I Bleed Blue and White

Courtesy of RFC and his VillanovaBasketball YouTube channel, here are some Randy Foye highlights from the Washington Wizards’ opening night win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Yes it’s World Series time, but for myself (and most Met fans), this is the worst possible matchup.  At least I have Villanova basketball to fall back on.  Below are some really interesting articles surrounding a number of Villanova basketball issues.

1. Learn what others have to say about Reggie Redding’s arrest, including what Jay Wright said to him the night before the incident
2. From Africa to America, from soccer to hoops, from high school basketball to big time Big East basketball
3. Success for the Wildcats also means more challenges for Jay and Co.

With the start of the NBA season last night, and me being a recent Alum now, I figured it’d be pretty cool to do a weekly or bi-weekly check in on all the former ‘Nova players in the NBA.

Randy Foye, playing for my Wizards, had a very strong showing in an opening victory of the Dallas Mavericks. Foye had 19 points on an efficient 8-14, with 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 steals. I watched the game and Foye has the looks of an awesome 3rd or 4th option for an incredibly strong offensive team. His toughness is amazing to watch too, he had a couple of fearless drives in the lane where he finished with some nifty double clutches.

Tim Thomas playing for the Mavericks got a DNP–coach’s decision

Former teammates Kyle Lowry and Dante Cunningham faced each other in their team’s home openers. Lowry playing 6th man for the Rockets had 12 pts, 8 asts, 3 rebs, and 2 stls in 27 minutes. He’ll be used a lot in 2 point guard sets working off his ability to penetrate and mighty mite Aaron Brooks’s explosive repertoire for a team without any other offensive options (Lowry’s 12 was tied for 2nd most on the team). Cunningham, playing on one of the deepest and most youthful clubs in the NBA, did not see any action. Expect ‘Te to rack up around 50 DNP’s unless an injury happens. The Blazers like his skill set, but there’s too much talent in front of him, so they’ll be happy to let him develop slowly.

Thanks to TheNovaNation Twitter people for this one. Heard about it, but hadn’t seen it yet. Good to see Howie Long involved. Terry Bradshaw is legitimately batshit crazy, but as a devout FOX NFL Sunday fan, I can’t complain. Would have loved Michael Strahan though.

Surpisingly, I have something positive to report regarding a Big East player.  I bashed the players who were suspended recently, but hopefully, it looks like at least one of them is turning it around.  Reggie Redding, arrested in late July for marijuana possession, has owned up to his poor decisions and is trying to turn a negative into a positive.  Redding spoke with Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer and said:

I want to be a positive example for the program, for the university, just do the right thing, don’t get into any bad situations and not feel sorry for myself.  What happened, I can’t look back.  I can’t start over.  I’m just going to look forward. 

Obviously, some may say he is just saying this for the sake of saying it, but Jay Wright has praised Redding’s handling of the situation too, saying:

He’s still a leader on this team and you can’t hide that.  Everything we do, he’s a leader.  I think he’s handled it great, I really do.

Hopefully, Redding can continue to be a positive presence around the team and stay out of trouble.  A player who remembers Redding very well is Pittsburgh’s Jermaine Dixon.  As you all remember, Reggie was the imbounder for Scottie Reynolds’ infamous shot in last year’s Elite Eight.  It was Dixon who had the assignment of covering Reynolds during that sequence.  The bitter loss still haunts Dixon to this day.   

You’re only as good as your last game and that game is still in my head.  That’s the only game I have, so I sit there and watch it sometimes.  I like to critique myself and see what I did wrong, so I can get better….I was getting over it, but the thing that always held me back was Levance stayed in his house for a month after that.  He didn’t come out.  He was hurting and that kind of hurt me. I was getting over it, but his pain still stays with me.

I can imagine that game and specifically, that play, still linger in the minds of the Pitt players, coaches, and fans.  There’s no doubt that the Panthers will be looking for revenge when the Wildcats travel to the Pedersen Events Center this year. 

From the villanovambb YouTube people comes the next great behind the scenes video of the basketball team. This time around, Scottie Reynolds hosts as we watch a game of H.O.R.S.E. between Reggie Redding, Taylor King and Corey Stokes.

…My favorite line was “he lived in California but he was shootin’ from Hawaii”…

Here’s the recap and box score for anyone who missed the game.

Brandyn Harvey had 7 catches for 77 yards and a TD.

Even with a steady rain putting a damper on the Homecoming festivities, the football team made it look easy en route to a 36-7 win over Rhode Island. It was the 200th career victory for Andy Talley, and he had to be proud of the way his team played.

Both the offense and defense put forth dominating performances. The defense held the Rams to just 30 yards rushing and 151 yards overall and the offense racked up over 500 yards of offense, including 376 on the ground (the 3rd time this year they’ve eclipsed the 300 mark).

Matt Szczur was again at the forefront of the ‘Nova attack as he ran it in from 1 yard on the team’s first possession of the game and then later threw a 3-yard pass to Mikey Reynolds as ‘Nova built a 21-0 halftime lead. Aaron Ball and Chris Whitney both ran the ball well, finishing with 99 yards and 124, respectively.

The rain seemed to have an effect as Villanova’s scoring slowed down as the rain picked up in the 2nd half, but their dominating rushing attack ensured that their was no comeback in the minds of the Rhode Island players.

It was a solid win, and they did what was expected against a weaker opponent. They now head into their bye week sitting at 7-1 overall, and 4-1 in the conference. In 2 weeks they travel to Richmond to face the #1 team in the country, and a team they’ll be looking to take revenge on after losing to them at home last year.

Here’s an early look at freshman Isaiah Armwood, who won the Dunk Contest last night. Here he flies high over Jay Wright. Thanks to Ali for recording this, as well as the Thriller video.

First video we have from Hoops Mania is the team and the dance team dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Thanks to Jamie for getting this up amidst the Homecoming festivities.

Head over to VUHoops for a phenomenal recap of Hoops Mania last night by derp. Sounds like a great night and a well-planned event by everyone involved.

Jamie has promised some exclusive video, so hopefully we’ll have that up soon.