Stranger than fiction

In early August, reports swirled about Corey Fisher’s 105-point performance in a summer league game in New York.

Could it be true?

No way.

“Oh no, it happened,” Fisher said. “I’m trying not to talk about it because coach [Jay] Wright will keep bringing it up and getting on me.”

Fisher’s feat at the Watson Gleason Playground wasn’t videotaped. But it definitely wasn’t fiction.

“I had 71 points after the third quarter and I was tired, but I kept playing and I got hot in the fourth,” Fisher said.

Fly Williams was believed to have set the previous record — the numbers vary, according to different sources — in 1978.

“I said to him soon after I heard the news that I wanted him to score the same 100 with a blue jersey on,” Wright quipped.

In all seriousness, the lightning-quick 6-foot-1 point guard will be counted on heavily to lead the Wildcats this season. Villanova was bounced in the second round of the NCAA tournament last year, just one year removed from a trip to the Final Four.

“I think we were all disappointed with how last season turned out,” Fisher said. “We are very determined to make up for it with a great season.”

Coming to grips with success

Villanova began last season 20-1 and was ranked No. 2 in the country at one point.

As the Wildcats learned, however, the rankings don’t mean a whole lot. Villanova struggled down the stretch and was nearly bounced by 15th-seeded Robert Morris in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

This year, Villanova is ranked sixth in the AP preseason poll.

“I think last year, we learned a lot from being in this position without earning it,” coach Jay Wright said. “I’m real interested to see how we handle it this year. I think it was [a burden] last year, even though we tried not to let it, just because we were young and hadn’t been through it before.”