Lafayette's O'Hanlon Readies For His Alma Mater
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Fran O'Hanlon has been the head coach of the Lafayette Leopards up in Easton for twenty seasons, but his roots are right here in Philadelphia. He is a native of the city and played his college basketball at Villanova, graduating in 1970.
So on Sunday night when the NCAA Tournament field was unveiled, O'Hanlon saw his past and present converge when it was revealed that his Leopards will take on the top-seed in the East, Villanova, in their tournament opener on Thursday evening in Pittsburgh.
Listen to the entire interview with Lafayette's Fran O'Hanlon
"First of all, I was hoping that we weren't going to have to play Villanova," O'Hanlon tells KYW Newsradio. "I'm a Villanova guy, I'm a huge Villanova fan. There were some 'bracketologists' that were saying (playing Villanova) was a good possibility. So it didn't come as a complete surprise. But I was hoping it would be somebody else. Now that its happened, it is obviously a good story for the media, Villanova guy comes back, Philadelphia guy, and they are playing a 1 vs. 16 in the (second round) of the NCAA."
This will be O'Hanlon's third trip to the tournament as the head coach at Lafayette. His 20-12 team earned the Patriot League's automatic bid by winning the conference tournament, beating American for the title. Not bad for a team that went 11-20 just a season ago.
"Its been a great turnaround," O'Hanlon says. "Last year we had some injuries that we dealt with, this year we were healthy at the right time and the season finished up on a very high, positive note, winning the Patriot League championship. So we're feeling pretty good about ourselves right now."
The Leopards have won six of seven coming into the tournament, but of course they are heavy underdogs against a Villanova team that is 32-2 and won the Big East Tournament title.
"First of all they defend very well," O'Hanlon says of Villanova. "They do a great job of team defense, individual defense, they have a rim protector. Then on the offensive end they really share the ball, they don't make it complicated. They have a number of guys that can really make shots."
Lafayette is dangerous because they can shoot the three. As a team, they hit 41% of their shots from behind the arc. They are led by 6'9" senior forward Dan Tryst who does not shoot the three, but he can hit the open jumper and he averages 17.3 points and he also paces the team in rebounds, pulling down nearly seven a game.
As far as the keys to pulling off an upset, it sounds simple, but O'Hanlon says they have to hit shots.
"If we don't make shots, if we can't make shots, it is going to be a hard game for us," O'Hanlon says. "First of all, we've got to be strong with the ball, handle their press. They're going to press at times, they play a 1-2-2 three-quarter court trap. We have got to do a good job with that. We have to get shots and then we have to make shots."
Villanova and Lafayette played last season at the Pavilion in the season opener for both teams. Villanova won that game, 75-59.
Thursday's game in Pittsburgh gets underway at 6:50 p.m.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
