I Bleed Blue and White

Jamie was rehashing his call-in to ESPN 950 yesterday and we started talking about the nature of Philly sports. Obviously, people do hate us that much. Why? Pure jealously in my opinion. Jamie and I are both from New York, so we’re not from some hick sports scene. We root for a lot of the same teams, and we’ve talked about if we “hate” the other NY teams. If the Giants were eliminated, I don’t think we’d actively root for the Jets to get slaughtered in the playoffs. We want the city to do well, not just our teams. Of course our teams come first, but after that it’s about the city. I think it’s just the nature of Philly fans that brings on such animosity.

Anyways, random thought, but one of the articles linked below details that logic.

• Who would you root for, Duke or Villanova? The answer seems to be that Philly wants Duke to win. Wow…Soft Pretzel Logic
• Randy Foye realizes he’s lucky to have escaped to the NBA. But he isn’t forgetting about where he came from…Philadelphia Daily News (Kerith Gabriel)
  
• Maalik Wayns is the Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year. Woot…Philadelphia Daily News
• Corey Stokes has been a marksman since he was playing with nerf balls…Philadelphia Daily News (Dick Jerardi)
• More talk about the love between ‘Nova and Duke players and coaches. Personally, I can’t wait ’til the first message we send…Philadelphia Inquirer (Joe Juliano)
• It’s the last day of the blogathon for the Randy Foye Foundation. Go make a donation!…VUHoops

Coach Jay Wright was on 950 ESPN Radio yesterday with Mikey Mizz breaking down Thursday’s match-up with Duke as well as the chances Jay would leave Villanova for an NBA job. He also talked with Mike about how Villanova gets no love from Philly, a dominant theme recently on the sports talk airwaves. Give it a quick listen.

…Even though Mike’s constant St. Joe’s homerism drives me up the wall… I can’t deny that he doesn’t have a fundamental understanding of Philly basketball…..its just a shame that he wastes all his time on such a low-life squad such as St. Joes and the rest of the Big 5…oh wait…I did just write that didn’t I?…

..In all seriousness, I did happen to call into 950 yesterday to give my side on this whole “Villanova gets no love from Philly” business, and we at IBBW will have something up later on tonight about it…..as for the 950 call……lets just say that I got cut off rather quickly when referring to current games between St. Joe’s and Villanova as “matchups” instead of a rivalry…..seeing as both teams need to consistently beat the snot out of each other to be known as a true rivarly…

Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays Taylor King’s feelings on playing Duke this Thursday. King says it’s been difficult because he hasn’t been able to officially be a part of the team since the Big East Tournament, and now must pay his own way up to Boston.

“It’s probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with,” King, a 6-foot-6 forward, said yesterday. “I’ll be in the arena, but I won’t be on the bench, and I won’t be able to play against my old team. But I’m here with my new family, my new team, and I’m excited and ready to watch us play them. I want us to play the best we can and win.”

King also talks about his relationship with Coach K, as well as his relationship with his former classmates Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler.

…Thanks to Brian for the link…

Villanova’s biggest strength heading into their game with Duke is their guard play. ‘Nova attacked the rim with disdain against UCLA, and with great success. Against the slower Dukies, one would figure that the dribble-drive would again figure prominently into the game plan.

But could it hurt Villanova? With the way that Coach K teaches the flop, it could. Duke is widely known for their questionable flops that only Kristof Ongenaet has been able to rival so far this season. When Corey Fisher, Scottie Reynolds, Reggie Redding and Dwayne Anderson attack the rim, they are going to need to be mindful that there is a flop waiting to happen.

And more importantly, Dante Cunningham is going to need to be very careful. He likes to throw his muscle around a bit in the post, but he’s going to need to be careful that he doesn’t give the refs anything to call.

With any luck, the game will be called the right way and flops, such as the one by newly discovered junk-lover Greg Paulus, will not be called.

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Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (yes I had to look it up) was a guest on ESPN’s Mike & Mike radio show hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. On the show, Coach K talks about how he sees the matchup on Thursday and how the two teams are very similar, and what coaching the Olympics did for him.

You can listen to the interview here.

…Thanks to Brian for the link…

Jensen Reed, you’re in the Hall of Fame. Forever.

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Kevin Armstrong from Sports Illustrated gives us his take on the East Regionals. Armstrong says that Villanova is his pick to advance out of the bracket, and that Dante Cunningham is the true difference maker in the region.

“Difference maker: Dante Cunningham. Running rim-to-rim, there may not be a better forward in the country right now than the Big East’s Most Improved Player. Able to get out on the break with Wright’s ball-pushing guards, Cunningham provides the inside presence that the ‘Cats lacked in recent NCAA tournament runs. His boarding prowess will be a necessity if the Pitt match up comes to fruition.

The pick: Villanova. In the lobby of the basketball offices at Villanova, coach Jay Wright presses a button that cues up One Shining Moment every time he enters or leaves the building. After reaching the second weekend for the fourth time in five years, he appears to have his well-balanced unit ready to take the next step. No word yet on whether he would purchase a new Hugo Boss suit to wear on such an occasion.”

Armstrong also talks about who has the most momentum right now, as well as the best potential matchup (or should I say re-match?).

Last night as I settled into bed after watching the season finale of Eastbound and Down, I was watching Dick Vitale talk about the Sweet Sixteen on ESPN. Although he didn’t go as far to say that his beloved ACC is overrated, he did have some choice words about the Big East. Vitale named Villanova as a team lower than a Top 2 seed that could win it all, and named ‘Nova-Duke his most intriguing matchup. Kudos Dickie.

With that in mind, here are some links.

• President Obama, despite his tendency to pick the chalk, realizes the Big East reigns supreme…Philadelphia Daily News (Dick Jerardi)
• The time has come to acknowledge Villanova as one of the nation’s elite (finally!)…Philadelphia Daily News (Mike Kern)
• Will the zebras get whistle-happy or choke on them? Sadly, the answer could decide Thursday’s game…Philadelphia Daily News (John Smallwood)
• Duke is impressed with ‘Nova, and looking forward to the game…Philadelphia Inquirer (Frank Fitzpatrick)
• 25 points followed by a double-double leads to a ‘not-hot’ rating for Dwayne Anderson…ESPN (Andy Katz)
• At least one man is worried about his Duke pick…CBSSports (Gary Parrish)

…Thanks to Brian for the links…

Villanova will take on Duke in Boston with an approximate tip-off at 9:57 p.m. ET on Thursday night.

I didn’t even look at who else was playing last night, because when ‘Nova is on the floor, that is the only game that matters. If Villanova doesn’t win, everything else is a moot point. They did beat Rutgers last night, however, and they have a big date with Syracuse on Sunday afternoon at The Carrier Dome.

Gary Parrish of CBSSports and the ESPN staff each have articles up detailing what to watch this weekend. Hard to really argue with either of their columns, although ESPN barely mentions the Villanova-Syracuse game, while Parrish calls the matchup the “game worth watching on TV.”

“Further proof the Big East is ridiculous comes Sunday when one of the only two matchups of Top 25 teams features the schools that are currently fifth (No. 12 Villanova) and seventh (No.24 Syracuse) in the Big East standings. Meanwhile, the top four in the Big East — Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Marquette — are all ranked in the Top 10.”

Parrish also continues his insistence that Duke is a Top 10 team in his column.

…Gary, as you say yourself, they’ve lost 4 of their last 6…I don’t care who you are, that alone takes you out of the Top 10…

As for what I think you should be watching, 2 games strike me as games to watch. Clemson travels to Georgia Tech on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., but that conflicts directly with watching the Villanova game, so that’s out.

#11 Marquette at Georgetown (Saturday, 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPN) – If the Hoyas want to make a late push for a Tourney bid, winning on Saturday would be a good way to start. They can be tough to play at home if the crowd is behind them. Rumors have been abound that there has been a lot of trouble in the locker room for Georgetown, so they’ll need to put that behind them if they want to beat a senior-laden Marquette team. For Marquette, this is the beginning of their brutal stretch to close the season. They don’t want to start on the wrong note.

#8 Wake Forest at #9 Duke (Sunday, 7:45 p.m. ET on FSN) – Both teams are fighting for a stronghold on the #2 spot in the ACC, and whoever wins this will have put themselves in very strong position for that honor. Wake is athletically superior to the Blue Devils, but have struggled with consistency all year. Duke will have the Cameron Crazies behind them for the primetime tip in what should be a pretty electric atmosphere.

…I think Georgetown has the style of play to knock off Marquette…if they get a big game from Greg Monroe it is possible for them…as for the 2nd game, it doesn’t really matter who loses, because Villanova will need to jump one or the other by the end of the year if they want to play in Philadelphia…