East Regional
BOSTON -- The unbelievable story of Scottie Reynolds begins some years ago with a decision made by a young and scared teenage woman.
She was from Alabama and pregnant with Reynolds. She was single and jobless and made the decision to give Reynolds up for adoption.
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| Scottie Reynolds heeded Jay Wright's words and became more assertive. (US Presswire) |
"She knew she wouldn't be able to take care of me, so she gave me up," Reynolds told the media recently. "It's the most unselfish thing she could have done for me. The people I'm with now are the greatest people in the world. Without them, I wouldn't be in the position I am now. I thank God every day that they gave me the opportunity to live."
• Reynolds lifts 'Nova to Final Four | Freeman
Instead of ending up, well, who knows where he might have ended up, he was adopted, grew up in a warm home, and now, years after the decision by that frightened teenage woman, Scottie Reynolds is in the Final Four.
He went from being given up by his birth mother to one of the most vital players Villanova has ever produced. He went from being adopted by a family to being adopted by an eternally grateful basketball community.
But that is only part of Reynolds' story.
Reynolds is from Northern Virginia and was originally going to play for Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma. When Sampson abruptly left for Indiana, some of the Sooners players he had recruited were left without a basketball home.
"I'll give you the short story," Reynolds said. "Basically after my talks with [coach Jeff Capel] he let me out of my commitment to Oklahoma. That opened up the process for finding a school. I had about a month and a half to do that. So it was a very hectic time for me visiting all types of schools.
"It just came down to the people that stuck with me throughout the whole process and my family. I didn't want to go too far away. I wanted them to be able to come see me, support me. They've been with me all along. So I know they weren't going to go away like other people had been."
Villanova coach Jay Wright had seen Reynolds play at an AAU game and was stunned at what he witnessed: a brilliant distributor who could also shoot. He went after Reynolds hard, eventually for the player it came down to Michigan or Villanova.
The rest, well, became basketball history. Because in some ways, Reynolds was adopted twice.
Outside of Big East circles, Reynolds isn't as well known as a Ty Lawson, but he's as devastating a guard as there is in the country. The reason the Wildcats are again in the Final Four, the first time since 1985, is mostly because of Reynolds.
The reason they have a chance to win it all is mostly because of Reynolds.
And to think at one point this season Wright had to actually pull Reynolds out of a shell. Once, he pleaded for Reynolds to become a bit more of a selfish player after noticing that Reynolds was holding back some of his skills.
"I think sometimes if you're a real talented player and you're not willing to use all of your talents, that's being a little selfish," Wright said of Reynolds. "It's crazy to say, but that's what we had to convince Scottie, to say, 'Your best ability to help this team is to use everything you have.' Some guys, their role is to maybe cut back on a few things they do. But Scottie's role on our team, we needed him to do everything he could possibly do. And it took for him to understand that. When he understood that it was unselfish for him to go and be aggressive and take more shots, then he would do it.
"He's such a good kid. He was brought up by two beautiful parents. His high school coach, Gary Hall. He was always taught to be selfless. Until he figured out actually being unselfish was giving everything you had, scoring when you had the opportunity to score, that would make everybody else better, that's when he let it go."
Scottie's parents would eventually adopt two more children and the entire Reynolds family is expected to be in Detroit, where one of the best stories in the tournament will continue to unfold.
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