I Bleed Blue and White

The new polls are out today, and your Villanova Wildcats have moved all the way up (read: 1 spot) up to #3 in both the AP Poll and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

The BIG EAST is still going 3-strong in the Top-10 thanks to ‘Nova, Syracuse and West Virginia. They have 7 teams in the Top 25 thanks to UConn, Georgetown, Louisville and Cincinnati, who made their debut this week at the back end.

Thanks to our good friends at CasualHoya, I today learned about Pollspeak, a site dedicated to keeping the pollsters from being anything but anonymous, and allowing us to rant over their perceived idiocy in regards to the game we love.

I ran a report for Villanova, and it allowed me to to single out some people, which I love. Have we not justified our ranking? Maybe not. Does Duke deserve to be ranked above us after the curb-stomping we gave them last year? Definitely not. Maybe Jon Scheyer has magically figured out the ‘Nova defense and won’t go 3-18 again the next time we meet. I wouldn’t bet on that though.

So here are your list of degenerates. One name will not surprise you at all:

• Tim Hall
• Brian Rosenthal
• Dick Vitale
• Dick Weiss (he actually ranked ‘Cuse #1)
  
• John Bohnenkamp
• John Rohde
• Matt McCoy
• Patrick Stevens
• Tom Keegan
• Jon Wilner
• Roger Clarkson
• Dave Borges and Rich Bozich – special shout out to these two bozos for ranking us all the way down at #8.

Okay, that felt really good. On a day when it was announced that we lost Mouph Yarou for the year, I needed a good rant.

It appears that all the smoke surrounding Mouphtaou Yarou has quickly turned into fire. Rumors were abound this morning on campus that the big freshman was out for the year, but many held out hope that it wasn’t true. While we still are waiting an official response from the school, Jeff Goodman of FoxSports has gone on record as saying a source has told him that Yarou is gone for the entire 2009-2010 season due to the viral infection that was first discovered in Puerto Rico.

It is a crushing blow to a team that was already rebuilding its frontcourt. Yarou was in the starting lineup on opening night and was expected to play a big role in his rookie season. Now, the team will look to Maurice Sutton, Isaiah Armwood, Taylor King, and Reggie Redding when he returns for quality minutes alongside Antonio Peña.

As for Mouph, stay strong big man. Things happen in life and they suck when they happen, but you only get stronger from it. Get better soon and keep your head up. Your health is the most important thing here, so get healthy and you’ll be back in no time.

I don’t know about all of you, but all the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing was still taking a toll on my body on Saturday afternoon. And apparently, it was still affecting the Villanova sports teams as well. I honestly don’t remember I watched Villanova get beat on the boards that badly. I believe the final tally was LaSalle holding a 42-28 advantage, and even that felt generous.

Reynolds and Pena led the scoring for 'Nova.

Beyond that, the outside shooting (by both teams) was so bad that at one point I suggested that they just remove the 3-point lines so as not to tempt anyone with the notion of jacking one up from out there. And even through all that, Villanova still recorded an 18-point Big 5 win that felt nothing like a blowout, but nothing like a close game either. I don’t even know how to describe it.

As for the football team, well they came out and held off Holy Cross en route to a 38-28 win. I listened to this game briefly on the Holy Cross Radio Network before the play-by-play guy finally drove me off with his obnoxious playcalling. But it wasn’t a pretty game. Over 500 yards of offense combined in the first half led me at one point to believe that defense was indeed optional. But the ‘Nova offense kept pounding away and the defense finally came up with a stop when they needed it for the win. And now, we get another shot at New Hampshire next weekend in the quarterfinals!

All in all, a solid day of ‘Nova sports on a day when all I really wanted to do was lay on the couch, continue to digest Thanksgiving dinner, and watch Villanova beat the brakes in two different sports.My one major complaint (you hear this often from me) — I hate when the students are gone and there are more alums. Don’t get me wrong, I love what they do for the school, but they kill any atmosphere when they get into the student section. Whatever students are left aren’t allowed to stand and make noise and it just sucks the life out of the place. God forbid we have to play a good team when this happens. We won’t win. Rant over.

As for the basketball notes…

• Apparently Mouphtaou Yarou was out before the game running around with the team before heading back in and changing to a suit. That’s a good sign. Hopefully he’ll be back soon but we still haven’t heard anything official.
• For those of you following on Twitter, you know I was raving about Dominic Cheek all game long. His best day in a ‘Nova uni. Defense continues to be incredible as he helped Corey Stokes shut down Rodney Green. And although his outside stroke wasn’t there, he was  fearless on the boards and showed some great dribble-drives and the ability to finish at the rim.
• Maurice Sutton and Antonio Peña seemed to get continually out-worked on the glass all day, but each brought another aspect to the win. Sutton had 7 blocks I believe, most of them when he came over to help on the weakside. I loved seeing that, although he is going to need to bulk up big-time before he’s a complete player. Aaric Murray had his way with him multiple times. As for Peña, he was superb on the offensive end, which is really what he needs to be as he’s the only low-post threat we have at the moment.
• Scottie Reynolds was back and forth all game. Typically forced some shots that made you scratch your head but as soon as you opened your mouth to vent he came up and made a spectacular play.
• Corey Fisher ran the offense well. Nothing terrible, nothing spectacular. He summed up how I felt about the game in general.
• Maalik Wayns’ playing time seems to be going down. Not sure why. But he came in and hit a monster 3 late to extend the lead back to 14 just as LaSalle was starting to gain momentum. That shot shut the door. He also helped contain Green and did a fantastic job.

All in all, just one of those wins that you don’t really know what to think about. I didn’t think we played that well, and we were certainly outplayed on the boards, but we won comfortably. So, you take it.

See ya on Wednesday when we face Drexel!

According to the Villanovan Sports Blog, senior Jason Colenda has left the basketball team to focus on receiving his degree. Colenda was not on the bench for the victory over LaSalle yesterday.

…The timing of this is kind of weird…I didn’t even notice he wasn’t there until Russell Wooten came into the game and Colenda did not…this stinks to hear but if he wants to focus on his academics more power to him…thanks for all the work you put in Jason!…

Game just ended:  5:40 pm eastern time.  Villanova Wildcats defeat LaSalle Explorers 81-63.  Some notes on the game are below.

-LaSalle amassed 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game, allowing the Wildcats to lead by a healthy margin throughout.

-Villanova should have been up by about 20 at half, but they could not seem to find the stroke from long range.

-Pretty sure Taylor King got benched in the first half.  He drained a 3 early on, but then didn’t box out on a rebound, which sent King to the bench for the final 17 minutes of the half.

-Halftime score: Villanova 38 LaSalle 30

-Cats upped the lead to 14 early on the second half, but the Explorers did not back down, as they cut the lead down to 6 with about 12 minutes to play.

-Props to Jerrell Williams, who made it to the line 19 times for the Explorers.  Although he missed many of these free throws, his work on the glass was noteworthy.

-Scottie Reynolds and Antonio Pena led the way for the good guys, scoring 14 points each, while Corey Fisher had 13 and Dominic Cheek had 10.

-Rodney Green, a supposed stud for LaSalle, did virtually nothing, scoring 7 points on 2-12 shooting.

-Villanova from 3 point range: 6-23—LaSalle from the 3 point range: 1-10.  Villanova from the stripe: 25-31—LaSalle from the stripe: 20-35.  Villanova rebounds: 28—LaSalle rebounds: 42. 

-Maurice Sutton is a decent role player and help defender, but he cannot guard anyone 1 on 1.  Guys go right at him and back him down to where it’s basically a layup.  He needs to get much, much stronger to have any chance of surviving in the Big East.

The only thing that won Villanova the game today was talent and free throw shooting.  Frankly, LaSalle is not very good in terms of skills, but they worked harder than the Cats today, especially on the glass.  Villanova’s superior talent caused all of those turnovers, but against a better team, this would have been a loss.  Lots of work to do for Jay Wright and the coaching staff.

A nice week off for everyone from the pick’em contest. Hopefully that refocuses those who haven’ yet picked correctly, as well as cool off the 3 people who haven’t missed yet. Quick reminder of the rules for anyone new.

• On Game Day, I will post the official line we will be using for the game.
• In that thread, post your pick against-the-spread for the game that night.
• Make sure you use the same username for every pick (I know some of you are registered, if you aren’t this is a good reason to do so to make it easier). Also, make sure you provide your email so that I can contact the winner at the end of the year.
• Anonymous entries will not count.
• Entries posted after the game starts will not count.
• If you do not provide a pick for the game, it will be marked as a loss in the standings.
• If you are away and can’t make a pick in the thread, you can email me your pick. Email me at clane2787@gmail.com and I will try to email you back ASAP with the line (again, it must be emailed before the start of the game).
• The winner at the end of the year will win a prize (TBD) and I promise it will be something good. I’m not going to be lame like that. I’m searching eBay for cool Villanova stuff as we speak.
• In the event of a tie, the poster with the best BIG EAST record (regular season) wins. If still tied, the best Big 5 record wins. If still tied, the best OOC record wins. If still tied, we may have to do multiple prizes.

The official line for today’s game is Villanova -14. Fire away with your picks.

RFC -- better late than never. Especially for those of us (myself included) who weren’t able to watch the game live. Hubert Davis, God love ya, you need to find something else to say other than “Wow!” when ‘Nova makes a great play. Sit in on Bill Raftery for a while or something. I swear to God if he does another game of ours I may have to preemptively mute it.

By the way, I’ve now seen Isaiah Armwood take 2 shots. He’s drained both. Frosh, you’ve got free reign in my book.

The Game: #4 Villanova (5-0) vs. LaSalle (3-1)

Location: The Pavilion in Villanova, PA

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

Broadcast: ESPN2 HD

Brief Rundown: After winning all 3 games in Puerto Rico en route to the title, Villanova has had a much-deserved 5 days off to prepare for their 2nd Big 5 contest of the year. It wasn’t easy down in San Juan, but in every game a different cast of characters stepped up to bring ‘Nova to victory. The most constant force was Antonio Peña, who was named Tournament MVP after posting 17 points and 16 rebounds in the final. The big man is averaging a double-double on the year, and will look to continue that on Saturday.

The Explorers are off to a strong start to their season with wins over Hampton, Davidson and Tulane, and they even played South Carolina closely in a 10-point loss. Rodney Green is the main man this year, and he’s had a fine start to his senior campaign. Green is averaging over 20 points and nearly 8 rebounds per game. He’s big at 6′5″, so expect a heavy dose of Corey Stokes and Dominic Cheek to try and slow him down. He’s the key to LaSalle having a chance.

What I Want To See: I want to see Mouphtaou Yarou, but that looks unlikely. The ‘trap-game’ thought crossed my mind, but the more I think about it the 5 days off gives Jay Wright a chance to refocus the team. I want to continue to see this team rediscover the efficient offense we saw in the last Big 5 outing vs. Penn. We haven’t been shooting it well, especially from outside.

…Lets Go Nova!…

The Game: #2 Villanova (10-1, 7-1) vs. Holy Cross (9-2, 5-1)

Location: Villanova Stadium in Villanova, PA

Time: 12:00 p.m. ET

Broadcast: 950-AM in Philadelphia

Brief Rundown: Since their only loss of the season at New Hampshire (a possible rematch in the 2nd round), Villanova has been on a great run, including an “upset” at #1 Richmond. The Wildcat defense has been suffocating and forcing a lot of turnovers, and behind a more efficient Chris Whitney, the offense continues to rack up the yardage, and the points. Matt Szczur was named the CAA Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year this week. Villanova earned the #2 seed in the FCS Playoffs and has a legitimate chance at a National Title if they keep up their strong play.

Holy Cross went 5-1 in the Patriot League this year en route to their first conference title since 1991. QB Dominic Randolph was recently named the Patriot League’s Offensive Player of the Year for the 3rd straight season. The kid can ball, and he leads a very, very good offense that averaged over 32 points per outing and over 430 yards of offense as well. Villanova’s defense has been stout, but they should have their hands full with a talented senior looking to go out on a high note.

Interestingly enough, both coaches in this game won their conference’s Coach of the Year award. So if you’re a coaching fanatic, you’re in for a doozy.

Links:

• Holy Cross Game Notes
  

…Lets Go Nova!…this is the 1st game of a football-basketball double-header on Saturday…get out there and show everyone what ‘Nova Nation is all about!…

Each week throughout the college basketball season, ESPN provides an in-depth analysis of the most recent top players and teams, key games to look forward to in the respective week, and much more.  In the latest edition, Andy Katz mentions Villanova in a couple of different spots.  Katz gives “shout-outs” to Miami (Malcolm Grant is noted), Seattle, and the Wildcats of Villanova.  Katz says about Nova:

The Wildcats won the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic.  They were tested quite a bit in three days and came through to show they can be an elite team.  Those wins against Dayton and Ole Miss — maybe even the tight one versus George Mason — will look just fine in March.

Although Villanova did gut it out to post an impressive championship in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic, it was another Big East team that stood as the “team of the week.”  As you may have guessed, it was Syracuse, who demolished California and North Carolina at Madison Square Garden in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.  Indeed, the Orange did look good in NYC, but it is too early to start crowing them Big East champions, which I have heard from some people. 

The Cats get a nice break this week, with 5 full days of no games.  Their next game is against an improved LaSalle team on Saturday at the Pavilion.  Katz points this game out as one of his “headline destinations.”  LaSalle would love nothing more than to give Villanova a blip on their current Big 5 dominance.  Katz says about the matchup:   

La Salle is supposed to be a sleeper team in the A-10.  Villanova is off to a solid start after escaping against George Mason.  If La Salle wants to be taken seriously in the Big Five this season, knocking off Nova would suffice.  If the Explorers get smacked, it will be hard to take them too seriously.

I agree with Katz’s assessment that the Villanova victories in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic will be resume builders come tournament time.  George Mason shoud contend for the CAA title, just like Dayton will be a threat in the A-10, and Ole Miss will be solid if they can improve their rebounding.  This will probably be my last post until after Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday.