“Everybody should think that,” Lowry said. “I know me and Aaron are going to go out there, we’re going to battle, and Coach is going to make the decision on who is best to be the starter. I think we both want that job. Whatever happens happens. We both have to go out there and play and help the team win.”
Lowry’s conditioning has been impressive early on in Rockets camp, something he worked hard on this offseason.
“Basically, I just put my time in, put the extra time in the gym, put the extra work in putting up shots, did things to make myself better,” Lowry said. “I basically prepared myself to be a high-powered player to help our team.”
…If you follow Kyle on Twitter, you know that he has been a gym rat all through the offseason…every single day he’s in there working hard, so it’s great to see it is paying off for him…
“It’s close to his house [in South Jersey] and he wants to get a feeling for how Villanova stands,” Boyle added.
Popular belief is that the Gilchrist sweepstakes will come down to Kentucky and Villanova, with John Calipari having the slight edge because of his connection to William Wesley, a.k.a. World Wide Wes.
…A good weekend for him to visit with the ‘Nova team hosting the first ever nationally televised football game in CAA history…should be a great atmosphere…students, if you see him, make it known you want him to stay close to home!…
The past few weeks have been nothing short of spectacular for the various Villanova teams. Maybe it was the soft non-conference schedule that each team stole from the basketball program, or maybe it was just one of those weeks. Now that conference play has begun all across the country, things are only going to get tougher.
It was still a good though as the ‘Nova athletics program record of 4-3-1 for the week.
The women took advantage of two goals from Heidi Sabatura in the 1st half and cruised to a 3-1 win over visiting Seton Hall on Friday afternoon. Kelly Eagan had the other goal for ‘Nova.
Things came crashing down for the volleyball team this week as they began BIG EAST play. After a string of 6 consecutive wins, the team fell 3-0 to Cincinnati in their conference opener and then again 3-1 to Louisville.
We’re going to start the new week off with some positive energy thanks to Sean Donovan. The video king has a new video out detailing the ‘Nova beatdown of Duke in the Sweet Sixteen. Phenomenal work, as always.
Guard might be Jay Wright’s favorite word in the English language. Zagsblog reported that Rivals’ #19 shooting guard, Achraf Yacoubou, will visit Villanova on October 23rd for Hoops Mania. Currently, Yacoubou is a 6′4″ 200 lb. junior out of Long Island Lutheran. Along with the Villanova visit, he will visit Kentucky on October 16th for their Big Blue Madness. The other school on Yacoubou’s top three is UConn. Is there a leader yet though? According to Yacoubou, no.
They are all equal. I don’t have a leading school just yet.
Ball had a big day despite being slowed by injury.
In their conference opener for the season, Villanova (4-0, 1-0) made short work of visiting Northeastern (0-4, 0-2) as they trounced the Huskies 56-7 behind one of the best rushing attacks in school history. Villanova amassed 410 yards on the ground and 6 different Wildcats scored touchdowns. The 410 yards they gained on the ground was the most since 1991, and the 3rd highest total in school history.
RB Aaron Ball had a magnificent day as he totaled over 100 yards on the ground and was resting an injury on the sideline after getting some work in. (WR Brandyn Harvey had 102 yards receiving to create a 100-100 tandem). Ball got things started with a 31-yard TD run on the 3rd play of the game.
All week the main story concerning ‘Nova was the dilemma at QB after Chris Whitney was replaced in favor of Antwon Young. In our pregame report we called for the use of both QB’s, and when given the chance, neither disappointed. Whitney ran for 98 yards and passed for 84 along with a touchdown while Young passed for 58 and ran for 35 while accumulating a touchdown both ways. It looks like the platoon system worked wonders, at least for one week.
The defense has been spectacular to open the season and once again, led by John Dempsey’s team-leading 7 tackles, they did not disappoint holding Northeastern to just 7 points and 239 yards of offense. The defense picked off the Huskies 3 times on the afternoon.
Most of all though, Villanova needed a game like this to open the conference slate. The next 3 weeks bring games against Top-10 teams (the CAA is just brutal this year) and they’ll need all the rest they can get as their season unofficially begins next week against William & Mary.
The Game: #2 Villanova (3-0, 0-0) vs. Northeastern (0-3, 0-1)
Location: Villanova Stadium in Villnova, PA
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Broadcast: The Comcast Network
Brief Rundown: Villanova is coming a a hard fought, but sloppily played 14-3 win over Penn last weekend. The Wildcat defense was superb again, sacking the Penn QB multiple times and forcing a couple of turnovers. There wasn’t much offense for ‘Nova, and QB Chris Whitney was replaced in the 3rd quarter by Antwon Young, who led the team to it’s only offensive touchdown of the night. Whitney will start, but Young will most likely see extended action this week.
Northeastern has started off the season 0-3, with their only competitive game being a 17-7 loss to Maine at home. They are averaging just 9.3 points per game while allowing over 36 per game, and their offensive averages in both rushing and passing are under 130 yards per outing.
Last year Villanova won the meeting 20-14. On paper, this should be a nice tune-up into the CAA season for Villanova, but as we saw last week, never overestimate an opponent.
Injury Report:
RB Aaron Ball (hip pointer) – Probable
NG Thomas Weaver (turf toe) – Probable
OT Chidozie Ekweozor (high ankle sprain) – Questionable
3 Keys to Victory:
Defense sets the tone – Villanova’s defense is big, fast, and nasty. They’ve been adept at getting to the QB and causing turnovers, and must continue to do so against a woeful offensive opponent.
Use both Whitney/Young - Antwon Young has earned more playing time after he came to the rescue last week. He may not be starting, but he brings a new dimension to the offense with his running ability. Whitney must get hiss passing attack back on track after a dreadful outing against Penn.
Feed off the home crowd – It is Parents’ Weekend at ‘Nova, so the home crowd should be pretty full. Feed off the students and alumni and put this game away by the early 2nd half.
Via ZagsBlog, Jay Wright took some time to speak about the scheme he plans to run this upcoming season while at the Garden State Coaches Clinic, and from what he’s said, the team might inspire some memories of teh 2005-2006 team that put Villanova back in the national spotlight.
“When Reggie Redding comes back [from suspension], that gives us an option of really having four experienced guards on the floor,” Wright said at the Garden State Coaches Clinic.
“If our bigs are good enough, Antonio Pena and Mouph [Yarou] and Maurice Sutton, if they can play with those four [older guards], it would be nice,” Wright said. “I think we have some good options with [Duke transfer] Taylor King and Isaiah Armwood [in the frontcourt].
Wright indicated that his optimal 4-out-1-in offense would comprise of Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Redding and Corey Stokes. Even with that much talent on the court, the depth of the bench is startling to think about.
…I just played out that scenario in my mind…awesome…I loved watching the 4 guard offense (though it has its disadvantages) in 2005 with Foye, Ray, Lowry and Nardi…but I think this year, where we lack a proven frontcourt, it could be absolute hell for opponents in spurts…
guard, Achraf Yacoubou, 
