I Bleed Blue and White

Villanova Coach Jay Wright has been voted The Sportsperson of the Year by the Philadelphia Daily News! Humble as ever, Jay quickly dismissed the award saying it could have gone to a host of other people.

“I think I would have voted for Chase Utley, just because he was such a beast in the World Series,” said Wright, the charismatic Villanova basketball coach who took the Wildcats to the Final Four last April. “And the Eagles went to the [NFC] championship game. That still counts for this year, right? When I think of Sportsmen of the Year, I think of Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb, Charlie Manuel, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins. To me, that’s what last year was.”

Oh, Jay. Don’t be so modest. I of all people know you’re a much better human than those asses you just ran off. Plus, getting to the Final Four is harder than getting to the World Series, and especially harder than making (and not winning) the NFC Championship. Oh well. Congrats Jay!

This is always a weird couple of weeks in terms of operating a blog. From whenever the last game before Christmas is, til the New Year, nothing really happens for Villanova basketball. In fact, sometimes I forget I even care. So if you were wondering why you haven’t heard from me in a week or two (I pretty much shut it down after the Fordham game), that’s why.

But hey, BIG EAST basketball (really, one of my favorite seasons – not just for ‘Nova) has already started. Seton Hall ( a dangerous, dangerous team) almost knocked off West Virginia last weekend and Saturday marks the conference opener for our Wildcats. Time to flip the switch back on and jump in the foxhole for the meatgrinder of a conference we play in. And with that, let’s take a look at each our our foes, and what may lie in store for us.

(Note: These are ranked in approximate order of difficulty, and is no way a prediction of finish.)

Syracuse Orange (12-0) – Absolutely the surprise team of the year. We all had them pegged as a middle-tier team, but that was mainly because of the LeMoyne disaster, and because we didn’t know how good Wesley Johnson was. He’s easily the most impressive player in the conference so far. They’ve got a good win (North Carolina) and two wins that look less impressive now (Cal, Florida). They also haven’t left the state of New York yet. Their one “road” game was vs. UNC at Madison Square Garden. But they’ve looked good.

West Virginia Mountaineers (10-0, 1-0) – They’ve got a lot of talent, but they haven’t looked as dominant as they should. They almost blew it at Seton Hall before winning in OT, and Devin Ebanks hasn’t exactly been all there this season. They’ll need better play out of their guards if they want to go far, but their height and length will give a lot of teams problems. And I’m pretty confident saying they won’t lose in Morgantown this year.

UConn Huskies (9-2) – Very talented, but very young and are still learning to play together. The guards are some of the best in the conference, but the frontline is raw and there isn’t a ton of depth. They’ll be scarier later in the year once they begin to gel. Their two losses were to Duke and Kentucky, not exactly anything to be ashamed of. Then again, they’ve struggled mightily with teams they should be cruising past, which is a little something to be worried about if you are Jim Calhoun.

Georgetown Hoyas (9-1) – They have the best big man in the conference in Greg Monroe, who is finally starting to realize his potential, but I’m not sure how much else they have. Just seems like a lot of role players in a system that is tough to play against if you aren’t ready for it. The wins against Washington and Butler are nice, but the loss to Old Dominion is a head-scratcher. They aren’t going to be challenging for the conference title, but nobody is going to want to play them all year.

Cincinnati Bearcats (8-3) – You all have heard about Lance Stephenson, who even I have to admit is starting to look like a semblance of a teammate. But the bigger story is the rest of the team, led by Deonta Vaughn and Yancy Gates. They’re big, physical, and flat-out better than their 3 losses in my opinion. Let’s just say I’m not stoked about having to play at their house late in the year. They’ve lost to Gonzaga and Xavier in OT, as well as UAB on the road. The last one is the only one that makes you curious.

Seton Hall Pirates (9-2, 0-1) – I’m not sure what I’m less shocked by: Jeremy Hazell going off for 41 points against West Virginia or Bobby Gonzalez going light on the punishments. Either way, these guys are good. I have them pegged in the Top 6, but I’m starting to waver a good bit. They lost to the aforementioned Mountaineers in OT and Temple (I’m going to shut up now).

Pittsburgh Panthers (11-2, 1-0) – Definitely going to be a down year for these guys. New set of core players, but same old gritty, grind it out mentality under Jamie Dixon. Another team I wish we were playing at home. Started off the conference slate by easily handling DePaul. They’re tough, and they’ll win a few they shouldn’t because of that. But that loss to Indiana is going to look really, really bad when they’re on the bubble later this year.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-2) – Same thing as always in South Bend. Live and die by the 3-ball and Luke Harangody, and defense is completely optional. We’ve learned this is par for the course under Mike Brey. They’ll knock off a few big boys because of Harangody and their shooting a few times, but their will many more nights like Loyola-Marymount.

Marquette Golden Eagles (9-3) - Ahh, our first opponent (more on them tomorrow). Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler have stepped it up in production in the wake of all those seniors who left. They scored a couple nice wins over Xavier and Michigan but then lost to the only other 3 real teams they played after that (Florida State, North Carolina St., Wisconsin). Hayward will carry them as far as they go. Playing them twice in the first week of the conference season is not cool. Then again, getting them out of the way early is kind of cool.

Louisville Cardinal (9-3) – Frankly, they’re a mystery. They lost to UNLV in late November and then the wheels fell off in consecutive losses to Charlotte and Western Carolina. Samardo Samuels and Edgar Sosa are the main inside-out combo, but man, these guys really miss Earl Clark and Terrence Williams. I’m not sure even the great womanizer Rick Pitino has enough to get these guys to the top of the BIG EAST.

St. John’s Red Storm (10-2) – Much better than the last few versions of this team, but who knows if they have enough to really make some noise. They did play Duke and Cornell (not your typical Ivy) tough in close-losses, and scored a nice win over Temple (again, I’m sick). They’re definitely on the upswing.

South Florida Bulls (10-2) – Still sticking with them for a big jump. Gus Gilchrist and Jarrid Famous are a mean pair inside and Dominique Jones can fill it up from his guard spot. Their arena can sometimes feel like a morgue, which is why at least one of the powers will fall there just like Marquette did last season. Be glad we get them at home this year.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-3) – They haven’t exactly been beating the brakes off of the weak teams so far, but then again they gave UNC a decent fight last night in a loss. As a friend put it to me yesterday, Mike Rosario can fill it up as fast as Scottie Reynolds can, but it might take him 20+ shots to accomplish. Verdict: he’s a chucker.

Providence Friars (8-4) – One of my favorite teams to watch when I randomly bump into them on TV. Keno Davis lost too much experience to make a tourney run, but that hasn’t stopped the fun ‘n gun offense out in Rhode Island. The 110-97 victory at George Washington either gave Friars fans an erection or caused irreparable emotional damage. Head on over to FriarBlog to comment on that.

DePaul Blue Demons (7-6) – Enjoy your last days of +.500 basketball Demon fans. What started out as a nice outlook has quickly hit the skids as of late. After barely losing to Tennessee, they went on a bad stretch against some real teams, with the stretch mercifully ending with a loss to Florida Gulf Coast. I’m got my man Brian at VUHoops researching whether this is a real college or some local boys from the YMCA.

So there you have it, just a quick look at what the other guys have been up to as the conference season (for us, anyways) opens this weekend. I have to say I’m mildly surprised at the pretty outstanding OOC records for some of the bottom feeders. Down year? Think again.

Update: At the request of Sean, the download link has been updated.

Thanks to Sean Donovan, we have the some great highlights of the football’s team run to glory this year! Also, if you want to download the video for yourself, you can do that here. Enjoy!

With the year coming to a close, it’s time to reminisce about some Villanova basketball things.  First, Jonathan Tannenwald, who writes a blog called “Soft Pretzel Logic” for the Philadelphia Inquirer, compiled a list of the top ten local college basketball games of 2009.  The #1 game is obvious, but see the other Villanova games that made Tannenwald’s list.

Obviously, the players made these games so special and memorable, but some players who we thought would be a part of these games were not.  I’m referring to those that transferred out of the Villanova basketball family.  Jay Wright has seen his fair share of transfers in recent years, so let’s take a look at how these players are doing at their respective universities.   

-Bilal Benn (transferred to Niagara University in May 2007): While on the Main Line, Benn represented what Villanova basketball is all about; toughness, hard work, defense, pride.  Unfortunately, he just could never get in a rhythm on the offensive end, as he couldn’t knock down shots and turned the ball over too much.  It also didn’t help that Scottie Reynolds was on the verge of becoming a freshman phenom, so Benn was put on the back burner so to speak.  At Niagara, though, he has become a star, averaging 15.6 points and 11 rebounds per game this season for an underrated team.  Benn has missed the last couple of games after undergoing minor knee surgery, but he should return in mid-January.

-Andrew Ott (transferred to Penn State University in January 2008): It’s usually tough to find big men on a Villanova roster, but at 6′ 8″, some thought Ott had the potential to be a low post threat for the Cats.  In all honesty, he just didn’t have the body to compete in the rugged Big East.  He logged some minutes when others were in foul trouble, but other than that, he was rarely used in games.  Thus, he departed to Penn State, where he hoped to be a more integral part of a team.  He has achieved that to a certain extent, playing in all 12 Nittany Lion games this year and averaging 10 minutes, 3.3 points, and 2.2 rebounds per game.  While not all that impressive, Ott is definitely more suited to play in the Big 10 as opposed to the Big East.

-Malcolm Grant (transferred to University of Miami in April 2008): Easily the most puzzling of transfers I can remember.  Everyone could see Grant had a ton of talent and potential, but he could not find consistent minutes at Villanova.  There were constant rumors that he was in Jay Wright’s doghouse, but no one ever admitted to this.  Nonetheless, he singlehandedly brought the Cats back to win one of the most exciting games in Villanova history.  Down 21 to LSU with 8 minutes to go at the Wachovia Center, Grant was inserted to spark a lackluster team, and he did just that, willing the Wildcats to victory.  Despite these heroics, he was still overshadowed by fellow recruits Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher, which may have played a hand in his decision to transfer.  In his first season with the Hurricanes now, Grant is one of the studs for a very solid 12-1 team.  He plays nearly 24 minutes a game, while averaging 11.4 points and almost 4 assists a game. 

-Casiem Drummond (transferred to Marist University in December 2008): Probably the biggest guy to put on a Villanova uniform in recent years, there were high expectations for Drummond.  With Villanova’s usual lack of size, Drummond was seen as the force that could fill the center position void.  In his sophomore year, he averaged 13 minutes, 5 points, and 5 rebounds per game.  Unfortunately, he struggled with weight issues throughout his time on the Main Line, and transferred early in the 2008-2009 season.  Transferring from Villanova to Marist, many assumed he could dominate for the Red Foxes in the MAAC.  Drummond just became eligible to play a few weeks ago, and then was declared academically ineligible, so he will not be on the basketball court any time soon.

Game ended right around 9pm eastern time.  Villanova Wildcats defeat Delaware Blue Hens 97-63.  Some notes on the game are below. 

-Villanova jumped out to a 10 point lead five minutes into the first half, but the Blue Hens pulled to within 24-22 with eleven minutes left.

-After that, the Cats took over and showed their muscle, especially Reggie Redding, who had double figures by intermission.

-Halftime score: Villanova 48 Delaware 32

-Delaware actually cut their 16 point deficit in half right out of the chute in the second half. 

-With only a 7 point lead and 14 minutes remaining, Villanova put the game away for good, extending the lead to a 20+ margin for the rest of the game. 

-Pretty much everyone played a solid game for the Cats, with the exception being Corey Stokes.  Sure, his defense is stellar, but we basically take that as a given now.  The offense for him is the puzzling part, as he just can’t find his stroke.  He finished with 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 turnovers.  No way anyone should be giving up on Stokes though, because this guy is due to find his shot at some point.  Flat out, the Cats will need Stokes in order to survive in the rugged Big East.   

-In terms of stats, Scottie Reynolds had 22 points and 6 assists, Reggie Redding scored 16 points and grabbed 6 boards, while Taylor King notched a double-double with 19 points (8-8 from the line) and 12 rebounds. 

-Give credit to Delaware.  They are a bad basketball team, but they did not give up at all.  They could have mailed it in halfway through the first half, but they made a few runs, and to cut Villanova’s lead to 7 in the second half is impressive for them.  Jawan Carter, who averages 38.5 minutes for the Blue Hens, played 40 minutes tonight, scoring 13 points. 

It’s on to the Big East finally.  The Cats get a nice 10 days off before their first conference game against Marquette.  I’m really pumped to see Big East basketball for the next 3 months.  Speaking of the Big East, Dana O’Neil, a writer for ESPN, wrote up an interesting review of the Big East conference up to this point in the season.  This will be my last post until after Christmas, so I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. 

Sounds like everyone learned their lesson taking Fordham and the points on Saturday (for those of you who submitted picks anyways). Already had 2 requests from Brian and login77 to lay “whatever the points are” today against the aptly-named female hens of Deleware. Rules:

• 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.

Ironically, the spread for tonight is Villanova -29, exactly what it was against Fordham. Fire away.

I’m not kidding, I thought Deleware was a D-II school in basketball. Hell, we treat them like a D-III school in football these days. After witnessing the demolition of Fordham last Saturday first-hand, I don’t even have the heart to research this atrocity of a game. Talk about an RPI-killer come March.

Therefore, I respectfully defer to my man Brian at VUHoops for preGame coverage. He seems just as confused as I am by the way.

…Thank God the BIG EAST starts soon…I’m cupcaked out…

It’s a lot different when you’re in school, and you go to your first game of the year. I learned that in a big way yesterday. I had visions of Saturday exhibiting similar qualities to a big-time conference clash at The Wachovia Center. Hell, we were at The Meadowlands (more of a home game for me personally), my friends threw a great tailgate (quick shout out to the Torney family), and it was freezing cold and snowing. I was loving every second of it.

And then we walked into The IZOD Center, home of the Fordham Rams, and New Jersey Nets, who are quite possibly 2 of the worst basketball teams of the last 10 years. And the atmosphere inside reflected that. There couldn’t have been more than 8,000 fans at the game (about 3/4 of which were from Villanova), ‘Mom ‘n Pop’ were running the beer stand (slowly, I might add), and let’s just say that the Fordham student section left a lot of be desired. I will give them some credit though. Their mascot provided two of the best moments of the game when he face-planted not once, but twice. So they had that going for them.

(Okay, I’m sorry for the last paragraph. I was just blindsided by the whole thing. After all, I see at least 15 Fordham Basketball ads on my way to work everyday. I guess the marketing surge just isn’t working.)

So as I sat there with my friends in the cheapest, best seats I’ve ever sat in (about 10 feet from center-court), I couldn’t help but just laugh at the small-time operation I was experiencing. But hey, all in all we had a great time and Villanova cruised to a nice, easy Saturday win in the return of Reggie Redding.

Speaking of Reg, he’s just phenomenal. I forgot how good he really is. Every ‘Nova fan I chatted with told me how apparent it was how much more comfortable the team looked with him on the floor. A kid who couldn’t have been more than 6 astutely noted that he should play for the entire game. Even though it was Fordham, you can tell how much better he makes the team. He’s the definition of a stat-stuffer (15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 0 turnovers in his return) and he’s such a calming influence over everyone. I’ve thought we’ve looked a little frantic in the half-court set this year. Not anymore.

As for everyone else…

• Corey Stokes finished 2-11 as he came off the bench for the first time this year in an apparent disciplinary move for missing a meeting or something. I’m starting to get a little worried about him. Redding’s return should ease the pressure on him, but we need more efficient shooting.
• Save Stokes, Dominic Cheek was the only player to record a basket and not shoot over 50% from the field. He was 2-5, which isn’t even bad. That’s the kind of offensive efficiency we need.
• Corey Fisher was awesome. So was Scottie Reynolds. So was Antonio Peña. It was Fordham, but it’s good to see them dominate a team they should.
• The rotation that was used in this game was very revealing. Maurice Sutton only played 5 minutes in this blowout. And he didn’t even have a foul. Could this be the end of his run? Isaiah Armwood was in this game while it was still a game, and played 17 minutes overall. Nobody went over 30 minutes.
• Taylor King had a quiet night. There was really nothing special or bad about his performance. Which is probably the first time all year that has happened. And he started.
• One more time, it’s great to have #15 back.

…One more yawner against Deleware on Wednesday before the Holiday Break and then we move into BIG EAST play…

While I continue my attempts link the spreadsheet into this post (computer is acting up), I’m going to give you a quick look into the standings. If you think I have something wrong, let me know. I probably did miss a couple of picks in there somewhere. I’m also convinced some people are using multiple names, even though I asked you to use the same one every week. Oh well.

We’re only listing people with 4 wins or more. If you aren’t on here, you haven’t reached that point.

In 1st place, with a record of 7-2-1:

• Mark (IBBW)
• pttam7yanks

In 2nd place, with a record of 6-3-1:

• Seamus

In 3rd place, with a record of 5-4-1:

• Chris (IBBW)
• Brian (IBBW)
• J.Green
• SeanDon
• JS
• login77

In 4th place, with a record of 4-5-1:

• Jamie (IBBW)
• BrendanC
• Mike – VUHoops
• Brian – VUHoops
• abruni09
• kmac
• MikeR
• soccbowler
• McHaler

So there you have it. Sorry for the lack of standings over the first 10 games or so. I’ll try to be better about it. But now, you have an idea of what this looks like.

Whitney and Szczur hoist it up.

Hopefully you planted yourself in front of a TV on Friday night. If you didn’t, you missed Villanova’s 2nd National Championship of the year, and first ever in football. You missed a great game, one in which our boys were down 14-3, and everything looked to be slipping away. But in classic Villanova fashion, they rallied back, thoroughly dominated Montana in the 2nd half, and took home the title, 23-21.

Matt Szczur was spectacular, totaling a career-best 159 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns, and 270 all-purpose yards. Oh, and if you didn’t know, he’s a pretty decent guy off the field too. Chris Whitney went over 100 yards on the ground and through the air, and the defense put up one of the most dominating 2nd half performances I’ve ever seen. I could be wrong, but in the 4th quarter I’m pretty sure I saw ‘43′ under total yards for Montana in the half. That’s quite good.

So now that we’ve won it all, what’s next? Are you content with our FCS program or do you want to see the team (and school) reach new heights? With word spreading that the Big Ten conference is about to raid the BIG EAST for a football team, the BIG EAST is going to be looking for new members, and we already know they’ve reached out to Villanova. So doesn’t it make sense to make the move now?

Our program has currently reached the status of top-tier in the FCS. There is no debating that, and when you look at the talent on our roster, we’re going to be at the top for a while. We CAN compete in the FBS, as we saw when we beat bowl-bound Temple earlier in the year. And let’s be honest, the BIG EAST isn’t exactly known for great football. I’m fairly certain we could step in and be very competitive (top-half finishes) in the first few years.

So just a few problems in my eyes, and we’ll tackle these one at a time:

1. The Fanbase
2. The Stadium
3. Money

In terms of the fanbase, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s bad. And I can’t even point the fingers at others. I probably only attended 7-8 games over my entire 4 years at school. I was anything but loyal. In my defense, we were bad up until last year. Good teams will draw crowds. So it’s a good thing this team has become good, and more importantly exciting to watch. We still need more support from the students if it is going to work. And I mean at least 5,000 at every home game. This isn’t a basketball lottery. We can all fit. And football is f*cking awesome. Come on kids.

Then comes the alumni aspect. I don’t know what our current numbers look like. But they aren’t pretty. But in talking with my friends at the basketball game on Saturday, if Villanova announced a move to FBS, we would immediately buy our season tickets, and I have to think a lot of other people would too. So I think a move would definitely result in more attendance.

In terms of the stadium, we would need an expansion, but this isn’t that difficult. I originally thought the minimum size was around 30,000, but after looking around, there are plenty of FBS teams with stadiums under 20,000. I think the minimum is probably somewhere around 15K. Right now, we’re sitting at an official capacity of 12,500. Just add some endzone bleachers, solve the track problem somewhere else, and you’re good to go. Originally I thought this was a major issue. It’s not as bad as I thought.

Lastly, the money. I’ve heard that our football team currently loses money every year. Not surprising. While it would initially cost more to move to the FBS ranks, I think the long-term benefits make this a no-brainer. Besides the revenue-sharing you’d get from the conference, if you can successfully build up your program, there is no telling how great it could get. Sure, it’s a risk. No denying that. But it’s a risk worth taking. And when your students/alums see you are taking that risk, they’ll back you. At least I would. And I know all my friends would. And the various alums I’ve met, I know they would too.

It’s time, baby.