we went to the Final Four and the Sweet 16 before that, it really hurt to lose in the second round. Saint Mary's is a good team and they beat us. It's just that we expected more from each other."

A season that saw Villanova win 20 of its first 21 games and come within a couple of plays in a Kansas/Kansas State matchup of the school's first-ever regular season No. 1 ranking in February, is puzzling to Stokes. What the senior to be knows for sure is that the result of last March has ignited a new energy source for a team that prides itself on bouncing back with vigor when faced with disappointment.

"I think since this last season ended we all feel like we have a chip on our shoulder and have something to prove to people," he states.

Stokes likes what he sees in sessions of open gym in the months since 2009-10 closed.

"People would not believe how competitive we all are," he says.

As one of the pacesetters, Stokes is more focused than ever on bringing passion every time he dons Villanova gear with his teammates, be it in a sand pit in a conditioning drill, a swimming pool workout, or in a pickup game inside the Davis Center.

"Coach (Wright) told me to focus on being a leader on this team," says Stokes. "We need to make sure that everyone knows exactly what Villanova Basketball is because we have to get back to that."

And what in Stokes' estimation will that entail? "It's a total battle for everything," he says. "We are diving on the floor, taking charges, and will be relentless for 40 minutes."

It's a pursuit that doesn't take a holiday, even on those sweltering nights of a Philadelphia summer when individual Wildcats are paired with other local college standouts in the famed Sonny Hill League.

"Every time we play in the Sonny Hill League," he says, "we go all out, diving on the court."

A pause comes and then a sly smile follows.

"The other guys on our teams," he adds, " look at us like we're crazy."

For Stokes and his teammates, it's never too soon to start embracing the passion.