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Big East Roundtable
The East Coast Bias, a blog that specializes in St. Johns basketball and eastern sports has been running a series of Big East blogger Roundtable posts. The first installment is a discussion of departures from various Big East teams as well as the blogger’s anticipation for how those holes will be filled in the coming season.
Big East Roundtable July: Pt 1
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My All-Time Villanova Team
After reading the Nova Blog’s All-Time team, I thought I’d throw together a response. Chris’ All-Time team was heavily biased towards players who were on the mainline during his own era there. Read more
Expansion Apocalypse?
We have discussed this topic endlessly in this and other forums. Conference expansion was years away, then it was imminent, and now it is a while off again. In any case, most people still believe that the Big Ten will eventually expand by somewhere between one and five schools.
The intent here is to provide a primer on expansion for VUhoops readers. So you know what is going on and how it might effect Villanova. Read more
Commencement: Thanks and Congrats
Every year in May, Villanova holds a commencement to recognize the students who completed the requirements of their chosen degree. This year, VUHoops.com salutes those graduating seniors.
Academically, the Class of 2010 was one of the strongest in Villanova’s history. Applications increased drastically every year and acceptance rates declined to match. These graduates are some of the most-accomplished young men and women the University has ever enrolled and the ceiling on their future achievements is limitless. Read more
Post-Graduate Basketball “Academies”
Before College basketball was big business, prospective players went to the same high schools as anyone else. In recent years, however, with college basketball becoming a bigger and bigger business, the professionalization of this “amateur” sport has trickled down to even the high school ranks.
New Jersey, right in Villanova’s backyard, is apparently a hotbed for a new type of “high school,” the post-graduate academy. This isn’t like the postgrad program that Markus Kennedy will be participating in next year, where he will be taking a full schedule of classes at his school. These academies are entirely non-academic. Read more
How Big is it?: Debating the Big 5
Is Villanova’s out-of-conference schedule too weak? Some commenters seem to think so. The options to resolve that perceived deficiency have been kicked around in the comments. One of the more drastic options: Killing the Big 5.
The perception around the Philadelphia college sports community is that Villanovans have no interest in the tradition of the Big 5 or any love of the history of the Palestra. Personally, I appreciate both of those things. In fact, many of my closest friends from Villanova are also fans of the Big 5.
I can’t do justice then, to the opinions of Villanova fans who feel otherwise. For this, I turned to a fellow blogger from (often off-color) Fact on Villanova Sports. Read more
Szczur’s Sandbox: Villanova baseball
Villanova baseball is the third-oldest collegiate baseball program and as of this year, the team has played over 3,000 games over 145 seasons. That means that the Wildcats have been playing baseball for longer than the New York Yankees (109 seasons) or the Philadelphia Phillies (127). So far in their 145th season, the Wildcats are 17-4 and won 2 out of 3 in their Big East opening series against Cincinnati.
Villanova baseball team in 1896 (including the first in a long line of well-dressed coaches)
Glancing at the Crystal Ball: What’s next?
Last year’s heroes Scottie Reynolds and Reggie Redding have used up what was left of their eligibility at Villanova and the 2009-2010 season has come to a close. Without a repeat of last year’s tournament performance, it became apparent how important Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson and Shane “Shiz” Clark were to Villanova’s run to Detroit. Nova Nation was left with a bad taste in its mouth after a February collapse carried into March and now it is time to ponder what the future holds for our Main Line hoopers.
While it seemed likely at the beginning of the season that Corey Fisher might have been set up to turn pro this summer (and don’t be shocked if he tests the waters anyway), he will most likely return to run the point again next year. That means that the ‘Cats once again return most of the roster for next year, which is always a good thing. Read more
“The Thing”
When asked about his benching, Scottie Reynolds referred to it as “The Thing.” What a Thing it was, as he and Corey Fisher Scored a total of 10 points on field goals in the game. You can lay blame for the poor performance on any of a number of things that went wrong, but did “The Thing” have an effect on that game?
You’ll remember the story from Ed’s look back at Villanova history that in 1985, Coach Rollie Massimino benched his starting lineup in the second half of a game at Pittsburgh at the end of the regular season. Villanova had been collapsing at the end of the 1985 season and Coach Massimino wasn’t happy with the team’s desire and commitment, so he benched all of them. Those ‘Cats narrowly escaped Pitt in the Big East Tournament before losing to St. John’s in the semi-final by 15. Read more
Two-seed Thoughts
Early in the season Villanova was hyped as a candidate for a #1 seeding in this year’s NCAA tournament. After one of the worst Februaries in recent memory, however, many of us were praying for a #3 seed (and worrying that we could drop to a #4 or worse).
Some fans and commentators have speculated that the NCAA may have created this bracket to give Duke the easiest possible ride to the Final Four, and perhaps a national title. Not many people would look at the bracket and claim that the South Region is the most difficult, or even comparatively difficult at all. Don’t let that fool you though, it won’t be a cakewalk for anyone. Read more
