I Bleed Blue and White

Before we talk about the road ahead, let’s put a bow on the Seton Hall game.  Unfortunately, I did not get to see the game last night, as I had a basketball game of my own, although I did listen to the second half on the radio.  Since I missed the Cats in action, I resorted to a bevy of internet sites to get me caught up on Nova hoops.  Below are some of the things I delved into. 

-Villanova vs. Seton Hall AP Recap

-Villanova vs. Seton Hall Box Score

-Villanova vs. Seton Hall Postgame Quotes

-Reynolds Scores 2,000th Point in Win

-Jay Wright and Adam Zagoria’s Bet

-Villanova Has Championship Feel

-CSN Philly Quick Villanova Basketball Clips  (this link takes you to the CSN Philly video page…click on the SPORTSNITE tab and there is 1 clip from January 31st discussing a possible #1 ranking and 1 clip from February 2nd relaying Scottie reaching 2,000 points)

9 Big East regular season games down, 9 to go.  A perfect start in conference has everyone salivating about what this team could accomplish, but as we all know by now, the second half of the schedule is much tougher than the first.  I never like to look too far ahead, much like the Cats always seem to focus on the “next game,” so I’ll only take a quick glance at a very important game in a few weeks.  The showdown with Syracuse should be a doozy, and the hype is already starting, as the Carrier Dome is sold out and an attendance record will be broken in the process.  But… 

Again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because over a 2 and a half day span this weekend into next week, Villanova will play road games against #7 Georgetown and #6 West Virginia.  As I ask in the title, is a loss on the horizon?  In my opinion (and I think I may take some heat about this from you Cat fans), I would be very content to come out of these next 2 games at 1-1.  Could the Cats win both?  Sure.  Could they lose both?  Easily.  In the end, coming out of this 2 game stretch with a win and a loss would be solid.  I want to hear what you think, though; would you be ok with 1-1 come Tuesday morning or is 2-0 the only option?

It’s not everyday that an athlete is asked to autograph an actual seat from an arena.  But this is what Scottie Reynolds has signed for a few die-hard (to say the least) fans since the Final Four run.  Not sure how these fans actually pulled off stealing the TD Banknorth Garden seats after Scottie’s infamous shot, but kudos to those who did.  Adam Zagoria, creator of ZagsBlog, mentions this in his new article entitled, “Reynolds hopes to provide leadership.”  Zagoria touches base with Reynolds on numerous issues including his role as a leader this year, the incoming freshman, the overall talent of the team,  and of course the signing of those seats. 

I wasn’t even worried about signing.  I wanted to know how he did it and how he got away with it.  I’ve signed like two or three other seats.

As Chris mentioned in the previous post, the anticipation for the college hoops season cannot get any higher at this point.  I’ve been sorting through which games I am going to try to attend and can’t wait to watch this team throughout the season. 

Adam Zagoria, creator of ZagsBlog, reported a few Big East occurrences today.  First, Daryl “Truck” Bryant, a very good sophomore from West Virginia, has been reinstated by head coach Bob Huggins.  Bryant was suspended this past July due to a traffic incident.  According to Huggins,

Darryl has done everything that has been asked of him on all fronts.  I believe he has earned the opportunity to be reinstated to our team.

No one should be surprised about this move.  We all know Huggins would get one of his top studs back before the season started. 

Second, Marquette has lost freshman Junior Cadougan to a torn ACL he suffered during conditioning drills.  This may not seem all that important, but for a team that lost a bunch of really good seniors, any significant injury definitely impacts the team in a negative way.

Adam Zagoria, a contributor for SNY.tv, wrote an article discussing the current state of Villanova basketball.  Simply put, it’s a stellar time to be associated with the Wildcats; NCAA Tourney the last 5 years, Final Four last year, a top-5 recruiting class coming in, a probable top-5 ranking going into next year, and maybe most importantly, having Jay Wright as head coach.  He has things in order on the Main Line, but what are his feelings on the upcoming year?

A lot of times I go to Phillies games and I hear people say, ‘Great year, great year.  We’re going to win it all this year.’  I like the excitement that everybody has for our team.  I like the confidence they have in our team.  I like the buzz.    

It’s hard not to have a lot of excitement for the Villanova basketball program.  Wish I could say the same thing about the Mets, but we will leave that to another day.