I Bleed Blue and White

Not only did Villanova have to deal with mother nature over the weekend, but they also faced two of the best teams in the country on the road in a matter of 60 hours.  Like I said prior to the Georgetown game, I would have signed up for 1-1 over this stretch.  The Wildcats obliged with the win at West Virginia, and they get a solid 4 days off before a nice pair of home games against Providence and Connecticut.  Before we start focusing on the upcoming contests, let’s wrap up the game from last night.

-Postgame Quotes

-Villanova rallies from Georgetown loss, beats West Virginia

-Villanova beats West Virginia on the road

-Reynolds leads rebound victory for Villanova

-Andy Katz: Quick hitters from around the country

-Jay Wright’s interview with Mike Francesa

WFAN is my favorite sports radio station by far, and Mike Francesa is the best of the best.  One of the things Francesa touches on with Wright is the possibility of expanding the NCAA Tournament to include more teams.  Wright is in favor of a 96 team tourney, but Francesa brings up some good points to not expand the field; he mentions that regular season games will be less exciting, because in theory, it will be easier to make the big dance, so the regular season contests won’t mean as much.  I, for one, agree with Francesa and do not believe the tourney should be expanded.  There are only a few teams at most every year that get snubbed, which is part of the excitement of Selection Sunday.  Even some very mediocre teams get in the field, so there’s no reason to let 32 more average teams get in.  Anyone have any thoughts on this topic?

This evening Jay Wright talked with WFAN’s Mike Francesa about the Wildcats impressive run to the Final Four. Brian just sent me the link, and I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but I imagine it is pretty good.

Francesa was calling Tyler Hansbrough ‘worthless’ all day, so it’s probably a pro-Nova interview as always.

You can listen to the interview here.

Jay Wright talked to WFAN’s Mike Francesa, who did the radio color for Villanova’s win over Marquette after the game was over. The interview can be heard here.

In the interview, Wright talks about Marquette’s hot 3-point shooting at the end, Corey Stokes‘ big game, Dante Cunningham’s big defensive play at the end, and the “New York kids” stepping up yesterday.

Francesa says the officiating bordered on “the absurd” in the last 6 minutes, especially the traveling call on Stokes. Personally, I thought it was ridiculous (for both teams) for the full 40 minutes.

Towards the end of the interview, they discuss Louisville’s explosiveness and how ‘Nova will approach them.

…It’s sometimes hard for me hearing Francesa’s non-stop Yankees commentary, but I love how he adores Villanova…you can tell he was really into this game yesterday…thanks to Brian for the link…

Jay Wright just came on as a guest for Mike Francesa’s show on WFAN 660. You can go to the WFAN website and listen for free. I’ll provide updates as they happen.

• Jay talking about how good Marquette looked today. Villanova practiced at 11:30 today and got back to watch Marquette and he was impressed.
• They talked about Mike Tranghese and how he has been great leading the conference and how he supports the 16-team tournament. Jay believes the double-bye helps protect the top teams for the NCAA Tournament.
• Francesa talked about how he used to broadcast Hofstra-Deleware games when Jay Wright and Mike Brey coached against each other. “Those were some big games!”
• Francesa is asking how Wright approaches the Big East Tournament as he prepares for next week. Wright believes it changes from team to team. He believes Villanova has good depth this year so he doesn’t worry about wearing them out this week. He says the 05-06 team had no depth and was vunerable to getting banged up, so he wasn’t upset about losing in the BET that year.
• Francesa comparing Jay Wright’s offense to New York Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni, and wants to know if Wright prefers a certain pace. Wright says that he doesn’t have the ability to dictate pace against other good teams, but Jay Wright loves to play high-tempo and in the open court, citing their 2nd game against Marquette.
• Francesa loves how Villanova has the ability to spread it out and leave Dante Cunningham alone down low, says he has great moves and the ability to dominate. Wright says Dante has been amazing this year, and when his guards are making shots they are very difficult to stop because the other team can’t double Dante.
• Jay believes the 3-point line change has helped Villanova.
• Francesa asking about the upper echelon teams. Wright says Louisville is the best defensive team in the league. Says UConn is learning to play without Jerome Dyson and they are dangerous. Pittsburgh is “dominant” with DeJuan Blair. Syracuse has so much talent, and can really score. Wright says he wouldn’t be surprised if Louisville, UConn and Pitt all made the Final Four.
• Francesa asking about Dominic James and his absence. Wright says they need to focus on stopping Matthews and McNeal. Says Lazar Hayward is very underrated and will step up.
• Jay Wright is taking off to meet the team and start talking about Marquette. Jay says the team enjoyed the rest, but is itching to get on the hardwood and play.

It’s easy to see that Mike Francesa loves Jay Wright and Villanova. He was very nice and supportive of everything Wright said.

Now I’m really pumped for tomorrow. Good God! I might have trouble sleeping tonight.

Lenn Robbins of the New York Post discusses the upcoming Big East Tournament in his latest article. Robbins provides predictions for what’s to come this week in Madison Square Garden. Robbins, a Villanova-friendly writer, picks Villanova to win it all by beating Marquette, Louisville, and finally Syracuse in the finals.

“Dante Cunningham, the Post’s Most Improved Player in the league, caps a remarkable run and wins the Dave Gavitt Trophy. Villanova, the league’s free throw shooting team (73 percent), wins the game at the line where ‘Cuse is a lame 64 percent.”

Robbins also talks about some sleepers that could make some noise, as well as Mike Francesa’s interview with Jay Wright.

…The Post is by far my favorite paper, and I love how Robbins isn’t afraid to take a dig at Francesa, since everyone else in NY seems to think he’s a God or something…anyways these are some fun predictions and a good light read…

This afternoon our beloved Coach Jay Wright gave a few minutes of his time to the legendary Mike Francesa of Sports Radio 660 WFAN-New York. Wright talked about how well Villanova is playing right now, the incoming recruiting class, the play of UConn, North Carolina and Duke, and the success of the small Catholic schools (or the “Ma and Pa” schools as Francesa called them).

Wright was also able to fend off Francesa’s repeated attempts to get him to talk about leaving Villanova for the NBA. It was actually kind of weird to listen to Francesa repeatedly try and get Wright to say he had his eye on the league.

You can listen to the interview HERE.

…I grew up on Mike and the Mad Dog, so I respect the hell out of Francesca, although his tirades get tiresome from time to time…I also feel like his show has suffered since the split…but anyways I know that Mike loves Jay and he loves Villanova so this is good pub…although he oddly ended the show with “Wright is doing a great job at Hofstra”…

…Thanks to Brian, a.k.a. “Pops” for the link…