I’m not sure how it happened, as I wasn’t able to see the game last night. But it sure seems like Villanova was down by 15 points with 3 minutes remaining in the game, and still beat LSU…in regulation. The bloggers at LetsGoNova have a good account of the action.

It seems as though LSU decided to employ the ever-popular “foul your opponent when he’s attempting a 3-pointer” strategy to ensure Villanova could get within striking distance.

Categories: Game Banter, Mister D, Villanova
1 Comment »

1. Old Dominion University is going to get its ass kicked today by Georgetown. Last year, Georgetown lost to ODU in a complete embarrassment at its campus home, McDonough Arena. Of course, Georgetown went on to have a great season, but I don’t doubt that JTIII is still smarting from that loss. Expect them to go Cobra Kai on them today. No mercy.

2. Remember this from two years ago at MSG. Not for those with weak stomachs:

That’s what you call tenacious D.

Categories: Commentary, donald, Georgetown, Villanova
5 Comments »

Nova will not have Curtis Sumpter this year. They will not have Mike Nardi and Will Sheridan. These are big losses. But they will have Scottie Reynolds and Dante Cunningham back. After those two they wil have to roll the dice.

Frontcourt – Dante Cunningham is the returner up front. Cunningham (8.7ppg,5.4rpg) is a good start. Casiem Drummond (1.7ppg, 1.9rpg) will probably man the center position. Behind them only Frank Tchuisi (0.4ppg, 0.2rpg) has experience. Antonio Pena and Andrew Ott both redshirted last year. It will be a tall order for this frontcourt to compete against the better big men in the league. GRADE – C-

Backcourt – Scottie Reynolds (14.8ppg, 4.0apg) was brilliant at times. He also played out of control way too much. He has the tools to be the leader on this team. The question is… will he let his teammates play too? Shane Clark will move into the SF position. Clark (7.4ppg, 4.0rpg) can play small forward or shooting guard. He will fit in quite nicely. Reggie Redding (2.8ppg, 2.4rpg) will be the SG. Dwayne Anderson (3.5ppg, 1.9rpg) will lend experience at the guard position off the bench. Freshmen Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes are both highly regarded and may earn serious playing time. Malcolm Grant (FR) will back up Reynolds at the point. GRADE – B+

Depth – Anderson is the only man off the bench with real experience. The freshmen will see playing time almost immediately. If Drummond or Cunningham get hurt or into foul trouble,  Nova will be in big trouble. GRADE – D+

Outlook – It will be interesting to see if Reynolds matured from last year. He can dominate a game like no other player in the league. He can also cost the Wildcats games if he tries to do it all himself. The supporting cast for Nova will be just that…… supporting. GRADE - C+

Categories: Coach O, Commentary, Contributors, Villanova
2 Comments »

Some of us were packing his bags for him while others saw things more reasonably. It looks like Scottie’s back for another year as discussed on Let’sGoNova. Apparently one of the implications of Reynolds staying might be transfers. There’s just not enough minutes to go around.

The Wildcats are simply too talented and young to not see improvement from this year to next. They also appear to be “underachievers” after losing their share of close games and playing one of the tougher schedules in America. With Reynolds back, they’ve got to be a favorite next year.

For Scottie personally, time will tell if his decision pays off. Perhaps he’s already gotten a strong indication that he was bound for the second round at best.

Categories: BlogWatch, Dan'l B, Villanova
1 Comment »

Well the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is almost over and the Big East results are in….some good and some not so good. Looking at the teams that did not advance here are some observations.

NOTRE DAME - A very disappointing loss in round one to Winthrop. I know everyone and their brothers were talking up Winthrop before the tourney began but the Irish didn’t lose because Winthrop is another George Mason. When a team shoots 4-13 from the free throw line you just assume they are a bad free throw shooting squad. Not the case here. The Irish shot about 75% for the year from the line. Shooting 31% in a tourney game is sure to get you a loss. ND shot 40% from the 3 point line this season but could manage 4 for 22 or 18% in the Winthrop game. They were also outrebounded 43-41. All this from a team that looked very good coming off the tough Georgetown loss in the BET. But let’s not forget that Winthrop was on an 18 game win streak with their most impressive wins over Mississippi State and High Point (twice). The Irish picked a bad time to have tourney jitters against a team that dominated squads like Radford, Coastal Carolina, and Liberty in conference. This loss was a huge blow to the reputation of the Big East.

Marquette – The Eagles just are not very good. I’m sure with McNeal they would have made a better showing but any team with a warm body up front could dominate Marquette at the end of the season. Shame because they were on a roll early on and just couldn’t get it going when it counted. 

Villanova – The worst thing that could have happened to Scottie Reynolds was scoring 40 against UConn. The Cats went 2-3 from that point on. Reynolds began to play like he had no teammates and wanted to be the whole show. He pushed Sumpter into a supporting role and Nardi was too injured to take charge of the team. Was Jay Wright looking to sell a package to the Sixers with Reynolds as the star and Wright as coach? When Reynolds got the ball it was time for all teammates to go wait in the bench area until he either took a 35 foot jumper or tried to drive through all 5 opponents on the floor. Don’t get me wrong, Scottie is a tremendous talent. He should just try a little to be a team  player. His one-man show probably cost Villanova a chance to move on to the 2nd round.

Louisville – Nice first round crushing of Stanford, an average team from a weak league (with way too much respect in the seedings). Sosa had 16 in that win, but the troubling fact from that game is that he only had 1 assist. Today against Texas A&M he took one of the worst shots at the end of a game that I have ever seen. Oh, yeah, he did have 31 points. AND 1 assist. Here is a point guard who is a Scottie Reynolds wannabe. 47 points in two games and 2 assists! I’m sure that’s not the shot Pitino called for, down one with 15 seconds left. Or would Rick wind the clock down to have his freshman point guard fire one up from 25 feet? Someone has to tell these Freshmen point guards that there are TEAMMATES who are on scholarship too.

Pitt – Still going! It took an overtime to extend the Panthers’ season after blowing a 19 point lead in the second half. But they do play like a team and deserve to be where they are. More on them later.

Georgetown – The Hoyas are the toast of the Big East for making toast out of Jared Dudley and his headband teammates. BC is home again…… knocked out again by a Big East team (Nova erased them last year). Still fun to watch the Hoyas run an offense like no other BE team and when they turn up the heat on D they can put the brakes on most teams. More on them later.

Maybe when the pundits claimed this a down year for the Big East they weren’t far off target. Sure looked like our crying about ND’s 6 seed was off target. Syracuse almost lost the 1st round of the NIT, UConn could only beat Division One bottom dwellers and three of our six went out on Day 1. But we still have two in the dance.

So…… at this point we have 2 teams in the Sweet Sixteen. The scoreboard shows the ACC has one, SEC has three, Big 12 has two, Big Ten has one, Pac 10 has three, Conference USA has one, Missouri Valley has one, Mountain West has one and the Horizon has one.

Categories: Coach O, Commentary, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Postseason, Villanova
5 Comments »