I Bleed Blue and White

It has just been announced that University of Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet will forgo his senior year and enter the NBA draft.  There are some quotes from Thabeet as well as coach Jim Calhoun in this press release.

This is not really shocking news, considering that Thabeet will most likely be a lottery pick, meaning he will be paid very handsomely.  Villanova should be breathing a sigh of relief right now; even though Thabeet didn’t put up gaudy statistics in terms of points, he affected the game in so many ways.  How many times would you see players changing their shot when Thabeet was around them?  Countless.  Congrats to Hasheem.

Added by Chris:

…See ya Hasheem…it was fun…but I will not miss you patrolling the paint and scaring the living bejesus out of everyone…

According to ZagsBlog, The Big East has handed out 4 more awards today, and 2 Wildcats have picked up some hardware.

Dante Cunningham was named The Most Improved Player in the conference.

“Cunningham, who was already a solid starter at Villanova going into his senior campaign, took a big jump in 2008-09.  Last season, the 6-8 forward averaged 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds.  Going into The BIG EAST Championship, Cunningham owns a scoring average of 16.4 points per game and a rebounding mark of 7.3.  Both averages lead the team.  He helped lead the Wildcats to a 25-6 record.  A native of Silver Spring, Md., he has reached double figures in scoring in 30 of his last 33 career games.”

The conference also announced that Corey Fisher has been given The Sixth Man Award.

“Fisher also made significant contributions to Villanova’s success, which included a school record number of victories in the regular season.  Coming off the bench, the 6-1 sophomore provided a consistent offensive spark.  He is third on the team in scoring with a 10.8 average and has 86 assists and only 58 turnovers.  A native of the Bronx, N.Y., Fisher has reached double figures in scoring in nine of his last 11 games.”

UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet was named The Defensive Player of the Year for the 2nd straight year, and West Virginia’s Alex Ruoff received The Sportsmanship Award.

…Congrats to both Dante and Corey…frankly, if they hadn’t won these awards I wouldn’t have known what to think…well deserved for both players and a true testament to the work ethic of both players…

Dante Cunningham has been named one of 15 finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, which is given annually to the National Player of the Year as determined by the U.S. Basketball Writer’s Association. Cunningham joins fellow Big East players DeJuan Blair, Luke Harangody, Jerel McNeal and Hasheem Thabeet on the list.

Here’s a description of the award:

“The Oscar Robertson Trophy is awarded to the USBWA’s Player of the Year. It is the nation’s oldest award and the only one named after a former player. The legendary Oscar Robertson was the USBWA’s first player of the year in 1959. The USBWA renamed its player of the year award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in 1998.”

…Congrats to Dante…this is a big honor, especially coming basically out of nowhere like he did…I’m glad that somebody finally recognized…

Since we’re getting down to the wire and every game seems to be gaining in importance I’m going to start posting some games to watch for the day, along with how the previous games went. I figure this will be an easy way to keep track of what’s going on in The Big East as well as the rest of the country. I’ll only be doing Big East games, and games that I figure directly relate to Villanova in terms of NCAA seeding. Here’s my first crack at it.

Monday night recap:

Pitt 76, UConn 68 – The Panthers rolled into Hartford, built a lead and kept it for most of the game before UConn began to surge in front late. Levance Fields, who hadn’t made a shot yet, hit 2 enormous 3’s down the stretch to propel Pittsburgh to the big win. The bigger story was DeJuan Blair’s dominance over Hasheem Thabeet. His 22 points and 23 rebounds (compared to Thabeets 5 and 4 effort) probably propelled him into the lead for Big East Player of the Year.

Games to watch for Tuesday:

Maryland at #13 Clemson (7:30, ESPN2) -  The Tigers are coming off a bad road loss to Virginia on Sunday, but remain a threat in the ACC as they are in a dead heat for 2nd place with 4 other teams at 6-4. With a 20-4 record overall, they are one of Villanova’s main competitors for a seed into Philly for the NCAA Tournament. Maryland has struggled to a 5-5 record in the ACC thus far, but they still have strong NCAA Tourney hopes. Greivis Vasquez will lead the Terrapins into Death Valley hoping to secure a quality win.

Seton Hall at Marquette (8:00, ESPN360) – Marquette rebounded from losses to South Florida and ‘Nova with a win over St. John’s, but now face a dangerous Seton Hall team that has given the Big East fits all year. They took UConn to the wire earlier last week and guard Jeremy Hazell and big man John Garcia will look to send Marquette reeling as they head into the final stretch of the season. This is the 2nd of 3 games against teams with losing records before the Golden Eagles close with UConn, Pitt, Louisville and Syracuse.

…As far as Villanova is concerned, it’s safe to say that ‘Nova Nation will be collectively rooting for Maryland and Seton Hall tonight…the game last night was kind of a push, but it’s safe to say that the Pitt victory makes our win over them look better…

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.