I Bleed Blue and White

Chris – nice recap. Sums up the game well.

The only thing worse than King’s shooting is his shot selection. He was 0-6 from beyond the arc. On several, he could have taken a dribble or two forward and drawn and kicked or pulled up for about a 15 footer. His two shoots at the end of the first half were just awful. Son, slow down a bit. Cheek was 1-6 from the field and forced too many shots.

You aren’t going to win when the other team is +19 in made free throws. Walker and Dyson shot a combined 30 free throws. Why does this team foul so much, especially late in shot clocks to bail out other teams?

You also aren’t going to win when the other team won’t miss from the field.

Team was very sloppy. Wayans dribbled off his leg with no pressure. Two or three turnovers on outlet passes. UConn was more ready to play and Nova couldn’t turn it on.

Once again, the refs were horrible (both ways). There is no consistency from possession to possession on what a foul is. Either call the game lose or call it tight, but you can’t change from possesion to possession. This is what you get when all your league officials are old and fat. The game is clearly too fast for them.

I apologize for the lack of postgame post after the game last night. I was out watching with some friends and never got a chance to recap that embarrassing performance. I plan on getting something up tomorrow night.

Absolutely disgusting.

We can’t send their best shooters to the free throw line that many times in a game. We just can’t. We are FAR too inconsistent defensively

So I’m usually the first one to start picking on the team. And certainly there were issues:

1. First and foremost we have to find a way to foul less – they took 44 free throws and made 35 of them.

2. In general, defense is stll porous – all teams score pretty easily off us.

3. Turnovers.

All that being said – we were only down by 1 at half time and UCONN shot 80 freakin’ percent in the second half. Again, some of this is due to weak defense, but they were just shooting the lights out. Also, this may be the worst season of officiating I have ever seen. Just awful – Jim Burr should have his toupe removed and be fired. I know we play aggressive but they were in the 1 on 1 at about 14 minutes. Then they stop calling fouls because they know everyone will foul out if they keep up the pace.

Not making excuses for Nova’ — we could have won if we tightened things up. But tough to beat a team shooting 80% who is sent to the line every 30 seconds.

My biggest issue with the refs is the inconsistency. Yeah, I know UConn won’t get calls for a lot of fouls cause they have a great (and well deserved) rep as a shot-blocking program, but there were several where our guys were getting clobbered. No call? Fine, I like to let em play.

But when Kemba Walker and Jerome Dyson are drawing hand-check fouls 30 feet from the hoop, I have a problem.

Bottom line though — we were outplayed. We did not deserve to win that game, even if we somehow miraculously had done it.

I agree with most of what’s been said so far. A couple things to add: 1. I still love Taylor King, he’s in a terrible slump but is still a talented player that can help us. We just really need him to start hitting some of those shots he made so often the first half of the season. 2. I was definitely impressed with Mouph. He deserves more time on the court he’s a major impact player.

3. Question for everyone more basketball savvy than I am: When UConn inbounded the ball up by 6 with 1 minute left, ‘Nova put on the press, failed to get a turnover, and did not intentionally foul. UConn used up about 30 seconds of the shot clock and then drew a foul, basically ending the game.

Wouldn’t it have made more sense to try to intercept the inbound pass and do an all out press for about 5 seconds and then intentionally foul if it didn’t work?

Chris – you are right, UConn outplayed us. This is the second time we’ve faced a team coming off a bad home loss. Sometimes you are unlucky like that. UConn needed and wanted the game more. In retrospect, if you told me Walker would have 29, UConn would be +19 in made free throws, and shoot 80% in the second half, I would’ve been shocked we were in the game until the end.

I think we win this one if it is played in the Pavilion. I understand the reasons for playing games at the Wachovia Center, but it doesn’t provide the homecourt advantage that the Pavilion provides.

Nova Fan ‘06-

I understand your point regarding fouling with a minute left and down by 6. It could go both ways in my opinion. You definitely want to extend the game, so fouling may have made sense but they were stroking from the free throw line so essentially, we would have been down 8 with maybe 50 secs left. We actually got UConn to miss a shot on that possession, but couldn’t get the rebound. If we get the rebound there and come down and hit a 3, it’s a 3 point game with about 20 secs left. Tough call, I can understand both sides of the story, but I probably would have went the way the Cats played it out. Didn’t really matter in the end though.

The Dwayne Anderson slide from behind has gone from highlight to cause for unmitigated rage. I swear to God, 3-4 times per game, someone (most likely King) will attempt to run down the ball handler and get a tip from behind. It’s not hustle if it’s just plain stupid. Mo Sutton attempting to spear Kemba Walker with his body is simply moronic. We need to let that move die a quiet death.

I’m not worried about the loss so much–it goes to show the only way to beat us is to shoot the goddamned lights out–but we do need to tighten up defensively and play smarter; the foul discrepancy isn’t entirely the refs’ fault.

Ok lets move on….that did suck. I hope the team learns from this. Also when we are the big favorites we just don’t play as well. We excel at the role of underdog!

Agreed with Chocolate Thunder. Can’t blame the refs for the foul discrepancy. This team fouls much too often. Ranked 329th (out of 347 division 1 teams) in % of fouls committed by FTA/FGA. See below:
http://kenpom.com/team.php?team=Villanova

Point is that this team has to play better defensively to make a run in Big East and NCAA tournaments. Last years ‘Cats were not as efficient offensively as this year’s team, but they were better defensively. I love Jay Wright and the aggressiveness that his teams display, but these guys have to stop fouling, and actually play defense.

Guys just remember, no team will ever go perfect again in college hoops again, teams are just too good top to bottom in the ncaa. So a loss isn’t bad. As of right now we’re still a #1 or 2 seed with 5 games and the conference tourney left. I don’t foresee us collapsing. Most importantly, you learn more about yourself from failures and losses than success and wins.

login77,

for our sake this year I hope that is not the case. I still have nightmares of ODU and would prefer for that not to happen.

Well, I was at the game and here’s a couple of random observations.

1. Officiating was pretty damn bad–although I wouldn’t want to use that as an excuse for losing. Is there some sort of rep that precedes us? Did the refs want to give Calhoun some kind of break?

2. I know it’s part of the game for coaches to work the ref’s BUT I can’t stand and I’ll never get used to Calhoun’s constant carping and whining, IN EXCESS if you ask me. Maybe that’s what helps make him a Hall of Famer–going for every little edge possible for his team.

3. UConn absolutely had more energy from the get go that us. I thought I could see it even in the warm-ups.

4. I think TK isn’t completely squaring up on his shots, and he may be rushing some of them(as in too early in the shot clock). I thought I saw his feet @ 30 to 40 degree angles and his body not completely square. I can’t swear to that for all his shots last night BUT I think I saw it 2-3 times.

5. I thought Mo and Mouph did have decent minutes. The foul called on Mo that fouled him out–I swear he was straight up AND had that damned spot well before whoever it was that got into the lane and shot it and crashed into him. I think JW even made that point to one of the refs (although who the hell really knows when you’re sitting in the rafters–I could only surmise it as JW was definitely talking to the guy. Mouph did have some pretty strong rebounds and a nice reverse layup using the rim to protect his shot. All’s the man needs is time to develop, Mo too for that matter.

6. Call me crazy BUT I’d like to see some variations in defense. Like maybe a conventional zone once in a while just to confuse em, something they don’t expect from us. I mean maybe a 2-3, or 3-2-(probably better to to use last night) or 1-3-1 something a little more conventional than just junk. AND maybe with that 1 2 1 1 press we could try to trap em in the deep corner once in a while, and the back guys playing a little more up and ready to jump in the passing lanes.

7. It was nice to see the football team honored last night–and Howie Long there. Nice touch. I only wish there was more energy from the crowd and a more full building!

Back to the grindstone.

Could not agree more with the half court set. Just get back and cover. Face guard every UCONN player and I don’t see them putting up over 70 pts.

It seemed like Fisher got burned a couple times too or was that just me?

POTH – first of all, love the name.

Second, thanks for your reactions from a first hand point of view. Helps a lot to confirm the things most (if not all) of us see on TV. Something seemed to be missing from the Arena last night.

As for the fouls….. it drives me insane just like the rest of you. I had the pleasure to actually watch some of this game because of the snow…. and had a chance to pick the old man’s brain a bit whom I consider a “Pope” of the hardwood as well…

I asked Tough Don what he thought about the amount of fouls we commit per game and he made a very interesting (albeit obvious) point that I think most of us tend to forget…. he pointed out that fouls are a by product of the defensive style we play, which is obviously aggressive.

Our strengths (depth, quickness, aggressiveness, guard play, shooting) can have the tendency for immense weaknesses when its not contained and controlled. I know.. I know… controlled aggression is an oxymoron but there is truth to that saying…..

I have FULL faith in Jay and more importantly the rest of the staff that this 5 day break will be utilized to address these areas.

Also as a side note… did anyone else notice how many times we forced a turnover last night… only to lose complete control of the ball because we were being too aggressive? These are just problems of a young team (Wayns, Cheek, King, Yarou..)

I think some of us tend to forget the out-of-control play of Scottie during his Sophomore Year….and that even 4 & 5 star recruits need to mature in college and learn to play within themselves.

/end rant

Lots of comments about the foul problems Nova has, and I totally agree that this is one of our only problems as a team (the other is turnovers and we were better about that last night). I believe the foul problems are partly caused by Jay using too small a lineup to begin the game. I completely expected us to get a number of fouls in the first couple of minutes because Stokes was guarding a man 4″ taller and 35 pounds heavier. He has to foul him to stop him. It was not Stokes’ fault he had 2 fouls in 2 minutes; it was Jay’s fault. I also believe that Mouph must become a 25 minute a game player for Nova to play at an elite level. I don’t know if he is good enough to do this, but I do know that we can’t beat Kansas, Syracuse, and other teams with 2 or 3 big men on a regular basis without having Mouph more involved.

It’s almost like with our depth and excellent FT shooting, Jay wants to turn each game into a FT shooting contest. Not only does it backfire at times but it takes all the flow out of the game and makes all of our games 2:30 or longer!

Btw i wouldnt overreact too much to the loss – last year’s team lost at home to NIT-bound Georgetown in February and it wasnt the end of the world. Let’s see how they bounce back, this team hasnt lost 2 in a row in almost 2 years.