I Bleed Blue and White

It’s now after the scheduled 1:30 announcement, and since it was reported here last night, as well as here, we are going to go ahead and talk about it ourselves.

Markus Kennedy, a 6′9 250-pound forward has committed to Villanova. He joins SG James Bell in Villanova’s Class of 2010. Kennedy originally started out at St. Patrick’s in New Jersey before transferring to Living Faith Christian Academy, but you could say that the St. Pat’s pipeline remains open for the time being.

Interestingly enough, this may very well close out Villanova’s recruiting efforts for 2010. From all accounts the staff had targeted at least one guard and a forward for this class, and they seemingly have gotten their man at both positions.

It’s a long way until these guys sign the dotted line, so nothing is completely official yet. I’m sure Villanova will keep tabs on players like Justin Jackson in case anything changes, but you have to be excited about landing Kennedy.

He’s not the consensus All-American talent that Mouphtaou Yarou is, but landing a kid that is on the rise like Kennedy just a year after landing Yarou is a credit to Jay Wright and his staff.

Welcome to the family Markus! And if you want to get to know him a little bit better, check out this amazing article on his relationship to his mother growing up.

Now that the deadline has officially passed for underclassmen to declare for the NBA Draft, ESPN’s Andy Katz and Doug Gottlieb have updated Top 25 Rankings for next season.  Katz has Villanova at #6 and he says:

“The Wildcats drop a tad, as Scottie Reynolds‘ decision to enter the draft without an agent has resulted in some uncertainty. But the incoming class — Maalik Wayns, Dominic Cheek and big man Mouphtaou Yarou all are top-25 recruits — is so good the Wildcats get the benefit of the doubt here. With the departure of three Syracuse underclassmen, Nova should be the pick to win the Big East.”

Gottlieb, on the other hand, seems to like the Wildcats a little more than Katz, as he has Villanova at #3.

“The Wildcats are loaded with talent, and with some added inside depth, will be better than the team that made its Final Four run this past season. Nova has a legitimate shot at a title in 2010. Some in Philly believe the Wildcats might be better off without junior Scottie Reynolds, who entered the draft but hasn’t hired an agent. Incoming big man Mouphtaou Yarou is tough to handle and Dominic Cheek can defend several positions. Like Kansas, the Wildcats only have to sacrifice their individual egos to win big.”

 There a few comments that these writers made that I wanted to comment on.  Katz mentions Syracuse’s losses to the draft, which I think certainly propels us ahead of them for next year, but don’t sleep on West Virginia.  They should be very, very good next year.  Gottlieb says that some people think Villanova will be better off without Scottie, but I completely disagree.  Scottie is a proven veteran who has been through the trenches of the Big East, and this should not be underestimated.  Villanova didn’t have the most talent this year, but the veteran leadership and experience proved to be vital in the run to the Final 4.  I, for one, definitely want Scottie to come back. 

Somebody let the cat out of the bag a little early…

Kyrie Irving has cut his list of potential colleges down, and the list does not include Villanova. ZagsBlog reports that Irving, rated the #4 PG in the Class of 2010, has left off notables such as UConn and Rutgers in addition to the Wildcats.

…If you follow recruiting as much as I do, this isn’t a total shocker…when Dominic Cheek committed to Villanova it seriously hurt our chances to land Irving…oh well…should be some news tomorrow to lift your spirits…

ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz wrote an article about this year’s underclass entrants into the NBA Draft.  The article is entitled, “Sorting through the draft decisions,” and Katz places players into certain categories, including best move (Blake Griffin), perfect timing (Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington), hard to argue, foolishness, questionable, should go back, and winners (denotes college teams who benefited from guys staying at school).  Villanova’s Scottie Reynolds falls into the “should go back” category, as Katz says:

“Reynolds had the shot of the NCAA tournament, the game-winner against Pitt in the East Regional final. But he doesn’t have enough in his game to warrant a high pick. If he goes back, he has a real shot to win the national title.”

This article is a great read, as Katz does a fantastic job at ESPN.  I wholeheartedly agree with his comments about Scottie. 

West Virginia guard Joe Mazzulla has been suspended indefinitely according to the University. The suspension follows Mazzulla’s arrest for domestic violence at a Morgantown club on April 18th. Coach Bob Huggins only had one thing to say regarding the suspension.

“We take violations of our team rules very seriously.”

…I’m sure you do Huggy…

No word on how long Mazzulla will be suspended (and I’m guessing it won’t be for long) but if this drags into the Big East season, it will really hurt the Mountaineers chances for a Big East title next year. This isn’t the first time Mazzulla has been arressted (he got a little too rowdy at a Pittsburgh Pirates game of all places) so maybe he won’t get as much lenience this time around.

Mazzulla took a medical redshirt this past season after playing in just 7 games.

2010 forward Markus Kennedy is going to announce his college choice this Wednesday according to ZagsBlog. Kennedy has narrowed it down to West Virginia, Temple and Villanova. He was in Morgantown last weekend for a visit, and visited both Temple and Villanova at the end of this week.

The press conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Living Faith Christian Academy.

…I definitely think we’re in the driver’s seat for this one…should we land him Kennedy should be a nice option for us down low in the coming years…he’s a pretty skillful big man…

There’s a short video clip on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia featuring Dante Cunningham and Jay Wright giving their thoughts on the recent historic season.  It was posted on April 22nd, so I assume it comes from the banquet held that day.  Dante has been reflecting on the season, and so has Jay, but Jay said it hasn’t set in what this senior class has meant to the program. 

It still hasn’t really set in yet for me either, and I don’t think it will until next year when the freshman come in and maybe suffer through some first year struggles.  This is where Dante, Dwayne Anderson, Shane Clark, and Frank Tchuisi truly excelled, as every time they suffered some sort of setback, they persevered and overcame the hardships. 

The Villanovan will be publishing their interview with Maalik Wayns in the upcoming edition, but you can read it now online. The interview gets really in-depth with Wayns about how he was brought up, his aspirations, and his plans to get to Villanova.

“As a youngster, Wayns was soft, but not in terms of his toughness. He was self-admittedly “chubby.” In fact, in order to lose weight to play youth football, his father strapped a trash bag around Wayns and told him to run laps around the football field in the burning sun.”

Reading that, and watching him play (if you’ve had the chance) you know that Wayns isn’t going to lack any heart or grit. It seems that it has been hard-wired into him that hard work equals success.

Definitely read this article. He’ll be your favorite incoming player afterwards.

Dominic Cheek is finally an official member of the Villanova family after signing his Letter of Intent yesterday. After the other three members of the class signed their letters in November, it has been a long awaited day until Cheek finally did the same.

“We are thrilled to add a player of Dom’s ability to our program,” stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. “He comes to Villanova as prepared as any player we have had here, having played for Coach Bob Hurley at St. Athony’s. Dom is a winner. He was a part of a national championship team at St. Anthony’s and he has a great understanding of the game. We are very excited to have him as a part of our basketball family.”

Cheek joins Maalik Wayns, Isaiah Armwood and Mouphtaou Yarou as the incoming freshman for next year.