I Bleed Blue and White

Corey Fisher has been named to the American team that will compete in the World University Games this summer in Belgrade, Serbia according to ZagsBlog. The games will take place from July 2 to July 12 and the team will be coached by Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan. The early list of confirmed players includes 4 Big East players (Da’Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks and Lazar Hayward) and just two point guards, with Kansas’ Sherron Collins joining Fisher.

In other international basketball news, Maalik Wayns has been invited to the Under-19 team trials for the 2009 FIBA World Championships. The early list of players confirmed for the trials includes several point guards (notably Kemba Walker and Darryl ‘Truck’ Bryant) so Wayns will have to work hard and perform well to make the team.

…The World University Games roster was apparently chosen by a committee led by Jim Boeheim, and considering Fisher’s performances against the Orange it is not a total surprise to see him on there…good for him…the experience will be great…

…Wayns has already broken onto the international scene last summer so hopefully he can make this team again and gain some valuable experience for his upcoming freshman year…

…Congrats and good luck to both!…

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.

****Updated for the night session****

The 2nd day of the Big East Tournament is under 2 hours away! Rejoice! I shouldn’t be complaining about yesterday though. Besides that atrocious Notre Dame-Rutgers affair, the games were pretty competitive and entertaining despite being played by the dregs of the conference.

Today should be better though as we’ll see some NCAA Tournament-quality squads hit the hardwood. Oddly enough, no spreads available for the night session games yet, so we’re going to wait to pick those games until we see a spread.

12:00 p.m. ET – PROVIDENCE -8.5 DePaul

• DePaul’s magical 1-game run will officially end today. It’s not that I don’t like the Blue Demons, because I was thrilled that they won yesterday. I just don’t think they can keep this close. They definitely cannot score with Providence. And even though they rediscovered defense yesterday, I don’t think they can slow down the Friars either. I think Keno’s boys will win this one going away and win by 10+. Plus, I’d rather see Providence take on Louisville. That would actually be a contest.

2:00 p.m. ET – MARQUETTE – 7 St. John’s

• This one I am a little less sure about. I really envision the Johnnies being able to keep this one close. It’s no secret that Marquette is struggling mightily. They haven’t won in a couple of weeks and maybe some doubt is creeping in. But Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews (and Lazar Hayward for that matter) will be the best players on the court. St. John’s is going to need to shoot the ball extremely well because they won’t get a lot of easy buckets. I feel like I’m going to regret this pick, but the Golden Eagles will cover.

7:00 p.m. ET – WEST VIRGINIA – 4.5 Notre Dame

• The Mountaineers are just stifling on defense, so it’s hard to envision the ND shooters getting many open looks. That means that the offense is most likely going to fall on Luke Harangody, who was awful last night, and Tory Jackson, who was very good. I don’t see anyone on the Irish who can account for Da’Sean Butler, and Alex Ruoff killed them in the first matchup. I’m banking on Devin Ebanks bothering Harangody with his length. West Virginia wins, and covers.

9:00 p.m. ET – SYRACUSE -6.5 Seton Hall

• After the underdogs hurt me yesterday, I can’t pick all favorites again. Plus, I love Seton Hall. I think their ability to shoot is going to kill Syracuse’s zone. Syracuse is tricky though. Are they primed for a run after beating Marquette in Wisconsin? The Pirates’ depth worries me, but I’m taking Seton Hall with the points.

Man, I really hate these long layoffs. I love watching college hoops, don’t get me wrong. I can sit down and watch just about any game, but having not watched ‘Nova since last Friday is starting to get old. Thursday night, please come quickly. As for last night, things didn’t go as we hoped, but you can’t win them all.

Tuesday night recap:

#13 Clemson 93, Maryland 64 – I watched this game and Maryland scrapped with Clemson for most of the 1st half, but Clemson just demolished them after the break. Trevor Booker had 14 and 11, but it felt more like 25 and 22. He was all over the place. Clemson is a dangerous team. They shoot it well and they are fast and athletic. The 2nd half showed just how good Clemson can be, but their performances still vary too much from night to night.

#11 Marquette 79, Seton Hall 67 - This game was close and Seton Hall was actually winning at the half, but they couldn’t stop Marquette in the 2nd half. They did a nice job containing Jerel McNeal, but Wesley Matthews and Lazar Hayward burned them at opportune times. This would have been a nice upset that would have really helped Villanova.

Games to watch for Wednesday:

Providence at #7 Louisville (7:30, ESPN2) – Louisville rebounded nicely from the whooping that Notre Dame handed them last week by blowing out lowly DePaul by 45, but now comes another threat. Providence has now won two in a row and is searching for a quality win. A win at Freedom Hall would almost certainly get the Friars into the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday. The Friars will struggle against Louisville’s frontcourt, however, so their best chance is to win a shootout.

Georgia Tech at #8 Wake Forest (7:30) – Georgia Tech is in last place in the ACC with a 1-10 record. It’s an embarrassing season for them, but their lone victory was over the Demon Deacons. Wake is struggling to find consistency and will look to avenge their awful loss to Tech earlier this year. They are in a battle for the 2nd place spot in the ACC, and cannot afford another bad loss.

…Between me and everyone who reads this, I really don’t think that Providence or Georgia Tech have a prayer to win tomorrow…of the two, I think Providence is more likely, and I’ll spend some time watching that game…Louisville’s guards aren’t terribly special and the Friar guards have an advantage there but I don’t see anyone on PC that can match up with Samuels, Clark or Williams…

…As for Tech, they already did the unthinkable once this year…don’t count on it happening twice…

I spent some time thinking last night about that game, because for a while I couldn’t really understand why that win felt so different from the win over Syracuse. It was a very similar result on the final scoreboard, and they were both home games (although The Pavilion games just feel more special). It wasn’t the fact that Marquette was ranked higher, or the fact that Marquette had already beaten us once this year. And I finally, decided that it was the way that that game went.

Against Syracuse, Villanova just came out and blitzed them from the start and never really looked back. And thinking back to that game, I kind of, sort of, expected that to happen. I certainly didn’t expect us to hit the century mark, but I kind of envisioned a blowout while we were tailgating in the parking lot. And while I didn’t expect us to run Marquette out of the building, it wasn’t so much that we did it that hit home with me, but how we got there.

The game started out very quickly with both teams exchanging 3’s in the opening minutes. And while the teams continued on a torrid scoring pace, Villanova began to creep out to a bit of a lead. Then the unthinkable happened as Marquette roared right past Villanova and built what looked like a comfortable 5-8 point lead with just under 8 minutes remaining in the half. Earlier this year, a sequence like that would have shut the fans up and Villanova would probably never regain that lead. But last night was different.

Corey Fisher led a charge, starting with a huge 3 pointer, that sent Villanova into halftime with a 5 point lead, leaving The Pavilion in a frenzy as the teams headed for the locker room. That was the 1st point in the game where I realize that I was watching a different team than the one that went quietly into the night against Texas and Marquette earlier in the year. Villanova took a few punches and came right back throwing haymakers. It was really impressive.

The next thing that happened was awful. Dwayne Anderson went down grabbing his leg. Marquette continued play up the court, but I’m almost certain that all Villanova eyes remained on Anderson, who was in obvious discomfort. My initial thought was the worst. I thought his season was over. And with it, Villanova’s chance at a victory over Marquette. Here was their emotional leader lying on the ground. The place was in stunned silence. Dwayne Anderson sat on the bench quietly for two years, helping the team, and when he got his shot he never looked back. He’s been the heart of this team since the Seton Hall win last year. Losing him was going to crush the momentum that ‘Nova had.

But it didn’t. Anderson got up and with some help walked off the court to deafening cheers from the crowd. Everyone seemed to rally around that moment. From that point on Villanova never looked back. They absolutely buried the Golden Eagles en route to a blowout win. Dare I say it, their confidence rose after Anderson went down. It was incredible at the time, and now that I think back on it, even more incredible.

And from then on, it was a party. Scottie Reynolds decided to take over and dazzle the crowd. Shane Clark grabbed every big rebound, and then preceded to stuff Lazar Hayward when he tried to step back for a jumper (which incidentally drew one of the loudest cheers that I can remember in any game I’ve been to there). And he capped it off by willing a 3 from the corner into the hoop to eclipse the 100 point mark and letting out a monster yell as he ran back towards the students.

So it wasn’t the fact that Villanova ran the train on Marquette last night to extend The Pavilion winning streak to 26 games, prompting “This Is Our House!” cheers from the students, it was the way they fought through adversity to get there. Teams that have that quality are the teams that make noise in March and April, and those teams are becoming the norm in the Jay Wright era.

If you missed the game (please tell me you didn’t!), here is the game recap and the box score.

I want to start this post by congratulating Marquette’s Jerel McNeal on breaking the all-time scoring record for the Golden Eagles. Marquette is no flash in the pan program. They have a rich history of basketball, so I’m going to give credit where credit is due.

Dwayne sparked 'Nova early before an injury ended his night.

But more importantly, how about our Villanova Wildcats? Where the hell has this team come from? As Dana O’Neil points out in her excellent Instant Analysis, a team that was known for its swarming defense has turned into the biggest offensive juggernaut in college basketball over the last 3 games. Seriously, when was the last time that Villanova put up 90+ points for three straight games in regulation nonetheless.

This game was full of so much awesomeness (yes, I’m inventing words) that I don’t know where to begin. To start, Dwayne Anderson was simply locked in from the opening tip, scoring 9 points right off the bat to ignite The Pavilion and set the stage for a phenomenal night. He was lost early in the 2nd half to an apparent knee injury, but the early word is that it isn’t serious (let’s pray that’s the case). So rest up Dwayne and get healthy. You were amazing tonight.

Scottie Reynolds had the best game of his Villanova career, and you won’t convince me otherwise. Sure he’s had more points before, but he was lethal tonight. He came up with big shot after big shot and at one point drew the type of standing ovation from the crowd that have previously been reserved for Kerry Kittles and Randy Foye. I mean really, 27 points and 0 turnovers? C’mon! Everyone who thinks that Scottie Reynolds isn’t leaving here as one of the best players of all time is kidding themselves.

Corey Fisher is another man who needs special mention for his performance. In my mind he is the reason why Reynolds was so spectacular. Fisher was in total control of the team tonight. His ability to break down Marquette and draw attention to himself left mutliple Wildcats (most notably Reynolds) wide open for easy buckets. He’s been on fire lately.

And last but absolutely not least, Shane Clark. You have been friggan Superman lately. I’m honestly speechless. I don’t want to sound like I doubted you, but yeah, I didn’t see this coming. It’s ridiculously obvious  that you are 100% healthy for the first time in a long while, but still. You are a horse on the glass, and you were stroking it tonight. And your block of Lazar Hayward brought the freaking house down. My hat is off to you, because without you, this is a much closer game.

When it comes down to it, this was just a special night. It was Villanova kicking down the proverbial door to the room of the elite teams and announcing that they have arrived. Hell, Dante Cunningham had 15 points and I felt like he barely was on the floor. The rest of the team was just that good.

And so were the fans. The Pavilion was rocking tonight. When I get into that student section, I just feel as though we aren’t going to lose. It’s an unexplainable feeling.

Honestly, I didn’t think Marquette played that poorly. The ridiculous alley-oop attempts were a bit odd (especially when you are down double digits) but other than that, ‘Nova was just better. When the other team shoots 72% in the 2nd half, you are going to have a hard time winning. The ‘Cats are smoking hot right now.

Enjoy tonight ‘Nova Nation. The season continues on Friday at West Virginia, but tonight, kick back, relax, and smile. Our boys are good. Really good.