In all, four members of the CAA conference appeared in the top-10 of the poll, and six overall were ranked in the top-25. This includes last season’s semi-final foes, William & Mary, who appeared at #4, the Richmond Spiders (the 2008 National Champions) at #6, New Hampshire at #1o, James Madison at #15 and Delaware at #16.

Since 2000, a CAA school has appeared in the FCS National Championship game six times, including the last four. Of those six appearances, a CAA team has won the title 4 times since the beginning of the decade.

The contract was arranged by super-agent Arn Tellem and Lee Melchioni, and apparently the guaranteed money is substantial.

In Italy, Scottie is presumably slated to start as Prima Verdi’s point guard. Had he stayed with Phoenix, he would have been competing for a spot on the end of the bench.

It seems that Scottie has found a team that will let him shine this season. Good Luck to him overseas!

Story on Philly.com

Villanova’s 1985 NCAA Championship run is considered by most (Barney Rubble ’87 excluded) the greatest Cinderella story in NCAA tournament history and became the inspiration for the term now commonly used to refer to the tournament — “March Madness.”  However, Villanova’s tournament run that year also was partly responsible for a rule change that would have a profound effect on the future of the college game.  Rollie Massimino had elevated “the stall” to an art form in 1985 (the Cats attempted only 28 field goals in the Championship game, connecting on 79% of them).   NCAA officials feared that teams increasingly would use the delay game against superior opponents, slowing games to an unwatchable pace.  Villanova’s win over Georgetown in the Championship game would be the last game played without the shot clock.  The NCAA Rules Committee adopted the 45-second shot clock in the 1985-86 season, later shortening it to 35 seconds in 1993.

The most compelling case for the shot clock involved Big Five rival, Temple, in a game played twelve years earlier against Tennessee.  Basketball Digest wrote an amusing account of the game, saying,  “with no shot clock to stop them, the underdog Owls decided before the game that no matter how ugly or boring it was, or how badly they desecrated the game,  they were going to stall. For Temple coach Don Casey, this was the Owls’ best, and perhaps only, way to beat Tennessee.  Temple’s best ball-handlers, Rick Trudeaux and John Kneib, stood like Easter Island statues in their Chuck Taylors, passing the ball back and forth for minutes at a time.”  In the end, their stall was for naught, as Tennessee prevailed by a score of 11-6, the lowest score in a  major college basketball game since 1938.

In writing  Scottie’s Stats Under Howard’s Rules, I initially was frustrated in my attempts to find statistics from the pre-shot clock era, something I needed to normalize Scottie’s career scoring totals to take into account the effect of the shot clock.  Mr. Miller’s book solved my problem, providing box scores for every game of the 1984-85 season.  I tabulated the field-goal attempts for all games played that season (having decided out of necessity that the 1984-85 team was a reasonable proxy for Howard Porter’s 1971 NCAA finals team) and compared the result with the full-season field goal statistics of Villanova’s 2008-09 Final Four team.  The impact of the shot clock on the pace of play was palpable.  The 1984-85  team averaged 51.0 field goal attempts per game, converting 50.8% of them.  The 2008-09 team averaged 57.7 (6.7 or 13.1% more), converting 45.1% (49.8% from inside the arc).  

While far more data (more teams, more seasons) would be needed to make a statistically valid assessment of the impact of the shot clock on the college game, I’d bet my VUHoops salary that my analysis is at least directionally correct.  I leave any further research and analysis on this topic to our statistically-inclined cohort, GreyCat, over at Villanova By The Numbers.  Good luck finding the data, GreyCat!

What impact does this newly discovered data have on my calculations normalizing Scottie’s career scoring totals to reflect the NCAA rules in effect when Howard Porter played?  Click here to find out (Scottie fanatics should proceed at their own peril).

Villanova by the Numbers

The most memorable game in the Invitational series is probably the LSU-Villanova game from the Invitational’s first season (December 2007). Played in the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Villanova, down through most of the game, and trailing by 15 with 3:30 left in the second half, put on a closing blitz which stunned the Tigers and allowed the Wildcats to win it at the buzzer, 68-67.

VBTN also notes that the Invitational was flawed from the beginning, playing only four games, rather than a true top-to-bottom challenge format like the ACC/Big Ten and without the possibility of the Battle for the Bluegrass match-up between Louisville and Kentucky ever being a part of it.

With the recent conference shake-up between the Pac-10 and Big XII conferences, we may also see their challenge, the “Hardwood Series” come to an end. Could the Big East find a match with either of those conferences? The Big XII could potentially provide more compelling match-ups for television audiences.

Reynolds hasn’t decided to accept that offer yet, or to go to training camp with one of the other few teams that have invited him to join them. The Suns are looking to have a third point guard on their bench and would like Scottie to compete with Zabian Dowdell (who averaged 10 points and 3.8 assists over five games) for that job.

Regardless of his choice, the result of Scottie’s summer league stint is clearly not going to give him much material for his “wall of disrespect.” Three games were enough to keep the NBA dream alive for the first team All-American guard.

We don’t know which other teams might have offered Scottie a spot at their training camp. It is believed, however, that the Knicks were also interested in signing Scottie after the draft ended.

The Valley of the Suns blog wrote of Scottie:

Reynolds deserves that shot, and while he could still choose to go to training camp somewhere else, I bet he will go with Phoenix considering the conversation I had on Monday with him about how similar the Suns are to Villanova and how well he feels his skills fit this system. I would like to see Reynolds make the roster.

According to the Suns’ summer league coach Dan Majerle:

“[Scottie] brought a lot of spark, he pushed the ball, he was competitive and he got to the free throw line. He’s got to improve his shot, but a guy like that who can make plays for other people, you surround him with good players and he can be a good asset for anybody’s team.”

How did Scottie prepare to take a shot at the NBA? According to Comcast Sports:

Playing in the League is not the same as college – facing some of the best athletes in the country for an 82-game season takes its toll on the body, and Reynolds knew he had to bulk up. But not exactly in the way he’s accustomed to.

“It wasn’t as much free weights and lifting a lot of weights, it was more body weight, using a lot of different joints that you might not even know you have,” Reynolds said. “I started going to physical therapy, not because anything was wrong with me, but because you get soft tissue massages that opens up so you can run faster, you can recover better, and things like that. It’s a lot of different training I’ve been doing, and it’s actually been working a lot.”

Although he was undrafted, Scottie has a lottery-pick agent: Arn Tellem. Tellem represents some of the top players in both the NBA and Major League Baseball.

Scottie Reynolds is getting his chance, and hopefully someday Scottie will have enough praise to paper every wall in his home.

The offer is a three year deal with a team option for a fourth year, worth around $24 million total. Since Lowry is a restricted free agent who was tendered by the Rockets, they will have seven days to match his offer sheet. If they do not match, Lowry will become a Cavalier.

He would be expected to back up Mo Williams at the point. In Houston he currently serves as a backup point guard to Aaron Brooks.

Update: The Houston Rockets announced this evening that they will match Cleveland’s offer sheet and retain the services of Kyle Lowry.

Via twitter, Rockets GM Daryl Morey stated: “Congratulations to Kyle Lowry on signing his new deal. We plan to match the agreement and we are excited he will be returning to the Rockets.” He went on to add, “Credit Mr. Alexander – bringing Kyle back took one quick phone call. I appreciate the unshakable faith he has in the plan we laid out in Feb.”

It was apparently always in the Rockets’ plans to match an offer and keep Kyle in Houston.

In other alumni news, Allan Ray recently signed with Italian Serie A club, Sutor Montegranaro. He is returning to the Italian league after spending the entire 2009-2010 season recovering from a knee injury.

Special thanks to readers RFS and Nick ’09 for contributing to this post.

In a week when Brian and Mike battled it out to earn the distinction of most prolific Nova blogger in the universe, you might wonder what’s left to cover in my post this week.  Well, to paraphrase Gilda Radner’s SNL character, Roseanne Roseannadanna, “there’s always something.”

Nova Notebook  featured Corey Stokes this week.   They write, “[i]n three seasons, he has evolved from a stand-still jump shooter to a more well-rounded player. There were numerous occasions in 2009-10 that Villanova head coach Jay Wright and his staff leaned on Stokes to slow or stifle an explosive scorer on the opposition. “When I first came in I was just shooting jump shots,” Stokes states. “Now I think my game has expanded. I can drive to the basket. My ball-handling has gotten a lot better. I am working on becoming a great defender “As a staff, we really thought Stokes had his best year (in 2009-10),” stated Wright. “He made plays, got big rebounds and defended well. We think he has completed himself as a player and is much more than just a great shooter.” “I think since this last season ended we all feel like we have a chip on our shoulder and have something to prove to people,” he states.  Stokes likes what he sees in sessions of open gym in the months since 2009-10 closed.”

Several years ago, a basketball journalist wrote one hot July day, “when there is nothing to write about, publish a top 20 list.”  We saw a few of those this week.   BleacherReport posted a list of the best college basketball programs of all-time. The factors considered in their ranking were national championships, total wins, NCAA Tournament wins, Final Fours, and conference championships.  Villanova ranked #16, with one NCAA Championship, 1,530 all-time wins, four Final Fours, and 49 NCAA Tournament wins on their resume.  Rollie  Massimino is considered Villanova’s “best known figure,” while Paul Arizin was picked as Nova’s best all-time player. Other notables on their all-time best teams list are:  #20 Temple, #19 Marquette, #14 Georgetown, #9 Syracuse, #7 Louisville, #5 Kansas, #4 Duke, #3 North Carolina, #2 UCLA, and #1 Kentucky.

BleacherReport also published its list of the 10 Toughest Places To Play In College Hoops, nerve-racking venues known for raucous crowds and unbearable taunts.  Villanova’s Pavilion, with its somewhat dignified fans, did not make the list (undoubtedly Father Donohue is smiling), but several arenas well-known to Nova fans did, including Pitt’s Peterson Events Center (#7), Syracuse’s  Carrier Dome (#5), Kentucky’s Rupp Arena (#3), Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse (#2) and Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium (#1).  [Editor’s Note:  how did the WVU Coliseum, where opposing teams play with one eye on the crowd at all times, miss the cut?]

Villanova’s Jay Wright was snubbed on BleacherReport’s Top 10 Active College Basketball Coaches.  Those making the list were Butler’s wunderkind, Brad Stevens (#10), Florida’s Bill Donovan (#9), Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun (#8), Louisville’s Rick Pitino (#7), Kentucky’s John Calipari (#6), Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim (#5), Kansas’ Bill Self (#4), North Carolina’s Roy Williams (#3), Michigan State’s Tom Izzo (#2), and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (#1). [Editor’s Note:  it is hard to dispute anyone on that list, as much as I would like to discredit several.]

West Virginia Gazzette reports that the Big East, at least in a subtle way, is trying to entice Villanova to upgrade its football program the way Connecticut did.  “There’s a push on, yes,” said one source. “It’s not a hard push and we don’t want to make it that way because we don’t want to force [Villanova] to do something they don’t want to do or scare them off.  But that would certainly solve some problems.”  There are issues, of course. Villanova loses millions on its football program each year, despite its success. It plays in an 8,000-seat, [Editor's Note:  they are only off by 4,000 or so] on-campus stadium and didn’t even sell it out for a national semifinal game last year. And as Temple can attest, Philadelphians aren’t exactly clamoring to watch college football.”

The New Jersey Star-Ledger envisions a conference realignment that would merge the Big East and Atlantic Coast conferences into “The Big Atlantic Conference, which likely would be the best basketball conference in the nation while also being a respectable football league.  The Conference would have North and South divisions.  The North would be comprised of Boston College, UConn, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Temple, Villanova, Notre Dame, Georgetown, St. John’s and Maryland.   The South would comprise Wake Forest, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Duke, Louisville, Central Florida, South Florida, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Memphis.  This scenario has Villanova, Notre Dame, Georgetown and St. John’s as basketball-only schools. Miami, Clemson, Florida State and Georgia Tech are assumed to join the SEC, and Syracuse, Rutgers and Pittsburgh are further assumed to join the Big Ten.” [Editor's Note:  A very intriguing idea!]

MercuryNews.com reports that troubled former Seton Hall coach, Bobby Gonzalez, who was “fired in March for his antics on and off the court, has been arrested on charges of shoplifting from a New Jersey mall. He is accused of taking a satchel worth roughly $1,400 from the Polo Ralph Lauren store in the Short Hills Mall. The shoplifting charge is a third-degree offense punishable by up to five years in jail.”

Our statistically-inclined cohort, GreyCat, over at Villanova by the Numbers  reports that the Big East Conference improved offensively over the past two seasons.  He created an interesting chart, shown below, that plots the offensive efficiency (x-axis) and defensive efficiency (y-axis) of each Big East team.  [Editor's Note:  double-click the chart to get a magnified view.] Villanova had the third best offensive efficiency (behind Notre Dame and West Virginia), but was ninth in defensive efficiency.  Overall, Villanova was among the six most efficient team (based on combined offensive and defensive efficiency ratings).  Syracuse and West Virginia were the most efficient overall (good offense and good defense), while DePaul and Rutgers were the least efficient (bad offense and bad defense).

About Villanova, GreyCat writes, “Villanova has matched Connecticut’s three season “drift”, but in the opposite direction. The Wildcats have seen their offensive efficiency improve in each of the last three seasons, even as their defensive efficiency has settled closer to the conference average.”

A return to the West means that he will be facing off against former teammates Dante Cunningham (Blazers) and Kyle Lowry (if he re-signs with Houston) as well as with fellow Villanovan Scottie Reynolds (Suns).

MSNBC’s Lisa Dillman does not expect Foye to start for the Clippers. He will be taking over the role played by Steve Blake, who joined the Lakers, on the L.A. Roster.

Randy had his knee scoped after the NBA season ended, but there are no signs that his injuries would effect him going forward.

As for Kyle Lowry, a restricted free agent, it appears that the Indiana Pacers have been showing some interest in the point guard. The Houston Rockets, who hold a right of first refusal after making a qualifying offer, are still very interested in retaining Lowry.

Tim Thomas and Malik Allen are also free agents this off-season.

Zagsblog  quotes Derrick Bobbitt,  Tyrone Johnson’s mentor and assistant AAU coach, as saying, “if Ty continues to improve at the rate he’s improving, he can have an immediate impact as a freshman,” Bobbitt said. “He’s a relatively big guard who can keep pressure on the defense a lot like Rajon Rondo with his play-making ability on the offensive end and can potentially create havoc on defense with his length and athleticism.”

PressOfAtlanticCity.com  reports that it was the “Chicago Cubs who first came up with the idea to offer Matt Szczur the chance to play baseball and football, said Matt’s father, Marc. It was something Szczur and his family spoke about, but didn’t think could happen. “It was sort of breaking his heart to leave Villanova,” Marc said. “I think down the road he might have had second thoughts about leaving. Then, when they came with that deal, he seemed so relieved.” This opportunity actually gives Szczur more options. He signed with the Cubs through the summer. He will play football and then could decide to declare for the NFL draft. He wouldn’t have to report to the Cubs until next February.  He also said that he has taken out an insurance policy in case he gets injured playing football for the Wildcats.”

ESPN.com wrote a feature on 56-year old former Villanova assistant coach, Mitch Buonaguro, finally getting another shot at head coaching after 20 years, when he takes the reins at Siena next season.  “When Buonaguro was last a head coach, the first President Bush was living in the White House.”

“When Fran McCaffery punched his successful mid-major ticket into high-major work at Iowa, Rollie Massimino got on the phone. “I didn’t just call the AD; I called three or four people up there,” Massimino said. “Of all the assistants in the country, there aren’t many that can do what he can do. He’s smart, he’s loyal and he’s genuine. Mitch deserved this.”  Massimino wasn’t the only one who thought so. Villanova coach Jay Wright called D’Argenio with the same opinion.  Everybody was rooting for Mitch on this one. Everybody,” said Wright “He’s a very selfless guy, which is unusual in this profession, but he’s also very well-respected. He’s a great motivator, a great recruiter, an outstanding X-and-O guy but also just a really good person.”

Bleacherreport.com  explores the top destinations for free agent and former Villanova star, Kyle Lowry.  “In a slim point guard market led by marquee names like Jordan Farmar and Raymond Felton, teams hoping to fill the position have minimal options.  Just before the deadline for teams to extend qualifying offers to their players, the Houston Rockets did just that for point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry opted out of his $2 million contract, but hopes to remain in Houston and win a starting spot as a restricted free agent.”

Where will the former Villanova player land?  Houston wants Lowry back. The Rockets took out an ad in The Houston Chronicle declaring Lowry and Luis Scola as “key pieces to a team on the rise.”  The Indiana Pacers also have shown interest in Lowry.”

RecordNet.com  reports that “former Villanova star, Calvin Byrd ‘93, is returning to University of the Pacific as an assistant men’s basketball coach.  After graduating from Villanova, Byrd played professional basketball in the Atlantic Basketball Association and in Switzerland.  He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater, St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in 1996 where he was a McDonald’s All-American in 1989. After two years at the high school level, Byrd moved on to his first NCAA Division I coaching job at UC Irvine during the 1998-99 season.  From 1999-2001, he was an assistant coach at the University of San Francisco.  Calvin then spent four years with the Pacific from 2001-05. Byrd helped the Tigers to a school-record 27 wins in the 2004-05 season.  He moved on after the 2005 season to take a position at Loyola Marymount. After three seasons with the Lions, Calvin returned to the University of San Francisco, where he was for the last two seasons before rejoining the Pacific coaching staff.”

Columbian.com reports that “the Blazers expect the void left by the draft-day trade of forward Martell Webster to be partially filled by second-year forward Dante Cunningham. The former Villanova standout made a strong impression last season, due to his maturity, confidence and basketball intelligence. As a result, Portland hopes Cunningham will be able to replace Webster in locking down an opponent’s top small forward, while possibly handling shooting guards.”

Bleacherreport.com reports that the “New York Knicks are desperate to rebuild.  They say that in addition to pursuing LeBron, the Knicks should then focus on Randy Foye. Coming from the four-out, one-in offense at Villanova, Foye has a chance to excel in D’Antoni’s offense. He’d have the shooters on the wings he didn’t have while he was with the Wolves. Foye has the potential of a player that bounced around the league while finally finding the right coach (Larry Brown) in the right system (Detroit Pistons) at the point guard position. That player was Chauncey Billups.”

BleacherReport also posted a list of the 10 undrafted players who will make waves in NBA camps.  At the top of their list is Scottie Reynolds.  They write, “Of anyone whose stock fell on Thursday, the most tragic story has to be that of Scottie Reynolds. Reynolds may become the poster boy for the “leave college whenever your NBA draft stock gets high” camp. He turned down the NBA draft after a phenomenal freshman year, despite being in the lottery conversation, to come back and solidify his draft status as a sophomore.  While he led his Villanova squad to the Final Four in his junior year with one timely lay-up, Reynolds earned himself a reputation as a volume shooter during his college days. As scouts had more time to dissect Reynolds’ game, they saw a combo guard who played too little defense and shot at too low of a percentage to justify a lofty draft status. Reynolds may never evolve into an NBA All-Star, but he didn’t dominate the Big East for four years without some basketball talent. As a career 37.2 percent three-point shooter, Reynolds has the scoring prowess to earn himself a bench role on an NBA squad if he can improve his efficiency, and he’ll begin the process in the NBA summer league.”

(UPDATED 7/10) The good news is that Matt Szczur, the 5th round pick of the Chicago Cubs, agreed to terms on a contract with the North Siders. The even better news is that the Cubs have agreed to allow Szczur to return to Villanova this fall to finish his Football eligibility for the Wildcats.

Szczur will play baseball this summer in the Cubs farm system before returning to school in time to begin preseason football workouts. Regarding the arrangement, he said:

I am incredibly excited to have the opportunity to play professional baseball. It has always been a dream of mine to play at this level. I could not have asked for a better situation. I am thrilled to begin my professional baseball career in the Chicago Cubs organization and also be able to return to Villanova for my senior year and help my football teammates defend our national championship.

He was first-team All-Big East in baseball, and the Wildcats’ first .400 hitter in over a decade. He put up pretty impressive numbers this baseball season despite missing 10 games after donating his bone marrow to  a young girl with leukemia — there was only a 1-in-80,000 chance that she would have found a donor.

Villanova now has SIX former baseball players active in the professional baseball, including Justin Bencsko (Pirates) and Brian Streilein (Astros), who were also drafted this summer.

Matt Szczur returns to the FCS gridiron after winning MVP honors in the national championship game last December. He was voted a consensus first-team All-American at the FCS level, as well as being named the CAA Offensive Player of the Year and Special Teams Player of the Year. With his return, the Football ‘Cats return the bulk of their National Championship squad. While starters like Osaye Osunde and Ross Ventrone will be missed, it is very likely that the ‘Cats will be favorites to return to the national title game again this year.

See Also: The Press of Atlantic City posted this video and story about Matt Szczur’s signing.

UPDATE: The Press of Atlantic City reports that Matt Szczur received a $100,000 signing bonus before this summer and will be able to collect an additional $500,000 bonus next summer, IF: “he declines to attend the NFL combine and makes a written commitment to baseball before Feb. 10, 2011.” He would also need to pass a physical around that time to ensure that football injuries wouldn’t affect him going forward.

This only affects his bonus, however, and he would presumably be able to forgo the $500,000 and try his luck in the NFL draft without losing the opportunity to play baseball in the Cubs system. Forgoing a half-million dollars for anything short of a guaranteed pick in the top two rounds of the NFL draft would be a lot to give up. We should expect that this season will be Matt’s farewell to football.