Mouphtaou Yarou goes for two in the win over Penn. (David J. Miller photo)

The Philadelphia Big 5 and the Big East Conference recognized two Villanova Basketball players for their performances last week.

Mouphtaou Yarou was named the City’s Player of the week after the Junior Big Man went for 21 points and 11 boards in Saturday’s 73-65 victory over Penn.

On the Women’s side, Laura Sweeney was honored by the City and the Conference after she notched 27 points and 13 rebounds in the Lady Cats’ win over Lehigh. Both were career highs.

Mouph on Reverse Dunk; Independent Philly.com Photo

The talk at Villanova is always about the guards. Jay Wright likes to trust his point guard to take the reins and become the star of his offense. He preaches from the pulpit of the church of the scoring point guard, at least in recent years. In 2011-12, however, it seems that his center may  truly become the focal point of the team for the first time of his tenure on the Main Line.

According to Jay Wright, and the stat sheets that back him up, Yarou was very impressive in Europe.

“Mouph went up against men and pros [Zaza Pachulia and Dan Gadzuric] and battled and really kept his composure. He was awesome.” Wright glowed to Jeff Goodman. “I think the lowest rebounding game he had was 12. He played like a beast and was our best player on the trip. ”

Yarou has come a long way from the freshman who was thrown into Big East games after missing almost all of the non-conference schedule, to a big man who seems ready to take on the challenge of being the man. Combine that with a team whose only other real returning starter is Maalik Wayns, and the ‘Cats will need Yarou to be a bigger part of the team.

Wayns was doubled, trapped and pressed in Europe and he can expect more of the same this season unless the ‘Cats can find other options to take some of the pressure away. Yarou seems poised to be one of those options.

He scored points in Europe, averaging 14 per game, and he was the second-leading scorer in the ‘Cats only win on the trip — scoring 22 points against Israel. He wasn’t second to Wayns, however, as the junior floor-general scored a healthy 17 points  to finish third on the team. In the ‘Cats’ only victory, the stars were Yarou and Dominic Cheek.

Yarou also rebounds, and despite often having to battle professional players with plenty of athleticism to match his own in Europe, he worked the boards exceedingly well. In the five European games, Yarou averaged 11.6 rebounds and only had one game where he didn’t have at least 10 (a 9 rebound performance against Netherlands). Those numbers would be impressive in the college game, but the fact that he could grab 12 boards while battling Atlanta Hawks’ center Zaza Pachulia? Outstanding.

This is Yarou’s season. Dominic Cheek showed some signs that he might break out as well, but the man from Benin is not just showing signs, he is smashing everything in his path.

Villanova needs to find a new-look this season, one that gets the ball out of the hands of the point guard and into the post.

In the coming season, Yarou will be one of only two returning starters for the Wildcats along with Maalik Wayns. As a junior, he will be relied upon to provide leadership as well as a strong presence in the paint.

Video courtesy of Sean Donovan and Andrew Keefe.

Again, Thank You Seniors!

Things to note.

• Corey Fisher finished his Villanova Career with 1,672 points (13th)
• Corey Stokes ended his 4 years at ‘Nova with 1,315 points (33rd)
• Antonio Pena‘s 1,100 points ranks him 52nd
• Pena finished his career with 770 boards (14th)
• Fisher finished with 487 assists (6th)
• Fisher ended his career with 174 steals (11th)
• Pena had 67 blocked shots in his career (14th)

Joining the Top 20 in Career Blocked Shots

• Mouphtaou Yarou has 54 (18th)
• Maurice Sutton has 53 (19th)

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Contrary to a report on The Nova Blog, there has been no official word from Villanova that Mouph Yarou has a broken collarbone or that he will be out for the NCAA Tournament. After the game Coach Wright described the injury as, “a concussion and something on his ribs.”

It was rumored at half-time of last-night’s game that Yarou had broken his collarbone, but those rumors were likely false. He had a bandage covering an abrasion on his cheek and some sort of wrap or ice around his ribcage when he returned to the bench last night. A broken collarbone almost certainly would have had his arm in a sling.

Update 12:30p: After reading a commenter noting that Yarou was spotted in a sling today, I did some quick research and a sling can also be used to treat some rib injuries.

Either way, if there was any sort of bone fracture, expect that Yarou could miss some time while he recovers.

Update 1:39p: According to theHoopsReport on twitter, Jay Wright also mentioned last night that Corey Fisher did not play at the end of the game because he was “banged up” and “was hobbling a little.”

Injury concerns across the board for this team, it seems.

Recently, Volvo contacted me with the following idea: Give a Villanova player an “Off-the-Court” excellence award. We all know who the best players on on the hardwood, but we rarely discuss what our student-athletes are doing when they change out of their uniforms. There is no medal, trophy or certificate that comes with this award (but I’ll gladly print and frame this post for the winner).

From the Naughty S60 manufacturer:

Volvo challenges you to give a “Volvo Off the Court Excellence Award” to a player on your college’s basketball team. They say there’s “More to Life than a Volvo,” and [we] want to see a player who is great at something more than basketball — maybe he’s a great student, or super involved in community service or theater. It’s up to you to pick a player, and let your readers and all of us know what makes this person special.

After mulling it over, there really was one player who stands out off the court. As far as I know, none of our players have participated in the theatre (much to Father Peter’s chagrin, I am sure). All of the team members participate as a group in community service, making it difficult to single any one of them out. Three of them were named BIG EAST Academic All-Stars last year: Mouphtaou Yarou, Maalik Wayns and Russell Wooten.

After learning all of that, it occurred to me that the only real option was sophomore center Mouphtaou Yarou. Not only has he excelled in the classroom along with his teammates, he has taken the challenges on and asked for more.

From a January 2010 New York Times story:

Grades were never an issue. When he enrolled at Villanova, he wanted to take a higher level of calculus than was suggested. Wright was somewhat dumbfounded by the request until Yarou’s first test score came back. He received a 99.

“You can relate with him on an intellectual level,” Wright said. “He wants to be taught.”

Mouphtaou Yarou has been, without question, a serious and successful student during his three semesters on the Main Line. He knows how to box out and how to
create a box-plot chart.

For that, the man from Benin is our Volvo Off-the-Court Excellence Award winner.

Yarou is not afraid of shooters or Taylor polynomials

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Please check out MyBigEastVolvo.com and vote for me in their fan poll — the alma mater of the winning blogger will receive a donation from Volvo to it’s scholarship fund.

VUhoops.com believes that all affiliation with Volvo has been noted in this or prior postings regarding Volvo, and is in compliance with The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising that have been in effect since December 1, 2009.

As always, courtesy of the good work of Sean Donovan.

Wrapping up the 2010 Villanova Basketball Season is the annual Banquet which is being held tonight at The Pavilion, with the highlight of the event being the Team Awards handed out by Head Coach Jay Wright and the rest of the Coaching Staff.

Senior guard Scottie Reynolds, who finished #2 on Villanova’s All-Time scoring list and was a 2010 1st Team All-American was the recipient of the Villanova Basketball Award.

According to the award, it “is given each year to the player who best exemplifies the characteristics of the Villanova Basketball Player and is considered to be the program’s highest honor.”

But that wasn’t all for Reynolds. In a rare double, he along with fellow-senior Reggie Redding share the Most Outstanding Player award.

The 2010 Paul Arizin Award, for the most improved over the  was given to junior Corey Fisher.

Freshman Mouphtaou Yarou, a native of Benin, is the recipient of the Alexander Severance Award for the player “whose dedication in the class room demonstrates a commitment to reaching his full potential.”

Senior Walk-On, Russell Wooten, will be bringing back to California the Jake Nevin Award. That award ”honors the player whose selflessness provides an outstanding example to his teammates.”

Congrats to the Awards Winners! And thanks to the 2010 Villanova Basketball Squad.

From the Banquet…

Welcome back Mouph!

The school’s press release notes:

Villanova freshman forward Mouphtaou Yarou (Natitingou, Benin/Montrose Christian School) has been cleared by physicians to resume all basketball activities, it was announced today. Yarou participated this afternoon in Villanova’s practice at the Davis Center.

“We’re excited for Mouph,” said Villanova head coach Jay Wright. “The doctors tell us he has responded well to treatment. We’ll see where he’s at once he is back practicing with us and then make a determination on when he’s ready to return to game action.”

Yarou started Villanova’s first two games in 2009-10 before being sidelined prior to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff on Nov. 19. Since that point he has been idled while under the care of team physician Dr. Frank Furman.

Villanova opens the BIG EAST portion of its schedule on Jan. 2 at Marquette (3:30 p.m./ESPN2).

“We are disappointed for Mouph,” stated Villanova head coach Jay Wright. “We know that he is receiving great care from Dr. Furman and some of the best specialists in this field. Mouph’s health is our foremost concern.”

“We realize it’s very serious,” Villanova coach Jay Wright told the Inquirer. “He’s definitely out of the Drexel game [tomorrow night], but we realize he could be out for the season.”

[9p ET] Dana O’Neil updates us with the fact this was discovered before the season during routine bloodwork, and was re-tested twice to confirm the diagnosis.

Yarou, a Top 10 recruit, started Villanova’s first two games this season, averaging 5 points and 4 rebounds in wins over Fairleigh Dickinson and Penn. He did not appear in any of Villanova’s three games at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off after he returned to Philadelphia for testing.

Get Well Soon Big Guy!