The tiebreaker is to make it a mini-conference among Villanova, West Virginia, and Pitt.

• Pitt, 2-1
• WVU, 2-2
• Villanova, 1-2

Pitt wins the mini-conference and is the 2 seed because they have the best winning percentage, regardless of how many games played. West Virginia gets the 3 seed b/c they have the next best record in the mini-conference.

If Pitt loses, Villanova and WVU are in a 2-way tie for second. I’m still figuring that out, but I think Villanova can be the 2 Seed, because the Wildcats beat Notre Dame and West Virginia lost to them.

Despite holding the Mountaineers to only 16 points in the first half, Villanova (24-6, 13-5) was outscored by 13 in the second half and needed an NBA-range 3-pointer from Corey Fisher with 13 seconds remaining to send the game to the extra frame.

In OT, Villanova made 3 free throws and didn’t record a field goal until 35 seconds remained. After going ahead on a Da’Sean Butler layup with 5.3 seconds remaining, Scottie Reynolds couldn’t connect on a buzzer beating 3-pointer to win the game for ‘Nova.

If he did, his legend would have grown.

Reynolds led the Wildcats with 17 points and is now in 2nd place on Villanova’s all-time scoring list. Corey Fisher added 12 points for Nova and Corey Stokes had 11.

Nova’s 13-5 finish means the Wildcats will either finish with the 3rd seed for the Tournament or the 4th, if Pittsburgh defeats Rutgers this evening.

NOTE: Taylor King did not play as a “teaching point”.

‘Nova (24-5, 13-4) looks to repeat last month’s win over West Virginia in Morgantown when Scottie Reynold paved the way for the Wildcats with 21 points.

Free throws were the difference in the first game as WVU missed 14 attempts from the charity stripe, and they remain a difference to this point in the season as Villanova has over 100 more attempts at the line than Bob Huggins’ squad over the season.

West Virginia is led by Da’Sean Butler who averages 17 points a game and 3 assists. Devin Ebanks leads the club with nearly 8 and a half boards a contest. One source said, “West Virginia entered the season with high hopes and a national ranking, and nothing has happened to dampen that. The Mountaineers suffered a few disappointing defeats along the way but not enough to knock them out of the top 10 and now head into the season’s final days hoping to earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. As the season has worn down, so, too, had F Da’Sean Butler, whose scoring has fallen off, but his fellow senior, Wellington Smith, has been strong down the stretch.”

For Villanova to succeed, the Wildcats are going to need to get into a higher-paced transition game against the Mountaineers.

Villanova is 21-18 all-time against West Virginia, including 5 of the last 8. Jay Wright has a 4-6 record against the Mountaineers.

The 1985 National Championship Villanova squad will be honored at halftime to celebrate the 25th Anniversary.

Tipoff is slated for 12p from the Wachovia Center. [Tickets]

The game will be broadcast in HD across the country on CBS.

Don’t forget to predict the final score in our Closest to the Pin post.

Update:  Game Results:   With the Cats losing another tough one, 66-68,  we congratulate six VUHoops readers who took medals in this round.  Gold Medal:  Rick 19 (73-70), earning 5 points; Silver Medals:  Barney Rubble ’87 (76-69) and NJ Super’Nova (75-70), earning 3 points each; Bronze Medals:  Chad (77-70), LuvmyKatz (77-66), and Kait’08 (75-72), earning 1 point.

Update:  Saturday, March 6, 12:00 Noon (Game Time)     A total of 47 VUH readers have posted predictions, two predicting a West Virginia victory.  As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning 82-75 (a margin of 7.0 points and implied total points of 157).  The Vegas odds-makers favor the Cats (-3.5) in a lower scoring contest (over/under set at 151.5), implying a final score of 78-74).   The scatter graph depicting the readers’ predictions as well as statistical information about West Virginia is provided below.  As there are no “Hog-esq” reader predictions in the bunch, all are reflected in the scatter graph.

Window Opening:  Thursday, March 4, 8:00 PM    Even though the Closest to the Pin Contest officially has ended, by popular demand we are continuing our tradition of inviting readers to predict final game scores for as long as the Cats keep playing this season.  Everyone has a clean slate.  We now play for pride, not prizes.  So, the window is now open to pick the final score vs. West Virginia on Saturday at Wachovia.  

So far this season, Villanova (24-5, 13-4) has scored an average of 83.3 points while holding their opponents to 72.8.  West Virginia (23-6, 12-5) has scored an average of 74.9 points while holding their opponents to 64.8.  In the first meeting between the teams on February 8 at Morgantown, the Cats prevailed 82-75.  The table below summarizes the Mountaineers complete Big East game results so far this season.

Villanova is presently ranked #9, has an RPI of 7, and SOS of 32.  Despite the inferior record and losing in it’s head-to-head game vs. Villanova, West Virginia is ranked higher at #8 , has an RPI of 6 and an SOS of 3.  We’ll post our game preview and the Las Vegas point spread and over/under on game day.

Scottie Reynolds led the way for Villanova (21-2, 10-1) with 21 points and moved into 4th place on Villanova’s all-time Scoring List. Villanova used an early streak in the first half to gain an eleven point edge at the intermission. The Wildcats used excellent outside shooting from the outside, hitting at a 57% clip  (29-51) including 5-11 from behind the three-point arc (46%).

The disparity in the game came at the charity stripe. ‘Nova nailed 19 of 22 free throws, while West Virginia only hit 18 in 32 opportunities as the Wildcats rebounded from their first conference loss over the weekend against Georgetown. Villanova also out-rebounded the Mountaineer, 37-27.

Corey Fisher added 17 points and Antonio Pena had 10 points and 9 boards.

Villanova returns to game action on Saturday when they take on Providence from the Wachovia Center.

Also, tickets to the 5 Villanova Basketball games at the Wachovia Center are now on sale. These games are Georgetown (1/17), Notre Dame (1/27), Providence (2/13), UConn (2/15), and West Virginia (3/6). Get your tickets now!

Objectively I must give West Virginia its due. They indeed return a strong team led by veterans Da’Sean, Devin Ebanks, Joe Mazzulla and Darryl Bryant (the latter two conveniently rejoining the team in the penultimate month of the preseason after suspensions following a second arrest for assault and undisclosed violations of team rules, respectively … while Reggie Redding serves out his semester-long suspension for a seemingly less serious violation). Furthermore, Nova fans remember the meltdown in Morgantown on February 14 as the low point of an otherwise great 2008-09 season. Had Katz simply observed that the West Virgina / Nova home-and-home series on February 8 and March 6, respectively, will pair the league’s best teams, I would have nodded vigorously in agreement. However, to question with such exasperation the selection of Nova over West Virginia, as if the coaches had picked DePaul to win it all, leaves me with no choice but to conclude that Mr. Katz has a closet full of raccoon hats.

January 11- Villanova at Louisville
February 8- Villanova at West Virginia
February 15- Connecticut at Villanova

[Entire Big MondaySchedule]