We gave you some insight into four Labor Day trips yesterday and we'll give you three more today (including one team that went to Spain) - even though I should be sitting on a beach somewhere celebrating my 25th birthday (Ok, fine - I'm a little older than that).

VILLANOVA

- Jay Wright was gushing about his freshman point guard, Corey Fisher. "He's everything I expected. He played like he was a junior. He's so composed and picked up everything we do. ... He's special."

- Fellow frosh Corey Stokes (no surprise) shot the ball well from the perimeter and after Wright sat down with the Mitch Richmond-esque shooting guard, he started to defend.

- The third freshman and least heralded backcourt player, Malcolm Grant, earned the nickname "Microwave" after he came off the bench and wasted little time making shots - a la Vinnie Johnson back in the day with the Pistons.

- Wright wouldn't go as far as to compare this incoming freshman class to the one that included Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Curtis Sumpter and Jason Fraser a few years back, but he said this one "fits in all the right pieces."

- The Wildcats won't have a single senior on the roster, but Wright is confident because guys like Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham - and even Scottie Reynolds - have enough experience.

- Redshirt freshmen Andrew Ott and Antonio Pena both logged some minutes. Ott went to Canada with an ankle injury and sat out the first game. He played two games and then injured his knee, although Wright said it's nothing serious.

- Don't be surprised to see Wright go with the four-guard set he used at times two years ago with Foye, Lowry, Ray and Mike Nardi. "Definitely," Wright said. "But this group gives us more options than we've ever had, so we can do a lot of different things."

MARQUETTE

- Tom Crean said that one of the most overlooked things about the Golden Eagles trip is that two new members of his staff - Tim Buckley and Buzz Williams - got a chance to see the players and interact. "It's so important," Crean said. "The chemistry of the coaching staff is the most important thing in the building."

- Wesley Matthews was much more aggressive on the trip. "It was apparent on both ends of the floor," Crean said. Matthews did a nice job on NBA prospect Bol Kong, who had 40 points against Boise State, especially down the stretch.

- Maurice Acker will be able to spell Dominic James throughout the season. Acker had a terrific assist-turnover ratio in the four games.

- Crean said this might be his deepest team on paper since arriving. "Guys can look at the competition in one of two ways," Crean said. "They can embrace it or deny it's there - and that's going to be very risky."

- The team's biggest issue on the trip was rebounding. Matthews (5.3) and Jerel McNeal (4.8) will need to rebound more like forwards and they, along with the team's big men, didn't hit the glass enough. Ousmane Barro, who averaged 6.9 boards per game last season, had a pair of games in which he grabbed just two rebounds. Then, when Crean brought him off the bench, he grabbed a dozen.

- Freshman Trevor Mbakwe still hasn't been cleared to play, but Crean is optimistic it'll happen soon. "He practiced with us and showed his true potential."

JAMES MADISON

- Dean Keener, in his fourth season, finally has enough talent to compete in the Colonial game on a nightly basis. You can hear the optimism in his voice. The team recently returned from a trip to Spain in which they went 3-2.

- The most important aspect of the trip for Keener wasn't the practices leading up to the trip or the five games. It was the bonding experience the 10 players had with one another. "We were gone for nine days in a foreign country with no cell phones or sidekicks. All of the guys hung out a lot together."

- Junior forward Juwann James, who was the league's Rookie of the Year two years ago, was held out for precautionary reasons due to a strained patella tendon in his left knee. "He could have played," Keener said. "He was cleared yesterday by the doctors for full pickup."

- JMU had a pair of talented transfers eligible who sat out last season - former St. Joe's guard Abdulai Jalloh, who led St. Joe's in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (5.5) two years ago as a sophomore, and ex-Texas Tech big man Dazzmond Thornton, who played sparingly for Bobby Knight as a freshman.

- Thornton will give the Dukes a legitimate low-post presence - something they haven't really had since Keener took over three years ago. "He's a big presence inside. He has great hands and will alleviate a lot of pressure on Juwann," Keener said.

- Jalloh co-existed extremely well with guard Pierre Curtis, who averaged 11.4 points and 3.7 assists as a freshman last season and was narrowly edged out by Northeastern's Dan Janning for league Freshman of the Year honors.

- Joe Posey, who made 72 trifectas a year ago, showed an improved all-around game. "He's becoming a better defender," Keener said. "But he's not there yet. He's starting to value defense."