I Bleed Blue and White

I don’t know about all of you, but all the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing was still taking a toll on my body on Saturday afternoon. And apparently, it was still affecting the Villanova sports teams as well. I honestly don’t remember I watched Villanova get beat on the boards that badly. I believe the final tally was LaSalle holding a 42-28 advantage, and even that felt generous.

Reynolds and Pena led the scoring for 'Nova.

Beyond that, the outside shooting (by both teams) was so bad that at one point I suggested that they just remove the 3-point lines so as not to tempt anyone with the notion of jacking one up from out there. And even through all that, Villanova still recorded an 18-point Big 5 win that felt nothing like a blowout, but nothing like a close game either. I don’t even know how to describe it.

As for the football team, well they came out and held off Holy Cross en route to a 38-28 win. I listened to this game briefly on the Holy Cross Radio Network before the play-by-play guy finally drove me off with his obnoxious playcalling. But it wasn’t a pretty game. Over 500 yards of offense combined in the first half led me at one point to believe that defense was indeed optional. But the ‘Nova offense kept pounding away and the defense finally came up with a stop when they needed it for the win. And now, we get another shot at New Hampshire next weekend in the quarterfinals!

All in all, a solid day of ‘Nova sports on a day when all I really wanted to do was lay on the couch, continue to digest Thanksgiving dinner, and watch Villanova beat the brakes in two different sports.My one major complaint (you hear this often from me) — I hate when the students are gone and there are more alums. Don’t get me wrong, I love what they do for the school, but they kill any atmosphere when they get into the student section. Whatever students are left aren’t allowed to stand and make noise and it just sucks the life out of the place. God forbid we have to play a good team when this happens. We won’t win. Rant over.

As for the basketball notes…

• Apparently Mouphtaou Yarou was out before the game running around with the team before heading back in and changing to a suit. That’s a good sign. Hopefully he’ll be back soon but we still haven’t heard anything official.
• For those of you following on Twitter, you know I was raving about Dominic Cheek all game long. His best day in a ‘Nova uni. Defense continues to be incredible as he helped Corey Stokes shut down Rodney Green. And although his outside stroke wasn’t there, he was  fearless on the boards and showed some great dribble-drives and the ability to finish at the rim.
• Maurice Sutton and Antonio Peña seemed to get continually out-worked on the glass all day, but each brought another aspect to the win. Sutton had 7 blocks I believe, most of them when he came over to help on the weakside. I loved seeing that, although he is going to need to bulk up big-time before he’s a complete player. Aaric Murray had his way with him multiple times. As for Peña, he was superb on the offensive end, which is really what he needs to be as he’s the only low-post threat we have at the moment.
• Scottie Reynolds was back and forth all game. Typically forced some shots that made you scratch your head but as soon as you opened your mouth to vent he came up and made a spectacular play.
• Corey Fisher ran the offense well. Nothing terrible, nothing spectacular. He summed up how I felt about the game in general.
• Maalik Wayns’ playing time seems to be going down. Not sure why. But he came in and hit a monster 3 late to extend the lead back to 14 just as LaSalle was starting to gain momentum. That shot shut the door. He also helped contain Green and did a fantastic job.

All in all, just one of those wins that you don’t really know what to think about. I didn’t think we played that well, and we were certainly outplayed on the boards, but we won comfortably. So, you take it.

See ya on Wednesday when we face Drexel!

A nice week off for everyone from the pick’em contest. Hopefully that refocuses those who haven’ yet picked correctly, as well as cool off the 3 people who haven’t missed yet. Quick reminder of the rules for anyone new.

• On Game Day, I will post the official line we will be using for the game.
• In that thread, post your pick against-the-spread for the game that night.
• Make sure you use the same username for every pick (I know some of you are registered, if you aren’t this is a good reason to do so to make it easier). Also, make sure you provide your email so that I can contact the winner at the end of the year.
• Anonymous entries will not count.
• Entries posted after the game starts will not count.
• If you do not provide a pick for the game, it will be marked as a loss in the standings.
• If you are away and can’t make a pick in the thread, you can email me your pick. Email me at clane2787@gmail.com and I will try to email you back ASAP with the line (again, it must be emailed before the start of the game).
• The winner at the end of the year will win a prize (TBD) and I promise it will be something good. I’m not going to be lame like that. I’m searching eBay for cool Villanova stuff as we speak.
• In the event of a tie, the poster with the best BIG EAST record (regular season) wins. If still tied, the best Big 5 record wins. If still tied, the best OOC record wins. If still tied, we may have to do multiple prizes.

The official line for today’s game is Villanova -14. Fire away with your picks.

The Game: #4 Villanova (5-0) vs. LaSalle (3-1)

Location: The Pavilion in Villanova, PA

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

Broadcast: ESPN2 HD

Brief Rundown: After winning all 3 games in Puerto Rico en route to the title, Villanova has had a much-deserved 5 days off to prepare for their 2nd Big 5 contest of the year. It wasn’t easy down in San Juan, but in every game a different cast of characters stepped up to bring ‘Nova to victory. The most constant force was Antonio Peña, who was named Tournament MVP after posting 17 points and 16 rebounds in the final. The big man is averaging a double-double on the year, and will look to continue that on Saturday.

The Explorers are off to a strong start to their season with wins over Hampton, Davidson and Tulane, and they even played South Carolina closely in a 10-point loss. Rodney Green is the main man this year, and he’s had a fine start to his senior campaign. Green is averaging over 20 points and nearly 8 rebounds per game. He’s big at 6′5″, so expect a heavy dose of Corey Stokes and Dominic Cheek to try and slow him down. He’s the key to LaSalle having a chance.

What I Want To See: I want to see Mouphtaou Yarou, but that looks unlikely. The ‘trap-game’ thought crossed my mind, but the more I think about it the 5 days off gives Jay Wright a chance to refocus the team. I want to continue to see this team rediscover the efficient offense we saw in the last Big 5 outing vs. Penn. We haven’t been shooting it well, especially from outside.

…Lets Go Nova!…

Each week throughout the college basketball season, ESPN provides an in-depth analysis of the most recent top players and teams, key games to look forward to in the respective week, and much more.  In the latest edition, Andy Katz mentions Villanova in a couple of different spots.  Katz gives “shout-outs” to Miami (Malcolm Grant is noted), Seattle, and the Wildcats of Villanova.  Katz says about Nova:

The Wildcats won the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic.  They were tested quite a bit in three days and came through to show they can be an elite team.  Those wins against Dayton and Ole Miss — maybe even the tight one versus George Mason — will look just fine in March.

Although Villanova did gut it out to post an impressive championship in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic, it was another Big East team that stood as the “team of the week.”  As you may have guessed, it was Syracuse, who demolished California and North Carolina at Madison Square Garden in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.  Indeed, the Orange did look good in NYC, but it is too early to start crowing them Big East champions, which I have heard from some people. 

The Cats get a nice break this week, with 5 full days of no games.  Their next game is against an improved LaSalle team on Saturday at the Pavilion.  Katz points this game out as one of his “headline destinations.”  LaSalle would love nothing more than to give Villanova a blip on their current Big 5 dominance.  Katz says about the matchup:   

La Salle is supposed to be a sleeper team in the A-10.  Villanova is off to a solid start after escaping against George Mason.  If La Salle wants to be taken seriously in the Big Five this season, knocking off Nova would suffice.  If the Explorers get smacked, it will be hard to take them too seriously.

I agree with Katz’s assessment that the Villanova victories in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic will be resume builders come tournament time.  George Mason shoud contend for the CAA title, just like Dayton will be a threat in the A-10, and Ole Miss will be solid if they can improve their rebounding.  This will probably be my last post until after Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday. 

Throughout the summer, NBE, a site dedicated to the coverage of Big East basketball, has been providing in depth reports on each team.  Today, they released their Villanova summer report written by Zach Smart, which covers key losses, key returnees, key newcomers, as well as predictions and expectations for the new look Wildcats.  Here’s a brief idea of what NBE thinks about the 2009-2010 ’Cats:

Villanova is the hands down conference favorite heading into the 2009-2010 season. With one of the nation’s top recruiting classes as well as several top contributors from last season’s Final Four team, Jay Wright could very well have the horses to make another March charge through the field.

A big part of Villanova’s success over the years has been the atmosphere of the games in which they play in.  They play against high-profile schools, in notorious arenas, with an excellent fan base.  But if you were only allowed to attend one more college basketball game, where would the game be and what would be the matchup? The Rivals College Basketball Roundtable, comprised of a group of Rivals college hoops experts, were proposed this question.  Mike Huguenin, one of the experts, responded as follows:

Give me a “Big Five” game at the Palestra in Philadelphia. The “Big Five” series isn’t what it used to be, but the tradition, history and atmosphere at a key matchup between, say, La Salle and Villanova or Villanova and Temple would be fantastic. The key words are “key matchup.” If two “Big Five” teams happen to be good in the same season – say, both in the top 20 – it would be electric and the Palestra would be rocking.

So we want to know your answer to the question, if you were only allowed to attend one more college basketball game, where would the game be and what would be the matchup?