In sports we spend a lot of time talking about leadership. We want it from our coaches, our players, and perhaps even from the student section. According to a recent post on Rivals.com, Jay Wright boiled the ’09-’10 collapse down to:

They had more flaws than their sparkling record suggested, they started believing their own hype at roughly the same time as the Big East schedule stiffened and they ultimately entered the postseason short on confidence and momentum.

A fair analysis, but what Wright said all boils down to what the more succinct statement that he told at least one sportswriter off the record: What the Wildcats lacked down the stretch was LEADERSHIP.

Filling that gap is an important step in any attempt to return to the highest levels of basketball success. Can we expect this year’s seniors to take on that role?

Based on a report from Rivals, it would seem like Jay Wright’s senior captains are already on the right track. Coach Wright told that website: “I’m really impressed with the leadership from our seniors. I see great chemistry on this team, a real commitment to working hard as opposed to a bunch of first-year guys coming into a program that just went to the Final Four and thinking it just happens.”

Anecdotally, he relayed a story of something that he saw over the summer: As he walked past on on-campus pool (most likely the Pavilion pool), he saw Corey Fisher and Antonio Pena spending their off-day teaching the underclassmen how to swim so that later aquatic workout sessions would be smoother.

Along with fellow senior Corey Stokes, the work output this summer has been impressive. The three seniors put extra time into their shooting practice to the tune of a few hundred shots per day this summer, hit the weight room often, and have been organizing and leading their teammates for 7 a.m. running at the football stadium every morning.

Any great player can be a statistical leader on the court, but filling up a box score is not going to make the players around you any better. How often in sports do we see teams with a lone superstar fail to win it all?

Villanova is a tremendously talented team again this year. With the kind of off-the-court leadership that it takes to bring all of the players to be their best come game-day, the Wildcats would be poised for a big season. Winning games against some of the most talented programs in the country takes practice, discipline and strong leadership, before, after and during a game.

With those considerations, it’s not a stretch for Villanovans to imagine this season’s Mayor’s Cup going about the same as last year’s — a close game, with some dazzling plays by the Wildcats giving them another victory to start the season.

Villanova leads the all-time series against Temple with a record of 16-12-2. When this four-game series ends, Villanova will still have the all-time lead, the only question is how big that lead will be.

Despite all the returning players, neither Temple nor Villanova is the same team that took to the Linc this time last year.

Last year Temple started Vaughn Charlton at Quarterback. This season, the senior Charlton is a tight end and the junior Chester Stewart will be under center at 5pm when this year’s rivalry kicks off.

Stewart completed under 50% of his pass attempts last year. He had a few games where he did better, but his overall yardage was 514.

Furthermore, Bernard Pierce, the subject of all of those Heisman-promo billboards only attempted 6 carries last year against the Wildcats. He was very successful in those carries, however, averaging over 7 yards per carry (if you eliminate one massive 22 yard run, he only averaged 4.4yards per carry on his other five). He rose to the top of Temple’s depth chart somewhere around week 3, and he will be getting quite a few carries in tomorrow’s game.

For Villanova, there will be no Brandyn Harvey, who produced a number of the season’s best catches and was Chris Whitney’s number one target. This season, the number two target, Matt Szczur, will be expected to step up and lead the charge.

Szczur only had seven touches in last year’s Mayor’s Cup. This year, he will need to have an impact similar to the one he had against Montana last year. There he had only 4 receptions, but he also carried the ball 14 times and lead the Wildcats in rushing and receiving.

Together with Chris Whitney, he scored a touchdown by passing, receiving and rushing. Szczur also scored on special teams, where he plays every snap. In fact, the only time he won’t be on the turf is when the ‘Cats are on defense (not that it would stop him if the coaches would allow him, he played safety in high school in addition to QB, running back and serving as a backup Punter).

Villanova’s defense will be the biggest change from last year. Losses included linebacker Osayi Osunde, hard-hitting safety Ross Ventrone, as well as defensive linemen Phil Matusz and Tim Kuckucka.

Matusz will be replaced at nose tackle by Thomas Weaver, another big run-plugger. He may be backed up by a true freshman — as is always the case in FCS, depth is going to be an issue. While the loss of Osunde will hurt, the ‘Cats do return CAA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Terence Thomas, as well as two-time All-CAA pick Marquis Kirkland.

Last year’s ‘Cats played primarily in a 3-3-5 defensive scheme (playing with an extra safety). However, this season, Andy Talley may show some different looks to opposing offenses.

If the defense can stop Temple’s rushing attack and Chris Whitney and Matt Szczur can lead the Wildcats to the endzone, expect another thrilling game this year. If the ‘Cats allow Bernard Pierce to run at will, the Villanova faithful may want to hide their eyes. If anything is certain, however, it is that Andy Talley is able to make the most of his players.

We will soon learn what the Magician of the Main Line has in store for the 2010 edition of Villanova Football.

Kickoff is at 5:00pm at Lincoln Financial Field and the game will be “televised” on ESPN3.com.

Edit (11:40pm): I have heard that the Villanova student tickets “sold out” for this game.

Of course this leads one to wonder how the departure of Villanova’s own four-year star player will affect the ‘Cats going into the 2010-2011 season. Scottie Reynolds was a force in the backcourt for the past four years. Could a “Ewing Theory” bump be in order?

What is Ewing Theory?

When Bill Simmons explained the Ewing Theory, he laid out two criteria for a situation to qualify:

A star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him (other than maybe some early-round playoff series).

That same athlete leaves his team (either by injury, trade, graduation, free agency or retirement) — and both the media and fans immediately write off the team for the following season.

Under this particular definition, Villanova isn’t quite in a Ewing Theory situation. While Scottie Reynolds received an inordinate amount of media attention and certainly held the lions share of our interest as fans, he did take his team to the Final Four as a junior. Then again, Patrick Ewing took his Georgetown team to a National title as a junior, so maybe Scottie’s case can get past the first element.

The second element isn’t much of an issue, however. Though some media and fans have wondered how Villanova will play in the absence of Scottie, the general expectations for the program next season remain high. Most polls have the ‘Cats as one of the higher-rated Big East programs and a top-10 team overall.

A graduate student in theoretical physics recently attempted a more-exact explanation of the theory. On the blog Gravity and Levity, he wrote:

Like the study of traffic patterns, basketball is a network problem.  Each possession can be thought of as a journey from point A to point B, where point A is the beginning of the possession and point B is a shot attempt.  The team can go from A to B by any number of routes.

Every player who touches the ball can either take a shot or pass. When  a team has a star player who is the best offensive option on the court, the tendency is for that player to take more shots.

However, as the blogger explains, while one player may be the most effective scoring option on the team, that does not mean that he should take a shot on every play:

That’s because, as a scorer, he will become less efficient the more he is used.  The more shots Patrick takes, the more the defenses will focus on him and make it hard for him to score.  As a result, Patrick’s teammates should take some significant fraction of the team’s shots, even though they are not as good as he is.

Further evidence shows that, for both guards and big men, field goal percentage decreases as the number of shots per game increases.

When the star is off of the court, the team is forced to share the ball more:

When the team’s best player is not on the court, the team is forced to make harder, lower-percentage plays and to share the ball.  And when a team shares better, it plays better: the defense is kept off balance and has no room to focus in on any one guy. These sorts of improvements can make up for the loss of direct offensive production.

How it applies to Villanova

Villanova loses Scottie Reynolds to graduation at the end of last season. Scottie hit 45% of his shots in 2009-2010 and took about 20% of the team’s field goal attempts. Assuming he played every minute of every game, Scottie would have taken roughly “his share” of an equally-distributed pie of shots and no more.

Of course, it isn’t as simple as dividing Scottie’s 396 field goal attempts by the 1962 shots taken by the team. Scottie played about 15% of the total minutes available to a Wildcat player last season (meaning that he played less than every minute of every game). This would seem to indicate that Scottie’s share of the shots-taken was actually slightly higher than an evenly-spread 1/5th when he was on the court.

Scottie took more shots than the players surrounding him, but will his departure lead to a more even-sharing of shooting?

For one thing, the departure of Reynolds may lead to other players taking a bigger role in the offense. One of those players whose role will increase is Corey Fisher. Fisher is no slouch at scoring himself, last season he took the second-greatest number of shots on the team (but still 96 fewer than Scottie), and also had a tendency to take a greater number of shots than his teammates.

With a great amount of talent throughout the roster, however, Fisher may be tempted to pass the ball more. Unlike Scottie Reynolds, whose assist numbers slightly declined over four years, Corey Fisher’s assist numbers have only risen as he was given more playing time. Will Fisher pass the ball enough to create a Ewing Theory gain?

Some of the most successful Villanova teams in recent memory had more balanced scoring. In ’05-’06 Elite Eight squad, Randy Foye and Allan Ray both scored a truckload of points (677 and 591 respectively), while point-guard Kyle Lowry and Mike Nardi each scored over 300 points as well (and interestingly, Lowry was the most efficient scorer in the starting line-up while taking fewer shots). On the ’08-’09 Final Four team, Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds scored a similar number of points (612 and 579 respectively), while Fisher scored 410, Stokes scored 352 and two more players were over 270 points.

In ’09-’10, Scottie Reynolds outscored everyone on the team with 602 points. Fisher did alright, scoring 440, while two players were over 300 points and two were over 200. While Scottie scored a lot of points, the second-option (Fisher) was not evenly-matched like it was in those other successful years. On the road to the Final Four, a defense that focused on Dante Cunningham would be taken advantage of by Scottie and vice-versa. It was a similar story in ’05-’06, if you paid too much attention to what Randy Foye was doing, Allan Ray was inevitably waiting to knock down a baseline 3.

Conclusions?

The basis of the Ewing Theory is that a more-balanced scoring offense will operate better than one that becomes overly reliant on a star player. I have no doubt that the offensive failings late in the 2009-2010 season were fueled by a tendency for teammates to defer to Scottie Reynolds.

He was forced to shoot the ball more, face tougher defenses and still managed to produce great numbers. However, the lack of a strong second option hurt the team in the long run. Though Fisher, Pena, Cheek and others had shown they were capable of scoring, nobody stepped up to become that gemini-scoring threat that could shift the offense into 5th gear.

If Corey Fisher, hot off his 105 point summer league game, comes in and takes Scottie’s place, the team is in danger of repeating last season’s mistakes.

If, however, Fisher returns as a true point guard and finds ways to share the scoring opportunities with his teammates, expect a Ewing-theory result. While we need to hope that total scoring will not decline over the season, the hope must be that the scoring is divided as evenly as possible through the lineup with multiple “stars” sharing the wealth of points.

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 1

The second installment discusses each school’s new freshman class of players, and how the bloggers think they will fit into the mix.

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 2

The third part is a discussion of 2011 recruiting around the Big East. Who has already committed, offers outstanding, and guys that coaches would love to have.

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 3

The fourth part poses the question: Will 2010-2011 be a “down year” for the Big East? Has it been “down” recently?

Big East Roundtable July: Pt 4

I’ll warn you that some of these get a little repetitive with three Villanova blogs participating: Villanova By the Numbers, The Nova Blog and, of course, VUhoops.com. However, the roundtable is a must-read if you want to know what to expect from our Big East rivals this season.

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.

The Nova Blog’s All-Time team contained a number of memorable names. His five-man line-up is:

• G – Scottie Reynolds
• G – Randy Foye
• G – Kerry Kittles
• F – Dante Cunningham
• F – Ed Pinckney
• Coach – Rollie Massimino

To Chris’ credit, he did preface his team by stating that:

Keep in mind I’m a young’n, and I don’t know much beyond the 80′s. In fact, while we’re at it, I’m sticking to what I know. I’m not going beyond that to legends that are just that to me: legends.

With my team, I am going to reach beyond the 1980s and I’ll reach into the world of legends. I’m also going to include a 6th man because I’m covering a lot of temporal territory here. So here we go:

• G – Kenny Wilson ’89
• G – Kerry Kittles ’96
• G/F – Paul Arizin ’50
• F – Howard Porter ’71
• F – Ed Pinckney ’85
• G – Scottie Reynolds ’10
• Coach – Jack Kraft

So, now comes the part where I justify my picks:

My Case for Kenny Wilson: Unless you were on the Main Line in the late ’80s, Kenny Wilson is probably not the guy you think of when you think of Villanova guards. That said, he was one of the best true point guards in this program’s history. His amazing handle on the ball, combined with great instincts allowed him to rack up more assists than any other Villanova player.

Wilson was a four-year starter for the Wildcats, leading them to an Elite Eight appearance in 1988. He scored 1,390 points during his tenure, ranking him 30th all-time, but his assist numbers show that he was even more valuable in creating opportunities for his teammates.

My Case for Kerry Kittles: Perhaps one of the easier cases to make here. While Villanova has been known for it’s glut of great guards recently, Kerry Kittles stood alone in the 90′s as Villanova’s superman.

Kittles is the All-Time leader at Villanova in points (2,243) and steals (277), along with 13 other records. He is 13th All-time in ssists (408), and 18th in rebounds (715). He was a First Team All-American as a senior after making the second-team as a junior.

My Case for Paul Arizin (a case I shouldn’t even have to make): Paul Arizin’s status as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, let alone the greatest Villanovans was cemented a long time ago. Arizin is in the NBA Hall of Fame, he revolutionized the game with his line-drive jump shot.

In 82 games for Villanova (and before the 3-point line or the shot-clock), he scored 1648 points. In 1950, he lead the nation in scoring with 25.3 points per game, and was voted the Collegiate Player of the Year. In 1949 he scored 89 (I repeat: EIGHTY NINE) points in a game (once again, no shot clock, no three-point line) against the Naval Air Materials Center (ok, so it wasn’t UCLA or Kentucky, it’s still impressive).

“Pitchin’ Paul” Arizin is without-a-doubt one of the top-five men to ever wear a Villanova basketball uniform.

My Case for Howard Porter: Howard is the All-Time Rebounds (1,317) leader at Villanova. He scored 2,036 points for the Wildcats. He did it all in an era when Jack Kraft didn’t play freshmen, schedules were shorter, and (once again) there was no shot clock or 3-point line.

Porter scored over 2,000 points in 89 games, for an average of about 22.8 points per game. Kerry Kittles did his damage in 122 games. If we expand Porter’s stats out over 122 games (multiplying that by 22.8 points per), he could have scored around 2,781 points. I won’t do the same for rebounds, because I don’t want your jaws to drop too much. Porter was the real deal.

My Case for Ed Pinckney: Ed was a hardworking member of the 1985 Champions. In an era where Patrick Ewing was considered unstoppable in college, Pinckney stopped him. He scored 1,865 points in college (that’s in Nova’s top 1o), was 4th in rebounds (1,107), and is 7th in steals (196 – not bad for a big man).

At the end of the 1985 NCAA Tournament, Easy Ed was awarded the Most Outstanding Player award.

My Case for Scottie Reynolds: A scoring threat for four years in college, Scottie shot his way to 2nd place on the all-time scoring list with 2,222 points. As a four-year starter, Scottie was the Wildcats’ go-to scoring option for the last four years. Scoring wasn’t Scottie’s only trick, however, he is also 7th All-Time for Assists (472), and 4th for Steals ( 203). Kerry Kittles is the only other player to break 2000 points, 400 assists and 200 steals in his Villanova career.

If that isn’t enough, Scottie is one of only four Wildcats to be named a First Team all-American by the Associated Press (the others being Arizin, Foye and Kittles). He is the ideal sixth man here because his scoring prowess and ability to play both guard spots effectively made him a versatile player.

My Case for Jack Kraft: Villanova has been lucky with coaches over the years. Even Steve Lappas posted a winning record on the Main Line. Rollie Massimino took the ‘Cats to a National Title, and Jay Wright is currently taking his team on a tear of success.

Jack Kraft, however, stands alone. In 12 years on the Main Line, Kraft earned a post-season bid 11 times. Coaching in an era before the NCAA tournament went to 64 teams, the accomplishment of making even the NIT field is rather impressive. In addition to just making it to the NCAA tournament, Kraft took his team to title game in 1971 (led by Howard Porter), losing to UCLA and Coach John Wooden during their legendary streak of championships. Many people believe that the Wildcats (who got hot late in the game) could have come back to win the title in ’71 had the shot clock been in existence. Instead Wooden had his team “freeze” the  ball, to stop the ‘Cats and end their surge.

With a record of 238-95 (.715), Kraft is the winningest coach in Villanova basketball history. He also recruited two of the best bigs in Wildcat history, Howard Porter and Jim Washington. Until Jay Wright eclipses him, he deserves this spot.

—

Now it’s your turn: Where did I go wrong? Who did I miss? How would you fill out the bench on an all-time team?

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.

Best Case Scenarios

Any scenario where the Big East loses only one or fewer teams would be a clear winner. It would be an even bigger win if that one team were Notre Dame.

It would be relatively easy to pick up a single football program. In Notre Dame’s case, the need to replace the school within the conference would hardly be imminent, and while the replacement would likely be a football member, it wouldn’t have to be.

There is no shortage of mid-major schools that would love a taste of the Big East pie. Memphis and UCF from Conference USA have notably made their interest in joining another conference known recently. Adding one might allow the conference to expand or recover from a raid, adding both, or more could cause the Big East to lose it’s status as a major football conference. Adding schools like East Carolina to replenish the football conference might injure basketball.

Honestly though, East Carolina is not a major conference candidate. To be a viable major conference program in a world where money is the endgame, you need to be able to bring in a large fan base or a lot of TV viewers. Schools in larger TV markets and those flagship state schools with a lot of fans are the real targets of conference expansion. East Carolina is neither.

Worst case

Other than Notre Dame, the likely Big East schools to be lost to a raid would be Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh or perhaps Connecticut. In any scenario where multiple schools from that list were to leave, the Big East would be forced to scramble to replace them. Some of the remaining football schools may not want to risk the fall-out.

If other major conferences start offering membership to Big East football schools in the wake of a Big Ten raid, you can expect those remaining football schools to jump on the offers. Why wait around and see if a neutered conference can compete? Why stay on-board when the Big East may lose it’s BCS status and perhaps its earning power.

People have already speculated on the landing spots for various teams. A simple Google search will turn up numerous proposed realignment scenarios. It’s not that hard to imagine, however, that a 16-team Big Ten could encourage other conferences to reach similar membership levels. The ACC, for example, may take the opportunity to bridge the geographic gap between Boston College and Maryland.

If a raid were to implicate more than one Big East school, and especially if it implicated three or more, it would probably signal the end of the conference as we know it.

Which Teams are Implicated?

As mentioned, the major Big East candidates for the Big Ten are Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and UConn.

Most people speculate that the Big Ten will not accept members that are not also members of the Association of American Universities. Both UConn and Notre Dame would fail that test, however, the Big Ten’s public courting of Notre Dame a few years back would suggest that they may be interested in bending that rule.

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh seemingly has it all. An AAU member with quality programs in both football and basketball. Pitt would be a great in-state rival for Penn State and would improve the Big Ten in two sports.

However, if expansion is really about money, it’s hard to believe that Pittsburgh adds a lot of it. The Pennsylvania market is already covered by Penn State, who have a ratings foothold from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. Pittsburgh adds nothing for the Big Ten Network that Penn State doesn’t already provide, except for a small ratings bump in Pittsburgh when the Panthers are playing.

Syracuse

The Orange were a target for the ACC during the last round of realignment. They bring a big alumni base and a top notch basketball program to the table. Football struggles to be competitive at the highest levels these days, but clearly competitiveness isn’t the biggest concern.

If Syracuse can (or is perceived to be able to) deliver the New York market, it could be a financial bonanza for the Big Ten Network. That, however, remains entirely unclear.

Rutgers

Rutgers is the closest Big East football school to the New York City market. Their football team is a growing power while basketball has lately been in decline. As a flagship state school, however, it would fit the Big Ten mold better than some of the other options in the Big East. Of course, Rutgers never really inspired the loyalties of New Jersey (or New York) residents like Penn State, Michigan, Indiana and others.

UConn

Connecticut has only been playing FBS football for a few years, but has been reasonably successful in that time. Add to that a basketball program that has been among the nation’s elite since Jim Calhoun was hired.

Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut is a television market with over 1 million TV households (the 30th market by size). The proximity to New York City may also help deliver TV viewers in that market as well.

If the Big Ten is not interested, the ACC might be. Connecticut would help bridge their geographic gap between North and South and would bolster their strong basketball credentials.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame is the ultimate wildcard. They’re clearly desirable for the Big Ten, but they publicly claim to prefer independence in football. Hardly a superpower or a major draw in basketball, losing Notre Dame would hurt a little bit for the Big East, but would hardly be a death-blow.

In football, Notre Dame is a big enough draw that they would easily hold their own financially in the Big Ten.

If Notre Dame does not join the Big Ten, they would likely be forced to remain with the Big East. There is no other obvious fit for them. In the Big East they can stay a football independent for the moment at least, and maintain many of their traditional rivalries.

The case for football

For Villanova, football is the key to conference realignment. A basketball powerhouse from a major conference that is mentally and physically associated with the fifth-largest city in the United States. As it stands, the Big East is the only major conference that has members that don’t field a team in football.

In order to land in a major conference in the event that realignment lands a mortal blow against the Big East, football probably needs to be part of the deal. Supposing that a proper venue could be located, the football team in its current form is no less competitive than a middle-of-the-road team in the Big East or ACC.

If money and football are the basis for conference expansions, adding a competitive basketball and football program in a major metropolitan area would be a desireable move for all of the major conferences, who would see a spike in their television revenue by adding a large TV market.

It is entirely unlikely that a major conference would add Villanova over Temple or another school with an FBS football team if the ‘Cats were unable to field a team at that level.

Catholic East

If Villanova is not able to land in a major conference such as the ACC, the other likelihood is that an expansion apocalypse could lead to the Big East transforming into a Catholic Conference.

Assuming all of the football schools were to go their separate ways and leave the Big East, the eight basketball schools would be left to decide their future independently. Eight schools alone is enough to field a conference in basketball and the olympic sports, so there is no necessary rush to expand back to 16 teams.

If the Big East were to turn into Catholic East, a raid on the Atlantic 10 may be the next logical step to improve the earning possibilities of the conference. Xavier, Dayton and St. Louis are perennially competitive basketball programs in reasonably large markets.  It may be possible to maintain a borderline major status in basketball.

If Villanova were to decide to remain an FCS football school, they would have to be a part of this Catholic Conference.

Currently, the Big East (the only conference that negotiates TV rights for basketball separately) pays each member somewhere around $2 million per year for basketball. One one the better basketball-only conferences is the Atlantic 10. The A10′s television deal for men’s basketball is worth around $1million per year for the entire conference. As it stands, right now, the entire Atlantic 10 television deal is less than what Villanova alone receives from the Big East on an annual basis.

Defensive Moves

The options to save the Big East are very limited. Most likely the conference has to sit back and brace itself for an raid that might happen.

In hoping to head off a raid, the Big East has a few options:

• Increase the buyout amount to withdraw from the conference: A highly unlikely option. It already costs a significant amount to get out of the Big East, but any school would be foolish to pay more than the value of the Big East revenue they recieve, which is vastly lower than that received by Big Ten schools
• Give the ultimatum to Notre Dame: Tell Notre Dame that it’s all-or-nothing, football or no sports. This move would either bring Notre Dame football (and a huge pay day) to the Big East, or force them toward the Big Ten. Some observers believe that Notre Dame would be all it would take to satisfy the Big Ten’s hunger, but if the plan to go to 16 teams regardless, it may remain too little.
• Form a Big East cable network: The conference already has a “Big East Network” that airs games and some content in markets where there are Big East teams but no national interest, but it isn’t a true cable network in the nature of the Big Ten Network. A Big East Network would immediately appear (at a rate of about $0.70 per cable subscriber) in somewhere between 25 and 30 million homes (since the Big East covers 3 of the 4 biggest cities in the country and almost every major metro area in the northeast).

A TV network seems like th biggest winner from this selection. The conference has a strong presence in major TV markets and basketball will provide a significant amount of TV content during the season to keep the conference flush with cash. It’s a risky venture, but at a minimum of 25 million households, the network would presumably cover more ground than the Big Ten Network as currently constituted (even if Rutgers were lost to realignment).

What of the Pac-10?

The latest rumor is that the Pac-10 conference plans to raid six teas from the Big XII. Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado would be targeted in this expansion. The finances seem appealing for these schools to jump ship.

If the rumor is true, and those teams all left to join the Pac-10, it would leave the six remaining schools looking for a new home. The Big Ten would be interested (and reportedly IS interested) in Missouri and Nebraska. The remaining schools, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas an Kansas State ma or may not find a new affiliation.

Kansas and K-State may find a new home in the Big East, if that conference were willing to expand to 18 schools (10 for football). That would provide the football schools a two-school buffer, should the conference be raided by the Big Ten at a later date. Kanas (as an AAU member) may also campaign for a Big Ten membership. In football the draw of Kansas and K-State is perhaps limited, but in basketball, both currently possess programs that are nationally relevant (and in the case of KU, it is historically relevant as well).

For the Big East, adding Kansas and Kansas State would stretch the geographic boundaries of the conference. Nonetheless, with the Big Ten looking to raid the East for either two or three schools, it may make sense to head them off at the pass by adding two major conference programs in anticipation of a raid.

At 18 schools (10 for football) it would be very difficult for a Big Ten raid to inflict a mortal injury upon the conference. Even if three schools were lost to the bigger conference, the selection of midmajor football schools to bring aboard would hardly be too poor to maintain the status of the conference.

The Big XII raid may be the best thing that ever happened to the Big East. Giving the conference options it would never have otherwise, and allowing the Big East commissioner options that he would otherwise not have (i.e. picking up major-conference football/basketball programs, rather than raiding a weakened Conference USA again).

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Update (1:00pm): Somewhat predictably, the Pac-10 has issued a statement denying the above-noted rumor that they have offered six schools membership. The Pac-10 commish said the following: “We have not extended any invitations for expansion and we do not anticipate any such decisions in the near term.”

Does this mean that it won’t happen? No, but we should anticipate that a move is (again) not as imminent as we previously anticipated.

Rumors have also been flying about a potential Big Ten invite for Texas. It’s safe to say that Texas is the biggest fish in this round of conference expansion (bigger than Notre Dame). The Longhorns will have their pick of landing spots should the Big XII cease to exist, but while they can keep the Big XII together, they will choose to do so, because the uneven revenue sharing in that conference leaves them with a massive pay-day and annual match-ups with their traditional rivals. Recent emails have suggested that Texas does have some interest in the Big Ten, however.

There have also been rumblings that the SEC could make an offer to Texas and Texas A&M. While there is no indication that Texas is particularly motivated to go in that direction, there is definite interest on the part of A&M.

See also: Rush The Court on the Pac-10/Big XII rumor

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.

The Class of 2010 saw a lot of ups and downs during their tenure at Villanova, but unlike older classes, these graduates never saw their ‘Cats lose to a division II school like Chaminade. They never saw a basketball season that ended after the Big East Tournament and never had to hope for an NIT berth to keep the season going.

This class celebrated the school’s first ever National Championship in football as well as one in women’s Cross Country (the 17th and 18th in school history). They watched a basketball team go to a Final Four for the first time since 1985. In all, the Class of 2010′s tenure coincided with one of the most successful periods in Villanova’s athletics history.

In particular, the athletic achievements of the following graduating seniors were notable:

Russell Wooten:

Though Russell only spent two years on the roster and never averaged more than 1.4 minutes per game (playing in 22 games over two seasons). He spent two years as a practice player after being a 1st Team all-conference player at St. Augustine high school in Chula Vista, California.

Wooten came to Villanova without a scholarship offer and volunteered to work out to help the scholarship players develop. By providing opposition in practice, Wooten helped strengthen the basketball program from behind the scenes.

In the 2008-2009 Final Four season he played in 14 games, seeing a total of 21 minutes and recording two rebounds. In the 2009-2010 season, he played in 8 games and scored the first points of his college career.

Russell picked Villanova not only for basketball, but because of his interest in the superior academics. He will graduate with his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.

Reggie Redding:

Reggie came to Villanova after a legendary career at St. Joseph’s Prep, where he was the school’s all-time leading scorer and was named first team All-Philadelphia Catholic League as a senior. Reggie had scholarship offers from NC State, Boston College and Pitt, but chose Villanova over all of them.

After being a stud scorer in high school, Redding was asked to become a defender at Villanova. It took hard work, but by his Junior year, he was heralded as the team’s best defensive player and a key starter on the Wildcats’ run to the Final Four.

Reggie Redding won the 2009 Paul Arizin Award for most improved player on the Villanova squad, and went on to share the 2010 Most Outstanding Player award in his senior season.

Reggie worked hard to earn his minutes at Villanova like Dwayne Anderson before him.

Scottie Reynolds:

It is hardly necessary to summarize Scottie Reynolds’ career. In addition to 2,222 points career scoring (2nd in school history), Reynolds had 482 assists (6th) and 203 steals (4th). Perhaps more impressively, after playing 139 games in a Villanova uniform, Scottie Reynolds is tied with Dante Cunningham for the school record of most games played.

Scottie is practically a sure thing to have his jersey hanging from the rafters some day. Winning the Most Outstanding Player award for the 2009 NCAA East Regional, as well as being named a consensus first-team all-everything as a senior, Scottie’s career was among the most-decorated in school history.

As I wrote for the blog Ballin’ is a Habit, Scottie came to Villanova as a great hope for a program that had just lost 75% of the best backcourt in America. His role changed over four years, from the wild scoring machine to an efficient team leader.

Regardless of all of the statistics and honors that Scottie won over the years, he will always be the player that took Villanova to the Final Four by sheer force of will.

Congratulations to ALL of the Members of the Villanova Class of 2010.

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.

Recently, Ocean Academy in New Jersey, was the subject of a police investigation over their housing arrangements for 30 basketball players in a single-story rental house. Ocean Academy doesn’t offer classes, other than an optional SAT prep course that costs players extra. What they do offer, for about $400 per month, is an opportunity to play basketball and be seen by college coaches.

The price may sound steep, but compared to the cost of tuition at programs like Winchendon, it is a bargain.

Other notable academies in New Jersey include Each One Teach One Academy in Point Pleasant Beach and Apex Academy in Cherry Hill. Apex was the program that prepared the Morris twins to attend Kansas and previously was Villanova recruit Markus Kennedy’s stomping grounds during the year between him leaving St. Patricks and his current stint at Winchendon.

Whereas players who didn’t qualify for college scholarships academically or just weren’t offered one used to go to a Junior College and hope to make it to division one as a transfer student in the past, now these academies are forming a new gray area in college recruiting.

Not all of them are post-graduate institutions. Some, like Findlay Prep in Nevada, are elite high school basketball teams, playing national schedules while their players attend classes elsewhere in their spare time. Findlay recently ran into trouble when their partner school closed down, leaving the promoters of that program scrambling to find another high school that can provide the classes needed to get their kids into colleges.

These basketball programs recruit kids from all over the country and from foreign countries as well. Many of the programs are lead by notable AAU coaches who recruit players during the summer travel basketball circuits.

Academies are schools without classes or teachers. They’re basketball teams that are occasionally partnered with private prep schools to offer high school educations, but often offer little more than an SAT prep class.

Some people call these programs “fake.” The scholarships given to their alumni, however, are very real. College coaches are universally willing to recruit players from those non-academic programs (perhaps more so than JuCo players these days).

The goal of some of these programs is unclear. The owner of Ocean Academy claims that his coaches are mostly volunteers and that the program makes no money, while Findlay Prep is owned by Meritas LLC, a firm backed by private equity firm and which is presumably intended to turn a profit some day.

It appears that for the most part, the NCAA has not uncovered any academic deficit within these programs, and since the players all maintain their amateur status there are rarely issues clearing these players to play college ball. That’s one of the reasons why college coaches are watching — these academies are designed to get players into top divison 1 programs — and that means ensuring that they meet minimum academic qualifications as well.

Villanova recruits academy players just like every other school. Should Coach Wright back off these kids who have been groomed like professionals from a young age? Should we question these players commitment to being “scholar athletes”? Regardless of your opinion, it doesn’t seem that the increasing professionalization of youth sports can be stopped.

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.

Here is what Fact had to say:

Gone are the days of streamers, doubleheaders and Villanova fans pasionate about beating the other city schools.  All we see now is about thirty overzealous St. Joe’s fans come to The Pavillion once every two years eager to curse Villanova because they weren’t accepted.

The Big 5 was great, but unfortunately it isn’t anymore.  With the combination of the City Series and “Maui Invitational” type tournaments, that leaves Villanova very little space to schedule a competitive non-conference schedule if the teams they play in the Big 5 are down and they get sent to a lackluster Preseason Tournament.  That makes for a somewhat crappy bottom line (less possible home games) to go along with the fact that it’s a crapshoot as to whether we or not we are going to see competitive basketball.

With few exceptions, Villanova has dominated the City Series in the last few years and I don’t see that coming to an end, given that they are the only team in the city from a power conference, recruiting and landing McDonald’s All Americans etc.

I’m also failing to mention the fact that the Big 5 itself has been emasculated by Drexel wanting to join the party with all this ”City 6″ nonsense; when you pick a five year college, you don’t deserve good basketball.

The writing was on the wall for The Big 5′s demise on April 1, 1985 when Villanova announced to the world it’s intentions to become an elite program.  25 years later, it’s simply time to take what’s left of The Big 5 behind the barn and shoot it like you would a tired old dog.

Here is my reply:

In the last few years, Villanova’s strength of schedule has been rated 15th (2010), 23rd (2009), 24th (2008), 5th (2007) and 5th (2006) by Ken Pomeroy. To be clear, that means that we went to the Final Four when our schedule was weaker than it was in the past season.

Mid Major teams that want to compete schedule a tough out-of-conference because they have to. Major conference teams rack up the RPI during the conference schedule.

The Big 5 is a tradition that is going into it’s 55th year. It is considered among the best and most notable basketball rivalries. While the days of streamers are gone, the passion and excitement are not. When our Big 5 opponents tip off against us, they come to win and they will give us a fight every time… and sometimes they win. The Big 5 title is usually a given for Villanova, but it is not always the case. It’s hardly ever our biggest challenge, but any one game can catch you sleeping.

The Big 5 teaches our players what it means to play in a hostile environment without going far from homed. It gives the fans a set of local rivals, people you work with, or see at the bar.

Without the Big 5 we likely don’t play Temple or St. Joes every year. Some Villanova fans would never experience watching a game at the Palestra (and it IS an experience, love it or hate it), or taunting St. Joes fans with a roll-out.

If you wanted to make the past year’s schedule tougher, how about eliminating Fordham, FDU or Delaware? All three are rated at or around 300th in Division I by Ken Pomeroy. The four Big 5 opponents were rated 22nd (Temple), 162nd (La Salle), 175th (St. Joes) and 299th (Penn). Penn has only recently fallen below the top-100, and while LaSalle finished the season with a whimper, they played us before injuries crippled their lineup.

The Big 5 doesn’t hurt our strength of schedule very much. It is four guaranteed fan-friendly games in Philadelphia. Staying close to home is not a detriment: this year, Syracuse didn’t leave the state of New York until their conference schedule started on December 29th — they won 30 games and lost to the runner-up in the Sweet 16.

If Villanova left the Big 5, what would happen to the 55 year old tradition anyway? Would it just go away and die? Would it lie dormant, waiting for the Wildcats to once again rejoin? Would it continue on as the Big 4? Or would Drexel finally get their sought-afte call-up to join one of college basketball’s most storied rivalries?

For the other Big 5 schools, the round-robin a highlight of their basketball season. Perhaps this is because the students and alumni of St. Joes, La Salle and Temple are far more likely to hail from the Philadelphia metro area. For Penn fans, the Big 5 games are among their toughest rivals, and besides, what athletic conference trades more on tradition than the Ivy League?

At the moment it certainly seems like the Athletics department is committed to being a part of the Big 5. Would an outpouring of alumni sentiment change their minds? Where do Villanova fans stand on this anyway? Is disinterest in the Big 5 near-universal, or is it generational?

Villanova baseball team in 1896 (including the first in a long line of well-dressed coaches)

Villanova’s resident jack-of-all-trades, Matt Szczur, was last week’s Big East and Big Five player of the week, he batted an unreal .652 over a five-game stretch. For the season, the talented outfielder (who has also played behind the plate) is hitting .522 (35-67) and leads the team in runs scored. He has nine stolen bases and has only struck out four times this season.

Szczur isn’t the only star on the team, however, Justin Bencsko of Pompton Plains, N.J. joins him among the top ten hitters in the nation. Bencsko is batting .529 on the season so far, and has played in two more games than Szczur. His .614 on-base percentage ranks fourth-best in the country, while his 17 stolen bases are good for seventh in the country and second for stolen bases per-game.

At 2-1, Villanova is tied with West Virginia and the Big East’s only ranked team, Louisville for 4th-place in the Big East, but is only a game back from first place (there are three teams tied at 3-0).

While they haven’t yet made their way into the national top-25, they are currently ranked number 2 in the Northeast Region by Ping!Baseball. The ‘Cats are second in the league in batting average (.328 – Pitt is first) and first in team ERA (3.01). They are also second to Pitt in on-base percentage (.428), third in runs scored and in first in stolen bases (by 19 steals).

For what it’s worth, Georgetown leads the conference in wild pitches (29) and hit batters (34). Rutgers has the dubious distinction of leading the Big East in balks (9).

Villanova’s best football player happens to be it’s best baseball player as well, it seems. Thankfully, like in football, Szczur doesn’t have to do it all on his own. This baseball team has a talented pitching staff and some great firepower at the top of the line-up.

Oh, and they have one more thing going for them: Free Admission at Villanova Ballpark

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Don’t forget! VUhoops is running a Blogathon for the Randy Foye Foundation, which you should absolutely check out.

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