Ole Miss, like Villanova, is 4-0 on the season so far, beating Arkansas-Little Rock and Alabama State at home before heading to Puerto Rico. In their biggest challenge so-far, they defeated Kansas State on Friday night, 86 to 74. Four starters scored in double digits in that game, but they didn’t receive much offensive production off of their bench.

The Rebels are coached by former Cincinnati (Interim) Head Coach, Andy Kennedy. Last year this team went 16-15 and tied for fourth in the SEC. They return two starters from last year’s team. That was a team that was hit hard by the injury-bug, however, while this year’s Ole Miss squad is healthy and ready to go.

Their team is lead by Guard Terrico White (a 6’5″ sophomore), who they rely on to create plays. He is averaging 30.3 minutes and 17.3 point per game this season.  Guards Chris Warren an Eniel Polynice are also averaging similarly-high minutes at 29.8 and 26.5 respectively. Warren is averaging 16 points and 3.3 assists at the point guard position. Polynice is averaging 12.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and leads the team with 4.8 assists per game so far this season.

Also starting are forwards Murphy Holloway and DeAundre Cranston. Cranston is the tallest Rebel starter at 6’9″, he’s averaging 8.5 points over the first four games, though this is slightly inflated by scoring 21 against Arkansas-Little Rock in the season opener. Cranston averaged 3.1 ppg and 4.2 rpg, and after a 4 point game against K-State, we can assume that Cranston will regress toward last year’s numbers as they progress through the season. Holloway (a 6’7″ sophomore) is averaging 15 ppg and 9 assists so far this season.

Off the bench, the Rebels are getting notable minutes out of G Zach Graham (19.3 min, 8ppg, 3.3rpg), G Trevor Gaskins (14.3 min, 5.5ppg, 2.3rpg), F Reginald Buckner (20 min, 3.5ppg, 7.3rpg, 3.8blk), and F DeAngelo Riley (10.8 min, 2.8ppg, 2.3rpg). The freshman Buckner is actually playing more minutes than starting forward Cranston. Buckner is an inch shorter but leads the team in blocks and is second to Holloway for rebounding.

Ole Miss’ strength is definitely their backcourt. Terrico White and Chris Warren provide the Rebels with scoring. They are not a deep squad, however, two starting guards are averaging around 30 minutes per game, and another two are averaging about 27.

Holloway and Buchner are the leading bigs on this team, even though Cranston is getting the starts. Holloway has the most all-around potential for the Rebels, being effective on the glass as well as scoring. Buchner is mostly a defensive presence for the Rebels.

Ole Miss’ lowest point total this season was 86 on friday. This is a team that can put points on the board, so shutting down their guards will be important. The Rebels are shooting 51% from the floor so far this year, but only 34.6% from beyond the arc. Cranston leads the team in 3pt percent at 66.7% (4 made of only 6 attempts), but Chris Warren leads the team on volume (8 made from beyond the arc for around 30%). The team is shooting 68% from the charity stripe.

Villanova can win this game by keeping the pressure on the Ole Miss backcourt. Neither team is going to be tremendously dominant in the paint, but their Holloway and Cranston are capable of taking advantage of weak defense inside. Cranston is averaging 4 fouls per-game however, and Holloway and Buckner are averaging around 3. With the way the whistles have been blowing in Puerto Rico, the Wildcats should take advantage (as long as we are hitting our free throws, it could work out very well).

This game will be won or lost in the backcourt. It will be interesting to see how Villanova’s guards match up.

Make sure to come back to VUhoops.com during the game to participate in our Live Blog.

The two schools have only met once previously, a 72-70 Ole Miss win in the 1999 NCAA Tournament.

‘Nova (4-0) got 18 from Corey Fisher (4-8FG, 10-12FT) as the Wildcats, who led by as much 18 in the second half, made their last 9 shots from the Free Throw line to ensure the victory and their place in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Final.

For the Wildcats, Taylor King added 14 and Pena had 13; ‘Tone was also 2 rebounds short of his third consecutive Double-Double.

Villanova will play the winner of Kansas St. & Mississippi on Sunday.

Preseason A-10 Player of the Year Chris Wright is considered to be the best player on this Dayton squad. Wright is a natural small forward but has the size to play up to the 4 spot if necessary. Last season, Wright averaged 13.3 points and 6.6 boards per game to lead the team, and also lead Dayton in blocks with 44 for the season. He shot a high percentage from the floor last season at 47.8% but appears to excel attacking the rim, as he attempted just over one three per game last year and only made 11 of his 44 attempts for a 25% clip. The 6’8 forward is a high flying athlete that could pose a matchup problem for the Wildcats, as he is bigger than a player like Corey Stokes, but Dayton has a true center in glue guy Kurt Huelsman that Antonio Pena will have to guard with Mouph Yarou out unless Mo Sutton is in the game so it will be tough to put a big on Wright. Beyond that, Wright would probably not struggle to drive past most of ‘Nova’s bigs, and it could make more sense to put a smaller wing on him to force him to shoot over a player instead of drive around them since he is not as much of a threat from the perimeter than he is around the basket.

The Flyers other top returning scorer is 6’3 shooting guard Marcus Johnson. A product of LeBron James’ high school, Johnson averaged 11.8 ppg shooting 45.1% from the field and was second on the team shooting 36% from deep on a team high 125 attempts. Villanova has done well containing guards this season so he may not have a tremendous game, but he is an extremely valuable player for the Flyers, actually sharing last season’s team MVP award with Wright. Wright and Johnson were the only players who averaged double digits in points last season on a very balanced Dayton squad.

Other key contributors on the squad will be returning starting point guard London Warren and the aforementioned Huelsman, last year’s starting center. Neither puts up extraordinary statistics, though Warren led the team in assists last year with 4.4 per game, but both play their roles tremendously well. Warren is a tremendous defender in addition to being a good facilitator on the offensive end, and backup point guard Rob Lowery complements Warren’s defense as a talented scorer off the bench. According to head coach Brian Gregory, “Those two guys form a tremendous two-headed monster. They give us a lot of versatility in our lineup.” Huelsman, a three year starter prior to this year, had his worst offensive season last year averaging merely 3.6 ppg as he lost weight to help transition to a more uptempo scheme. But he has been a part of winning teams, Dayton has won 69 games out of his 100 starts, and that is all that matters to Coach Gregory.

Dayton also expects swingman Chris Johnson to start at some point and make a major step forward this year. Last  year as a freshman he was fifth on the team in scoring at 6.3 ppg despite starting only three times, though he did play more minutes off the bench than any other player. A 6’6 swingman, the Flyers like Johnson’s perimeter abilities (he was third on the team in three point percentage at 34.3%) and think if he plays well outside that will open up more space inside for Wright to operate in. However, he has the size and length to guard the 3 spot, making him a versatile player that is very valuable for Coach Gregory. Another player who sticks out is forward Luke Fabrizius, who led the team in three point percentage with 39 makes on his 104 attempts for a 37.5% success rate. If he is able to get on the floor more he could provide some valuable shooting ability for Dayton. Guard Mickey Perry played over 500 minutes for last year’s squad, but Coach Gregory is not sure how much he will be able to contribute this season as he is coming off of an injury. Guards Paul Williams and Stephen Thomas and forward Devin Searcy all contributed over 200 minutes last season and could play significant roles on this team as well.

Looking at the box scores from the Creighton and Georgia Tech games, it looks like the 6’10 Searcy is actually starting over Chris Johnson despite what preseason chatter was, giving Dayton a large lineup that features Wright at SF. In the Creighton game Wright led the team in scoring with 25 points on red hot shooting, 9-12 from the field and 2-2 from beyond the arc. He also contributed 8 rebounds. Johnson came off the bench to log the 3^rd most minutes behind Wright and guard Marcus Johnson (13 points) and was second in scoring with 18 points to go along with his team leading 15 boards. Paul Williams and Fabrizius chipped in 9 each off the bench, and PG London Warren had 8 dimes. Against Tech earlier today, Wright only had 7 points as Chris Johnson and Paul Williams were sparkplugs off the bench again with 19 and 13 points respectively, for best and second best on the team. Luke Fabrizius was on fire in his 7 minutes scoring 12 points for third best on the team, sinking 4 of his 7 attempts, all of which came from downtown.

In the two games minutes have been distributed similarly. Wright, Huelsman, Warren, the Johnson’s, and Williams each played over 20 minutes in both games, while Mickey Perry played 20 against Creighton and Searcy played 20 vs. GT. Granted I’m clearly overanalyzing here since there’s no way you can actually get a pattern out of two games, but it seems that you have a general idea of who will be paying. The six players mentioned earlier should get the bulk of the playing time, Perry and Searcy will be playing around 15-20 minutes, Fabrizius will get some time, and everything else will just be spot minutes for some other bench guys. One does have to wonder whether or not Chris Johnson will get a spot in the starting lineup after his stellar first two games, particularly against a ‘Nova squad that is thin in the frontcourt right now and won’t be playing that big.

Regardless, this is going to be a tough game for the Wildcats. If they prove they can play considerably better than yesterday and pull out the win this would be great for a tournament resume, and if not this is a tough loss early in the season. After the way they played last game many will expect Dayton to challenge and possibly win, and looking at the team specifically that does not change much. This is going to be a team that attacks the basket which ‘Nova really struggled to stop GMU earlier today and got them into foul trouble, and Chris Wright could be a matchup nightmare for the Wildcats. This is definitely a winnable game for ‘Nova, particularly if they play to their potential offensively, but Jay Wright’s team is going to be playing far and away their best opponent of the season and still has a ways to go this season on both ends of the floor. Not turning over the ball as much as they did today, shooting better from the stripe and the field, and not getting into foul trouble will be key, as it will probably not be possible to get away with a game as bad as today’s against a very talented and experienced Dayton squad. Should be an interesting game and it will tell us a lot about where Villanova is early in the season, either inconsistent game to game or a team that needs considerable improvement. Here’s to hoping we will come out of it a lot more optimistic than after the scare against George Mason!

Let’s go ‘Cats!

The Cats were down by as much as 13 in the first half and found themselves in a 9-point hole at the intermission.

Scottie Reynolds paced ‘Nova with 18 points (along with 10 turnovers). Corey Fisher ended up with 17 based on 14-18 from the charity stripe, and Antonio Pena recorded his second consecutive Double-Double with a 10 Point-12 Rebound effort.

Villanova ended up shooting 35.8% (19-53) from the field and only 32% from distance (8-25). On top of those two poor performances, the Wildcats were a dismal 23-39 from the line (59%).

Georgia Tech is a historically a school that cares more about football than basketball. Despite that, the ACC affiliation keeps Tech basketball relevant, and draws in some of the southeast’s top recruits. The program has been active since 1911 when John Heisman, then the football and baseball coach at Tech, decided to organize a basketball team as well and lead the Yellow Jackets to a .142 winning percentage in their first season.

Tech basketball had limited success over the years since it’s founding. They played as a founding member of the SEC in 1932, and won that conference’s regular season and tournament titles in 1938. They wouldn’t win conference hardware again until 1985. Georgia Tech has 15 NCAA tournament appearances, half the number that Villanova has accumulated over the years. They have been to the Final Four twice, but have never won a national championship.

Current Coach Paul Hewitt lead his team to a tremendous 2004 season, which included a Preseason NIT title, and a win in the Final Four (ultimately losing in the final to UConn). They have been back to the NCAA tournament twice since then, in 2005 and 2007, but haven’t been out of the first weekend since.

In recent years Georgia Tech has produced a number of NBA players, and Coach Hewitt has continuted to hit on top high school prospects. The current roster includes two top-10 recruits in guard Iman Shumpert and forward Derrick Favors.

The Yellow Jackets return four of last year’s starters (not all of whom are starting this year), F Gani Lawal, F. Zach Peacock, G Iman Shumpert and G Moe Miller. They added six newcomers including Derrick Favors, who has moved Zach Peacock to the bench this season. So how do our rosters compare?

Frontcourt: Georgia Tech returns junior Gani Lawal (who flirted with the NBA in the offseason before returning), and adds highly-touted recruit Derrick Favors to the starting lineup. Last year Lawal almost averaged a double-double at 15.1 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. In one game so far this year, Lawal scored 16 and pulled down 12 boards with 2 blocks. Favors played 24 minutes in that game, scoring 10 points with 8 boards and 2 steals. Tech also received a 13 minute contribution from backup forward Brian Oliver, who scored 12. Former-starter Zach Peacock scored 8 points with 6 rebounds in 15 minutes of action.

The Villanova frontcourt is certainly not as highly-touted as Georgia Tech’s offering. Lawal is their most experienced player in the frontcourt, and looked better than Favors against FAMU. Their tallest starter is Favors at 6’10″, though they do have a 7′ center on the bench. All in, they have six players taller than 6’6″ compared to four for Villanova. Both teams start a veteran and a freshman in the frontcourt. While players like Taylor King will be more productive shooting than Tech’s frontcourt reserves, the edge in the frontcourt should go to Tech. Villanova will need a strong defensive effort on the inside to keep Favors and Lawal under control.

Backcourt: Against Florida A&M over the weekend, Tech started Sophomore Iman Shumpert, Mfon Udofia and D’Andre Bell in the backcourt. Bell is the only senior starting on this team, and though we’re calling him a guard, he is really going to be playing the 3. He was considered to be the best defender on the team two years ago (he sat out last year after spinal surgery). Bell averaged 24 minutes per game last year, along with 6.6ppg, 2.1 rpg and 1.9 assists, and this year he has 4 points, 1 rebound and 4 assists against FAMU. Freshman PG Mfon Udofia scored 9 points and had 4 assists and 4 rebounds in his debut, but went 0-2 from beyond the arc, 3-8 from the field and 3 of 7 from the charity stripe. Udofia also turned the ball over 3 times during 22 minutes on the court. PG/SG Shumpert is clearly their best backcourt player. Last year, the ACC All-Freshman team member averaged 10.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.1 steals and shot 39% from the field. This season he  has 18 points, 2 assists, and 3 steals against FAMU, and proved to be their most consistent shooter during the game. The Jackets also have Moe Miller at PG position, but he was largely a non-factor during his 14 minutes on Saturday.

Villanova has a deeper and more talented backcourt. With Fisher, Reynolds and Wayns handling the ball, the Wildcats have much more control of the ball. Tech turned the ball over 18 times in their first game, including 11 turnovers by their three starting guards. By comparison, Villanova has turned the ball over only 14 times over two games so far. Villanova is far deeper in the backcourt as well with a number of different looks. The ‘Cats guards are better shooters as well; Cheek is shooting 60% from the field, and only Scottie Reynolds is currently below 40% for the season (he was at 40% last year and is 39.9% for his career).

Overall: It’s hard to gauge how good Georgia Tech is this year since their only challenge was against the underwhelming Florida A&M squad. We’ll get more information during their game against Dayton.

Either way, the ‘Cats shoot a slightly higher percentage from the field (0.496 to .481), from beyond the arc (.426 to .4) and from the free throw line (0.722 to 0.7). Tech rebounded slightly better ‘Nova in their one game so far.

Neither team has met high-level opponents yet this season. The Villanova team has more veteran presence in the backcourt and a number of options for scoring. Despite that, it won’t be an easy game, and Jay Wright will have to prepare his team to play solid defense against the Yellow Jackets in order to win.

Tech is capable of playing at a very high level, but they can also take games off. This was highlighted by an exhibition close-call against D-II Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and it is possible that playing games on consecutive days in Puerto Rico could result in a similarly lackadaisical performance on Friday.

Both schools have highly-heralded recruiting classes this year, and Georgia Tech will be leaning on theirs to bring in some wins this season. Last year’s team went 12-19, but new faces mean that these are not the same Yellow Jackets. This is a team that is potentially very dangerous in the frontcourt; Mouph and Pena will need to have a strong showing to control the highly-talented Favors and Lawal.

If the ‘Cats play good defense, and keep the Tech frontcourt under control, they shouldn’t have a problem with this early-season challenge.

In it’s opener, Mason had a 76-72 win against Liberty (who were blown out by Clemson yesterday). They followed that up with a 20-point win over Ivy Leaguers, Dartmouth. George Mason will almost certainly be heavy underdogs in this game (the vegas spread hasn’t posted yet).

Mason has one senior on their 2009-2010 squad, Louis Birdsong. They have three players averaging double digit points in their first two games, Ryan Pearson, Mike Morrison, and Luke Hancock, all forwards. Pearson has been their best rebounder so far with 9.0 per game. Morrison has contributed 8.5 rebounds per game thus far.

Jim Larranaga’s recruiting class was rated by one service as being the best mid-major recruiting class in the country, so the baby-Patriots have some potential. Three freshman played significant minutes last season and the best player was a sophomore, which means that their middle-classes are going to be leaned on heavily this year. The Patriots need Andre Cornelius (a sophomore) to develop into a quality point guard this year so that junior Cam Long can move off the ball and try to provide the team with some scoring.

This is a deep mid-major team with a good frontcourt and a lot of young talent. Under Coach Larranaga’s tenure, the Patriots have been tough defenders, and we should expect that they will play hard this weekend as well.

Asked about this year’s team, the Coach said, “Right now our personnel is more suited to the scramble and extending defense and playing quicker. But we’ll be playing faster because of our defense, not because we are a run and shoot team.” In order to manage that, the Wildcats should prepare to match Mason’s intensity on the defensive side of the ball, and trust in their ability to chip away on offense.

I don’t expect this to be a high scoring affair. Mason will get in our faces and force us to beat them, and we will do the same to them. Mason doesn’t have a huge size advantage over us, so expect to see Jay use different looks depending on the situation we are in. IBBW predicts that Coach Wright will use this game as an opportunity to roll out the four-guard lineup and I won’t be surprised if he is right about that. We have a lot of backcourt talent, and the best way to beat this Patriot defense may be to overwhelm them.

UPDATE: ESPN is reporting that Mouph has flown back to PA. He has a viral infection (swine flu?) and will not participate in this tournament. Expect Taylor King and Mo Sutton to divide up Mouph’s minutes. We lose size with King, but I don’t expect a huge drop off.

The field for the 2009 Puerto Rico Tip-off has been announced- well, 7/8 of the field.

Joining Villanova in San Juan from November 19-22 will be…

• UAB
• Dayton
• George Mason
• Georgia Tech
• Indiana
• Kansas State