Lots of love from Jerardi this week... anybody have a link to the wonderful article he wrote in the early Jay years talking about how a school like Villanova would never reach the Final Four again and that the expectations of fans were too high? Looking for a good laugh. McCaffery-lite.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...va_proving_a_winner_on_and_off_the_court.html

Thought some would be interested in this.........

Like many others here I've often been critical about the lack of local coverage for Villanova------but I must say I've been tremendously impressed by the scope and the depth of the local coverage of our Final Four team.
Everywhere you look or hear or read there is something special about Villanova, whether it be full page pictures and stories in the local papers, half hour TV specials on our team and players, multiple interviews with Jay or team members, lead stories on all the local channels, coverage from Houston by all the local stations, personal in-depth stories on all our players, including that great story about Jenkins and his brother Britt. I've actually been amazed by the overall volume and depth of the coverage----- its certainly much more than I had expected and its very enjoyable!! Not sure about the motivation or sincerity of it all, but all I can say is that for whatever reason, IMO they've all done an outstanding job covering and promoting all things Villanova these past few weeks!! I honestly think that Jay and this very likable group of players have won over a lot of the local scribes and casual fans who were not previously in our corner-------and thats gotta be a great thing for our program!!
Of course if you choose to look hard enough you can probably find a few negatives too, because those people will always be out there to criticize us, especially now that we're the talk of the town!!!! I can just imagine how the majority of Hawks and Owls fans feel right now about the tremendous amount of well deserved coverage we've been getting every single day and night-------both locally and nationally-----its gotta be incredibly frustrating and disturbing for most of them to deal with, and its probably driving them crazy-------like a nail on a blackboard-------and thats just one more good reason why I'm loving it!!

Go Cats!!!

So I live in Dallas and thinking about making the 5 hr drive down with my 6 year old. Considering seats in 135-137 section (behind the basket) for $286ea(just Saturday). Any good or should I just realize the view won't be great, need to suck it up and go for the experience?

Appreciate any thoughts...

http://nypost.com/2016/03/30/villanovas-seemingly-forever-point-guard-has-loved-every-second/Vaccaro makes the distinction that if you're a Nova fan, you probably think Arch's four years have gone by in a blur...but, if you're the fan of an opposing team, it seems that he's been on the "Scottie Reynolds" seven year-plan.

Funny note about how JVP leveled Arch in the lane, on Ryan's first-ever day of practice. Coach wasn't too happy - ha.

As expected, Cats have been all over the NY and NJ papers this week. Great to see, I wish it would never end. But, since it has to, let's see it end with two more wins!

A little less than 2 weeks away from the regular season. Post your predictions here - give as little or as much as you want. I will PDF this thread and we will revisit in October.

AL East

Orioles
Red Sox (WC)
Blue Jays
Yankees
Rays

AL Central

Tigers
Indians
Royals
White Sox
Twins

AL West

Mariners
Angels (WC)
A's
Astors
Rangers

NL East

Nationals
Marlins (WC)
Mets
Phillies
Braves

NL Central

Pirates
Cardinals (WC)
Cubs
Reds
Brewers

NL West

Dodgers
Padres
Giants
Dbacks
Rockies

AL Wild Card

Angels over Red Sox

ALDS

Angels over Orioles
Mariners over Tigers

ALCS

Angels over Mariners

NL Wild Card

Cardinals over Marlins

NLDS

Cardinals over Nationals
Pirates over Dodgers

NLCS

Pirates over Cardinals

World Series

Angels over Pirates

AL Awards

MVP - Mike Trout
Cy Young - Felix Hernandez
Manager - Lloyd McClendon
Rookie - No idea

NL Awards

MVP - Andrew McCutchen
Cy Young - Clayton Kershaw
Manager - Mike Redmond
Rookie - Kris Bryant

Private Villanova Pregame Party
 The Pregame Party will be at the NRG Center
 The Private Villanova Pregame Party will include music, a tailgate buffet, and cash bars.
 On Saturday, this event will be open from 2:30PM to 4:30PM

I don't yet know how those who didn't get the travel package will be able to get tickets to the party.

Took in the Old School Cavaliers game at the Donofrio Classic in Conshy on Tuesday. The roster includes Catholic League MVP Ryan Daly, Penn State recruit Lamar Stevens, 'Nova recruits Mohamed Bamba and Cameron Reddish as well as Nick Alikakos and John Rigsby (with Whitey Rigsby and his wife in attendence).
Bamba was a no-show.
Cameron Reddish - 6-7 (legitimate height as I found Beefer's tape measure hidden in a corner)/Soph at Westtown. Reddish is an outstanding shooter with the sweetest stroke. I don't believe he missed a shot all night.6-6 from the foul line, four 3 point bombs and a 2 pointer inside the arc for 20 points. He doesn't force anything and lets the game come to him. Seems to be strickly a perimeter player on offense and defense and didn't kill himself playing any D. Will be a point-forward (3 man) in college.Very quiet on the court and almost seems somewhat aloof. Seems to be an "entitled player" , the kind that goes to Kansas or Kentucky.
Talked with his mother about staying home or going away for college. She said it's too early to say and coaches can't contact him until June.Mom, Dad and younger brother were all there.
Lamar Stevens led the team with 24 points. Very strong and had at least 7 slam dunks. A man playing amongst boys. With that said, I'm glad we passed on him as he showed no outside game and is 6-6, maybe 6-7. Still, a very good pik-up for Coach Pat Chambers.
Nick Alikakos 6-7 swing forward from Episcopal. Cerebral player with a nice stroke but limited athleticism. Would be a great Ivy League recruit.
You never know who you are going to run into at the Fellowship House. Met former Villanova basketball player Frank McCall ('69). He had some great stories about his Freshmen Team at Villanova, which was a top 5 team in the Nation. UCLA had Lew Alcindor in that class and 'Nova had Frankie Gillen, Johnny Jones, Jim McIntosh and Bob Melchionni. LaSalle also had a top 5 class with Larry Cannon, Roland "Fatty" Taylor, Bernie Williams, Stan Wlddarczyk and Ed Szczesny. It was like being in Heaven watching those Palestra doubleheaders. He talked about Howard Porter, who after signing the contract with the Pittsburgh Condors, didn't spend the money on himself but bought his mother a house and a car. Some of his teammates visited Howard in Sarasota the summer before and he told me that the family lived in a shack but his mother served him the best fried chicken he has ever eaten.
Thanks,Frank, for the memories of Villanova basketball from the 60's.

Can someone post the link to buy tickets for the pre-game party at NRG on Saturday. Sorry I know this has been posted but I can't find the link and wanted to see if I can still buy tickets.

Thanks

The 2016 NCAA Tournament has been full of surprises, from Michigan State’s first-round exit to Syracuse’s unlikely run to the Final Four. And when it comes to deep tournament runs, the only people more excited than the fans are conference executives. That’s because a run to the tourney semifinals is worth an awful lot of money to the conferences involved. How much, exactly? Try $8.5 million.

The NCAA annually rewards conferences for their tournament performances, paying out over $250,000 per non-championship game played by conference teams over the previous six years (this year’s unit value is $260,800). And that six-year rolling period means that this year’s performances will pay out through 2022.

Unit values have increased by an average 2.5% annually, so we expect a single game played this year will be worth $1.7 million in total. Multiply that by five for a trip to the Final Four, and each semifinalist has generated over $8.5 million for its conference this year. For the ACC, which has two of the remaining teams, that means $17 million from UNC and Syracuse alone; add in the stellar performances of its other tournament teams and the conference can expect to haul in a staggering $44 million over the next six years.

As for the more immediate future, we can take this year’s performances and add in those of the last five tournaments to figure out what each team will net its conference next year. Tops among the Final Four is UNC, which has played in 20 tournament games from 2011 through this year. With an expected payout of more than $265,000 per unit next year, UNC’s performance will be worth $5.3 million to the ACC. The other semifinalists haven’t been quite so successful in recent seasons, but a run to this season’s Final Four is enough to boost even relatively poor showings - in fact, this year alone will make up half of the $2.7 million the Big 12 will earn from Oklahoma next year.

This article captures it perfectly. Can't be prouder of what Jay, the staff and these kids have done to make this a reality:

http://www.csnphilly.com/ncaa/villanova-basketball-no-superstars-no-problem-wildcats-final-four

Can anyone help? Respond here or email bps40@yahoo.com Go Cats

Not sure how many of you have bought your tickets through the ticket broker websites (razorgator, prime, stubhub, vivid), but the fees are much higher than I would have thought. Any work-around that I should be aware of? Any source for decent seats that doesn't involve a 20-25% surcharge on top of expensive tickets? And some want to charge $25 overnight fee. I thought all tickets went electronically through flash.

That said, I'm looking for 2 tickets in lower bowl if anyone has some to sell. Preferably in the Nova section 108-115. Thanks!

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Why does this start in 1986? 1985 was 64, right? My math says Cats in 1985 counted "20".

What am I (or they) missing?

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/03/201...-tar-heels-easy-bracket-history-highest-seeds

I have a single ticket for Houston all three games available, it is a club box seat section 307 row T, price is $999 (which is lower than was originally paid for it), post your email if interested and I will get back to you.

friday, 12noon-12:50p

If you have no desire to vote for Trumo or Hillart I would highly suggest you look into Gary Johnson. He had the best showing (by total votes) for an official Libertarian Party candidate, and I only expect that number to grow this year. Does he have a legitimate shot? Probably not, but if you are Republican like me that would never vote for Trumo or Hillart - Gary Johnson is a good choice. Take a look at site and read about his political positions.

https://garyjohnson2016.com/

Please email me at Newcombrill@yahoo.com. Thanks

...9pm ESPN...no Omari unfortunately as he is a a 5th-Year Player...btw saw a thread on some Board over the last couple of days called "Off-Season Thread"....that made me feel good...guess it is for some folks....

But in this case it was hot, piping hot.

http://60abc.com/man-reported-to-police-for-revenge-fart-after-woman-refused-to-have-sex/

They posted a couple videos(each several minutes) of the team landing and arriving at the hotel. Talk about the red carpet treatment! Soldiers welcoming the team walking from their plane to the bus(which is logo'ed up for the final four and has a huge V on it, with another decked out what looks to be official escort car). The hotel looks to have a huge picture in the lobby, lots of Villanova signage, and you can see the hotel staff and GM welcoming Jaynand the team to Houston.

It looks like everyone is supporting Villanova's run to the national championship.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/03/30/peace-sign-ultrasound-baby/

Must end at the Final Four in Houston.

It can't end at the Barclay Center this weekend against some nondescript, go-nowhere Iowa/Temple team.