Mouphtaou Yarou & Isaiah Armwood from CapitolHoops.com

It’s time to check in on the players who have given commitments to Jay Wright.

RFC has been keeping the Stats of our ‘09 & ‘10 Commitments. This post will be updated when we get new information on Maalik Wayns, Dominic Cheek, Isaiah Armwood, Mouphtaou Yarou, and James Bell. They are below the jump…

First of all, check out CapitolHoops’ video recap of Montrose Christian’s game from Tuesday. There are some fantastic clips of Moup and Isaiah there.

On to the stats…

2009 Rankings

Maalik Wayns

(12/7/08) Paul VI Catholic - 21 Points, 10 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 3 Steals

(12/9/08) Camden Catholic - NO STATS AVAILABLE

(12/13/08) Plymouth Whitemarsh - 20 Points

(12/18/08) Arlington Country Day (FL) - 14 Points, 4 Rebounds, 2 Assists

(12/20/08) Mater Dei (CA) - 20 Points, 9 Assists, 4 Rebounds

(12/22/08) Lincoln (NY) - 27 Points, 5 Assists

(12/23/08) Duncanville (TX) - 24 Points, 5 Assists

(12/30/08) North Catholic - 14 Points, 7 Assists, 5 Rebounds

(01/02/09) Cardinal O’Hara - 28 Points

(01/03/09) Rice (NY) - 14 Points

Isaiah Armwood

(12/2/08) Jericho Christian Academy - 8 Points, 5 Assists, 4 Rebounds

(12/6/08) Mercersburg Academy - 20 Points

(12/8/08) Takoma Academy - 6 Points

(12/12/08) Evangel Christian School - 10 Points

(12/13/08) Knox Academy - NOT AVAILABLE

(12/17/08) Maryknoll - 14 Points

(12/19/08) Whitney Young - NOT AVAILABLE

(12/20/08) Fairfax - NOT AVAILABLE

(12/23/08) Oak Hill (VA) - 11 Points, 9 Rebounds, 2 Blocks

(12/29/08) Princeton Academy - NOT AVAILABLE

(01/02/09) St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes - 13 Points

(01/06/09) KIMA - 9 Points

Mouphtaou Yarou

(12/2/08) Jericho Christian Academy - 15 Points, 5 Rebounds, 4 Blocks, 1Assist

(12/6/08) Mercersburg Academy - 19 Points, 14 Rebounds, 6 Blocks

(12/8/08) Takoma Academy - 18 Points

(12/12/08) Evangel Christian School - 21 Points, 13 Rebounds

(12/13/08) Knox Academy - NOT AVAILABLE

(12/17/08) Maryknoll - 18 Points, 8 Rebounds

(12/19/08) Whitney Young - 17 Points

(12/20/08) Fairfax - 12 Points

(12/23/08) Oak Hill (VA) - 23 Points, 9 Rebounds

(12/29/08) Princeton Academy - NOT AVAILABLE

(01/02/09) St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes - 16 Points

(01/06/09) KIMA - 28 Points

Dominic Cheek

(12/19/08) CREATE Charter School - 14 Points

(12/21/08) Trenton Catholic Academy - 14 Points, 11 Rebounds

(12/22/08) Edison Academy - 16 Points

(12/26/08) Bishop O’Dowd - 8 Points

(12/27/08) Foothills Christian - 24 Points

(12/29/08) Bellarmine Prep - 21 Points

(12/30/08) Bellarmine Prep - 20 Points

(01/03/09) Monsignor Donovan - 15 Points

(01/05/09) Paterson Eastside - 22 Points

(01/07/09) Colonia- 15 points

James Bell

(11/24/08) Life Academy - 17 Points

(11/29/08) Yonge - 18 Points

(11/29/08) Wekiva - 21 Points

(12/2/08) Father Lopez - NO STATS AVAILABLE

(12/4/08) Oldsmar Christian - NO STATS AVAILABLE

(12/6/08) Marshall County - NO STATS AVAILABLE

(12/6/08) Findlay Prep - NO STATS AVAILABLE

(12/9/08) Frist Academy - 28 Points

(12/10/08) Mount Dora - 23 Points

(12/13/08) Olympia - 20 Points

(12/19/08) Boyd Anderson - 15 Points

(12/20/08) Zion Lutheran - 34 Points, 6 Rebounds, 2 Steals, 1 Block

85- Paul Arizin vs. NAMC: 2/12/1949

46- Bob Schafer vs. Baldwin Wallace: 1/8/54

45- Joe Lord vs. Kings Point: 2/4/47

45- Larry Hennessy vs. Boston College: 2/14/53

44- Kerry Kittles vs. Boston College: 2/28/95
44- Larry Hennessy vs. Canisius: 2/4/53
44- Bill Melchionni vs. St. Bonaventure: 2/16/66

43- Bob Schafer vs. NC State: 1/2/54

41- Paul Arizin vs. Seton Hall: 2/8/50

40- Scottie Reynolds vs. UConn: 2/28/07
40- Rich Moore vs. Seton Hall: 3/3/64
40- Bill Melchionni vs. Oregon St.: 12/11/65
40- Larry Hennessy vs. Rider: 3/4/53
40- Howard Porter vs. Seton Hall: 3/2/70
40- Scottie Reynolds vs. Seton Hall: 1/6/09

Dante Cunningham added 23 as ‘Nova out-rebounded the Pirates 40-27. Dante had 12 boards for his fifth Double-Double of the season. The Cats shot 7-17 (41.2%) from 3 as Reggie Redding locked down SHU’s Jeremy Hazell in the second half.

Dwayne Anderson almost recorded a Double Double with 9 points and 15 boards.

Update: Video added below the jump.

Jay on Scottie…

To be honest, I had no idea he had 40 or was even close to 40, but when you’re in a close game, he’s the kind of kid that you want with the ball in his hands. He carried the offense for a great portion of the second half. We needed that.

Jay on Reggie Redding…

Reggie did a great job on Hazell in the second half. He worked his butt off. You can’t let that kid get going, because once he does get going, you’re in trouble. Reggie did a great job of limiting his touches in the second half. I don’t think we took him out of the game in the second half. He had to stay out there.

[Box Score]
[Recap]
[Daily News]
[Inquirer]

[Show as slideshow]

The Daily News has an article on the 6′3″ point guard where Green notes…

If there is a school I’m favoring, though, yes it’s Villanova and I could be making a decision by the end of my sophomore year. They’ve been looking at me the longest.

Green has been described by ESPN as…

…a true scorer who can light up the scoreboard in a variety of ways. He has good ball skills and possess the rare ability to avoid dribbling for the sake of dribbling. Green demonstrated good foot speed and hustle; he rarely let the ball beat him down the court on offense or defense.

‘Nova is coming off a 79-72 loss to Marquette in last week’s Big East Opener.

The Pirates are 0-2 in early conference play with a loss on the road at Syracuse and against West Virginia at home. The biggest difficult that SHU coach Bobby Gonzalez is facing is a shortened bench. Transfers Herb Pope and Keon Lawrence are ineligible to play for the season and freshman Melvyn Oliver didn’t qualify as a freshman. Because of the limited bench, Gonzo usually goes with a 7-man rotation with Jeremy Hazell, Robert Mitchell, John Garcia, Paul Gause, and Eugene Harvey as the starters.

Hazell is their leading scorer at 22.9 a game. Mitchell, who also leads them in rebounding with 8 boards, adds 15 points.

• Villanova is 59-36 all time against Seton Hall (62%) including the last 6 matchups. The Pirates’ last win in the series came back in 2004.
• Jay Wright is 6-2 against SHU as the Head Coach of Villanova.
• Senior Dante Cunningham is 42 points shy of reaching 1,000 Career Points as a Villanovan.

Other Previews
[Villanova by the Numbers]

The USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll find NINE Big East Conference teams in the Top 25.

UPDATE: How the AP Pollsters voted for ‘Nova

Enjoy!

Let’s look at those games…

Against the Longhorns, ‘Tone played 9 minutes with 0-2 shooting, 2 turnovers and a foul.

In the Big East opener, he played 7 minutes and was held scoreless, but was still able to grab 4 rebounds and get an assist. However he did rack up 3 fouls- the first two occurred in a close game when ‘Nova was up 10-8 and 13-10. His third foul came quickly in the first 10 seconds of the second half.

Jay Wright is a coach who plays the match-up which, coupling with Peña’s quick fouls, was probably a reason for limited minutes against Marquette given their smaller, quicker guard-oriented lineup. However it is hard to see why his play was limited against Texas, a team who featured multiple big men.

With Dante Cunningham’s effective mid-range jump shot emerging, having another “big” (loosely used Nova term) option down low as Dante draws his man from the basket- that big needs to be Antonio Peña.

Updated with video highlight at the bottom…

Villanova opened 2009 Big East play with a loss in Milwaukee today against Marquette.

Down by 4 at the half, the Wildcats (12-2, 0-1) pulled ahead 47-46 half way through the second half  and kept the game within 3 with 5 minutes remaining.

‘Nova was led by Corey Fisher for the second consecutive game as he scored 21 off the bench. The Cats only hit 6 of 20 3-Point attempts (30%). Dante Cunningham added 16 points down low and Scottie Reynolds was good for an additional 15.

Stats-wise… asssists, rebounds, and turnovers were within 2 for each squad. However, Villanova was whistled for 10 more fouls which clearly frustrated Jay Wright.

[Box Score]
[Recap]
[Inquirer]
[Daily News]
[Villanova by the Numbers]
[I Bleed Blue & White]
[Nova News]
[Let's Go Nova]

[Show as slideshow]