I Bleed Blue and White

Sorry for the late postGame recap. I think there was a mixup as Brian usually handles it but he may have been busy and we didn’t sync up on that. By now you’ve probably seen the highlights ad nauseum on SportsCenter and if you live in the Northeast you’ve definitely read about it in the morning papers.

UConn ’shocked’ Villanova last night at The Wachovia Center, making it the 4th loss in 4 days for BIG EAST Top-10 teams. During the game, I really wasn’t even worried as we were only down a few points midway through the 2nd half. I figured the Huskies’ would stop hitting literally every shot (I’m pretty sure they didn’t miss a 2nd half FG attempt until under 10 minutes left in the game) and that our shooting would miraculously pick up. Neither occurred.

Kemba Walker delivered the best game of his career in my opinion, and virtually every Wildcat turned in one of their worst of the season. That’s a recipe for a loss. More concerning though, is that we’ve now seen the best game a team can play (Georgetown and now UConn) and we’ve gotten beaten soundly. Great teams can fight off those performances, at least in my mind. I’d like to see us find a way to adjust.

Some other random thoughts:

• After a brilliant first half, Scottie Reynolds didn’t do much after the break, and that really hurt us. Usually it’s the opposite with Scottie turning it up in crunch time. Jerome Dyson (one of the best defenders in the country) deserves a lot of credit as he made the proper adjustments to slow him down.
• Taylor King has hit the proverbial wall. His shooting is atrocious, and he’s beginning to make some boneheaded passes. The hustle is still there, but the confidence isn’t.
• When Antonio Pena gets in foul trouble, we’re in deep shit. Simple as that.
• Maurice Sutton has got to learn to stand and take a charge, or at the very least stand with his hands straight up. Jumping and trying to block every shot against elite guards is why he fouled out in just 9 minutes.
• The refs weren’t great (UConn certainly got the better whistle), but we forgot what has allowed us to succeed against them recently. The extra pass off the drive when their shot-blockers go up has led to easy buckets. Last night was a display of selfish basketball where we were constantly getting ours shots stuffed or altered. Their is a reason why they have been the best shot-blocking team of the past decade. Adjust.
• Since when does UConn shoot 80% at the FT line? Jesus.
• Our last two losses our opponents have shot 23 and 24 more FT’s than us respectively. Ummm?
• Scottie Reynolds did not attempt a FT. Wow.
• Foul trouble is becoming an increasing problem for Corey Stokes. And a lot of them are cheap ones around the hoop.
• Mouphtaou Yarou showed us something last night. Probably the only player that I came away impressed with in a loss (that never happens). I’ll get to Jay in a second, but Mouph should have played A LOT more last night.
• And finally, to our coach, who I love. I really do. But he needs to be called out when it was apparent to everyone but him that what was going on was not working. Yes, UConn shot the ball great. But they are awful in the halfcourt set. They have 2 guys who can create their own shot (Walker and Dyson). So what do we do? Press them, and allow them to run and throw alley-oops, which they are very good at. It was maddening. Come on Jay, you’re better than that.

Villanova gets a much-needed full week of practice (and hopefully a humbling, verbal berating from the coaching staff) before they travel to Pitt, where the Panthers will most certainly be out for blood. Right now, I don’t know if we can win that game. We need to refocus.

Game just ended at 9:18 p.m. ET. Villanova went into hostile territory and defeated West Virginia 82-75 and in the process shook off their first conference loss on Saturday and snapped the Mountaineers 6-game win streak. I only got to see the 2nd half (yes, I do have DVR and will eventually watch it), but I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with our play after the break.

We carried an 11-point lead into the 2nd half, and despite our shooting cooling off and some terrible, terrible officiating (yes, this time they were directly responsible for an unheard-of 6-point swing), we remained calm and carried out our plan en route to victory in one of the toughest venues in the country (helped out by the coin-throwers being banished, of course).

As I tweeted with a Syracuse blogger, the BIG EAST regular season title clearly runs through Villanova and Syracuse. They are undoubtedly the best two in the conference (the Hoyas are good too, but too many losses so far to compete). That matchup in a few weeks should be nuts.

Some random thoughts on the game:

• Scottie Reynolds does it again. 21 points and 5 assists and 19 of those came in the 2nd half. He was a perfect 10-10 at the line too. As Raf said, the kid is literally a dagger walking around the court (LOL).
• Great first half out of Dominic Cheek. Then we barely saw him in the 2nd. Weird, and even though we played great and went with the experience, he deserved to be out there until proven wrong.
• Corey Fisher has 17 points and I think I only saw him hit a couple of free throws. I heard he had an intentional foul too. I missed all the fun.
• Reggie Redding was phenomenal down the stretch. THAT is the player we all expected this season. That was Reggie in 2009-Final-Four-Run Mode.
• Taylor King had 8 rebounds, but not much else. Oh yeah, two brutal fouls. But was phenomenal on the glass, even if his shooting was awful. He was a big reason why we somehow out-rebounded WV.
• 10 and 9 for Antonio Pena. Raf said he was vital to this machine, and is this year’s Dante Cunningham. Bilas quickly agreed. So do I.
• Don’t think I remember Maalik Wayns at all. Also weird. He’s usually in the middle of things, one way or the other.
• Isaiah Armwood was really active. I think I have a mancrush on him. He’s gonna be something special in a couple of years.
• Unreal defense by the whole team on Da’Sean Butler, but particularly Corey Stokes. He had Butler whining like a friggan baby. Stokes also hit a huge runner late in the game.
• Good to see Mo Sutton get some good run.
• I have no idea why Mouphtaou Yarou didn’t play, and it doesn’t make me feel good.

HUGE win on the road. Could be season-defining. That is typical of ‘Nova teams under Jay Wright, to take one on the chin and then 2 days later bounce back and make a statement. It’s why I love this program.

Villanova is off until Saturday when they host Providence downtown. I’m a maybe for the game. Hoping to make it. And also, we’ll have our inaugural guest-post from IBBW’s good friend Andrew Trask. He’s very fired up, to say the least.

Let me just start this off with a rant about ESPNU. I hate it. Not the channel itself, but the whole concept. You want to show me more college sports? Fine. I love you. You want to make it so certain TV providers cannot show ESPNU? Go to hell.

That’s what I went through last night. I felt like crap and all I wanted to do was watch my Cats on my HDTV. But I had to drive across town to a friend’s house to accomplish this. I spite the day you were born, ESPNU.

Anyways, the game went pretty well. We won by 10 in the end, but I was concerned this was a trap game beforehand for a few reasons:

• The long layoff
• The wine and cheese crowd at The Pavilion
• Jeremy Hazell

Through the first 35 minutes, all 3 of my worst fears came to life. We looked lacksidaisical at times on the court and were’nt playing as well as we were capable. The building was silent, and it wasn’t just the alums.

(Side rant: Are you kidding me students? You wait until Seton Hall takes the lead in the 2nd half before we hear a Let’s Go Nova chant? I hope you aren’t feeling entitled that you have the #2 team in the country. Please provide with a homecourt advantage. Rant over.)

And then finally, Hazell couldn’t miss a damn shot. We actually were playing great defense on him too. Sure he has unlimited range and got some open looks. But he also hit some circus shots. Quick shout-out to Bobby G. for benching him down the stretch. We all really appreciate it!

Oh yeah, and a certain somebody got to 2,000 points, and rightly heard his name belted out by the masses. Side note here too — really happy they didn’t stop the game and make a big deal. That would go against everything Scottie is about. He’s humble, and that moment was too. Glad the fans reacted accordingly though with a standing ovation.

Jamie rightly pointed out to me last night, “Why is it that we dick around for 30 minutes and then decide, f*ck it, let’s just go win this damn thing?” I have no idea, but a lot of it has to do with our depth. We’re just fresher at the end. Seton Hall gave us their absolute best shot last night, and never did I really think we were in trouble. That says a lot about this team.

Other thoughts…

• Congrats again to Scottie. Whoever that guy was guarding him was doing a great job not letting him get free. But he still got what he deserved. Now go and get Kerry.
• How big was Corey Stokes in the 2nd half? THAT was the player we’ve been waiting to see all year. Sign of things to come? Let’s hope, as his offense could take this team to another level.
• Antonio Peña was a beast. No other way around it. 16 points and 8 boards. He won a good test against the league’s top rebounder, Herb Pope.
• The next time we see Jeremy Hazell is entirely too soon.
• Dominic Cheek was great in the 1st half, but I didn’t really see him much in the 2nd. Liked how he was attacking the basket, which is something we haven’t seen much of from him lately.
• Maalik Wayns may have put himself in a mini-doghouse last night. Only 11 minutes and it wasn’t the prettiest he’s played.
• Isaiah Armwood and Taylor King really battled on the glass hard. I’d like to see more assertiveness on the offensive end from both, and in King’s case that doesn’t mean launching more 3’s. Get inside where you’ve been surprisingly (to me at least) very effective.
• How much has Corey Fisher improved his jumper? Damn.
• You probably didn’t notice Reggie Redding much, but he had a very solid game I thought. 7 points 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Not bad.

The Cats travel to Georgetown on Saturday where the Hoyas will be looking for revenge. Q&A with our pals at Casual Hoya will be up soon.

Game just ended at 9:09 p.m. ET. Villanova defeats Notre Dame 90-72 to move to 19-1, which is the best start in school history! Villanova overcame a sloppy 1st half where they were constantly letting the Irish stick around to absolutely destroy Mike Brey’s boys in a 2nd half where the Wildcats truly imposed their will.

I’m going to say right now, I didn’t get in until late in the 1st half, so I can’t really comment on what went on (please let me know in the comments), but from what I was hearing from Jay Bilas and Sean McDonough, we played incredibly sloppy and couldn’t slow down Luke Harangody, who had 16 points in the opening 20 minutes.

I will say this about the 2nd half though – it was phenomenal. After a sluggish star to the half the team really turned up the defensive pressure and got back to what they do best – run, and run some more. Notre Dame had no chance once this game plan fell into place. Some more thoughts:

• We ended the game on a 30-something to 15-ish run. It was beautiful to watch.
• The students really wanted Scottie Reynolds to hit 2,000 tonight. They were going nuts at the end when he went on a personal 7-0 run. He finished 7 points shy. On the bright side, he’ll get that in The Pavilion, which I think makes it more special.
• Corey Fisher was outstanding. At one point, he left an ND defender 5 feet behind him with a simple head fake, that drew roars (and laughter) from the crowd, and Jay Bilas.
• Antonio Peña was a friggan beast tonight. A double-double with 14 and 11, and he neutralized Harangody in the 2nd half. One of the best games of his career.
• Wayns, Redding and Stokes were all solid. Stokes is getting his shooting touch back I think. Redding was great defending Harangody and had some “old-man” plays as Bilas described him where he simply out-thought everyone else to get an easy hoop.
• Taylor King hit a couple of deeeeeep 3’s, and played his usual tough defense and drew some great charges on the Irish.
• Ben Hansbrough fouling out early in the 2nd half was huge. Brey is an idiot though. It was a 5 point game and he put him in with 4 fouls. Talk about mismanaging one of your best players. On the bright side for Ben though, I don’t hate him like I did his brother.
• Quiet games from Armwood, Cheek and Yarou. Who knows?

Vilalnova returns to action next Tuesday when they host Seton Hall at The Pavilion. Corey Fisher has a shot at 1,000 points for his career, and Scottie Reynolds looks to make it 2,000 for his sensational career at ‘Nova.

Villanova DID beat St. John’s yesterday, by the score of 81-71 at Madison Square Garden. We had a rare breakdown in coverage, mainly due to the fact that Brian, Jamie and I all attended the game. I had hoped Mark may fill in, but when you get a text mid-game that says “F*ck, I missed pick’em again. How we doin?”, you realize that nobody is manning the fort. Anyways, it was a great day that I’ll briefly recap now, before my attempts to forget it are successful.

The day started off at The Ainsworth in Manhattan, where the VUAA had organized a pre-game reception. Jamie, 2 of our non-’Nova friends, my father and I were some of the first people there, causing my friends proceed with jokes for the next 10 minutes about ‘Nova Nation. Real wise guys, those two. Eventually, the place did fill up nicely, and it was a good few hours of seeing old friends and meeting some new ones.

From there, we went to the game and watched the Wildcats overcome some tremendous shooting and their own poor play in the 1st half to make it 7-straight to start the conference season as they dispatched the Red Storm behind the tremendous trio of Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns.

Following the game, their was the mandatory McSorley’s trek and then an “incident” which nearly saw Jamie have the cops called on him by the Metro-North conductor. We’ll leave that be. Some other random thoughts from what I saw yesterday:

• Was it just me or did our team do a great job of blocking shots yesterday? It’s hard to rely on box scores, but they’re listing 10. That sounds about right, and is a rarity for our team. Let’s enjoy that.
• As I mentioned up top, Reynolds, Fisher and Wayns were outstanding. Not just their ability to get to the hoop, but their ability to finish while drawing the foul was incredible. They were instrumental in turning that game around.
• Isaiah Armwood had just 2 baskets, but they were the 2 loudest of the game. The first dunk especially was something out of a video game. He’s an athletic specimen, and I love his ability to finish on the break.
• I thought Jay Wright mismanaged the game early on, rotating guys too quickly and not allowing the team to hit a rhythm. I love the 11-man rotation, but for a good portion of the 1st half it was happening too fast.
• Dominic Cheek had a rough first few minutes of burn, and then was relegated to the bench. A shame coming off the best game of his career. Oh well, he’ll bounce back.
• Loved how Jay Wright was still going offense/defense up 15 late in the game. As my Dad said, it’s about discipline, and it will pay off later this year when we really need it.
• Hopefully that’s the worst shooting performance we’ll ever see out of Taylor King. Yikes.
• I continue to think Mouph Yarou is looking stronger and stronger every game. Seems like the game is finally coming to him. That breakout game is coming…
• Thought Antonio Peña had a solid game down low, and thought Reggie Redding, like Cheek, was just off. Can’t be great every night, unless you’re Scottie Reynolds. At least that’s the way it feels.

Villanova is off until Wednesday when they host Notre Dame at The Wachovia Center. Wednesday night Wac game? Thanks schedulers. I’ve now missed the first two of the year. Feels like a sin.

Game just ended, 2:35 p.m. ET. What is with Villanova games going on so long lately? I want 2 hours of heart trauma, and we’ve been flirting with 3 the last 2 games.

Villanova defeated Georgetown 82-77 for the first time after losing 5 straight to their conference rivals. This one was sloppy to start before the Scottie Reynolds and his back-court mates took over the game and stretched the Villanova lead to 15 at the half. But then, Georgetown woke up and started making every shot they took while ‘Nova went ice cold. Villanova kept them at arm’s length for much of the half before the Hoyas finally tied it up with about 3 minutes to go.

From there it was the Scottie Reynolds show as he made a great driving layup and followed it up with a monster rebound in traffic after Reggie Redding had to launch a desperation 3 as the shot clock wound down. Reynolds finished with 27 points as he continues to stake his case for BIG EAST Player of the Year.

Greg Monroe was unstoppable for the Hoyas, finishing with 29 points and 14 rebounds. He was a handful to say the least, as Isaiah Armwood of all people was really the only one to give him any trouble. Hopefully February 6th is the last time we ever see him, because he is very, very good, and capable of taking over a game as he did today.

Overall, a solid win and the Cats move to 5-0 in the the conference, tied for 1st place with Pittsburgh. The Cats return to action on Wednesday night when they travel to Rutgers to face the lowly Scarlet Knights. I’ll have more on this win later today, but for now, let’s just enjoy it and calm our heart rates down.

I’ve now written this post for the 3rd time. My first attempt was all over the place. I was on Raf’s nuts, praising #1, and killing the refs. Then I read the manifesto I had just written and decided it was below a 2nd-grade writing level. So after I calmed myself down I wrote another saga detailing the downfall of the college basketball referee, and how it all culminated in the atrocity that we witnessed last night.

And now, on my third attempt, we’re just going to give praise to Scottie Reynolds, or as I now know him, God. (Hey, Liverpool did it with Robbie Fowler — let’s run with this). Last night we saw a team get the breaks beat off them in the 1st half. That deficit felt insurmountable at one point, a fact not lost on me as I tweeted for the 2nd time in 3 days that a game was essentially over (I’m what you would call a major reverse jinx).

And then in the 2nd half you saw one of the best players Villanova has ever seen completely take over a game. As Bill Simmons would say, Scottie went into “F*ck You Mode.” What made his 30 point outburst in the 2nd half all the more impressive is that he was averaging just 6 points per game for his career against the Cardinals.

His perfect effort from downtown wasn’t even a surprise. After nailing 2 in the first half he came out and hit 3 in the 2nd — and all three were the boldest shots I’ve ever seen him take, completely silenced Freedom Hall, and made Bill Raftery pee his pants in the process. And each time he pulled up, you just knew they were going in. It was incredible.

Loyal reader Chocolate Thunder pulled this gem late last night — “Maalik Wayns hit a free throw to give Villanova a 76-72 lead with 6:05 to go. It was the last time any Wildcat other than Reynolds scored.” Did it feel that way? Yes. Are you surprised? No. Did you love every god damn second of it? Hell yeah.

I’m glad we’ve got God on our side. Here’s some other random thoughts from last night:

• I’ll say it again – Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery make any game 1000x better. There’s no better crew in their line of work. Their passion, knowledge, audible excitement and the way they abuse the referees is phenomenal.
• Awful, awful game from Reggie Redding. 2 points and 7 turnovers. We got freshman-Reg last night. In a hostile environment with a young team, you need more from your senior leader and most consistent player. We won so it doesn’t seem as bad, but if we had lost that game you’d be hearing a lot more about his play. Still love ya though Reg, and I do believe you are the glue that holds this team together.
• Anyone see Corey Fisher and Edgar Sosa woofing at each other? They clearly are not friends. That dates back to NYC high school hoops. I thought Fisher got the best of him last night. He was making a lot happen. Felt like he had more than 12 points.
• How about Mouph Yarou in his first real action of the year. Thought he did a great job with Samardo Samuels (who played a great game) and was victimized by the refs on some fouls. He got me very excited for what he can bring the rest of the year. He’s much more athletic that I thought.
• Our FT shooting (35-49) was awful. We could have lost that game with how poor we were shooting the freebies.
• How about that Jay Wright technical? I’m 98% certain that if one of the 7 people restraining him had let him through, he would have actually killed an official. Regardless, it was a key turning point in last night’s game. The team definitely responded to that.
• Maalik Wayns single-handedly kept us in the game in the 1st half. He was hurt by fouls after the break but he was phenomenal in the opening stanza. Handled himself extremely well for a freshman.
• Speaking of freshman handling themselves well on the road, both Dominic Cheek and Isaiah Armwood did well too. Armwood disappeared after playing a lot early due to foul problems. Cheek played great D and had a nice floater on the break which gave us privilege to this gem from Raf – “Ohhhhh with the teardrop…running down the Cheek!” (Shout out to Blue Man! for the quote)
• Taylor King was outstanding. I tweeted that I thought the game was going too fast for him in the 1st half (it was) but he really picked it up after the break. He as integral in that win.
• It took me this long to finally get to the refs, but here it is — That was the worst officiated game I think any of us have ever seen. The officials should be ashamed of themselves for such a poor performance that took the spotlight off the teams playing and onto themselves. Jeff Goodman from FOX called for them to have an extended rest and to have their eyes checked. I really think they should be suspended for a week. If you were to review that tape, I’m sure you could find at least 30 fouls that shouldn’t have been called. It was an abomination. At one point I was convinced those guys were betting on the OVER. So to all three of you (whose names I will not repeat), go f*ck yourselves.
• And just so we end this on a good note, let’s have one more celebratory mention of God. Sir Scottie Reynolds was just magnificent last night. Get his jersey in the rafters now!

…We’re off until Sunday when we host Georgetown…I will be attending that game with the IBBW crew and friends, so if you are going to be out in D Lot, we may run into each other…

In retrospect, I don’t know why I started flipping around to different games about 5 minutes into the 2nd half of Villanova’s win over Marquette on Saturday. I’ve grown up on the ‘it ain’t over til it’s over’ mantra and I’ve seen far too many comebacks to think any win was a given. Yet, when ‘Nova went up by 20 (and was really having their way) my friend Jeff and I decided to start checking in on some other college hoops happen.

Let’s go back to 1 p.m. I was on my way to run some errands before the game and I’d just watched UConn demolish Georgetown — in the first half. I even tweeted that this one was over, a fact not lost on TheUConnBlog.

And then there came the score — Georgetown 72, UConn 69. I was in utter shock, as was Jeff, a diehard Huskies fan. It was right then I should have realized to immediately switch back to the ‘Nova game, but I didn’t. I laughed at Jeff. And then, around 10 minutes later, the text messages started pouring in. Here’s a sampling:

• Are you nervous yet?
• In my best Steve Berthume voice -  Lazar Hayward…for 3!
• Over/Under on F-Bombs you’ve dropped in the last 10 minutes: 15.5

These all came in pretty much simultaneously, and sent me into a state of complete panic. And as I switched it back to the ‘Nova game, the horror set in. Marquette had closed it to 3 behind 8-11 from downtown in the 2nd half. Dear God.

Luckily, Villanova again staved off the Eagles thanks to a big steal from Scottie Reynolds and two clutch free throws from Antonio Peña (ironically, we’re playing Louisville tomorrow. I don’t want to reminisce about ‘Tone and Louisville last year). Needless to say, I learned my lesson. I’m gonna see these games through from now on.

Some random thoughts from the game:

• I might be jumping the gun, but I think we can remove “Corey Stokes‘ Shooting Ability” from milk cartons everywhere. Brian mentioned this a while back, but with guys like him usually it just takes one game to fix the problems. Hopefully that’s true.
• Scottie Reynolds only took 6 shots. Good that he’s sharing the wealth, bad in that he’s our star player and he needs to assert himself a little more. But he was still solid, minus a terrible giveaway late in the game.
• All of the starters finished in double figures tonight, a very good sign for the balance of this team moving forward.
• Mouphtaou Yarou logged just 5 minutes, but he had a great play where he tracked down a guard from behind on a fast break and blocked the shot, but also crushed the guy with the body, and was called for the foul. It was an impressive display nonetheless.
• Maalik Wayns started off really strong, and then kind of faded as the game went on. He didn’t do anything bad, but he didn’t stand out either. Tough to follow up after his last game though.
• Peña was 5-5 from the stripe. Hey-Oh! Also, I’d like to see us give him the ball on offense more often. His game is pretty nice.
• Two pretty quiet games in a row from Taylor King. I’m expecting big things from him tomorrow though. ‘3-point barrage’ might be in order.
• Brian already touched on it, but our end-of-game management was brutal. I don’t know if that’s the players (it shouldn’t be with Corey Fisher and Reynolds) or if it was Jay Wright (more likely), but we can’t be turning it over left and right and taking quick shots. I know that works early in the game, but when you are protecting a 5-point lead with 60 seconds left, it might behoove you to not start shooting with 20 seconds left on the shot clock.
• Reggie Redding was steady, yet again. With his stats I don’t see him making All-BIG EAST, but it’s going to be a crime if he doesn’t. And I will assuredly go nuts.

That’s all til tomorrow when we travel to Freedom Hall (ugh) to play the up-and-down Louisville Cardinals, and their slut of a coach.

I was so ecstatic all week about the beginning of the BIG EAST schedule. I was sick of the creampuffs, sick of semi-caring about the games, sick of watching the games on my laptop, or even worse, following them on my phone. I need HDTV, and battles with the big boys on a weekly basis.

After Chapter 1 though, I’m not sure I’m going to make it through the season without an incident. I know Marquette is a lot better than their now 9-5 record. I know The Bradley Center is one of the tougher venues in the conference. I know we’re a young team still sifting its way to an identity. But I’m already missing those comfortable wins.

However, it was great to look back on this game and think about all the good that happened. Maalik Wayns may have just grown up in front of our eyes. In his first conference road game he came off the bench for 16 points, 2 assists and 0 turnovers. Not to mention the countless times he got to the goal, and finished despite being fouled. AND he knocked down his free throws. He played like a senior.

Isaiah Armwood gave this team 14 very solid minutes. He’s playing like a guy who just wants to be on the court. The best thing I can say about him is that he is just an active player. You rarely see him standing around, which is a trait that is sometimes hard to teach. He’ll continue to see the court if he stays with that kinda play.

And can you say enough about Scottie Reynolds? I tweeted at the end of the game that though I shouldn’t be shocked anymore at his heroics, I continue to be. There’s nobody in college basketball I’d rather have at the end of the game. It’s just truly amazing. And I haven’t even touched on the rest of his game, which was remarkable to say the least. A true Wildcat. His jersey will hang from the rafters, and not soon enough.

Some other, random thoughts:

• I know some people probably didn’t mind that broadcast team, but the trio of Fran Fraschilla, Doris Burke and Eric Collins nearly got me to mute the game a couple times.
• What made this win better – Antonio Peña, Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes didn’t really have great games. And yet we still came away with the W. That’s the mark of a good team. Or it’s the mark of a team that has an assassin at the helm.
• Reggie Redding was good at times, and at times was making me scratch my head. But it was his first competitive game, so he gets a pass.
• We need to be a lot better on our FT’s down the stretch. We gave Marquette a few extra chances at the end when it should have been over.
• Quiet day from Taylor King. From what I remember he battled pretty good in his first taste of the BEAST. I was a little concerned, but banging against Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler is a good test of things to come.
• Speaking of Hayward and Butler, they’re very good. Especially Hayward. I won’t lie, I thought he was a product of last year’s guards. Not the truth at all. He can carry a team.
• We’re 1-0 on a weekend where both West Virginia and Syracuse went down. That feels good.

‘Nova returns to action on Wednesday when they host DePaul at The Pavilion. Game time is 8:00 p.m. Talk to you then.

It’s a lot different when you’re in school, and you go to your first game of the year. I learned that in a big way yesterday. I had visions of Saturday exhibiting similar qualities to a big-time conference clash at The Wachovia Center. Hell, we were at The Meadowlands (more of a home game for me personally), my friends threw a great tailgate (quick shout out to the Torney family), and it was freezing cold and snowing. I was loving every second of it.

And then we walked into The IZOD Center, home of the Fordham Rams, and New Jersey Nets, who are quite possibly 2 of the worst basketball teams of the last 10 years. And the atmosphere inside reflected that. There couldn’t have been more than 8,000 fans at the game (about 3/4 of which were from Villanova), ‘Mom ‘n Pop’ were running the beer stand (slowly, I might add), and let’s just say that the Fordham student section left a lot of be desired. I will give them some credit though. Their mascot provided two of the best moments of the game when he face-planted not once, but twice. So they had that going for them.

(Okay, I’m sorry for the last paragraph. I was just blindsided by the whole thing. After all, I see at least 15 Fordham Basketball ads on my way to work everyday. I guess the marketing surge just isn’t working.)

So as I sat there with my friends in the cheapest, best seats I’ve ever sat in (about 10 feet from center-court), I couldn’t help but just laugh at the small-time operation I was experiencing. But hey, all in all we had a great time and Villanova cruised to a nice, easy Saturday win in the return of Reggie Redding.

Speaking of Reg, he’s just phenomenal. I forgot how good he really is. Every ‘Nova fan I chatted with told me how apparent it was how much more comfortable the team looked with him on the floor. A kid who couldn’t have been more than 6 astutely noted that he should play for the entire game. Even though it was Fordham, you can tell how much better he makes the team. He’s the definition of a stat-stuffer (15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 0 turnovers in his return) and he’s such a calming influence over everyone. I’ve thought we’ve looked a little frantic in the half-court set this year. Not anymore.

As for everyone else…

• Corey Stokes finished 2-11 as he came off the bench for the first time this year in an apparent disciplinary move for missing a meeting or something. I’m starting to get a little worried about him. Redding’s return should ease the pressure on him, but we need more efficient shooting.
• Save Stokes, Dominic Cheek was the only player to record a basket and not shoot over 50% from the field. He was 2-5, which isn’t even bad. That’s the kind of offensive efficiency we need.
• Corey Fisher was awesome. So was Scottie Reynolds. So was Antonio Peña. It was Fordham, but it’s good to see them dominate a team they should.
• The rotation that was used in this game was very revealing. Maurice Sutton only played 5 minutes in this blowout. And he didn’t even have a foul. Could this be the end of his run? Isaiah Armwood was in this game while it was still a game, and played 17 minutes overall. Nobody went over 30 minutes.
• Taylor King had a quiet night. There was really nothing special or bad about his performance. Which is probably the first time all year that has happened. And he started.
• One more time, it’s great to have #15 back.

…One more yawner against Deleware on Wednesday before the Holiday Break and then we move into BIG EAST play…