I Bleed Blue and White

For those of you who followed the game with me on Twitter yesterday, you know the sheer enjoyment I was getting out of listening to the Dayton Flyers Radio Network, and their impeccable broadcast team. I never actually caught their names, but if I had to guess they were probably JimBob and Cletus. Two of the biggest Southern accents I’ve ever heard, and the homerism to go with it.

Fisher was a FT warrior again.

I was initially disappointed to learn that I wouldn’t be able to watch the game (the internet feed was legitimately an hour behind), but these two hicks saved the day for me with their utter dissatisfaction whenever Villanova did anything positive and their shrieks of joy whenever Luke Fabrizius looked in their general direction. In fact, as I tweeted during the game, I’m pretty sure the color guy was fondling himself when Fabrizius grabbed a rebound a one point in the 2nd half.

Between them yelling out what plays Dayton should run, screaming at the players for leaving Taylor King open, and their catch-phrases (”Villanova is just walkin’ the dog, baby” killed me), these two helped make what turned out to be a close game feel like a walk in the park. I can only hope that somewhere in the future, we play Dayton again and I get to enjoy JimBob and Cletus’ expertise once more. I’ll be praying.

As for the game itself, I may be in the minority, but I’m extremely happy with the way the team performed. Dayton is a very talented and well-coached team. Corey Fisher rose to the occasion again, and once again was a monster at the stripe (10-12, including 4-4 down the stretch). The aforementioned King quickly dismissed his porous effort from the day before to turn in 14 points and 9 rebounds. He’s going to be a monster for us this year. And finally, Antonio Peña. As I listened to the game I didn’t think you did that much. But thinking back, you were huge. 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 5-8 from the stripe, including 2 enormous FT’s that had me panicking as you go to the line. Way to step up big fella.

Some more notes:

• Still no suit for Jay Wright. It’s gotten to the point where I may start a petition to put a suit-clause in his contract. He needs to wake up.
• We shot the ball like shit for the 2nd straight day (especially down the stretch). That can’t happen. I didn’t see the game, so I don’t know if it was poor shot selection or not, but this trend needs to end.
• Scottie Reynolds went 3-12 and only had 8 points. Just 2 turnovers though. I’ll say that’s a step in the right direction for him, but he needs to decide what his role is going to be. “Chucker” cannot be an option.
• Maurice Sutton played 30 minutes. 30. Second only to Fisher. And he had a great game. I didn’t think he would be ready this year, but he just may be. Hell, if Yarou is out for a while we need him to be.
• Only 7 minutes for Maalik Wayns? Very surprising. I don’t know what to think about that. He had a great game the day before too.
• Isaiah Armwood followed up his heroics with a nice jumper and a 2-2 effort at the line. Keep playing your role kid.
• Corey Stokes went 1-9. Yikes. Hopefully it’s just the Puerto Rico weather. Or something like that.

So now we’re on our way to the finals where we face Ole Miss on Sunday night. The game is at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be aired nationally by ESPN2! It’s about time I got to watch this team in HD.

I’ll freely admit it. As I watched Scottie Reynolds drive into triple-coverage, only to kick out to Isaiah Armwood who promptly jacked up a 3, I yelled the title of this post to nobody. As I texted with friends that our two best sharp shooters (King and Stokes) had both fouled out, the last person I expected to be taking what would be the game-winning shot was a guy who has been surrounded with redshirt questions.

A quiet game from Stokes couldn't derail 'Nova.

Let me just say, I was NOT a person advocating a redshirt for him. I love his athleticism and think he’ll be useful this year the way Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark were their freshman years. But I will admit I was not happy as I watched our wiry 6′8″ freshman launch a trey-ball. But I was ECSTATIC when he buried it. And for that Isaiah, I apologize. I doubted you for the slightest of moments, and you turned around and put the double-bird to my face. I love it.

The bigger story, in my opinion, is the resiliency that the team showed today. Corey Fisher was 1-14 from the field, yet 14-18 from the foul line. Scottie Reynolds had 8 turnovers in the 1st half, yet let the team in scoring and in my opinion led the team well down the stretch. We lost Corey Stokes, Taylor King, Antonio Peña and Maurice Sutton to fouls, yet still battled til the end to erase what felt like a 20-point deficit at times. We went 23-39 (59%) from the FT line and somehow won.

And we did all this without Mouphtaou Yarou, who was sent home hours before the game for an infection. Our lineup that end the game was Reynolds, Fisher, Maalik Wayns, Dominic Cheek, and Armwood. Think about that for a second.

(I just had a wow moment. We had 4 legitimate shooters on the floor, and Armwood. Armwood took the 3. And made it. His balls are the size of planets.)

Some more random thoughts from today:

• Jay Wright, you better suit-the-f*ck-up next game. No more of this untucked Polo crap. I don’t like it, and neither does anyone else. Stick with what works.
• If I’m ever going to criticize Jay, it’s going to be now. Yeah, I know we won, but I think he mismanaged an already thin frontcourt. He basically let his entire frontcourt foul out before inserting Armwood. It worked out, but give the kid some burn instead of letting everyone rack up the fouls.
• Maalik Wayns woke the team up in the first half. We were about to get run out of the gym until he came in. I love the kid. He is a serious, serious player. Jay wasn’t kidding when he said Wayns was ready to play.
• Maurice Sutton stepped up big. As soon as Yarou was out, Sutton’s # was called, and he answered. All over the place on the glass and the defensive end. The offensive game will come, but for now, he’s doing exactly what we need him to do.
• The refs were brutal, and I’m glad we overcame them. It wasn’t the amount of calls (which was excessive) but more the amount of ticky-tack stuff that was called, especially on us. I thought Jay was going to have a stroke. If Pat Chambers were still on the staff, I’m pretty sure he would have bitten a refs ear off.
• Fran Fraschilla has briefly replaced Andy Katz as my most hated ESPN Hoops personality. He may as well have come out and root for George Mason. It was sickening and a disgrace to his profession. Fran, go home.

All in all, a great win to have. George Mason are a scrappy bunch, and they’ll make noise this year. They’re pretty good. If you hadn’t heard, Dayton blew a 9-point lead only to come back and stave off Georgia Tech in the early game today, so we’ve got the Flyers tomorrow at 3 p.m. I’ve got a Q&A coming up with a Dayton blogger, so stay tuned!

A note to everyone on Twitter – I had a great time chatting with you during the game today and hopefully we can do it again in the near future. I’m just happy that I didn’t get a 24-hour ban for over-Tweeting like Brian of VUHoops!

UPDATE: Apparently Brian has been reinstated. No word on what sexual acts he had to perform.

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Villanova edged out George Mason by 1 in the 1st round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Amidst news that Mouphtaou Yarou was sent home for a viral infection, the Wildcats were outplayed and appeared asleep for much of the game. 8 1st half turnover by Scottie Reynolds led to a 9-point deficit at halftime, and it appeared that Villanova was going to go down.

But even with the referees continuing to punish ‘Nova (4 players fouled out, and Corey Fisher finished with 4 fouls) the Cats fought back and kept it close til the end. Finally, and unlikely hero arose. Freshman Isaiah Armwood, the least used player through the first 2 games, stepped up and hit a 3-pointer to give Villanova a 1 point lead with 13 seconds left.

From there, the ‘Nova defense finally arrived, not even allowing a final shot by the Patriots. We’ll have more on this game shortly, as well as a …Keep Your Enemies Closer with Dayton blogger James O’Brien as the Cats face the Flyers tomorrow at 3!

Some links:

• Box Score
• Highlights of the crazy finish

Yep, I could get used to that. I loved seeing Jay Wright taking shots of Jose Cuervo and then closing his eyes and pointing at 5 guys on the bench and telling them to go play basketball. That was really enjoyable to watch. What? That didn’t happen? Well, it sure felt like it.

Reynolds was back to his usual form on Monday.

Anything lineup that Wright put on the floor last night was gold. Hell, even Maurice Sutton and Isaiah Armwood, 2 guys who didn’t get much burn in the opener, were in the game while it was still, well, a game. That’s how much confidence Jay Wright appears to have in his 10 man rotation. Only Armwood (who went scoreless) did not score in the 1st half. Even Russell Wooten notched his 1st career points in garbage time as his lay-up put the Cats over the century mark.

I watched last night’s game while I helped my girlfriend build a new desk from IKEA for her room (by the way, screw IKEA. You may be relatively cheap, but your furniture is a pain in the ass to build). As I struggled through the missing screws and bolts, all I kept hearing were cheers from the crowd and “you can’t leave him open like that” from the announcers in reference to Corey Stokes and Taylor King. Both of those are very good signs. Hell, I think at one point the play-by-play guy yelled that Stokes drained another 3 and the ball had barely left his hand. It was that kind of night. Everything was going in.

‘Nova shot 58.7% from the field and 52.4% from downtown. We aren’t going to be beat when we shoot like that, and we haven’t even gotten to the defensive end yet, where a team I lambasted for its poor play in the 1st half against Fairleigh Dickinson held up both middle fingers to me and put their foot on Penn’s throats from the opening whistle.

Star wing Tyler Bernardini was held scoreless thanks to mostly Corey Stokes, but a host of other characters as well. If anyone thinks Stokes isn’t up to the challenge of defensive stopper, it might be time to reconsider. That’s two great games for him in a row. More than that though, the Cats defense was just suffocating all over. 8 steals and they held Penn to 34% shooting. Coupled with the offensive outburst, that’s a good recipe for success.

By the way, remember how our “young team” was going to go through growing pains? One thing we did not consider was that when you have 10 guys (11 when Reggie Redding returns) who legitimately are hungry to get on the court, you are going to have a team that plays like it did last night. You either work your ass off and produce, or you don’t play. And with 6 newcomers who want to secure their spot, there is going to be  a ton of competition that will translate into the production we saw last night. (We’re still going to have the growing pains, but mark my words, the previous paragraph will happen as well in the coming weeks).

Onto the player notes:

• Maalik Wayns led all Cats with 16 points off the bench. Great game for the youngster. But just 1 assist and 4 turnovers. He might be the best pure point guard on the roster, but we’re going to need a better assist-turnover ratio. Good run out there though.
• Corey Stokes, Taylor King, and Scottie Reynolds all had 14 points last night. King and Stokes both continue to shoot the crap out of the ball. Reynolds with a nice bounceback game. Stokes (5 boards) and King (7 boards) both look like they are going great this year on both ends. I may have underestimated Stokes’ chances at All-BIG EAST.
• Antonio Peña got that double-double I was looking for with 12 points and 10 boards (plus 2 blocks). He continues to disappear for stretches, but his overall game looks improved from a year ago. So far, he has proved to be the rebounder we all hoped.
• Corey Fisher with an even stronger game this time out (13 points, 8 assists, 3 steals). He’s very, very good. My UConn friend the other day: “I’d rather have him than Kemba Walker.” You don’t hear that much from the Husky fans.
• Dominic Cheek showed us that mid-range game we heard so much about. I like it. And that outside shot looks a lot better than I expected. He’s going to be a super-star in a year or two. Like All-American good. The good thing is that he doesn’t have to be that right now.
• Mo Sutton continues to look good on the boards and the defensive end. His enthusiasm from last year (towel guy) has certainly translated onto the court this year. Probably a little thin for the BIG EAST but he is active and loves playing. You can’t teach that.
• Mouphtaou Yarou was the only negative last night. 4 points, 5 rebounds, and he fouled out. He’s raw. Those who said he was one-and-done : you were wrong. He’s going to be very good, but it is going to take time. Thankfully we can lean on the backcourt for the time being.
• Congrats to Russell Wooten for his 1st career points!

The team leaves today for Puerto Rico and faces George Mason in the opening round on Thursday at 2 p.m.! The game will be on ESPNU, and since it is in the afternoon, there had better be a link I can watch at work!

Note: I’m going to be doing my postgame reports a little different this year. More reactions and opinions, less reporting.

My excitement could hardly be contained all day as I sat in my office. And this was all knowing that I wouldn’t be able to watch the first half of the game. Hey, Villanova basketball is back. A light goes on in me. I didn’t think anything could get me down. This, of course, proved to be untrue.

Taylor King impressed in his debut.

I arrived at Grand Central Station ready to catch the 6:29 train when I discover that the train hasn’t even arrived yet, with just 10 minutes until it’s scheduled departure. Finally, at 6:30, it arrives and I hustle on board. The conductor tells everyone to get off, saying the police need to search the train. Fabulous.

After a quick search (seriously, if you are going to search the train with SWAT, be thorough) we depart and I settle in. Around 6:55 I have an epiphany that I can listen to the game on my phone by downloading a radio application. I do this, and tune into 950-AM in Philadelphia, the station that usually broadcasts ‘Nova games. To my dismay, some asshole is talking about Donovan McNabb sucks and he wishes he would just quit. Now, maybe the game wasn’t on the radio, but I was 99% positive that it was, and this really set me off.

So now with just seconds until the tip, I try to load ESPN’s GameCast onto my Blackberry. “Data Not Available.” As 10-12 people around me at the time can attest, this caused an audible curse and a slammed fist into the back of the seat in front of me. I mean, really? I follow football and basketball games all the time on my phone, and never have a problem. Then again, it was Friday the 13th, and something was bound to go wrong.

So as a last resort, I finally load up my Twitter account and begin to follow the game thanks to brianisawesome, dgoneil1, and VillanovaBBall. Many thanks to all 3 of you, who legitimately kept me informed about the 1st half.

But oh no, from there the trouble wasn’t over. I finally get home with the 2nd half about to start and begin to get the backdoor feed going on my computer. Now, keep in mind this is a new computer that doesn’t have all my necessary add-ons installed yet. So I need to install Microsoft Silverlight to watch the game. Fine, this will take 20 seconds. But oh no, the file is corrupt! I have no idea what this means. And I was very angry for hours as I watched updates on ESPN’s bottom-line. As I said, ‘Nova basketball turns a switch on.

So I didn’t get to see any of the game. Until RFC brilliantly uploaded the highlights just hours after the game. Phenomenal. I really went from a completely angry person to a very euphoric person — all because of highlights. In the end, nothing could spoiler the opener for me, even if I didn’t get to see it. I did get to talk to some people who did see it, and take a few notes from the highlight tape. Here we go:

• Heard from multiple people that Antonio Peña had a crappy game? Really? 9 points and 10 rebounds seems pretty solid to me. FT’s (3-6) continue to be a problem but I think I’ll take a (near) double-double from ‘Tone every night.
• As much as I like hearing that Scottie Reynolds was managing the offense, I like hearing even more that he’s got 2o points or more. Terrible shooting night for the senior and I’m sure he’ll rebound nicely soon, but I don’t want to see too many of these games this year.
• Corey Stokes! Looks like he’s taken a big leap forwards in terms of leadership, defense, and scoring. Yes, the majority of his points were of the long-range variety but that and-1 finish was great and it wasn’t the only time he attempted to get into the lane.
• Taylor King! Heard from a lot of people that he has the best game out of everyone. Enthusiastic, great rebounding, and scoring to boot. That 3 he launched from the corner was one of the quickest releases I’ve ever seen. So smooth. TK looks like he’s going to be big for us this year.
• Corey Fisher looks like he’s in better shape (again) and legitimately looks like a guy who will challenge for 1st-team All-BIG EAST. He just looks so much more confident than he already was.
• Dominic Cheek just looks like a basketball player. Super smooth. Mouphtaou Yarou looked better than I expected, and at the same time I was a little disappointed. Can’t decide. Maalik Wayns doesn’t look like a freshman, nor play like one. He’s the real deal. Hopefully I’ll get to see some Isaiah Armwood next game. Love that he played. Don’t redshirt him!
• Maurice Sutton may be ready to contribute sooner than we thought.
• Seriously, Reggie Redding isn’t back yet. How friggan deep are we?

All in all, I just loved seeing the first game. It’s a joy to finally have ‘Nova basketball back. I’m excited for the year and ready for the ride!

Here is the recap and box score for anyone who missed the game.

Chris Whitney came up big and delivered one of the best performances of his career, finishing with 277 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air. He was backed by a Villanova defense that continued to stand on its head throughout the game and deny the Spiders the endzone.

Brandyn Harvey will go down as the hero in this one for his game-winning TD grab with 59 seconds left. On 4th an 10, Andy Talley drew up a play for the senior WR, and Harvey delivered with a one-handed catch. But there was still plenty of game left to be played after that.

Richmond was able to drive back down the field and get into field-goal range. It wasn’t meant to be for the Spiders though, as the kick went wide left. The moment will be remembered in Villanova football history forever.

Some quotes:

“The play was designed to go to me. [Whitney] saw me and I was open,” Harvey said. “I should probably have caught the pass with two hands but you can’t put your arms as far out as with one hand. Once I made the catch, I knew someone was behind me but I just wanted to make sure I scored.” -- Brandyn Harvey

“Like Brandyn said, the play was designed to go to him,” Whitney added. “On fourth-and-10 I didn’t have much choice but to go to him. We have counted on Brandyn all year. He is 6-4 and a big target. I thought I might have overthrown it at first but I am glad that it worked.” -- Chris Whitney

“The game pretty much went accordingly to what we expected coming in.” “I thought both teams were very evenly matched and we were comfortable playing here because we thought we had a chance to get after [Richmond] if we could shut down their running game. We maybe had an opportunity to close it out earlier but Richmond is a very good team and they were everything we thought they would be. We have a lot of respect for them. They did a great job and the game could have gone either way.” -- Andy Talley

Here’s a bonus, dug up by Brian of VUHoops. One less person is employed today.

Disclaimer: I was not able to attend or view/listen to this game. All of what follows are opinions of various people that I talked, texted, or followed on Twitter. This is more of a general recap.

From the sound of things, it appears that Villanova fans got a mix of good and bad last night in watching the team defeat Kutztown 110-84 at The Wachovia Center. I’m going to run down a list of what I heard from last night:

The Good:

• Scottie Reynolds – Looked exactly how you thought he would, and maybe even better. Looks leaner and quicker and primed for a real All-American campaign. Had 27 points and 4 assists in 29 minutes of action.
• Corey Fisher – Looks even stronger than last year. His body continues to be redefined from the kid who showed up out of shape as a freshman. Hit a few nice mid-range jumpers after he pulled up in the lane. 18 points and 5 assists for Fisher-Price.
• Corey Stokes – Really aggressive on defense, improved ball skills which allowed him to take his man to the goal and/or pull up and knock down a jumper. Still a lights out shooter.
• Team Shooting – 60% from the field and 63% from downtown. Quite frankly, as one person put it – “we can shoot the f*ckin ball real good.”
• Taylor King – 4-4 from beyond the arc. Played with a lot of passion. Really lost a lot of weight and looks to be in much better shape, although he is definitely a tweener. Looked better defending the post than he did defending out on the arc. From all signs though, he won’t be a defensive liability like some thought and looks like he can help defend inside.
• Antonio Peña – Really improved offensive game. Hit a few nice baby hooks and even knocked down some mid-range jumpers. He isn’t Dante Cunningham (yet), but from all accounts he was one of the stronger players on the court.
• Maalik Wayns - More than one person said he was by far the most impressive of the freshman. Knocked down a 3 for his first career basket and was in the face of people all night. Played with a lot of heart. Him, Reynolds and Fisher sound like they are going to terrorize teams. Sounds like he’ll be a fan favorite.
• Mouphtaou Yarou – Picked up a lot of soft fouls, but was aggressive on offense, which is good to hear. Can’t have him shying away.

The Bad:

• Defense – Apparently, there was very little of it. We expected to have a dropoff with the personnel we lost, but apparently Jay Wright was going absolutely wild at a few points during the game. Not good. One person tweeted “we play defense like a mid-level ACC team.” Ouch.

The Puzzling:

• Dominic Cheek – Only 14 minutes of action for the true frosh. Heard he has the skills and the desire, but lacks the strength. Still, thought he would get more action with Redding out. King appears to be ahead of him by a good amount. This doesn’t look good for my predictions on him.
• Maurice Sutton – Just 4 minutes of playing time for the big man. For a team that has an unknown frontcourt, you’d figure he’d get a little more run in an exhibition game. Oh well. Think we all need to temper our expectations on him this year.

At the end of the day, the team did what they were supposed to do. They blew out Kutztown, who never really had a chance. The defense is a huge concern to me personally, because that is what the backbone of Villanova teams usually is. But you’ve got the offense. From all accounts it could be one of the best in the country if they can get consistent production out of the frontcourt.

Here’s the recap and box score for anyone who missed the game.

Brandyn Harvey had 7 catches for 77 yards and a TD.

Even with a steady rain putting a damper on the Homecoming festivities, the football team made it look easy en route to a 36-7 win over Rhode Island. It was the 200th career victory for Andy Talley, and he had to be proud of the way his team played.

Both the offense and defense put forth dominating performances. The defense held the Rams to just 30 yards rushing and 151 yards overall and the offense racked up over 500 yards of offense, including 376 on the ground (the 3rd time this year they’ve eclipsed the 300 mark).

Matt Szczur was again at the forefront of the ‘Nova attack as he ran it in from 1 yard on the team’s first possession of the game and then later threw a 3-yard pass to Mikey Reynolds as ‘Nova built a 21-0 halftime lead. Aaron Ball and Chris Whitney both ran the ball well, finishing with 99 yards and 124, respectively.

The rain seemed to have an effect as Villanova’s scoring slowed down as the rain picked up in the 2nd half, but their dominating rushing attack ensured that their was no comeback in the minds of the Rhode Island players.

It was a solid win, and they did what was expected against a weaker opponent. They now head into their bye week sitting at 7-1 overall, and 4-1 in the conference. In 2 weeks they travel to Richmond to face the #1 team in the country, and a team they’ll be looking to take revenge on after losing to them at home last year.

Box score and recap for those who missed the game. And by the way, the team moved up to #4 in the country following their win.

Terence Thomas and the 'Nova 'D' were stifling.

Andy Talley gained the 199th victory of his career and saw his defense put on a dominating performance that more than made up for last year’s two defeats while spoiling homecoming weekend for the hosts. Terence Thomas and Fred Maldonado led the way with 10 and 11 tackles, respectively and John Dempsey forced 2 fumbles on the afternoon.

Chris Whitney had one of the best games of his career as he threw 3 touchdowns on the afternoon while posting 97 yards on the ground. Matt Szczur was again in the thick of it all as he caught 2 touchdown passes for the first time in his stellar career.

But the defense was the main story for Villanova, which posted its first shutout in nearly 7 years. A year after losing twice to James Madison, this one was never close. ‘Nova scored on their first possession of the game and built a 20-0 halftime lead before controlling the ball for 18 minutes in the 2nd half, never giving the hosts a chance to climb back into the game.

Some eye-openers:

• JMU only got into ‘Nova territory twice, and never reached the redzone.
• They gained just 116 yards rushing, by far the strongest asset of their team.

Most importantly though, this was the kind of game this team needed after a gut-wrenching loss the week prior. This reaffirms their confidence in themselves, and gets them back on track to make the FCS playoffs, while effectively eliminating a rival in the process (always a great feeling).

Great game men. Homecoming game is next weekend vs. Rhode Island. Should be great!

Apologies for the late post. Had a very busy weekend and busy Monday.

Szczur was unstoppable for 'Nova.

Here is the game recap and box score for those who missed the game.

Villanova (5-1, 2-1) overcame an early 16-point deficit early in the 3rd quarter, but it couldn’t hold on as New Hampshire (5-0, 2-0) notched a pair of field goals in the 4th quarter to steal the game away from the visiting Wildcats.

It wasn’t the best day by any means for ‘Nova, and their head coach was quick to voice his displeasure.

“We have shown at this point in time in the season that we do not have the ability to go on the road and win a tough game,” Villanova head coach Andy Talley said. “Until we do that, we’re not a serious football team. I’m very upset with this football team because we had a great opportunity for ourselves and we didn’t get off the bus ready to play.”

Matt Szczur was the star on the day for ‘Nova, totaling 283 yards of offense, including his 58-yard scamper that gave ‘Nova it’s first and only lead of the day. Antwon Young and Chris Whitney again split time, and both seemed to perform admirably well, although it was a Whitney interception inside his own 20-yard line that led to the final FG for New Hampshire.

New Hampshire QB R.J. Toman finished just shy of 300 yards passing (292) on a day when he picked apart the Wildcat defense. ‘Nova returns to action next weekend for yet another Top-10 matchup when they travel to James Madison.

…Hard not to be disappointed…but when you fall behind early on the road it is always difficult to pull out a win, and we nearly did it…now it is time to refocus for next weekend when they travel to JMU…another tough matchup and one that a team with National Championship aspirations does not want to lose…

…Keep your heads up fellas and rebound and kick the piss out of JMU next weekend!…