I Bleed Blue and White

Jason King, a writer for Yahoo! Sports, posted his Big East preseason power rankings today.  From my point of view, nothing really too shocking with this list.  Villanova comes in at #1, as King states:

“Most would consider the Wildcats the favorite to win the league title and advance to the Final Four for the second year in a row and just the fourth time in school history.  The decision of point guard Scottie Reynolds to withdraw from the NBA draft was huge for Villanova, which returns its top six perimeter players (although standout Reggie Redding will be ineligible until the spring semester).  The biggest question mark is in the paint, where Duke transfer Taylor King and touted freshman Mouphtaou Yarou will have to make up for the loss of leading scorer Dante Cunningham.”

Enjoy the weekend.

Jeff Goodman of FoxSports just released his Top 20 transfers for the upcoming season, and a couple of familiar names are on the list. Goodman lists Taylor King at #13 on his list, which includes 7 players who are transferring into Big East schools.

“Taylor King, 6-7, 225, F, Soph., Villanova: The former Dookie will give the Wildcats a perimeter shooter.”

One spot ahead of King is where former Wildcat Malcolm Grant resides. You’ll recall he transferred to Miami (FL) following what I thought was a solid freshman campaign. Grant saw the writing on the wall though, and left for greener pastures.

“Malcolm Grant, 6-1, 185, G, Soph., Miami: After hardly playing at Villanova, Grant will start at the point for Frank Haith and the ‘Canes.”

…There are a lot of questions surrounding King and how he’ll fit in Jay Wright’s system…nobody is denying he can scorch the nets, but he’ll be relied upon to do some of the heavy lifting in the post as well…

…As for Grant, I wish him all the best…I loved him in his short time with us…who can forget that LSU game…he’ll do well in the ACC…

There are going to be many noticeable differences between last year’s Final Four team and the 2009-2010 Villanova Wildcats.  One of the main things I continue to think about is the change in leadership.  Of course, there’s the captains, Scottie Reynolds and Reggie Redding, who know what it takes to win night in and night out.  I have no doubt they will be good leaders, but Redding can’t play until mid-December, so who knows how that will affect his ability to lead the team?  He’s already set a bad example for the younger players, with his suspension stemming from possession of marijuana charges.  Scottie can lead, but he doesn’t seem like the most vocal.  As a result, his leadership comes from the plays he makes, physically showing his teammates how to do certain things.  Nothing wrong with that, but we can’t underestimate how important the leadership of the 4 seniors from last year’s team. 

In essence, I truly believe someone needs to step into the spotlight and contribute to guiding this team.  Personally, I think this someone should be Antonio Pena.  The big guy has lots of potential, which we’ve seen at times, but more consistency from Pena will be crucial.  He’s been in big games, gone up against the best players in the country, but now it’s time for him to take over.  There are no returning big men on this team (who have seen meaningful action), except for Antonio.

As a result, he needs to guide forwards Taylor King, Maurice Sutton, and freshman Mouphtaou Yarou.  They haven’t experienced Big East basketball like Pena has, which means someone needs to teach them.  The coaches can give it a shot, but it becomes much more surreal when it comes from a player who has been through it.  The natural leaders are going to be Reynolds and Redding, both guards, but the team needs at least one more leader, preferably a big guy.  I know the recent ‘Nova Notebook’ by Mike Sheridan focuses on Big ‘Tone playing a bigger role this year, but there’s a difference between saying it and actually doing it.  If he does it, his ability and guidance of the younger players could be a key cog in Villanova’s success this year.

Do you think Pena needs to step up this year?

Checking in with our counterparts this morning, there was some pretty interesting stuff going on at VUHoops and Villanova By The Numbers.

We’ll start off with the number-crunching greyCat, who sometimes can make my head hurt with such in-depth analaysis, but his latest article covering 10 rising juniors in the Big East is a must-read. The article covers 1o guys who are ‘laying in the weeds’ so to speak, instead of some more high profile players. To give you an idea, it talks about guys like Mac Koshwal, Rick Jackson, Jimmy Butler, and Marshon Brooks. Not guys who have seen their name on a couple All-Big East lists, but guys who have a good impact on the game nonetheless.

greyCat also took a look at 9 rising seniors to watch (a little more notable list) as well as a quick look around of the A-10 for the upcoming year, a conference that yields several of our opponents.

The guys at VUHoops have been very active during the summer recess, running multiple series as well as keeping up with the general Villanova news.

We’ll start with their ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ experiment in which they have been polling their readership to determine what the fans’ feelings are about each player’s upcoming season, and the amount of minutes they will play. They’ve already covered Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Reggie Redding, Maalik Wayns, Corey Stokes, Dominic Cheek and Taylor King. Voting for Antonio Pena is ongoing. Make sure you head over there and participate.

They have also been running a Meet The New Wildcats series which gives fans a little introduction to the 4 newest Wildcats, as well as redshirt freshman Maurice Sutton and transfer Taylor King.

Apparently, you can get in trouble for making a group on Facebook that “woos” a potential college recruit.  This is what happened to North Carolina State freshman Taylor Moseley . He made a Facebook group that read “John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!!!!,” but according to NCAA rules, this is a violation.

Wall is considered to be the nation’s #1 basketball recruit.  The NCAA sees a site like this as trying to influence the college decision of a recruit.  Moseley had to change the name of the group immediately, and if he didn’t, he would have faced “further action” from the university.  The group is now named, “Bring a National Title back to NC STATE!”  Even so, the NCAA could still pursue sanctions against Moseley, such as barring him from NCAA games.

This rule seems a little absurd, and I’m surprised this is the first time the NCAA has brought it up.  There’s no way that Moseley’s group was the first ever to ”woo” a college recruit, so why was his group singled out?  I guess be careful if you’re thinking about making a group like this one.

Added by Chris:

…Remember how I was saying how Taylor King was getting screwed earlier by not being allowed to travel with the team? Yeah…this is yet another example of what is wrong with the NCAA…and please, if anyone from the NCAA is reading this I would just love an explanation of why a freaking Facebook group created by a student is a potential recruiting violation…please NCAA…let us know…

Andy Katz just released his pre-season Top 25 for next year, although he admits that his list will constantly change as more players decide to leave for the NBA or stay in school. Katz does believe that even with the loss of the best senior class in Villanova history, the Wildcats are the team to beat in the Big East next year, ranking them #5 in the country.

“5. Villanova: The Wildcats were one of the most improved teams in the country. Regardless of who returns to Syracuse, Villanova should be the pick in the Big East. Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher and Reggie Redding provide the core for Nova with an infusion of talent arriving led by Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek. Losing Dante Cunningham hurts, but the Wildcats’ incoming class can make up for the departure.”

Again, no mention of Taylor King, but I’m not complaining about a player flying under the radar. That really only helps us. I just have to keep telling myself to not believe the hype — yet.

Again, it’s only April. But the top 10 rankings continue to pour in for Villanova as we look ahead to next year. Jeff Goodman of FOX Sports has ranked the Wildcats #3 in his ridiculously early rankings. Goodman admits losing our seniors will hurt, but thinks the plethora of guards, plus the top-flight freshman will keep us a national title contender.

“There’s no doubt that the loss of the senior class will be felt on the Main Line. Cunningham, Anderson and Clark were team guys who won games. However, there’s still plenty of talent back with a loaded backcourt that includes Reynolds and the Coreys — Fisher and Stokes. Redding has turned into a heck of a player, and Jay Wright adds a big-time freshman class with a trio of elite guys — guards Wayns and Cheek in addition to ultra-talented big man Yarou.”

We’ve seen it before — the little guys can win in Jay Wright’s system. Having Reynolds, Fisher, Stokes and Redding isn’t quite Lowry, Nardi, Ray and Foye, but it’s not that far off. And who knows, they could end up being better.

In my mind it is a lot of expect of the freshman to be as big of contributors as everyone is expecting them to be. There are going to be some games (most likely early in the year) where they make our jaws drop. But the Big East (even though it will be way down next year) is a brutal conference.

And the one guy nobody is talking about? Taylor King. The guy is a bonafide high-end college player. He can score with the best of them. We won’t know what we have from him on defense until we see him, but nobody plays for Jay without defense, and I’m sure Taylor is well aware of that.

Damn I’m excited for next year. I just hope we aren’t heading for a Notre Dame-esque situation.

ZagsBlog has an update on Jarrid Famous, and the Junior College prospect looks to be making his college choice soon. Famous has a trip to Xavier lined up for the weekend of April 10th, and is almost positive that will be his last visit before making a decision.

While he has taken an unofficial visit to Villanova, it is hard to envision him committing to the Wildcats.

…Don’t get me wrong, Famous is a serious talent and could really help Villanova next year as they are losing 3 frontcourt guys in Cunningham, Clark and Anderson but Villanova has essentially 6 new players coming in if you include Taylor King and Maurice Sutton, so having Famous as a 7th is extremely doubtful…with this we’re officially removing Famous from the recruiting watch list…

This past weekend up in Boston, I spent a lot of my time with the great Whitey Rigsby’s son Fred, as well as Taylor King.

(Quick note on Taylor — he’s a great guy, and an even better teammate. He’s been on his own dime the entire tournament and has been there rooting the team on at every game, even though the NCAA is absolutely screwing him.)

Anyways, long story short, all I kept hearing about was Whitey this, and Whitey that. I knew Fred’s dad was the radio man for ‘Nova, but I didn’t know the reach of his legacy. With that in mind, here are some evening links, courtesy of Brian.

• Whitey Rigsby is still showing his love for Villanova over the airwaves…Philadelphia Daily News (Bob Cooney)
• The team appreciates the love, but the road and a focus on the game is a welcome sight…Philadelphia Daily News (John Smallwood)
• We’ve been through so much the last 5 or so years. Are the Gods finally on our side?…Philadelphia Inquirer (Bob Ford)

Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays Taylor King’s feelings on playing Duke this Thursday. King says it’s been difficult because he hasn’t been able to officially be a part of the team since the Big East Tournament, and now must pay his own way up to Boston.

“It’s probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with,” King, a 6-foot-6 forward, said yesterday. “I’ll be in the arena, but I won’t be on the bench, and I won’t be able to play against my old team. But I’m here with my new family, my new team, and I’m excited and ready to watch us play them. I want us to play the best we can and win.”

King also talks about his relationship with Coach K, as well as his relationship with his former classmates Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler.

…Thanks to Brian for the link…