I Bleed Blue and White

I was initially a little disappointed when I realized I had a soccer game a 8 p.m. tonight. I love my weekly league, but I haven’t been able to watch Villanova play on a television yet. Just on my laptop, and I was about ready to give that up for the year. So I DVR’ed the game and left to play. 2 hours later (a 9-year old girl’s tournament ran into our time slot) I was on my way home to catch up on the game.

IBBW's early-season MVP

I told myself I wasn’t going to check my phone, so naturally the first thing I did was do that. I had 2 text messages, without a proper timestamp for some reason. The first was from Jamie: “This game isn’t even in HD.” Great, just what I wanted to hear. The second was from Mark: “Ridiculous 3 by Scottie.” As I said, I have no idea WHEN they sent these, and by this time the game is probably over, so as I raced home I had visions of Reynolds knocking down some insane jumper for the win.

(Let the record show that the aforementioned 3 was his step-back trey that capped an 8-0 run to start the game. It was very good.)

I always hate missing the live action because I enjoy living in that moment, where you really don’t know what is going to happen next. Whenever I watch something recorded, I feel like it isn’t as meaningful. I think I can attribute that to two things – making sure I had no idea what the score was, and the fact that it was the finals against a quality team. I was excited.

Anyways, I severely underestimated the quality of watching a game that’s been recorded. For one thing, there is the no commercial factor. That’s pure brilliance, as you all know. I was even getting so good with the different speeds of ‘fast-forward’ that I was skimming through the point guards bringing it up the court and free throws. I could still see what was happening, but it was going just a little faster.

And of course the best part, not having to listen to 3 idiots try to talk about the game. In the 1st half there were a few points where I watched extended action and got into the conversation the commentators were having. Both teams were scoring, there were some great plays, and none of them were even approaching anything relevant to the game at hand. It was brutal. For the record, I only like 4 college basketball announcers:

1. Gus Johnson (just makes everything much more exciting)
2. Sean McDonough (the only play-by-play guy that actually knows his hoops)
3. Jay Bilas (a Dookie, but very intelligent and articulate)
4. Bill Raftery (so much passion, it oozes out of him)

(In fact, I’m pretty certain that the reason you never see Gus and Bill do a game together during March Madness is because knowing those two, the building might implode on the first dunk of the game)

As for the game itself though – a great win. Against solid competition, we really looked like a Top 10 team. And still, we didn’t fire on all cylinders (22 turnovers). The best is still yet to come. But for now, I’d say that was a good team-building experience in Puerto Rico, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to walk away with hardware. As for my notes…

• Vintage Scottie Reynolds. There was a point in the 2nd half (to the announcers credit, they pointed it out) where Reynolds just decided he was going to take over the game – and he did. Hopefully he’s out of the early-season funk.
• 17 points and 16 rebounds for Antonio Peña. Are you freaking kidding me? ‘Tone’s best game in a ‘Nova uniform by far. Great for him, and great for the team if this becomes common. He was the epitome of a glass-cleaner tonight. And for the first time in a long time, he was demanding the ball in the post. He’s got confidence right now.
• Corey Stokes finally woke up. He looked like the player we saw in the first couple of games. He’s got a versatile offensive game now, and the defense continues to improve.
• 9 points and 11 boards for Taylor King, who like Peña, was a force on the inside. He didn’t do much at all outside today actually. The dunk he threw down was with authority. I caught myself yelling when that happened.
• Corey Fisher and Mo Sutton both did some nice things. Fisher was hurt by fouls, Sutton seemed to be a little over-matched at times in terms of strength but he’s a great help-defender and he’s so active on the boards.
• He may not be there yet, but I’ll continue to say it – Dominic Cheek is going to be scary-good. He’s still figuring out the college game but I get excited everytime he’s out there. I think he needs to play a little looser, but the defense has been great. The offense will come.
• Jay Wright went 3-0 without a suit. I don’t know how.
• Maalik Wayns has an absurd handle on the ball. He keeps playing with a lot of confidence. I love that.

After 3 games in 4 days, Villanova now gets a nice extended break before they host LaSalle at home next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Shout out to all the ‘Nova fans in Puerto Rico, you guys were great down there!

The Game: #5 Villanova (4-0) vs. Ole Miss (4-0)

Location: The Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Time: 8:00 p.m. ET

Broadcast: ESPN2

Brief Rundown: After a sloppy start to their run in Puerto Rico against George Mason, the Cats woke up against nationally ranked Dayton on Friday afternoon. Villanova took advantage of the Flyers’ sloppy play and built themselves an 18-point 2nd half lead before they let Dayton climb back to within 2 behind a barrage of 3-pointers. ‘Nova was clutch at the charity stripe down the stretch though as they held on for the 6 point win.

Ole Miss has had a nice run in the tournament after a couple cupcakes to start their season. They knocked off Indiana by 16 in the opening round before defeating Kansas State in the semi-finals. The Rebels boast one of the best backcourts in the country in Chris Warren and Terrico White.  Ole Miss can fill it up quickly, as they haven’t scored less than 86 points in any game this season. This is going to be a very good test for the ‘Nova backcourt.

What I Want To See: The matchup between Corey Fisher and Chris Warren. Both are exceptional talents. Whoever can stop the other may hold the key to victory. Beyond that, ‘Nova’s perimeter defense needs to improve. They let Dayton jack up (and make) a ton of 3’s in the 2nd half yesterday. Ole Miss loves to shoot, and Villanova needs be ready.

…Lets Go Nova!…give us an early-season title boys!…

For those of you who followed the game with me on Twitter yesterday, you know the sheer enjoyment I was getting out of listening to the Dayton Flyers Radio Network, and their impeccable broadcast team. I never actually caught their names, but if I had to guess they were probably JimBob and Cletus. Two of the biggest Southern accents I’ve ever heard, and the homerism to go with it.

Fisher was a FT warrior again.

I was initially disappointed to learn that I wouldn’t be able to watch the game (the internet feed was legitimately an hour behind), but these two hicks saved the day for me with their utter dissatisfaction whenever Villanova did anything positive and their shrieks of joy whenever Luke Fabrizius looked in their general direction. In fact, as I tweeted during the game, I’m pretty sure the color guy was fondling himself when Fabrizius grabbed a rebound a one point in the 2nd half.

Between them yelling out what plays Dayton should run, screaming at the players for leaving Taylor King open, and their catch-phrases (”Villanova is just walkin’ the dog, baby” killed me), these two helped make what turned out to be a close game feel like a walk in the park. I can only hope that somewhere in the future, we play Dayton again and I get to enjoy JimBob and Cletus’ expertise once more. I’ll be praying.

As for the game itself, I may be in the minority, but I’m extremely happy with the way the team performed. Dayton is a very talented and well-coached team. Corey Fisher rose to the occasion again, and once again was a monster at the stripe (10-12, including 4-4 down the stretch). The aforementioned King quickly dismissed his porous effort from the day before to turn in 14 points and 9 rebounds. He’s going to be a monster for us this year. And finally, Antonio Peña. As I listened to the game I didn’t think you did that much. But thinking back, you were huge. 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 5-8 from the stripe, including 2 enormous FT’s that had me panicking as you go to the line. Way to step up big fella.

Some more notes:

• Still no suit for Jay Wright. It’s gotten to the point where I may start a petition to put a suit-clause in his contract. He needs to wake up.
• We shot the ball like shit for the 2nd straight day (especially down the stretch). That can’t happen. I didn’t see the game, so I don’t know if it was poor shot selection or not, but this trend needs to end.
• Scottie Reynolds went 3-12 and only had 8 points. Just 2 turnovers though. I’ll say that’s a step in the right direction for him, but he needs to decide what his role is going to be. “Chucker” cannot be an option.
• Maurice Sutton played 30 minutes. 30. Second only to Fisher. And he had a great game. I didn’t think he would be ready this year, but he just may be. Hell, if Yarou is out for a while we need him to be.
• Only 7 minutes for Maalik Wayns? Very surprising. I don’t know what to think about that. He had a great game the day before too.
• Isaiah Armwood followed up his heroics with a nice jumper and a 2-2 effort at the line. Keep playing your role kid.
• Corey Stokes went 1-9. Yikes. Hopefully it’s just the Puerto Rico weather. Or something like that.

So now we’re on our way to the finals where we face Ole Miss on Sunday night. The game is at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be aired nationally by ESPN2! It’s about time I got to watch this team in HD.

I’ll freely admit it. As I watched Scottie Reynolds drive into triple-coverage, only to kick out to Isaiah Armwood who promptly jacked up a 3, I yelled the title of this post to nobody. As I texted with friends that our two best sharp shooters (King and Stokes) had both fouled out, the last person I expected to be taking what would be the game-winning shot was a guy who has been surrounded with redshirt questions.

A quiet game from Stokes couldn't derail 'Nova.

Let me just say, I was NOT a person advocating a redshirt for him. I love his athleticism and think he’ll be useful this year the way Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark were their freshman years. But I will admit I was not happy as I watched our wiry 6′8″ freshman launch a trey-ball. But I was ECSTATIC when he buried it. And for that Isaiah, I apologize. I doubted you for the slightest of moments, and you turned around and put the double-bird to my face. I love it.

The bigger story, in my opinion, is the resiliency that the team showed today. Corey Fisher was 1-14 from the field, yet 14-18 from the foul line. Scottie Reynolds had 8 turnovers in the 1st half, yet let the team in scoring and in my opinion led the team well down the stretch. We lost Corey Stokes, Taylor King, Antonio Peña and Maurice Sutton to fouls, yet still battled til the end to erase what felt like a 20-point deficit at times. We went 23-39 (59%) from the FT line and somehow won.

And we did all this without Mouphtaou Yarou, who was sent home hours before the game for an infection. Our lineup that end the game was Reynolds, Fisher, Maalik Wayns, Dominic Cheek, and Armwood. Think about that for a second.

(I just had a wow moment. We had 4 legitimate shooters on the floor, and Armwood. Armwood took the 3. And made it. His balls are the size of planets.)

Some more random thoughts from today:

• Jay Wright, you better suit-the-f*ck-up next game. No more of this untucked Polo crap. I don’t like it, and neither does anyone else. Stick with what works.
• If I’m ever going to criticize Jay, it’s going to be now. Yeah, I know we won, but I think he mismanaged an already thin frontcourt. He basically let his entire frontcourt foul out before inserting Armwood. It worked out, but give the kid some burn instead of letting everyone rack up the fouls.
• Maalik Wayns woke the team up in the first half. We were about to get run out of the gym until he came in. I love the kid. He is a serious, serious player. Jay wasn’t kidding when he said Wayns was ready to play.
• Maurice Sutton stepped up big. As soon as Yarou was out, Sutton’s # was called, and he answered. All over the place on the glass and the defensive end. The offensive game will come, but for now, he’s doing exactly what we need him to do.
• The refs were brutal, and I’m glad we overcame them. It wasn’t the amount of calls (which was excessive) but more the amount of ticky-tack stuff that was called, especially on us. I thought Jay was going to have a stroke. If Pat Chambers were still on the staff, I’m pretty sure he would have bitten a refs ear off.
• Fran Fraschilla has briefly replaced Andy Katz as my most hated ESPN Hoops personality. He may as well have come out and root for George Mason. It was sickening and a disgrace to his profession. Fran, go home.

All in all, a great win to have. George Mason are a scrappy bunch, and they’ll make noise this year. They’re pretty good. If you hadn’t heard, Dayton blew a 9-point lead only to come back and stave off Georgia Tech in the early game today, so we’ve got the Flyers tomorrow at 3 p.m. I’ve got a Q&A coming up with a Dayton blogger, so stay tuned!

A note to everyone on Twitter – I had a great time chatting with you during the game today and hopefully we can do it again in the near future. I’m just happy that I didn’t get a 24-hour ban for over-Tweeting like Brian of VUHoops!

UPDATE: Apparently Brian has been reinstated. No word on what sexual acts he had to perform.

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Villanova edged out George Mason by 1 in the 1st round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Amidst news that Mouphtaou Yarou was sent home for a viral infection, the Wildcats were outplayed and appeared asleep for much of the game. 8 1st half turnover by Scottie Reynolds led to a 9-point deficit at halftime, and it appeared that Villanova was going to go down.

But even with the referees continuing to punish ‘Nova (4 players fouled out, and Corey Fisher finished with 4 fouls) the Cats fought back and kept it close til the end. Finally, and unlikely hero arose. Freshman Isaiah Armwood, the least used player through the first 2 games, stepped up and hit a 3-pointer to give Villanova a 1 point lead with 13 seconds left.

From there, the ‘Nova defense finally arrived, not even allowing a final shot by the Patriots. We’ll have more on this game shortly, as well as a …Keep Your Enemies Closer with Dayton blogger James O’Brien as the Cats face the Flyers tomorrow at 3!

Some links:

• Box Score
• Highlights of the crazy finish

The Game: #5 Villanova (2-0) vs. George Mason (2-0)

Location: The Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Time: 2:00 p.m. ET

Broadcast: ESPNU

Brief Rundown: After struggling for a half against Fairleigh Dickinson, ‘Nova beat the brakes off of city-rival Penn for the full 40 minutes. It was one of the best games that I’ve ever seen a Villanova team play. All the shots were falling, the defense was superb, and even when the bench was emptied, the reserves continued to build the lead. Things will not come that easy against George Mason, and the team needs to be wary of that.

Like ‘Nova, George Mason is off to a 2-0 start to their season after a close win against Liberty and a more comfortable win against Dartmouth.  Also like ‘Nova, the Patriots are very young and have 7 new players on their roster this fall. Louis Birdsong is the lone senior, but is not expected to make his mark on this game. Junior Cam Long is the most heralded, but he’ll receive plenty of help from Ryan Pearson (leading scorer against Dartmouth) as well as Andre Cornelius. George Mason likes to play high pressure defense, so the ‘Nova guards need to come prepared.

What I Want To See: I want to see how for real we are. George Mason is a mid-major, but also a well-coached team that is always hungry for an upset. This may prove to be a game where the 4-guard lineup is used quite often. George Mason has some size inside but isn’t the biggest team in the world, and their high pressure defense may be best countered with a lot of ball handlers. Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek may be relied upon to make smart decisions. Hopefully the young guns are up to the task.

Links:

• …Keep Your Enemies Closer (Chat with GMUHoops)
• George Mason highlights
• VUHoops
  

Yep, I could get used to that. I loved seeing Jay Wright taking shots of Jose Cuervo and then closing his eyes and pointing at 5 guys on the bench and telling them to go play basketball. That was really enjoyable to watch. What? That didn’t happen? Well, it sure felt like it.

Reynolds was back to his usual form on Monday.

Anything lineup that Wright put on the floor last night was gold. Hell, even Maurice Sutton and Isaiah Armwood, 2 guys who didn’t get much burn in the opener, were in the game while it was still, well, a game. That’s how much confidence Jay Wright appears to have in his 10 man rotation. Only Armwood (who went scoreless) did not score in the 1st half. Even Russell Wooten notched his 1st career points in garbage time as his lay-up put the Cats over the century mark.

I watched last night’s game while I helped my girlfriend build a new desk from IKEA for her room (by the way, screw IKEA. You may be relatively cheap, but your furniture is a pain in the ass to build). As I struggled through the missing screws and bolts, all I kept hearing were cheers from the crowd and “you can’t leave him open like that” from the announcers in reference to Corey Stokes and Taylor King. Both of those are very good signs. Hell, I think at one point the play-by-play guy yelled that Stokes drained another 3 and the ball had barely left his hand. It was that kind of night. Everything was going in.

‘Nova shot 58.7% from the field and 52.4% from downtown. We aren’t going to be beat when we shoot like that, and we haven’t even gotten to the defensive end yet, where a team I lambasted for its poor play in the 1st half against Fairleigh Dickinson held up both middle fingers to me and put their foot on Penn’s throats from the opening whistle.

Star wing Tyler Bernardini was held scoreless thanks to mostly Corey Stokes, but a host of other characters as well. If anyone thinks Stokes isn’t up to the challenge of defensive stopper, it might be time to reconsider. That’s two great games for him in a row. More than that though, the Cats defense was just suffocating all over. 8 steals and they held Penn to 34% shooting. Coupled with the offensive outburst, that’s a good recipe for success.

By the way, remember how our “young team” was going to go through growing pains? One thing we did not consider was that when you have 10 guys (11 when Reggie Redding returns) who legitimately are hungry to get on the court, you are going to have a team that plays like it did last night. You either work your ass off and produce, or you don’t play. And with 6 newcomers who want to secure their spot, there is going to be  a ton of competition that will translate into the production we saw last night. (We’re still going to have the growing pains, but mark my words, the previous paragraph will happen as well in the coming weeks).

Onto the player notes:

• Maalik Wayns led all Cats with 16 points off the bench. Great game for the youngster. But just 1 assist and 4 turnovers. He might be the best pure point guard on the roster, but we’re going to need a better assist-turnover ratio. Good run out there though.
• Corey Stokes, Taylor King, and Scottie Reynolds all had 14 points last night. King and Stokes both continue to shoot the crap out of the ball. Reynolds with a nice bounceback game. Stokes (5 boards) and King (7 boards) both look like they are going great this year on both ends. I may have underestimated Stokes’ chances at All-BIG EAST.
• Antonio Peña got that double-double I was looking for with 12 points and 10 boards (plus 2 blocks). He continues to disappear for stretches, but his overall game looks improved from a year ago. So far, he has proved to be the rebounder we all hoped.
• Corey Fisher with an even stronger game this time out (13 points, 8 assists, 3 steals). He’s very, very good. My UConn friend the other day: “I’d rather have him than Kemba Walker.” You don’t hear that much from the Husky fans.
• Dominic Cheek showed us that mid-range game we heard so much about. I like it. And that outside shot looks a lot better than I expected. He’s going to be a super-star in a year or two. Like All-American good. The good thing is that he doesn’t have to be that right now.
• Mo Sutton continues to look good on the boards and the defensive end. His enthusiasm from last year (towel guy) has certainly translated onto the court this year. Probably a little thin for the BIG EAST but he is active and loves playing. You can’t teach that.
• Mouphtaou Yarou was the only negative last night. 4 points, 5 rebounds, and he fouled out. He’s raw. Those who said he was one-and-done : you were wrong. He’s going to be very good, but it is going to take time. Thankfully we can lean on the backcourt for the time being.
• Congrats to Russell Wooten for his 1st career points!

The team leaves today for Puerto Rico and faces George Mason in the opening round on Thursday at 2 p.m.! The game will be on ESPNU, and since it is in the afternoon, there had better be a link I can watch at work!

The Game: #5 Villanova (1-0) vs. Penn (0-1)

Location: The Pavilion in Villanova, PA

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Broadcast: ‘Nova Nation All-Access and ESPN-950 AM

Brief Rundown: Villanova won their season opener over Fairleigh Dickinson by 23 points, but they struggled to pull away from the Knights in the 1st half. It wasn’t until the 2nd half that the upperclassmen, namely Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher, led the Cats to victory. Villanova introduced all 6 of its new players to the home crowd, and none of them disappointed in the time they saw. This is the first Big 5 matchup of the year for both schools. Villanova has dominated the City Series recently and will look to continue that trend.

Penn opened their campaign with a 15-point loss at Penn State on Friday. It wasn’t a terrible game for the Quakers, as Penn State looks to be an up-and-coming team in the Big Ten. Penn actually kept it close until late in the game when the Nittany Lions pulled away. Tyler Bernardini and Jack Eggleston did the majority of the work for the Quakers, and look to be key players this season. Senior guard Darren Smith was 1-11 from the field and 0-7 from beyond the arc. So, I guess he likes to shoot. Let’s keep an eye on that fellow.

Last Meeting: Villanova beat Penn 69-47 behind Dante Cunningham and Corey Stokes.

What I Want To See: The defense that came out in the 2nd half against FDU. That was an embarrassing performance in the opening 20 minutes. Chalk it up to pregame jitters for the team, but that can’t happen again, especially in a Big 5 game. Villanova is the hated school in the Big 5, and Penn will be gunning to ruin their night. Suffocate their perimeter shooting early and build a lead and then put the nail in the coffin.

Links:

• Villanova Game Notes (PDF)
• Villanova By The Numbers
• VUHoops
  

…Lets Go Nova!…what’s everyone feeling for this game?…what do you want to see?…

The Game: #5 Villanova (0-0) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (0-0)

Location: The Pavilion in Villanova, PA

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Broadcast: ‘Nova Nation All-Access (pray to your God that it works)

Brief Rundown: Villanova is breaking in a new crop of players this year after losing the most successful senior class in the school’s history. Up to 6 new faces could see their first action for ‘Nova, including a very heralded freshman quartet. Reggie Redding is suspended for the game, leaving Scottie Reynolds as the lone senior to lead this young, but talented team.

Fairleigh Dickinson went 7-24 last year, and was routinely blown out of the gym. The Knights will look to improve on that record this year behind new coach Greg Ventrone, and got off to a solid start by beating Molloy College in their exhibition game. Keep an eye on #30 Sean Baptiste tonight. The senior guard led the team in points, rebounds, and steals in their exhibition win after averaging 16.3 points per game and  5.9 rebounds per game last season. Alvin Mofunanya is their top returning big man after averaging 9.0 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game last season.

Common Opponents:

1. at Pittsburgh – Lost 86-63
2. at Seton Hall – Lost 101-70

What I Want To See: Defense. We know we can score with anyone in the country. We have weapons everywhere. But against Kutztown, the defense was borderline appalling. FDU should not get to 70 points, and frankly, a good defensive team would likely hold them below 60. We need to find our defensive identity if we want to see another Final Four run.

Links:

• Villanova By The Numbers
• Fact on Villanova Sports
  

…Lets Go Nova!…the start of another season is here…