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St. Mary’s Ends Villanova’s Season
St. Mary’s ended Villanova’s season 75-68 in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament. MUCH more to come… Read more
Press Clippings: Nova vs. St. Mary’s
Omar Samhan
Here are a few of the more interesting excerpts in the press about today’s game against St. Mary’s:
“Yet, it’s hard to shake the bubbling feeling that all is not well at the Big East power Jay Wright built. The Wildcats have been spotty on and off the court for most of the last month. They stumbled to a 2-5 finish. The Wildcats — most notably Reynolds — shot poorly and needed overtime to get past mid-major Robert Morris in the first round.”
“The Wildcats have the defense more appropriate for a team that couldn’t make the CBI field. They have no consistent interior presence and allowed 72.9 points per game — only Seton Hall and Providence were worse in the Big East. The Wildcats ranked 278th out of 334 Division I teams.” Read more
Closest to the Pin — St. Mary’s
Window Opening: Saturday, March 20, 8:00 AM The window is now open to pick the game final score as #2 seeded Villanova takes on #10 seeded St. Mary’s today at 1:05 PM EDT in the Dunkin Donuts Center. The Vegas odds-makers are favoring Nova (-5.0) with the over / under set at 154 (implying a score of 80-75).
So far this season, Villanova (25-7, #15 RPI) has scored an average of 82.2 points while holding their opponents to 72.8. St. Mary’s (27-5, #34 RPI) has scored an average of 79.5 points while holding their opponents to 66.2. St Mary’s, winners of six straight games (the last two over Gonzaga and Richmond) has an impressive record of 4-3 against Top 50 RPI Teams. Here’s their full body of work this season, sorted by their opponents’ RPI:
“The Thing”
When asked about his benching, Scottie Reynolds referred to it as “The Thing.” What a Thing it was, as he and Corey Fisher Scored a total of 10 points on field goals in the game. You can lay blame for the poor performance on any of a number of things that went wrong, but did “The Thing” have an effect on that game?
You’ll remember the story from Ed’s look back at Villanova history that in 1985, Coach Rollie Massimino benched his starting lineup in the second half of a game at Pittsburgh at the end of the regular season. Villanova had been collapsing at the end of the 1985 season and Coach Massimino wasn’t happy with the team’s desire and commitment, so he benched all of them. Those ‘Cats narrowly escaped Pitt in the Big East Tournament before losing to St. John’s in the semi-final by 15. Read more
Villanova Slides by Robert Morris
Villanova needed overtime to get by Robert Morris, 73-70.
Even though Senior Scottie Reynolds only made 2 of his first 15 shots, his clutch free throws at the end of the game kept ‘Nova alive and put the Wildcats into Overtime.
As we noted on our Twitter feed before tipoff, Reynolds did not start the game as a “teaching point” by Coach Wright. The Senior ended the game with 20 points.
Robert Morris was led by Karon Abraham who shot 5-11 from long distance and led the Colonials with 23 points. Read more
Villanova vs. Robert Morris Discussion
If you’re at the bar, at home, or at your office desk and want to discuss Villanova’s 1st Round NCAA game against Robert Morris, add your comments here… Read more
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Clobbering the Colonials
I am going to start this preview in an unorthodox fashion: with a spoiler. The Villanova Wildcats will win their first-round game against the Robert Morris Colonials. While I might consider opening up a psychic hotline ala Miss Cleo, it won’t be because I can see the future. It is entirely unthinkable that the Colonials would pull off an upset on Thursday. That is why the game will be played at 12:30pm and it is the reason Robert Morris was given a 15-seed: the Colonials are expected to lose. [Tickets]
It would probably even be a surprise if the Wildcats didn’t win this game in blowout fashion. Accuscore gives the Colonials only a 13% chance of winning. Regardless, you are going to watch. Why? For one or more of the following reasons: (1) You’re the kind of diehard that watched the Fordham and Delaware games, (2) You would never skip an NCAA tournament game or (3) You REALLY need the catharsis of watching the ‘Cats dominate an opponent. Read more
Villanova Booster Reminder
From the Villanova Athletic/Compliance Department…
Dear Wildcat fan,
Villanova University thanks you for your continued support of our athletics program. Without your help our student-athletes would not be able to achieve their goals. This is a very exciting time of year for Villanova Athletics with our Men’s basketball team entering the NCAA tournament and our spring sports beginning their runs toward conference and post-season tournaments. It is important to remember that our enthusiasm for our sports programs should not lead us into conflict with the rules and regulations of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Big East Conference, and any/all other conferences with which Villanova is affiliated.
Two-seed Thoughts
Early in the season Villanova was hyped as a candidate for a #1 seeding in this year’s NCAA tournament. After one of the worst Februaries in recent memory, however, many of us were praying for a #3 seed (and worrying that we could drop to a #4 or worse).
Some fans and commentators have speculated that the NCAA may have created this bracket to give Duke the easiest possible ride to the Final Four, and perhaps a national title. Not many people would look at the bracket and claim that the South Region is the most difficult, or even comparatively difficult at all. Don’t let that fool you though, it won’t be a cakewalk for anyone. Read more
