Jay Wright joined Mike Missanelli on ESPN-950 AM in Philadelphia yesterday to discuss the upcoming season. Among other things, Jay talked about:

• Te pressure of being the hunted instead of the hunter.
• Making the new players understand that they are not as good (yet) as last year’s team.
• The Mouphtaou Yarou situation, and how the same thing happened to Mike Nardi with an Italian team.
• Which freshman are ready to make an impact right away — Maalik Wayns got a very good review.
• How St. Joe’s hasn’t even told him where the game is this year (Seriously Hawks? Are you that stupid?)

Let me just say that I do not like Mike Missanelli. He sucks up to Jay Wright, and at the same time asks him what his ’spin’ on the Yarou situation is. It’s known that he is not a ‘Nova fan and during the season will take continuous digs at the program.

Regardless, it was good to hear Jay talk about the Yarou situation. If they really do have all that documentation, this is probably a closed case.

Is it Friday yet?

More will be coming later on, but thanks to The ‘Nova Nation Twitter Page we have an inside look at some of the former stars gathering for a little reunion.After years of living in Connecticut and seeing Jim Calhoun bringing back all the former players for a charity All-Star game, I’m glad to see this happening at Villanova. They should really think about making this a public event for ‘Nova Nation.

As Jay say, Once a Wildcat, Always a Wilcat! Enjoy!

Randy Foye

Jay Wright, Brett Gunning, Kerry Kittles and Doug West

Jay Wright and Brett Gunning

Mike Nardi

A ton of the Villanova greats are back on the Main Line for a 3 day workout that commences today. Kyle Lowry first reported that he was back at school with Randy Foye via his Twitter account, but now The Nova Nation has given us an idea to who else is around for it. The list includes:

• Kyle Lowry
• Randy Foye
• Dante Cunningham
• Mike Nardi
• Chris Charles
• Dwayne Anderson
• Shane Clark
• John Celestand
• Ed Pinckney
• Doug West
• Kerry Kittles

Plus a few more big names from the ‘Nova Network. I have no idea if any of this is open to the public, but if you are on campus, I would try and check it out because it sounds like a lot of fun.

(Note: No Blogger Beat for this game as the turnaround time from Syracuse was just too quick. But make sure to check out the excellent Marquette blog “Cracked Sidewalks” before the game.)

On Saturday, December 3rd, 2005 (my freshman year), my friends and I woke up early, trudged to the SPIT, and got some breakfast. Afterwards, we went straight back to our rooms on the 3rd floor of Stanford Hall, and preceded open up a deck of cards, and crack our first beers of the day. It was gameday of the first big basketball game of my college career and a day that I’ll never forget.

Oklahoma was coming to campus that day to play Villanova. It was the 4th game of the year, and a matchup of two Top 5 teams. The campus was buzzing. Everyone knew we had a chance to be a special team, but nobody really knew how good we could be. And Oklahoma was going to be that barometer. They boasted big men Taj Gray and Kevin Bookout while we trotted out a line-up that looked better suited for a high school game than primetime ESPN matchup. People doubted Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Kyle Lowry, Mike Nardi, Will Sheridan and Jason Fraser. We’d lost our consensus best player (Curtis Sumpter) for the year and many thought that we wouldn’t even compete.

More importantly, this game was on campus. My teachers and my older friends told me that you wouldn’t see another game like this in your 4 years here. The big match-ups in the Big East were played downtown at The Wachovia Center and Villanova typically scheduled soft out of conference. All of those things I heard have been proven true. Until tomorrow.

When Marquette arrives on Tuesday, they are going to meet a raucous crowd. Sure, I won’t be up at 9 am drinking in a crowded room on South Campus, but I like to think that there will be some people doing that. I won’t not see my roommate come in with glazed eyes and proclaim “it’s game time” at noon (6 hours before tip-off, mind you) and take off running for The Pavilion with just shorts and a ‘Nova jersey on, but the feeling of excitement will be the same.

When the official line comes out tomorrow, I won’t be surprised when ‘Nova is favored by a few points. But in reality, we’re still the team with something to prove. Although they lost their first game last week, Marquette is atop the conference standings, and in a lot of ways, they mirror that taltented ‘05-06 Villanova squad. Villanova is still the team with question marks and the team trying to garner national respect.

You know what though? We won that game in early 2005, silencing the doubters and making believers out of everyone. Randy Foye dazzled the ‘Nova faithful with 32 points. Jason Fraser forgot about the injuries for the night and scored 10 huge points. Kyle Lowry harassed anyone within 10 feet of him and Allan Ray scorched the nets. And a little known freshman named Dante Cunningham played 12 minutes and grabbed 1 rebound.

And what is my enduring memory from that game? It wasn’t the spectacular offensive performance from Foye and Ray, but the crowd and the way they impacted that game. The way they exploded louder for blocks and steals than they did for 3’s and dunks. The way they applauded a lanky Cunningham for helping stifle one of the best frontcourts in America and the way they loved a hobbled Jason Frasier like The Garden loved Willis Reed.

So tomorrow when the doors open and the students pile in to the point where those bleachers don’t feel safe, I’ll be remembering my freshman year, when a talented yet unrespected team ran through the students and proceeded to run a team out of the gym. I’ll remember deafening cries of “Lets Go ‘Nova!” and the “On Your Feet!” chants at the alumni. I’ll remember feeling the students’ confidence before the game. Because only we knew how good we were and how we were going to win.

We had the knowledge then that we were good, but only we knew it. But as Dick Weiss pointed out this morning in the Daily News, this Wildcat team has everything.

They have a Randy Foye-like superstar in Dante Cunningham. They have a lethal 3 point shooter in the mold of Allan Ray (Corey Stokes). They have an electric guard that can leave a crowd in awe like Kyle Lowry used to (Corey Fisher). They have a talented yet injury plagued senior who always seems to come through like Jason Fraser did (Shane Clark). And they’ve got glue guys who don’t make headlines but hold a talented team together like Will Sheridan and Mike Nardi used to (Dwayne Anderson and Reggie Redding). And we haven’t each touched on Scottie Reynolds yet, who unlike any of those old Wildcats, has already carried a team all my himself.

And looking at that, it’s not even far-fetched to think that this Villanova team has more working parts than the Elite 8 team did. They are making believers out of everyone and are playing like they are on a mission at the moment. I might not even be there tomorrow night because I don’t have a ticket yet (and if you read this and have an extra, let me know!), but I know that everyone is that bandbox we call our home will be behind our team.

Am I getting too excited and possibly letting myself up for a letdown? Possibly, but with the way this team is playing, it’s extremely difficult for me to temper my expectations.

Lets Go ‘Nova.

Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News has a great article on Corey Fisher’s maturation process. Weiss talks about how Fisher came in with such high expectations because of his high school exploits, but quickly learned that the NCAA game can be a big wake up call.

“Last year I wouldn’t pay attention to details,” Fisher said. “If you were to tell me I had to play defense, I didn’t take it that seriously. Then, people started scoring on me. It’s almost like the high shcool bully who picks on you, picks on you, picks on you. After a while, I just had enough. I realized if I wanted to play, I had to stop my man.”

Weiss also mentions Fisher’s relationship to Mike Nardi and St. Patrick’s (NJ), as well as Fisher’s improved mentality off the court.

…That quote for me says it all…Corey Fisher gets it…and I totally agree with this article, because last year Fisher was a liability on defense…but this year he’s been a lot more alert and it’s led to increased playing time…

Jay Bilas, who I thought called a tremendous game last night (a rarity these days) brought up a great point about Scottie Reynolds. Midway through the second half, Reynolds had a couple of really bad possessions on offense. Bilas remarked:

“Scottie Reynolds is getting away from himself. He’s not a traditional point guard. He’s a scoring point guard and he’s forgetting that.”

Personally, I couldn’t agree more. I think part of this problem has to do with the inconsistency of Corey Fisher running the point. Jay Wright probably feels as if the team is best served with Reynolds running the offense, but I don’t think that’s the truth. Case in point, look at Scottie Reynolds’ freshman season. Villanova had a seasoned point guard in Mike Nardi, and you could really make the case that Scottie Reynolds hasn’t lived up to the expectations he put on himself after that year.

In a perfect world, Corey Fisher really grasps the position and Scottie Reynolds can work off the ball, where he’s most effective. I really do believe that Corey Fisher is closer to becoming the true point guard that this team despartely needs, but he’s not totally there yet. The real problem still lies with Reynolds though.

He’s been put (or put himself) in a position where he feels like he needs to be the guy racking up the assists. That’s not who he is and his overall game is suffering because of it. He’s not looking for his shot consistently and because of this, he’s not getting into a good rhythm. He’s not what you’d call a streaky shooter, but he is a guy that when he gets into a rhythm, he’s nearly impossible to stop.

In fairness, Scottie Reynolds isn’t the reason why Villanova is 2-3 in conference play and hasn’t beaten a good team yet. I think Scottie Reynolds has the ability to take this team to the next level however. Villanova isn’t a team with gifted offensive options all over the court. In reality, they have a one frontcourt threat (Dante Cunningham), a 3 point specialist (Corey Stokes), and one established backcourt threat (Scottie Reynolds). Reynolds is a scorer, and everyone else around him will benefit from him remembering that.

We can all live with Scottie having a 4-12 type of night from the field, because it happens to everyone. What Villanova can’t have is Reynolds consistently having 2-5 types of nights, where he’s not even looking for his shot.