I Bleed Blue and White

Not Villanova-related, but some news worth sharing. Marquette guard Dominic James has been cleared to play today for the Golden Eagles second-round game with Missouri. James, who suffered a broken foot vs. UConn late in the season, was thought to be done for the year, ending his career.

The article suggets he will be limited, but this could provide a huge emotional lift for Marquette.

…Good for James, I’ll never wish injury on a player and what happened to him was awful…hopefully he does well today and beyond…

Game recap and box score before we get started.

We’re going to get to the game in a second. But first I want to reflect on the day that I just had. It had its up and downs, but in the end it was brilliant.

AP/Frank Franklin II

I woke up at about 8:15 this morning, showered up, took out the trash and go on the road by 9. I drove up to a friend’s in New Jersey where a group of my friends spent the night in anticipation of the game. On my way up my ear was glued to WFAN, and surprisingly there wasn’t much chatter about the game. The guys on the FAN thought ‘Nova would win, and kind of dismissed the game. That worried me.

I got to my friends and we drove off into the city, and struggled to find parking. We didn’t get to Tir Na Nog until about 12:30, but it was still all good. We had a couple of drinks, talked about the game with some other ‘Nova alums and eventually headed off to the game.

And I need to mention, through all of this my amazing girlfriend Liz was constantly texting me from Naples where she’s vacationing. She’s a ‘Nova alum, and I could tell she wasn’t too happy about missing this game. She’s as die-hard a ‘Nova fan as me, and I love watching the games with her. More on her influence on this game later.

Once your inside Mecca, there’s no place you’d rather be. There’s just something magical about The Garden, especially if you grew up around it.

Villanova raced out to a 16 point halftime lead. Sitting up in the 400’s, we were laughing and joking and talking about our matchup with Louisville. Bad idea.

I stopped in the bathroom at halftime as we moved down to the 300’s to get a better view. I thought to myself, this isn’t over, and we better come out to play.

Marquette slowly battled back in the 2nd half. It felt like a slow death. 12 points, then 10.

Dante Cunningham takes throws down an alley-oop. Before I can even say anything I get the “DUNK” text from Liz. She’s fired up. Do we have momentum? It feels like it.

Marquette keeps battling back though. The lead id down to 5. Our section was screaming. What was happening? Dominic James could all of a sudden jump up and down. It felt like a bad dream. I tell Liz I can’t talk anymore. I’m too nervous.

Then the unthinkable happened. Lazar Hayward drained a 3 to take a one point lead. My stomach dropped. Scottie Reynolds came back down and missed a shot. Marquette’s ball with 40 seconds left.

“It’s over.” That’s what a dad says to his son next to me. To his credit, the boy says no it’s not.

Jerel McNeal drives the lane hard. Cunningham takes him, and gives him NOTHING. Shane Clark rebounds it. We’re out of timeouts. The place is going friggan bonkers. I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack.

Reggie Redding can’t get the ball to Reynolds. We’re screaming. 5 seconds left. It’s all up to him. He’s going to drive.

And he threads the needle to a wide open Dwayne Anderson under the hoop. He goes up to lay it in. The ball is on the rim for an eternity.

And it drops through. Ecstasy.

Would you have it any other way?

And because this article from ESPN’s Dana O’Neil nearly brought tears to my eyes, you need to read it.

Villanova doesn’t host Providence until tomorrow night, but the fight for the double-bye in the Big East Tournament starts this evening. Other than LOST, you should keep a close eye on Marquette’s trip to Pittsburgh.

VUHoops has a great outline of all the situations to get the double-bye, but the most simple way is for Marquette to go down to Pitt tonight, and then for Villanova to beat Providence at The Pavilion tomorrow. That would lock up the 4th seed.

#15 Marquette at #4 Pittsburgh (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2) – Since Dominic James left early in the loss to UConn, most people have written off the Golden Eagles and believe they will enter a tailspin. They were feisty in a loss to Louisville, however, and now look to try and keep hold on a Top 4 seed heading to Pitt. The Panthers lost to Providence last week as DeJuan Blair struggled with fouls, but rebounded over the weekend to take out Seton Hall.

And if you already have your eye on the NCAA Tournament like I do, keep an eye on this matchup tonight as well.

#5 Oklahoma at #12 Missouri (9:00 p.m. ET on ESPN360) – Mizzou has made an incredible run in the last month, soaring to the top end of the Top 25. They placed themselves in direct competition with Villanvoa for a 3 seed in the dance. They were humiliated at Kansas on Sunday. Oklahoma struggled when Blake Griffin was out before rebounding for a win when he returned. It will be a good matchup between the Griffin brothers and Mizzou’s DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons in the frontcourt.

In case you weren’t keeping score, it’s Go Panthers! and Go Sooners! tonight for ‘Nova Nation.

I got to thinking today about Dwayne Anderson’s probable absence for Friday’s game at West Virginia, and what the consequences could be. On the surface, he’s not the #1, 2, 3 or even 4 scoring option, and his defense is good, but not anything the team can’t compensate for. But losing him means going to a 7-man rotation on the road in a tough place to play against a good team, which isn’t good, especially when he is considered a frontcourt player.

Will Anderson's absence expose 'Nova's depth issues?

Then I started to think about what the greatest weakness for this team is. They’ve got the outstanding guards on offense, a legitimate offensive threat down low (for the first time in a while), and they have defended spectacularly well in the post despite the perceived lack of depth and size. They are killing it from outside right now and Corey Fisher has suddenly put it all together and has given Villanova a player that can get into the lane and cause havoc.

So really, what it comes down to in my mind is the depth issues, and the ability to defend the perimeter. Villanova’s lack of depth hasn’t reared its ugly head yet. In fact the only instance I can think of is Dante Cunningham’s foul troubles at UConn, forcing Frank Tchuisi into the game mid-1st half. But even then Villanova was taking it to the Huskies.

So in my opinion, Villanova’s greatest weakness has been perimeter defense. It’s been a struggle for a couple years now. Teams always seem to shoot well from beyond the arc against us, and the “star” guards just seem to have their way. For example, in 3 of Villanova’s 4 losses this year, they have been destroyed by the opposition’s backcourt.

1. Texas — AJ Abrams had 26 points on 44% FG (44% 3 pt FG)
2. Marquette — Jerel McNeal (26 points on 50% FG, 50% 3 pt FG), Wes Matthews (19 points on 83% FG (50% 3 pt FG), Dominic James (17 points on 37.5% FG (40% 3 pt FG)
3. UConn — AJ Price (29 points on 77% FG (67% 3 pt FG), Jerome Dyson (19 points on 55% FG (0-1 3 pt FG)

That’s really ugly. Now, in fairness, Corey Fisher has been dynamite on defense lately, but even in the wins vs. Syracuse and Marquette, it felt more like Villanova just couldn’t be stopped rather then them shutting down the opposition. Jonny Flynn and the trio of Marquette guards still found sucess against Villanova.

So in my opinion, if Villanova is going to really continue moving forward, they are going to need to improve the perimeter defense. I know that they trap a lot and have to compenstate down low, but teams are having too much success with their guards.

What does everyone else think? Leave your comments below and we’ll talk about it.