VUSports has learned that at tonight's "Banquet"/Awards Ceremony event it is expected Villanova will announce some details regarding phase one of the Pavilion renovation project:

• "ground-breaking" takes place in Fall of 2016
• phase one expected to be completed in time for 2017-18 season
• announcement of the name of the lead donor and the donor's record-setting donation to Villanova Athletics to spear-head this effort
  
• announcement of the budget for the first phase (approx $25 Million)
• some amount of details on the scope of phase one may be revealed
• surveys of alumni/fans/season ticket holders to begin in near future

https://38pitches.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/the-hunt-to-be-offended/

Bravo.

http://nypost.com/2016/04/15/bruce-springsteens-silly-stand-for-bathroom-rights/

Transgender bathroom rights is the new issue for him to tackle I guess. And we wonder why so many people refuse to put up with his gutless brand of overproduced pop rock.

Dead at 46. Gone too soon.

Glad she lived to see someone make a worse sex tape. She didn't deserve to have the worst.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...earn-comparisons-to-villanova-star-josh-hart/

Is this kid on our list to keep an eye on?

http://www.cityofbasketballlove.com/news_article/show/638520?referrer_id=1566508

Just some additional info on local recruits many of whom have already been discussed here.

For those with knowledge:

Villanova definitely needs one solid point guard recruit in the 2017 class....

Assume...Trevon DuVal is not coming...Quade Green is not coming...no unknown door #3 prospect surfaces due to the National Championship....

Chris Lykes has been adequately discussed in his own thread...so you can rank him in the group but need not comment more..

Please rank and comment on the following other four that seem to be in play...

Tremont Waters...Makai Ashton Langford....Kellan Grady....Darron "Fatz" Russell

Solely from reading recruiting reports and watching videos it seems as if there is a potential wide range here. My take:

Waters seems to have a very well balanced game and is the most savy. Concerns are only 5"10" and plus athleticism but not a jet.

Ashton Langford has decent size 6'1" good court vision and defensive effort is actually in the videos. Concern: Don't care for his low, not pure shot release.

Grady has good size 6'3", good shot but is neither explosive nor a pure point yet...more of a less athletic Booth.

Russell seems awfully small and is does not seem explosive for his size but has excellent court awareness and a decent shot..

1) How would you rank these guys 1-5 including Lykes in terms of:
a) ability
2) fit
3) possibility of getting a commit

Father Peter mentioned last night that Bill Finneran had endowed Jay's salary.

What exactly does this mean? A quick Google search indicates that Finneran contributed $1mm towards the head coach's salary. That would produce, typically, $50k for use annually.

Can anyone shed any light on how the coaches' salary endowments work?

It would take around $50 mm or more to endow Jay's salary under the typical understanding of how such things work, right?

Good article on OS and how excited he is to become part of the Villanova family.

http://www.todaysu.com/recruiting/cbb-recruiting/omari-spellman-ready-tackle-role-villanova/

Big East pulling in transfers left and right lately. I'm sure I'm missing some, but here's at least a partial list (this is only past offseason and doesn't take into account players who sat out 2015-16 and will play in the fall, e.g. Paschall):

St. John's
Marvin Clark (Michigan State)
Justin Simon (Arizona)

Creighton
Kaleb Joseph (Syracuse)

Georgetown
Rodney Pryor (Robert Morris - graduate transfer)

Butler
Avery Woodson (Memphis - graduate transfer)
Kethan Savage (George Washington - graduate transfer)

Providence
Emmett Holt (Indiana/JC)

Marquette
Katin Reinhardt (USC - graduate transfer)

Butler's transfers were sorely needed to bridge this season. They lose Dunham/Jones and really only had Tyler Lewis coming back as the only guard who had played significant minutes for them (and an incoming guard decommitted as well).

Mullin continues to add talent - Clark and Simon are potentially two really good pieces for 2017-18. Let's see if he can mesh it all.

Lots of guys transferring out as well. Don't recall this level of activity within the past couple seasons in the Big East, but maybe I wasn't paying as much attention. Additional posts welcomed if I've missed any.

How about all Villanovans send in a check equal to the amount they spent on FF and NC gear?.....
I sent a little more,enough for a seat maybe.?

For those of us who can't make it up to Nova, it looks like the banquet is being streamed live.... and for free.

http://www.villanova.com/collegesportslive/?media=530343 Scroll down the page a bit on the right side.

Sad that I can't be there, but at least I'll be able to see it.

per twitter.

wow...that last hour was so incredible. Hard to even describe how great that was. Not sure what my favorite moment was but DO telling Josh to come back was pretty cool.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-ba...ht-actually-be-30-year-old-from-africa-042116

Oh boy. Wonder how many underage girls this cat diddled.

Trumo will take care of this.

nm

When great fortune comes upon you

It doesn’t make the man

It reveals what the man is really like

You are great men

Great humble men

You are unselfish

You have great character

Let’s remain that way as champions

- Jay Wright 4/4/16

Showed in the video last night - 2:01:30 of the banquet replay - one of the best locker room speeches of all time

http://www.villanova.com/collegesportslive/?media=530343

If it's not, it certainly has to be up there:

1) Win 2nd national title in perhaps the greatest title game of all time on perhaps the greatest shot in the history of the NCAA tournament.

2) Business school named #1 in the country.

3) $22.6M lead donation & an announcement of a Pavilion re-do-FINALLY!!

#1 Basketball team & #1 business school about to play in a modernized arena? Talk about good times!

If it's not the greatest month ever I'd like to know what month has it beat-plus it's only April 21st!!!

Thank you to whomever is responsible for making tonight's broadcast available online. It was a great feed, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to have viewed a special night in Nova hoops history. And thanks to the posters here who bumped the link info today.

Gonna be droppin mad Harriet Tubmans in da club.

Watching and listening to the members this senior class speak tonight a deaf, dumb and blind man could see, hear and feel the love and admiration they have for each other, for their teammates, for their parents, for their coaches, for God and for the school. Watching Jay tear up as he stood with Arch and Daniel on the stage for the last time tells it all. Jay is every bit, if not more, proud of who these guys have become as he is in winning the National Championship. Now we all can see why!

As a senior software engineer with 25+ years of experience, I was laid-off a little over a month ago from Arris (formerly Motorola). This was a position I held for 20 years. This is the first time I have been out of work since graduating Villanova in 1986. I thought that there couldn't be a better place to network than VUSports, where we all have something so great in common: Villanova University and our 2016 National Champions!!!!

I was wondering if anybody can assist me or connect me to someone who can? I would be happy to send my resume. I am looking within a 25 mile radius of Warrington, PA, in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Also, it would be great if you guys can connect with me through LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/DTavoletti) if we aren't already connected. Please let me know your username so I know who you are when connecting.

Any help is so very appreciated. Thank you all so much!

Don Tavoletti (RP_Gambit)
dontavoletti@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/DTavoletti

RIP Pearl. I saw you outside the garden once. I didn't know who you were at the time.

they were supposed to be in grocery stores this week in philly area. I haven't seen them yet, has anyone found them in Wegmans, Acme, Giant, etc near campus?

RIP