Perretta picked up his 600th win at Villanova earlier this season.

Maalik Wayns was the sole member of the men’s program to be honored, making the first team and earning the best free-throw percentage award.

The men’s coach of the year was Fran Dunphy while the player of the year was Penn’s Zach Rosen.  La Salle’s Earl Pettis was most improved player and Jerrell Wright was named the rookie of the year. The Temple Owls were picked as the team of the year.

The Big 5 women’s player of the year was Shey Peddy.

All men’s award recipients will receive their awards at the Herb Good Banquet on April 23, in Temple’s Liacouras Center. Women’s honorees will be recognized at the annual Big 5 Women’s Banquet to be held on April 25 at Drexelbrook.

(Photo by Chris Chambers/Getty Images)

The timing couldn’t be much worse for St. Joseph’s basketball fans. Their celebration over winning the Holy War was cut short when former Hawk Todd O’Brien opted to “tell all” to Sports Illustrated. The 7-foot tall center was at St. Joes for two seasons after transferring there from Bucknell. After completing his studies, he decided to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

The Blazers were willing to give him a scholarship and let him do his post-grad work for free, but Phil Martelli won’t sign his release, leaving him ineligible to play basketball, as far as the NCAA is concerned.

Under NCAA rules, a player who has finished his bachelors degree before exhausting his playing eligibility, can “transfer” to another school to begin graduate school without having to sit out a year as an athlete — as long as the graduate program isn’t offered at his original school. That only works, however, if the school the player is leaving grants him a release.

Its a nasty dual standard, where the school is only required to honor a player’s scholarship on a year-by-year basis, but the player can’t leave a school without signed approval.

O’Brien was both the Hawks’ leading rebounder in 2009-10, and their leading student, earning the team’s academic achievement award. He wasn’t an NBA prospect, but he was able to earn a degree in Economics and he wanted to get a masters degree in Public Administration and pursue a career in real estate development.

Last year he spent much of the season on the bench. He claims not to know why that was the case, but it seems to have been related to an incident involving a stolen laptop. According to reports at the time, O’Brien was peripherally involved after the fact, but did not steal the laptop. His case was handled by the St. Joes internal judicial process.

He eventually finished the season, but not as a starter and rarely seeing significant minutes in any game. Nonetheless, any incident that occurred last season ceased being St. Joseph’s problem when O’Brien left campus.

“As to Mr. O’Brien’s comments on the University’s failure to grant him a waiver, the University does not discuss matters relating to current or former student-athletes consistent with our policy and commitment to student privacy issues,” St. Joes athletic director Don DiJulia said in a statement.

“It is our understanding that the NCAA has denied Mr. O’Brien’s appeal. Although the University was not a party to the NCAA appeal process and has not been informed of the reasons for the NCAA decision in this matter, the outcome of the appeal appears to have resolved all outstanding issues related to the appeal.”

Of course, O’Brien wouldn’t have needed an appeal if St. Joes had granted his release. While there may be more to the story, O’Brien’s version paints a picture of a petty and vindictive coach in Phil Martelli:

I met with Coach Martelli to inform him that I would not be returning. I had hoped he would be understanding; just a few weeks before, we had stood next to each other at graduation as my parents snapped photo. Unfortunately, he did not take it well. After calling me a few choice words, he informed me that he would make some calls so that I would be dropped from my summer class and would no longer graduate. He also said that he was going to sue me. When he asked if I still planned on leaving, I was at a loss for words. He calmed down a bit and said we should think this over then meet again in a few days. I left his office angry and worried he would make me drop the classes.

A few days later I again met with Coach Martelli. This time I stopped by athletic director Don DiJulia’s office beforehand to inform him of my decision. I told him I would be applying to grad schools elsewhere. He was very nice and understanding. He wished me the best of luck and said to keep in touch. Relieved that Mr. DiJulia had taken the news well, I went to Coach Martelli’s office. I told him that my mind had not changed, and that I planned on enrolling in grad school elsewhere. I recall his words vividly: “Regardless of what the rule is I’ll never release you. If you’re not playing basketball at St. Joe’s next year, you won’t be playing anywhere.”

According to O’Brien, when the NCAA paperwork for his transfer was submitted by St. Joes, the school had checked a box for “yes” that they objected to him being eligible. In the follow-up box requesting a reason for the objection, Martelli or a member of the basketball staff wrote nothing.

Most schools let a player go if the player chooses, but NCAA rules allow them to “own” the rights to a young man or woman’s college playing career for the entirely of their eligibility. Is it right to do that in an era where coaches freely switch jobs and schools freely change conferences?

Did O’Brien do something to deserve this? If so, St. Joseph’s certainly isn’t talking about it. Martelli won’t be made available to the press on the issue and the university has refused to comment further on the matter.

O’Brien has become the first player to ever be “locked out” in the college game. For what? A petty revenge?

If college athletes are really students first like the NCAA commercials ask us to believe, then they should be treated like real students and not be penalized for changing schools, and certainly not for attending grad school. There is plenty to reform in college sports, but the system that allows a coach to hold a player’s career hostage should be near the top of the list.

They will have at least one advantage that they have never had before — for the first time in the series, Villanova will take the court on Hawk Hill. Though the series started in 1921, Villanova has never played at the tiny Hagan Arena in any of the 68 prior meetings (Villanova leads the series 44-24). St. Joes has opted to play more home games on campus this season, however, in hopes that the move will create more excitement around the program.

The resurgent Hawks are led on the scoreboard by Carl Jones, a 5-11 junior guard who averages an impressive 19.4 points per game. Jones adds 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assist and 1.8 steals per game and has connected on 40.6% of his 3-point attempts while being the teams most consistent free-throw shooter. His 91% free throw percentage is all the more impressive since he has attempted significantly more of those shots than his teammates.

His 6-2 backcourt-mate, sophomore Langston Galloway, is second on the team in scoring with 15.6 points per game and is the best 3-point shooter on the team, connecting on 46.6% of his attempts (while leading the team in attempts).

The other two Hawks averaging double-digit scoring are sophomore forwards C.J. Aiken and Ronald Roberts, Jr., who have averaged 11.3 and 10.4 points respectively. Roberts is also the teams second-leading rebounder with 5.7 per game. The 6-8 forward, Halil Kanacevic, is the top rebounder averaging over 6.1 rebounds per game coming off a redshirt season after transferring from Hofstra.

The Hawks rank third in the nation for blocked shots with an average of 8.2 per game, and have the nations leader in that category in Aiken. Their defense overall is ranked 111th in efficiency, largely because they have struggled generating turnovers and with 3-point defense.

Unless Villanovas shooters hit a hot-streak on Saturday, however, St. Joes 3-point defense wont be much of an issue.

On the offensive end, St. Joes shoots about 39.2% as a team from beyond the arc, but has two players (Jones and Galloway) who are connecting on over 40% of their shots from deep and 3 who have connected on more than one-third. That means that the Hawks offense, ranked 56th in the nation, could be a handful for a Villanova defense that remains unproven against solid outside shooting.

Villanova is, however, coming off of their best defensive performance of the season. Holding Boston University well under their average offensive efficiency. BU was not a great shooting team, however, and might be one of the worst outside shooting teams that Villanova has faced.

The Wildcats defense will need to continue to progress and learn to cover perimeter shooters.

With the Hawks two primary deep threats at the guard positions, it might make sense for Villanova to start Ty Johnson and Ash Yacoubou again in this game. Both are athletic guards with a long wingspan who have shown some defensive spark in the early going. That likely means putting Dominic Cheek and James Bell on the bench to start the game again, but both were still available for solid minutes against Boston University.

Offensively, it wont be easy for the Cats to get the ball inside to Mouph Yarou. The Hawks arent likely to be afraid of Nova s shooters and will concentrate their efforts on keeping Yarou well covered. They have four forwards who clock in at 6-8 or taller, including Kanacevic who weighs in at 258lbs. The Hawks will use those bodies to rotate against Yarou and wear him down.

That means that the play of the other Villanova bigs will be increasingly important. Crashing the boards for rebounds and providing a scoring option inside the arc will allow the Cats to survive even if Yarou is marginalized. The Beninese center may still get his 10-plus points and a good number of boards, but if he gets into foul trouble or tires late in the game, Villanova will have to go to another option.

Usually that option has been Maalik Wayns, who has averaged 17.8 points per game and leads the team in assists by a large margin with 4.9 per contest. When Wayns is on fire, there is little to be done to contain him, however, sometimes he falls in love with his outside shot a bit more than he should. He connects on just 29.4% of those attempts, and should work more on getting to the free throw line where he is second on the team, shooting 85.5%, and leads the team in attempts.

Overall this is a game that Villanova emcould /em win, but not one where they are an overwhelming favorite. In fact, KenPom.com predicts that the Wildcats will lose the game by one point. On a neutral court or at the Pavilion, the Cats might be a slight favorite. In any case it could be a very close game, unless the Wildcats find a solution to their 3-point defensive struggles and shout down the St. Joes backcourt.

The game will tip-off from Hagan Arena at St. Josephs University at 8pm on Saturday, December 17, and will be televised live on the CBS College Sports Network.

Updated (12:29p): According to Mike’s sources, Mo Sutton has returned to practice with the team and is expected to be available for Saturday.

**This article on the Holy War has been sponsored by Pro Dunk Hoops.**

Villanova students, however, have not. It isn’t really their fault though. There has long been a policy at the Pavilion that banned signs from the on-campus arena. Roll-out signs are nearly impossible to get past security and on the few occasions where the student section begins to unfurl one, it will rarely be passed more than a few rows down before event staff will come and rip it apart.

There are legitimate reasons to ban signs. Signs can be offensive, and no school wants to be responsible for an “f-bomb” getting on television. Signs can also block the view of some patrons when held up — but that is less of a concern for the student section, which unanimously participates in the roll-out, which is long and thin and only blocks a student’s view for a few seconds as it passes over their head.

The last time a roll-out appeared on campus it was during the filming of College GameDay’s morning show last year. Students were not only permitted to bring signs, but were encouraged to do so for that show.  Signs were inspected as the students entered to ensure nothing improper would be shown on TV.

A sign from Penn/Temple earlier this year. (Credit: The Buzz)

Meanwhile, just this season, numerous signs have entertained fans at Big 5 games involving other schools.

Penn students rolled out a sign at their Temple game stating, “Congrats on the Big East,” a subtle jab at Temple’s ongoing angst over being left out of the current round of Big East expansion. They followed that with, “Temple: Where you go to pray that (maybe) we will employ you.”

It is always best when an opposing student section also brings signs to roll-out, when possible. Penn students reportedly came armed with roll-out signs to their game at the Pavilion this month, that were confiscated by security (St. Joes students have managed to sneak the signs into the Pavilion in the past). One of those signs read, “JayVaugn Pinkston, redshirting or orangejumpsuiting?”

Last night at the Temple game, the students rolled out a total of 8 signs, making fun of everything from the reported Villanova opposition to Temple joining the Big East, to Villanova’s plan to play football games at PPL Park. “PPL Park Football Futbol Stadium,” is the type of jab that gives the fans in attendance a good laugh in the middle of a game.

Temple students rolling out a sign

Villanova takes plenty of those jabs via roll-out sign, but students are not allowed to return the favor. For a school that has worked so hard to try and overcome the accusation that it tried to kill off the city’s Big 5 basketball tradition, why outlaw participation in a big part of it?

Fans complain about the effect of the “wine and cheese” crowd on the atmosphere at Pavilion games, but atmosphere is driven by the student section. It is also driven by traditions. The Cameron Crazies have developed a tradition at Duke that creates one of the best college basketball atmospheres out there. The Big 5 used to be up there with those schools on Tobacco Road for atmosphere, but the dismantling of Big 5 traditions has diminished that greatly.

Should Villanova change the sign policy at the Pavilion? Who would be hurt if the students could roll out a well-placed insult joke at the expense of a local rival?

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Villanova has three losses in December for the first time since the 2002-03 season, where the team opened with a loss against a Dwayne Wade led Marquette and also dropped games to Charleston and Penn by December 10th. That team would also lose a fourth game to Dayton before flipping the calendar to 2003. This team has 3 losses already and plays again on Saturday, taking on the Temple Owls in what promises to be a hotly-contested battle.

Temple is a dangerous and motivated opponent for the Wildcats, even without injured forwards Scootie Randall and Michael Eric, and the Big 5 battle promises to be a tough one.

So far the Owls faced their toughest challenge in an 85-77 loss to Purdue in Puerto Rico. They also faced a tough test in that tournament against a very good Wichita State team, which resulted in a narrow 78-74 overtime victory. The Owls are 5-2 on the season, but are perfect at home.

Ramone Moore is the star of the Liacouras Center show. With 16.4 points per game, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and a little over a steal per game, Moore has been central to Temple’s successes this season. He connects on 39.9% of his shots from deep and is almost constantly on the court. He should be, since he might just be the best player in the Atlantic 10.

Not that Khalif Wyatt is a slouch either. Moore’s wing sidekick has averaged 14.8 points, 4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 47.3% from the floor and 38.5% from deep. Juan Fernandez completes the offensive trio that has led the Owls early this season, with averages of 13.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game.

Wyatt was benched to start the Owl’s last game after he was late to a team meeting earlier in the week. Freshman Will Cummings started in his place, making his first college start and appearing in his first college game against Toledo. Cummings’ first shot was a made 3-pointer that he banked off the glass.

Sophomore Aaron Brown had a big game off of the bench, scoring 19 points for his second double-digit score in the last two games. He also scored 21 points in 22 minutes against Central Michigan at the weekend. Brown has had an offensive outburst after seeing his minutes increase dramatically in the  last week.

The Owls play slightly better offense than defense, but are strong in both categories. They rank 30th in offensive efficiency and 58th in defensive efficiency, while Villanova ranks 21st and 132nd respectively in those categories.

Without Eric or Randall, the Owls will lean on Anthony Lee, a 6-9 205lb freshman, and Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, a 6-6 210lb junior, to provide a presence in the front court. That leaves them with a smaller line-up, forcing them to play at a faster pace to adjust to their lack of size. In a few recent games the Owls have notably increased the number of possessions they have used in a game.

The Owls will be a tough matchup for Villanova. Mouph Yarou is bigger and stronger than any big man that Temple will try to match up with him, so they shouldn’t win battles inside with brute force.

The talented Temple backcourt will work to control the Villanova guards. Both Wyatt and Fernandez have a tendency to give up fouls, however, averaging 3.2 and 2.7 personal fouls respectively. Hollis-Jefferson also averages 3 fouls per game this season, while starting center Anthony Lee averages 2.6.

That tendency makes it important for Villanova to look for their shots inside, driving to the hoop or finding the pass into the low post will allow the ‘Cats to score on more possessions and get and-1 attempts to boost their scoring. Villanova is 5th in the nation in free-throw shooting so far, and would clearly benefit from more opportunities at the line.

Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek have both been awful shooting from deep and very good at scoring closer to the net. Offensively, each player needs to get more comfortable taking their shots inside. Darrun Hilliard and James Bell are the only two Villanovans connecting on more than one-third of their attempts from beyond the arc, yet they are 3rd and 4th on the team in 3-point attempts and 5th and 7th in possessions used. It makes little sense that the team’s two most efficient shooters aren’t taking more shots.

Villanova’s real deficiency, however, comes on defense. The ‘Cats are 318th in the nation in defensive turnover percentage, 326th in defensive free-throw percentage and 202nd in defending 3-point shots. They get fewer than average blocks and far fewer than average steals. For a team that starts three or four guards on any given night, it might be excusable that they don’t generate many blocks, but athletic guards should be able to create more steals.

Defensively, Villanova has played more zone defense than in the past. It hasn’t hurt them tremendously on the boards, but it hasn’t helped against the 3-point shots, which are still falling in at an obscene rate. Opponents shoot 34.6% from deep against the Villanova perimeter defense and they have connected on 44.2% of 3-pointers in the ‘Cats three losses with a high coming against Saint Louis, who connected on 51.9%.

Moreover, Villanova has been repeatedly burned in transition, where players tend to take just a second too long to find their defensive assignment.

Something has to give on defense.

The Wildcats aren’t a bad team offensively, when you look at the statistics, and if they were generating turnovers and converting those for points, they would likely be even better. No team can win consistently without playing good defense, however, and that is ultimately Villanova’s problem.

Offensive sins can be forgiven, but giving away easy scores will make it difficult to put away any opponent. If the Wildcats hope to right the ship this season, it will have to start with some serious study and consideration of the way the defense operates.

Temple will almost certainly win on Saturday if Villanova’s porous “flying wildcat” defense rears it’s ugly head. Nova needs to control a talented Temple backcourt and take advantage of their tendency to put opponents on the free-throw line.

The game will tip off at 5:00 pm from the Liacouras Center at Temple University and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.  Don’t forget to get in your game score predictions in our Closest to the Pin Contest.

The first Big 5 game of the season was a classic contest at the Palestra, where a resurgent Penn team hung close with Temple, ultimately losing to the Owls 73-67 in overtime at the Palestra. It was Temple’s 5th straight victory over Penn.

Zach Rosen lead all scorers with 27 points to lead the Quakers. He had a chance to win the game with a buzzer-beater at the end of regulation, but the shot didn’t go in. The game went into overtime where the Quakers continued to scrap and stay close. Penn pulled within 2 points with 7.1 seconds to play, but a questionable foul call on the inbounds followed by Penn coach Jerome Allen getting a technical for arguing about it, gave Temple enough breathing room to make the short ride home as victors.

Temple was playing without the help of Khalif Wyatt and Scootie Randall. Wyatt was suspended one game for playing in an unsanctioned summer league, while Randall is still working back from a knee injury.

Villanova and La Salle are up next on the Big 5 schedule tonight at 7:00 pm. Last season’s game was a close one, could this year’s contest be another?

Villanova will not play any Big 5 games at the Palestra this season, since St. Joseph’s decided to host their games on-campus.

The full Big 5 Schedule follows:

• Mon. Nov. 14: Temple at Penn (The Palestra), 7 p.m.
• Tue. Nov. 15: La Salle at Villanova (The Pavilion), 7 p.m.
• Sat. Dec. 3: Penn at Villanova (The Pavilion), 7 p.m.
• Sat. Dec. 10: Villanova at Temple (Liacouras Center), 5 p.m.
  
• Sat. Dec. 17: Villanova at Saint Joseph’s (Hagan Arena), 8 p.m.
• Tue. Jan. 10: La Salle at Penn (The Palestra), 7 p.m.
• Sat. Jan. 21: Saint Joseph’s at Penn (The Palestra), 7 p.m.
• Sat. Feb. 4: La Salle vs. Saint Joseph’s (The Palestra), 2 p.m.
• Wed. Feb. 22: Temple at La Salle (Tom Gola Arena), 7 p.m.
• Sat. Feb. 25: Temple at Saint Joseph’s (Hagan Arena), 7 p.m.

If he is successful, the tournament will take place in fall 2012.

Muldoon’s supporters include Phillies owner David Montgomery (a Penn alum); Dan Fitzpatrick, the CEO of Citizens Bank (a La Salle alum); Davd Reznick,  a Temple booster; Villanova’s Bob Melchionni; and John J. Griffin, a donor of St. Joes Athletics. Reportedly other prominent figures are also involved.

They hope to secure a sizeable contract for the broadcast rights to the event, which would certainly get them in the ear of any university president or athletics director. Talks have already been underway with ABC and NBC, two networks that reportedly have a lot of connections to the Philadelphia area.

A meeting is set up for next week for the New York schools at the under-construction Barclays Center — or somewhere nearby, presumably. Muldoon and his associates will try to persuade the New Yorkers to take part in his event and maybe look for their aid in recruiting a fifth school.

The real question is: Will anyone care?

The Big 5 has become notoriously non-competitive in recent years. The winner of the Villanova/Temple match-up is all but guaranteed to hang on and win the round-robin. Meanwhile, none of the New York schools mentioned have proven to be consistent powerhouses or even strong television draws over the past few years. Barring the addition of St. Johns, you can be sure that the New York schools are unlikely to put up much of a fight.

That’s not to say that this concept can’t work, but New York City needs to reestablish it’s college basketball passion first. New York doesn’t have a Big 5 that play each other in a round robin each year. There are local rivalries, but nothing formalized like in Philadelphia. The Big 5 is a formal arrangement and a brand for Philadelphia hoops that isn’t matched by anything in New York.

Instead of rushing into a hastily-thrown-together tournament in 2012, the New York schools should establish their own Big 5, and build a reputation and following to grow the game again in the city. The Manhattan/Fordham rivalry used to be on par with the Holy War in Philadelphia, but after a long period of local apathy for the game, few even know how heated it used to be.

2011-12 would have been the perfect time to start something like that locally, with the NBA lockout appearing to be ready to carry through the season, but just announcing its creation may be enough to stoke local interest.

Once New York has it’s own Big 5, then we can talk about a New York/Philadelphia Challenge — not a tournament, but a Big East/SEC or Big Ten/ACC style arrangement where the two groups play a five games, and rotate opponents every year.

The plan as proposed, however, seems contrived and one has to wonder if the fans will really take to it.

(Hat-tip: Mike Miller/NBC)

For me there are two players this decade that are locks to make any such team: Allan Ray and Scottie Reynolds. Both had tremendous four-year careers on the Main Line. The only two players in this decade to score at least 2000 points in their careers (Ray had 2,025 and Scottie scored 2,222).

I tend to think that Randy Foye should also make the team. He had a legendary senior year at Villanova and was a solid player for all four. He fell short of the 2,000-point club with just 1,966 — but he averaged about 20ppg as a senior. He also had 630 rebounds, 416 assists (12th), and 198 steals (6th).

Curtis Sumpter was another member of a legendary recruiting class at Villanova. Despite missing his senior year with an injury, he came back for a 5th year and lead the team in scoring when Scottie Reynolds was a freshman (17.4ppg). He is 13th all-time in scoring (1,651), 12th all-time in rebounding (794), 26th in steals (111) and 13th in blocks (70).

My fifth nominee has perhaps weakest case of this group — he was a non-factor as a freshman and didn’t really hit the national consciousness until his senior year — but as one of the hardest-working Villanovans of the decade, Dante Cunningham perhaps deserves the honor as much as anyone. Cunningham scored 1334 points (31st), had 162 steals (12th), and 118 blocks (7th). As a junior he began to emerge from role-player status, averaging 10.4ppg for the first time and pulling down 6.5 rebounds per game in his first season as a starter. As a senior he improved those numbers to 16.1ppg and 7.5 rebounds.

Who are your nominees? Share them here and at Soft Pretzel Logic (he’s also taking nominees for the other city schools).

This season the Explorers and their highly-rated forward are 6-3 coming into the game and have played each of their nine opponents closely. Of their three losses, two have been at the hands of ranked opponents — #17 Baylor and #12 Missouri. The third loss was a 92-87 home loss to Oklahoma State in double-overtime.

The ‘Cats will make the short trip to Tom Gola arena on Sunday for a game that Ken Pomeroy predicts will be a 79-69 Villanova win (with 83% chance of victory for the ‘Cats). It is the second-consecutive Big 5 away game for Villanova.*

La Salle averages 78.2 points per game and 16.6 of those are contributed by Aaric Murray, who also leads the team in rebounding with 8.9 per game. This is no one-man team, however, the Explorers have four players who average double-digit scoring.

Second on the team is senior guard Ruben Guillandeaux, who contributes 15.9 points and 3.1 assists per game. Third is senior forward Jerrell Williams with 13.5 points and 8 rebounds per game. Finally, Rutgers transfer Earl Pettis averages 10.2 points, 3 assists and 1.2 steals per contest for La Salle.

The team is shooting 48.6% from the field, with Murray (55.9%) and Pettis (51.4%) leading the way. When it comes to the 3-point arc, Guillandeaux is the marksman, connecting on 46.9% of his shots from downtown, while the team is making 37.6% of those shots overall.

It appears that the Explorers have a tendency to make mistakes. They average 16 assists per game while turning the ball over an average of 16.6 times.

The Wildcats need strong defensive play from their big men to help keep Murray under control. Stokes or Cheek will likely be responsible for keeping a hand in Guillandeaux’s face during the game as well.

It will also help the Wildcats to continue to protect the ball. So far Villanova has averaged 16.5 assists and 10.8 turnovers per game. Remove two of the worst assist/turnover performances by the Wayns/Fisher combination this season and that ratio likely looks even stronger.

Protecting the rock is only part of the equation — the other two factors are defense and rebounding. Defense has been strong this season so far — ranked 28th by Ken Pomeroy — but needs to improve more over the course of the season. Rebounding is a battle that the ‘Cats are used to winning averaging 45.6 rebounds to their opponents’ 37.9.

If Stokes has a few more big games in him, the ‘Cats look really tough to beat.

Look for a bounce-back performance from Corey Fisher, who had bad games against Tennessee and Penn this season, and started the Penn game on the bench. The ‘Cats need their senior point guard to lead this team on the court on a nightly basis. If not, the load will have to be shouldered by Antonio Pena and Corey Stokes, who showed a ton of leadership on Wednesday, if only on the scoresheet.

La Salle may rarely win this match-up, but they have played the ‘Cats close more than a few times. With their young star a year older and their roster much healthier than last year, the ‘Cats should be careful heading into the Explorers’ house.

The game tips off from Tom Gola Arena on Sunday at 2:00pm. Television coverage will be provided by ESPNU.

Don’t forget to get your guesses in for Ed’s Closest to the Pin contest.

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* Back in the day, when every Big 5 game was hosted at the Palestra, there were no Big 5 away games.

Since Fran Dunphy left for Temple, the Quakers haven’t been the same program that was a perennial contender for the Ivy title and a good challenge in the Big 5 round-robin. Under Coach Allen, the Quakers hope to begin offering a real challenge for the Ivy title again.

Starting guard Tyler Bernardini was lost for the season in their second game last year — he is back this season and averaging 7.1 points per game (down from a sophomore high of 13.7ppg).

Of the three Quakers averaging more than 10 points per game, Jack Eggleston leads the way with 14.9ppg. The 6’8″ senior forward also adds 7 rebounds per game. He is joined on the scoresheet most nights by junior point guard Zach Rosen, who averages 14.6 ppg and 5 assists per game in the early-going this season. Miles Cartwright, a 6’3″ freshman guard rounds out the top-3 scorers with 11.5 ppg.

Senior center Andreas Schreiber was also injured early on last season, but has not returned to prominence on the team. He played only three minutes in Penn’s most recent game and is averaging only 9.0 minutes overall. Though he is 6’9″ tall, he has not been great on the boards — an area where the Quakers need to improve.

The Quakers are 4-0 this season in games where they score at least 68 points. Villanova, on the other hand, averages 77.3 points per game.

Villanovans Isaiah Armwood and Maurice Sutton both sat out the St. Joes game. There is no word on either player’s availability on Wednesday night, but Armwood may be more likely to come back from back spasms than Maurice Sutton, who was suffering from a left ankle sprain (VUhoops has consulted an expert in sports injuries who believes that both players could be available for Wednesday if their injuries were handled correctly and there were no setbacks).

Villanova’s defense has taken a hit over the last few games — dropping to 29th by Ken Pomeroy after the Holy War — but the offense may be a bigger concern. Despite being ranked 16th in offensive efficiency by Pomeroy, the team has not been shooting lights out. While the ‘Cats connected on 37.3% of their attempts from 3 last season, they are only shooting 29% this season. Even the overall FG% is down a few points to 43.8% from last season’s 45.8%.

A lot of that has to do with shot selection. It appears that the ‘Cats are taking too many contested shots early-on this season, and oftentimes early in the shot-clock. This Penn game will be a good opportunity to work on using more ball movement to find an open shot in the half-court.

Defensively, I’d like to see the ‘Cats keep Zach Rosen on lock-down. Rosen is Penn’s biggest 3-point threat (though Bernardini has attempted almost as many), and it will be a good opportunity to improve the three-point defense against a Penn team that will likely use deep shooting to try and upset the ‘Cats.

The game will tip-off on Wednesday night from the legendary Palestra at 7:00pm. Television coverage will be provided by the Comcast Network.

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Don’t forget to get your votes in for Ed’s Closest to the Pin contest.