I Bleed Blue and White

Jeff Borzello of the NBE Basketball Report takes a look at the Big East conference and the projects some seeds for the teams who are currently in and/or on the bubble. As of yesterday, Borzello believes that the Wildcats project to a 3 seed right now, based on their strong RPI and strength of schedule.

“Villanova: The Wildcats might have passed Marquette in the conference pecking order, despite their inferior conference record. They blew out the Golden Eagles during the week, and a loss at a good West Virginia team isn’t anything to hang your head about. They have a better RPI, 11 wins vs. the top-100 of the RPI and a much better SOS. Plus, they have a win over Pittsburgh. They face Rutgers on Thursday before heading to upset New York to face Syracuse. Projected Seed: 3″

Borzello believes that right now only 7 teams in the Big East are going to get a bid for the NCAA Tournament, while Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence and Cincinnati still have work left to do.

…Right now I would put Providence and Cincinnati are VERY close to getting over the proverbial hump…Providence really just needs a signature win before they can feel comfortable, because they should be able to get to 10 conference wins…if Cincinnati can remain strong down the stretch and win a game of two in NYC, they’ll definitely be in…

…Things are a little bit murkier for the Hoyas and Irish…Notre Dame just got a huge win over Louisville and their schedule is favorable down the stretch but they’ll still need to beat either UConn or Villanova to really improve their standing…Georgetown I fear may be the odd team out unless they make a serious run in New York…

…Thanks to Friarblog for the link…

Joe Lunardi updated his Bracketology yesterday, and now has Villanova slotted as a 4 seed playing in Miami. Lunardi has 8 Big East teams, as well as 8 ACC teams, making the Tourney at this present time. Providence is part of the “Last Four In” group while Cincinnati and Georgetown are both in the “First Four Out” category.

In the Philly pod, where Villanova hopes to play, Lunardi has UConn as the #1 seed, along with Duke as the #3 seed. Needless to say, Villanova still has work to do if they want to get that coveted 3 seed in Philadelphia. Right now, Syracuse is the #6 seed in Philly, so if Villanova fades down the stretch there is the chance they could get to The Wachovia Center as a 6 seed.

…With Villanova’s remaining schedule, it is very possible that they can move up enough to get a 3 seed for the tournament, and if they do they will likely get sent to Philly…a lot of that has to do with Clemson, Duke and Wake Forest, and how their season’s end…right now I don’t see Duke finishing strong (unless they make a run in the ACC Tourney) but Clemson and Wake could prove to be bigger problems…

Andy Glockner has updated his Bubble Watch for Sports Illustrated. Glockner believes that the Big 4 in The Big East are safely in, but ranks Villanova just outside in the “Should Be In” category.

“Villanova (19-4, 7-3; RPI: 12, SOS: 24) is now clearly next in the batting order after edging Providence and drilling Syracuse, and you could make a strong argument that they should be one level higher than this, as the resume is quite comparable with Marquette’s given the Golden Eagles’ easier conference schedule so far. Nova’s remaining schedule isn’t easy, though, so let’s hold off a week. The Wildcats can help themselves on Tuesday night when they host Marquette in the return match from their New Year’s Day loss in Milwaukee.”

For what it’s worth, Glockner also ranks Syracuse in this category, and Cincinnati, Georgetown, Providence and Notre Dame as “In The Mix.”

…I’m going to still place myself on the cautious side and agree with Glockner here…a win over Marquette tomorrow completely changes that though and throws Villanova into lock status…as far as the other teams are concerned, I have a really hard time seeing Notre Dame in the Tournament…I suppose they could go on a monster run to end the year but 7 in a row (despite a rough schedule) is almost unheard of from a tournament team…

The oft-mentioned Andy Katz puts pen to paper again for ESPN. This time out Katz runs over what we learned this weekend in college hoops. The headlining story is about UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet and how his presence has forced teams to completely abandon the inside game. Thabeet’s presence is forcing teams to rely on the jumper, which is playing right into the hands of the Huskies.

…For the record, I agree with Katz…every game I’ve watched UConn play teams are dead scared of going inside…Villanova wasn’t though, and it’s no surprise that Thabeet was largely ineffective in the Huskies win over ‘Nova…John Beilein made a great point, it’s like the kids are scared to being blocked and embarassed…just play the game men…

Katz also makes mention of Villanova’s dominating win over Syracuse, saying the ‘Cats have found their stride.

Villanova has found its groove. The Wildcats, notably Dante Cunningham (31 points), are scoring at a high-octane pace. ‘Nova put 102 on Syracuse, which is sliding closer to the bubble if it doesn’t shake this road funk soon. The Wildcats should be comfortably in at 19-4, 7-3 in the Big East.

…Sounds like we made a believer out of Mr. Katz…although I wouldn’t call us a lock just yet…

If you read on to the article, you’ll see Katz discuss the surging Cincinnati Bearcats, as well as the slumping Georgetown Hoyas and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN has posted this week’s ‘Bubble Watch’. Schlabach believes that 4 Big East teams are currently “locks” to make the Tourney, and I find it hard to argue. UConn is in the process of sewing up the #1 overall seed, Marquette is actually ahead of them in the Big East standings, and Pittsburgh and Louisville have had outstanding season thus far.

In the “should be in” category, Villanova and Syracuse make the cut. I’m in agreement again. While the Wildcats are approaching lock status (wins over ‘Cuse and Marquette and you can call them that), they still have some work to do, but they should be okay barring a total meltdown. The same goes for the Orange, who at 6-4 in the conference, have performed adequately and have a great OOC résumé .

In the work to do category, 4 Big East teams make the cut (Georgetown, Cincinnati, West Virginia, and Providence). Interestingly enough, Notre Dame is not mentioned at all. The Irish are definitely struggling, but you won’t convince me that they can’t get hot and sneak into the tourney.

Here’s what Schlabach wrote regarding Villanova’s NCAA Tournament chances:

“Villanova [18-4 (6-3), RPI: 10, SOS: 23] The Wildcats’ strong numbers suggest they should be a “lock” for an at-large bid, but their overall résumé leaves a little to be desired. Their 67-57 victory over Pittsburgh on Jan. 28 might go a long way in moving them off the bubble, but they accomplished little before then. They are only 2-4 against RPI top-50 teams, and only seven of their 18 victories against Division I teams have come against RPI top-100 opponents. Playing in the rugged Big East gives Villanova myriad opportunities to improve those areas — seven of their final nine regular-season opponents are RPI top-100 teams.”

…I agree with this assessment by Schlabach…all the stats look good, but I think they do need a couple more signature wins before we can call them a lock to make the Tourney…they’ll get a couple chances in the coming weeks…

Jason King of Yahoo! Sports is back again this week. If you remember, last week King called ‘Nova one of the most overrated teams in the country, saying that they hadn’t earned their ranking.

Now, King gives us a look at his Big East Power Rankings. This week, King ranked Villanova as #5 in the conference, which I totally agree with. The ‘Cats are playing great basketball right now, and it appears as though King has changed his tune from last week.

“The Wildcats gained some momentum by beating Pittsburgh last week. The key now is to sustain it. Wednesday’s game at Providence seems like a massive trap before No. 20 Syracuse and No. 8 Marquette comes to town. Dante Cunningham leads the team in points (16.7) and rebounds (7.1). Previous Rank: 7.”

You know, I thought that the Cincinnati game was the “trap” game. Providence is a pretty good team and Villanova had better be taking them seriously, they have a better conference record at the moment! Syracuse is a big rivalry and Lord knows we’re all looking forward to Marquette at The Pavilion but I really doubt that the team will take Wednesday’s game lightly.

With the new polls coming out today, thought I’d take a look at RealTime RPI as well and see how ‘Nova is doing. Glad I looked, because we are looking pretty good, and so is the rest of the conference. These are the teams in the Top 100.

#2 Pittsburgh

#6 Connecticut

#10 Louisville

#12 Villanova (SOS #24)

#13 Marquette

#16 West Virginia

#18 Georgetown

#24 Syracuse

#58 Cincinnati

#63 Providence

#75 Notre Dame

If you take a look at Villanova’s RPI page, you’ll see that they only have two games left against teams outside of the RPI Top 100: @ DePaul (202) and vs. Rutgers (152). Now, this of course is all subject to change, but playing in the Big East is going to really help come Selection Sunday, because the league obviously has a great reputation in the RPI system.

‘Nova faces off against Providence, Syracuse, Marquette and West Virginia in the next 4 games. Without getting too ahead of myself, if they go 3-1 in those games or better (very possible), you could almost call them a lock for the NCAA’s. Got to get it done on the court first though, because 1-3 or even 0-4 is also very possible in the rugged Big East.

Andy Katz just posted his weekly watch column for ESPN. When I opened this article, I was 99.9% sure that there would be some miniature section dedicated to ‘Nova’s big week. After all, they upset the #3 team in the country and followed it up with a blowout over Cincinnati.

Boy was I wrong. Well, kind of. Villanova was mentioned twice, albeit in a backhanded compliment sort of way. DeJuan Blair was named to the starting lineup of the week, Let’s just completely ignore the 20 minute, 7 point performance he put up against ‘Nova. That was so long ago. So Dante Cunningham, take notice. You have to completely stink up the joint for the first game of the week before actually playing well if you want to get some national recognition.

But that’s not all. Pitt is mentioned again as a team still fighting for a #1 seed. Actually I agree with this, and I want to thank Katz yet again for reminding the country that “they lost to Villanova.”

You know what though, I don’t even know why I’m getting flustered by this. Villanova relishes the “nobody believed in us!” role and the longer they stay under the radar and out of the national spotlight, the better.

Highlights of Villanova’s romp over Cincinnati courtesy of ESPN. Soak in the alley-oop from Fisher to Cunningham.

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If you missed the game, here is the recap and the box score.

It was the tale of two halves inside The Pavilion on Super Bowl Sunday. Villanova emerged victorious by a wide margin, but at halftime, this looked like it was going to be a battle to the final whistle.

Stifling defense was the key to victory today.

Villanova came out half asleep, and it was a sloppy game from the opening tip. At one point, the Wildcats turned it over 5 times in 6 possessions as both teams struggled to find the hoop early on.

Late in the first half, Villanova turned it up a notch defensively and the Bearcats simply could not handle the pressure. They turned it over time and time again, leading to a series of ‘Nova buckets that turned this game into a blowout.

The Cats held Deonta Vaughn to 8 points on 3-14 shooting, which was one of our keys to the game. You could tell Vaughn was frustrated throughout the game with the variety of looks that Villanova threw at him. He couldn’t get anything going, and neither could any of the other Bearcats.

Dante Cunningham was the star today, finishing with 21 points and 8 rebounds. He even had one of those rare ‘Nova alley-oops that we go so crazy for (Liz absolutely loved that).

Corey Stokes, and Corey Fisher especially, were both outstanding. The early experience last year is really paying off now. Stokes even began to show off some inside game, which is going to really change the face of this team if he can do it consistently.

Scottie Reynolds, Shane Clark, Reggie Redding and Dwayne Anderson all chipped in one way or another. The only down side was Antonio Pena suffered through his 2nd consecutive poor performance, but really, who’s to complain with a win like this?

An admirable aspect of this win is the way the team responded when things weren’t going well. This was a game we had marked as one that could potentially present some trouble. Early start time, coming off a huge win, dangerous team — all things that could lead to a loss. And for a while in the 1st half, it kind of felt that way.

Whatever it was, something woke the team up and they just dominated to the finish line. It was a very impressive win, and one that has me much more confident about their trip to Providence on Wednesday.

Most importantly, with the win Villanova has provided just a little space for themselves on a weekend when several other teams with similar records lost. Villanova has done a great job of winning the games that they should. Providence will be a tougher test, but let’s hope the trend of winning continues.