I Bleed Blue and White

I need to start off this post with some horrific news, as this is certainly much more important than anything I have ever blogged about.  Early Saturday morning, my friend and fellow May ‘09 graduate, Eddie Didonato, was shot six times after an altercation outside of a bar in Philadelphia.  Without getting into too many specifics, Eddie is at Jefferson University Hospital in Philly in the intensive care unit trying to recover from this unimaginable act.  Doctors remain optimistic that he will survive this battle, and in an amazing show of will, Eddie has been able to squeeze some of his closest friends’ hands.  Please keep Eddie and his family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Obviously, the rest of this post means basically nothing compared to the news above, but please feel free to read on.  I knew yesterday was going to be an intense day for myself, with Villanova-Georgetown at noon, Jets-Chargers at 4:30, and the season premiere of 24 at 9:00.  In terms of these 3 things, it couldn’t have gone much better.  A lot of alums were back for the Cats game at the Wachovia Center, even though the weather was less than stellar.  Below are a few of my thoughts on the hoops game yesterday.

-I thought Villanova looked real good in the first half, especially with the intensity of their press and trapping the Hoyas in certain situations.  Leading by double digits at halftime doesn’t hurt, but I received a text from one of my buddies at half.  It read, “what is your ibbw halftime analysis?”  To which I responded, “looking good, but gtown will make a run.”

-The Hoyas came out of the intermission pissed off and determined to make it a game.  Greg Monroe really took over, and the Cats did not shoot the ball particularly well.  The double digit lead dissipated to about 5, and there was still roughly 13 minutes left.

-When Georgetown tied it up with 4+ minutes left, I really thought the Cats were in trouble, because nobody could stop Monroe and Nova was ice cold.  In the end, though, did you really expect Scottie Reynolds to let the Cats lose?  It’s becoming like clock-work that when Villanova needs a big play, Scottie will be there to produce. 

-Four quick additional observations: 1. Wachovia Center was packed but not all that loud in my opinion…2. Our depth is unreal, as every player on the roster logged some minutes except Russell Wooten…3. Greg Monroe = lottery pick…4. What has happened to Corey Stokes this season?

Some links below to wrap up this Big East showdown:

-Villanova-Georgetown Box Score

-AP Recap 

-Postgame Quotes

-Scottie Named Big East and Big Five Player of the Week

-Nova Notebook: The Foye-Reynolds Relationship

-Jan. 18th Updated College Basketball Rankings

-ESPN Contributor Dana O’Neil on Scottie’s Maturation On and Off the Court

Again, please take a moment to pray for Eddie Didonato, a member of the Villanova community.  Thank you.

Pico from The East Coast Bias reached out to a bunch of the Big East bloggers and asked us to answer a bunch of questions for a roundtable he’s hosting. This is the first series of questions he has with another set coming in October.

When Pico posts all the responses on his blog I’ll make sure to link to it, but for how here are my answers.

Q: What’s new with your team since the end of last season?

IBBW: Villanova lost the most successful senior class in it’s history, but replaced it with a consensus Top-5 recruiting class (you’ll hear the names Dominic Cheek and Mouphtaou Yarou a lot early on). Oh yeah, and our senior leader Reggie Redding was suspended for the fall semester for possession of marijuana. He’ll be back for the Big East though, so I think we can hold the fort until then.

Q: Cash or Clunker: Name the teams that you think will be the top 3 squads next season in the Big East (the Cash)… and the bottom 3 (Clunkers). Bonus: which team’s finish in the league is most difficult to predict?

IBBW: The Cash – Villanova, West Virginia and UConn will be the Top-3 this season. I don’t think anybody will really gripe with that. The league is deeper this year, but it lost a little at the top.

The Clunkers – Rutgers, St. John’s and DePaul. In my opinion you could give a couple others a look here, but I like their coaching situation a lot better than these three.

Bonus – I’ll admit I have no idea what South Florida is going to do. Their home court advantage was stellar last year, and they have some guys who can really play, and I like their coach too. They are either ready to make some noise or you will forget they are in the league.

Q: The Big East enters the season without a lot of players who have carryover buzz from last season – Luke Harangody and perhaps Scottie Reynolds are the names a casual fan might be most familiar with. Which players will step up and be the “face of the league”?

IBBW: As much as it pains me to admit it, Greg Monroe is probably going to have a monster year and be considered the best big man in the conference. He was in the spotlight last year and it looked to be too much for him. Now that he’s off the radar a bit, he’s going to make people realize he’s here again. And as a homer pick, Corey Fisher. We’re already talking about him possibly leaving for the draft after this season. He’s going to be up there with the best guards in the country.

Q: Before practice starts, who would you say is the most pivotal player on your team? Who is your candidate for breakout player in the Big East (and please state how the player will be better than last year)?

IBBW: The most pivotal player for Villanova is Antonio Peña. We lost 3 very good frontcourt players, and it is now Peña’s time to step up. I think he’s ready to do it, and so does Jay Wright. That inspires a lot of confidence. Villanova has the guards to beat most teams but if they are thinking Final 4 again they are going to need some consistent play inside.

I have a feeling you’re going to hear Gus Gilchrist’s name a lot this season. As he goes, South Florida will go. The sophomore year is when you see the lights go on for a lot of players, and Gilchrist was already good. He’s going to stamp his name on the 1st or 2nd team this year after he takes the rest of the team under his wing and becomes a true leader.

IBBW: I was the most anti-Twitter blogger you could find at it’s outset. But then after watching it on SportsCenter every morning, I realized it was here to stay. It’s a great way to get updates from people and news outlets you are interested in without having to click refresh every 10 minutes. I’m welcomed Twitter on IBBW and I’ve found that I’ve been able to reach a bigger group of people.

IBBW: Looking forward to football and avoiding watching the Mets. College and the pros. Villanova is an FCS program but we’re a Top-5 team this year, so it’s very exciting. And I’m going to have to give a shout out to the New York Football Giants. We’re winning it all again this year.

Q: The summer is slow; so when Pitino’s “mistake” is made public, or when Calipari’s former team is penalized, or when someone poses a way for the Big East Conference to pick up new football members, the story tends to stick around a little longer than it would during the season. What college basketball story are you tired of this offseason?

IBBW: All of them, although I thoroughly enjoyed Rick Pitino’s out-of-the-blue press conference where he talked about anything and everything but himself. But it is the world we live in. Everyone has an opinion and a forum to voice it. I’m just ready to get back to some good ‘ol fashioned hoops.

Special thanks to Pico for setting this up. Be on the lookout for his full report on the roundtable in the coming weeks.

Some more news from Big East big men. First, Georgetown freshmen Greg Monroe will return for his sophomore season.

Out of South Bend, indications are that junior Luke Harangody will enter the NBA draft, but probably not hire an agent. As a result, he will have the option to return to Notre Dame, but again, nothing is set in stone with Harangody. There are some quotes from Harangody and head coach Mike Brey in the article posted.

This news doesn’t really surprise me; I thought Monroe would come back, and I think this is a good decision for him, as he definitely needs another year to develop.  In terms of Harangody, I think he will definitely enter the draft, but I could see him coming back, since he may not be a real high pick.  That NBA money is always enticing though.  Hopefully, for Villanova’s sake, Harangody does leave, since he is a double-double machine night in and night out.

St. John’s just provided the 2nd upset of the day by knocking off Georgetown 64-59. That makes me 0-2 on my picks for the day. I hope nobody was paying attention to me.

Paris Horne had 23 for the Johnnies and D.J. Kennedy finished with 14 after a blazing start. But it was Justin Burrell and Sean Evans who came up big down the stretch for the Red Storm. Burrell had a monster and-1 dunk over Greg Monroe and nailed all his free throws and Evans finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

I don’t know what to think about the NIT-bound Hoyas. They’re awful. They haven’t reached 60 points in their last 5 games. I think the honeymoon is officially over for John Thompson III.

St. John’s moves on to face Marquette tomorrow at 2:30. We’ll play the winner of that on Thursday.

The 1st half of the Georgetown-St. John’s clash was another competitive contest between 2 of the Big East cellar dwellers. The Red Storm are up 30-28 at the half.

Paris Horne and D.J. Kennedy have carried the Red Storm, finishing with 15 and 12 points, respectively. On the other end, Chris Wright paced Georgetown with 11 points in the opening 20 minutes, and freshman Greg Monroe is off to a solid start with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

DeJuan Summers was held scoreless and has been riding the pine with 3 fouls. That could spell trouble for Georgetown. Could we see another upset? This game directly impacts Villanova as the winner faces Marquette. I think I’d rather have the Hoyas face off against Marquette, simply because I feel like they could wear down the Golden Eagles, or if they spring the upset I’d love to exact revenge on them.

We’re back with another edition of Blogger Beat, which is the first of 2 for Georgetown (that’s right, I’m treating all you guys). I talked with Johnny from HoyaHoops in anticipation of the upcoming game. The transcript of my questions for him is below. If you go to HoyaHoops you can find my answers to his questions.

Chris (I Bleed Blue and White): Man, I always knew there was a rivalry between you guys and Syracuse, but “Georgetown Week” in the Syracuse blogosphere was out of control. Have Troy Nunes, Orange::44 and the bunch lost the plot or is the feeling mutual on your side? I don’t pretend like Villanova and Georgetown’s rivalry is huge, but it’s had some good moments (1985!) and some bad (I’m still fuming over the “foul” last year).

Johnny (HoyaHoops): Syracuse and Georgetown is a HUGE rivalry.  They’re our #1 rivals hands down.  I try to stay away from Orange blogs, so I’m not sure how over the top they went, but I know that after the Hoyas crushed them at the Verizon Center, that definitely amped them up for their home game a month later.

So I think that the rivalry is definitely mutual.  I’m not sure how many Georgetown fans would throw bottles and things at visiting Syracuse fans if they made the trip to DC, but that’s another story altogether.

With Villanova, though, I think you guys make more of that than we do.  For Hoyas fans, it’s Syracuse #1, everyone else #2.  I know that a lot of the Hoya faithful consider Maryland a huge rivalry, and so they’re happy Georgetown got to destroy two of their biggest rivals.

Chris (IBBW): I think most agreed Georgetown would take a step back this year, but most (myself included) figured they would still be a Top 25 team. I’ve seen a lot of the media say that Greg Monroe hasn’t lived up to the hype, but in my opinion the loss of Jonathan Wallace at the point has hurt more. What’s the real story?

Johnny (HH): Nobody seems to know what the problem is, but I can promise you it’s not Greg Monroe’s fault.  Like any freshman, he has his ups and downs, but he’s been doing very well at picking apart defenses by making the right passes.  A lot of people are questioning whether he’s getting the ball enough in the post, but again, I don’t think Georgetown’s problems can be pinned on Greg.  If he gets the ball more often down low, it’s not going to solve everything; there are a lot of things going on, and I think everyone, Coach Thompson included, is at a loss to figure out what all these things are and how to fix them.

Definitely, life without Jonathan Wallace has been tough for the Hoyas, and his calming presence alone would make this current team 100 times better, but he’s not coming back.  After the Marquette game last Saturday, JTIII hinted at the fact that his team is very young and Marquette’s was full of veteran players, which is why the Hoyas failed to execute down the stretch.  As a senior, Wallace was excellent in late game situations, especially at the free throw line.

Chris (IBBW): It’s been widely rumored that there is dissension in the Hoya locker room. It was believed there were problems last year between DaJuan Summers and Roy Hibbert, although they insisted everything was fine. Any truth to the chemistry problems this year?

Johnny (HH): Nobody knows what goes on in the Georgetown locker room.  That place has as high security clearance as any in Washington DC.  Saying that, there may be some team chemistry issues, I don’t know.  But the thing is, it sure didn’t look like there was any problem at the beginning of the season when the team was winning, so I don’t put too much into that.  When your team is losing, you’re gonna  be upset, and tempers are gonna flair.

Chris (IBBW): Can only a Big East Tournament title save Georgetown’s NCAA hopes?

Johnny (HH): It would look that way.  Now if the Hoyas beat Villanova, they’d have three big wins against Top 10 teams, and they do have one of the toughest schedules.  I think KenPom has Georgetown with one of the Top 5 in terms of Strength of Schedule, and they are #45 in RPI.  A big win at Nova would help, along with a nice run in the BET, so you never know.  The main thing is that Georgetown needs to play better basketball.  Sneaking into the tournament playing the way they have lately would just be embarrassing in the first weekend of the tournament.

Chris (IBBW): Finally, what’s your feeling on the game? Villanova struggled with DePaul badly on Wednesday, but Georgetown is reeling. The Villanova students will largely be on break, which helps Georgetown immensely. Any predictions?

Johnny (HH): I think the Hoyas will win.  I always think the Hoyas will win.  Before one of the games at Verizon – maybe Pitt – some people on press row were asking who everyone thought would win, and I said Georgetown.  When the Hoyas lost, somebody said, see it’s your fault – you jinxed it.  I was like, “Dude, I’ve said that before every game.”  After the last few months, I’m finally beginning to believe them.  Maybe I am jinxing things.

Thanks to Johnny for the Q&A session. He runs a great Georgetown blog, so head over to HoyaHoops before the game to get some Georgetown perspective.