I Bleed Blue and White

Well, after another loss where the weaknesses stuck out like a sore thumb again, there is definitely a panic inside the Villanova camp.  Jay Wright might not admit it, the players might not admit it, fans might not admit it, but this team is spiraling downward at a rapid rate.  I’m not going to solely focus on yesterday’s debacle against the Mountaineers, because the problems of this team have been glaring for the last month or so.  I’m obviously not an expert, but I feel the need to call out some people, so take a look below.

In no particular order:

1.  Jay Wright-The man who has turned this program around is starting to bother me a little.  Without a doubt, the officiating has been extremely bad this year, but every time I look over, Jay is complaining about something to the referees.  At some point, the attention of the man in charge has to turn to his own players.  Instead of berating the refs for the full 40 minutes, even though they usually deserve it, Wright needs to start actually teaching and making adjustments during the game.  Second, the rotation has to be cut down to a set 8 or 9, unless dire circumstances warrant otherwise.  Playing 11 guys in the postseason is not going to work in my opinion.  Nobody can get into the flow of the game, and furthermore, most of the players never know how much they are going to play each game.  This may seem like good motivation, especially for the young guys, but I think it’s starting to mess with the chemistry of the squad.  One last thing–stop getting technicals Jay.  He must have around 8 T’s this season, which is not ok. 

2.  Maurice Sutton-Plain and simple, he should not be on the floor for meaningful minutes, unless there is extreme foul trouble.

3.  Maalik Wayns-The excuse may be that he’s only a freshman, but his reckless play is an issue now.  Sure, we saw flashes of brilliance early in the season, and there’s no doubt he has the potential to be a star on the Main Line, but other teams are figuring the youngster out.  They know he will force just about any shot and is prone to turnovers.  Thus, opponents are more than happy to let him make one spectactular play, which will usually be coupled with multiple turnovers and errant shots.  We need him to create, but turning the ball over every other possession doesn’t cut it.

4.  Taylor King-There are far more serious concerns with King than on the basketball court.  I heard from a friend that King has been suspended for academic reasons, but this may just be a cover up, as he might have got caught smoking weed.  Again, this is not confirmed, so don’t hold me to it.  On the hardwood, it’s all in King’s head in terms of his offense.  His shot is obviously not falling, and it’s screwing up his psyche.  If he gets the chance to play again this season, I still think he can be a valuable asset with his rebounding and defense, both of which have been surprisingly stellar this season for a team that has not done well in these categories.  

5.  Reggie Redding-The senior was never an offensive star in college, but he hasn’t produced at all when the Cats have the ball.  He can take it to the hole, we have all seen it before, but not so much this year.  I’m not asking Redding to light up the scoreboard, but at least look like you’re a part of the offense and create something for your teammates every once in awhile.

6.  Corey Stokes and Antonio Pena-Lumping these two together stems from their lack of consistency.  Both are extremely talented players with the ability to take over games singlehandedly, but they never seem to put back-to-back solid games together or even a full 40 minutes.  For example, Stokes will hit a couple of trey balls early on in a game, but then he disappears for long stretches.  Pena looks dominant one game and then comes up with a dud the next.  Stokes probably deserves to be called out more than Pena, but if Villanova is going to get back on track, these two will be need to be vital cogs.

7.  Fans in attendance-This includes myself.  Each of the games I’ve been to seemed to have a noticeable lack of energy in the building compared to years past.  Obviously, there’s a pass for yesterday’s game with the students still on Spring Break, but passionate fans really can energize a team.  Now is not the time to desert this team, rather their struggles should motivate us even more to maybe make a difference in propelling the Cats back into form.

Some may think I’m being too harsh or just flat out wrong, but this is just how I see it right now.  One person/one issue is not the sole reason for the lackluster performances recently, but when all of the problems are combined, the Cats do not play like we expect them to play.  At this very moment, my optimism is dwindling, but I still have hope that this team can turn it around and make a run over the next few weeks.  One thing is for sure: we will definitely find out what these group of Wildcats are made of in the very near future. 

I’ll end this post on a positive note by mentioning the Wildcats who earned 2010 Big East Honors.

Scottie Reynolds-First Team

Corey Fisher-Third Team

Maalik Wayns-All Rookie Team

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.

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.

Things are exactly falling my way in the sports world these days (hopefully that all changes as ‘Nova kicks it off tonight). The New York Giants are in a freefall, and I just had to watch the Yankees and Phillies duke it out for the World Series. Seriously, having an orchiectomy sounded more fun that actually picking a side in that fight.

But my main man Rollie Massimino delivered me a gift last night. His NAIA Northwood squad took it to Isaiah Thomas in his coaching debut and knocked off Florida International 71-61. Remember back when Isaiah was complaining about having to face North Carolina in the season-opener? How many points do you think the Tar Heels score? Can they hit 150? And better yet, how many does FIU score themselves? When you only get to 61 against an NAIA school, you might be looking at the teens vs. the big boys.

So thank you Rollie! And for the upteenth time, f*ck you Isaiah Thomas! It is truly amazing that because you, the New York Knicks do not have a draft pick next year. You’re gone, and you’re still haunting us. I hate you. So much.

What’s up ya’ll.

So I was fortunate (I guess?) to have lost my cell phone at the game last Thursday…..and now have a sweet new BlackBerry Storm!!

First off, the thing is really hard to get used to using… but that’s besides the point.

I’m going to attempt to snag some pictures of the trip, the pregame and the game itself and try to load it up on the site in real-time. I haven’t really had the time or energy to check out if there is a WordPress application for smart phones but I’m hoping that either there is or it won’t be that hard to upload stuff.

Either way, we’ll do our best to give you guys “the feel” of the arena tonight in Boston. From what I’ve gathered…there’s a rather large contingency (especially within the Senior Class) making the trek up 95 to the Mass Pike for the game tonight.

In any event, we’ll do our best to get an open thread up here later in the day for all of you to play nice during the game and hopefully we’ll make some updates as the weekend unfolds.

Luego.

“This break in the action is provided by Lowe’s…… Lowe’s! Let’s Build Somethingggg Tooogettthhaaaaaaa” – The Great, John Sterling. (I had to do this before I snapped, sorry non-Yankee fans)

All I can say after today is…FML.

Yep. F My Life.

Do I have a heart murmur guys? Hey Dante, can you check on that for me? Por favor?

OK. Maybe I don’t have that……. Much obliged.

Thank god I had another game after ours this evening to get my mind off of the atrocity that was Villanova beating American. As I displayed on these interwebs yesterday…. i just did NOT have a good feeling about this game.

A fast, mobile guard that can hit the trey from anywhere on the court? uhmmm CHECK. Having to witness the plague that is Joe Lunardi at our game laughing to himself at the prospect of Villanova losing in the first round – for those that don’t know, Lunardi = St. Joe’s homer - really ate at me to the extent that I decided to transfer myself away from my $226 seats to the friendly confines of sneaking down to the 100 section to really get a taste of the action during the second half.

ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS THIS. NOVA FANS NEED TO WAKE THE !@##!@# UP. It was an absolute disgrace tonight at the lack of energy within “the center” as the locals like to refer to it. When I moved down to literally the front row – behind Jay Bilas’ head, hey Jay, thanks for the handshake and double tap the the chin tonight – I was appalled at the lack of intensity in the section my “tickets” were in. I mean come on people!!!

This is our chance.

OUR chance to truly make a run in March that hasn’t been seen in over 20 years. Our team needs every fan possible to get on their feet and show the Philadelphia pride that was exuberant (unfortunately for my sake at Giants Stadium this past fall) this past October during the World Series.

Philly. This is your team.

WE are gritty, gutty and full of energy.

WE defy the odds, and look at the 7 footers of UConn, Pitt (well, 300 pounders), Texas, UNC and Oklahoma and say, WE SHALL NOT BACK DOWN.

Yes, as the astute Laner pointed out earlier tonight, the big boys came back and displayed the experience that is necessary for success in the tournament.

HOWEVA,

the University of California Los Angeles is not going to be tired after 30 minutes like American was. If we truly are the special team that a phenomenal amount of the collegiate population claims us to be, the real Wildcats need to show up on Saturday ready for battle from the tip until the final buzzer.  That is all I can tell you. Because tonight we were fortunate/lucky/thank the basketball gods that things broke our way and I did not have to hoist myself off of Bartley Hall on Monday.

I am not going to sit here and say that, “i told you so” with regards to my preview of American (lets be honest, I am far from someone who actually knows what I’m talking about when it comes to these things) but UCLA will be faster, tougher and better coached than American was. Let’s all pray that tonight was a wake up call for the boys, and hopefully we can grow on this win and continue the trek Saturday afternoon.

Oh and for those who somewhat/have no freakin’ idea who we at IBBW are and are within the area…… we plan on throwing a tailgate on Saturday that all are invited to before the game. All we ask is that those whom wish to make an appearnace bring something… shall we say unique? ?

Maybe a layer of ice…… a layer of beer…… another layer of ice….. ???? (god i wish Its Always Sunny was still on TV right now)

In all seriousness…. we will be in the usual spot (the D lot) cooking up the finest Philly meats has to offer before the tip on Saturday. If there is actual real legit interest in the comments we will provide more details tomorrow (I’d love to get a cornhole game going, just my preference though).

Ok. All in all….a fortunate night for ‘Nova Nation. We survive the opening scare that a fair amount of us anticipated… and look to move on. Listen, we at IBBW realize that our team is still extremely young.…and that we will only get better as a program as the next few years happen.

But at the same time, we all see the unique chance that our team has in this tournament.. and the draw that we have enlisted..

…………….it just feels right.

AS the traditional sign-off entails…….

Luego.

Good morning all. Some reaction to today / random thoughts after a crazy week…

• Looking again at the set-up of the East… andd the realization that we get Pitt instead of UConn and a bunch of white stiffs from Duke….I guess we have a pretty solid draw.
• I’m intrigued to see the ‘Nova turnout for the game on Thursday night ….
• For those interested in purchasing tickets for Thursday or Saturday, a few hours ago there were still strips left for the Philly Session. For some reason the tickets are listed as “GA” and will be allotted on a random basis …. weird, i know.
• Who thinks we’ll all still be able to sneak into the “student section” like regular Wachovia games?? Let’s work on this.
• I love the guy to death, but we are really going to need Dante to come through and play like we know how he can during this run… I guess that’s the thing that worries me about how we’ve played recently… yes you can say that Fish and Scottie (for the most part) have been hot and playing well….Stokes has his moments….. I don’t know.

Some other things for you to ponder..

• I’m watching Will Ferrell in You’re Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush. Wow….simply hilarious. Watch it if you haven’t already… its OnDemand for HBO and its also on at 11:30 PM tomorrow (Monday) night.
• Staying on the TV track…. I’m obsessed with Eastbound and Down. I’M KENNY POWERS.
• Rescue Me starts up in less than a month..
• Oh and The Wire is OnDemand if you haven’t ever seen it before. 1st and 2nd seasons are available. If you have never given it a chance, then you need to wake up and realize that you have awful taste in TV.

Alright I’m out for the night.

Luego.