My brother and I had a discussion based on a tweet by Mark Titus (former Grantland hoops writer) who said that last year's team would beat this year's team by 10.

My bro and I both like this year's team more for a few reasons:

1. Jenkins is playing at a much higher level than Pinkston. He is truly a stretch 4 and makes us much more dangerous offensively.
2. When Ochefu is out, prefer Reynolds at the 5 over Pinkson simply due to height. (I thought Pinkston did a great job defensively senior year, but you can't coach length.)
3. We can mix it up more. We play zone quite often and go big more than BEEFER ever expected.
4. Ennis was fine but loved to play hero ball at times. Never liked his offensive game frankly. What we lose in D we gain in offensive stability.
5. Hilliard was tremendous his senior year. He was a big loss and isn't truly a replaceable part. But Hart, Arch and Jenkins have stepped in to fill by committee.
6. Bridges brings an X factor of length and athleticism we simply did not have last year. He allows us to play "small" but still have size.

It is easy to base it on results (Sweet 16 this year; no Sweet 16 last year). But I was ready to post this before the tournament but did not think it was the right time.

Thoughts?

I know it doesn't look like much of a stat because both teams shot a very high percentage.
But this stat is unreal.
Nova missed one FT--the first of 2 by Chef.
They shot 32-51 for the game from the floor. That's 19 available rebounds.
Miami got 9. We got 10.

2nd and 3rd biggest losses in terms of margin of loss in the history of the ACC have been inflicted by Villanova.

2009 vs Duke
Tonight vs. Miami

Both were 23 point wins.

Kentucky thrashing Wake back in the 90s is number one.

They shot really well. Should there be any concerns about Nova's D?

live?

What say you?

If we keep winning and Jenkins keeps playing and shooting like this, could he leave early? The NBA is Warrior crazy and teams want shooters.

It feels like he just brings a swagger and confidence to the whole squad. Sky is the limit if they bring the effort from the last two rounds going forward.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Villanova averaged 1.58 points per possession, its best offensive efficiency in any game in the last five seasons. <a href="https://t.co/m5q2877GYc">pic.twitter.com/m5q2877GYc</a></p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href=" Login to view embedded media ">March 25, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Get your ass to Louisville!

First,S.Florida club is awesome.....Dtrain has been in the house for all the game watches I've attended ,and he makes a point of working the room and saying hello to all,Great ambassador. Tonight,when they showed him in the 85 game clip,the crowd of about 80 fans gave him a Great ovation and chant. Great Night,Congrats to Cats!!

Great game by the Cats tonight. I love watching a former BE team, now ACC, get a complete beating. It couldn't have happened to a better team, league!

I love Villanova hoops and Penn State football, so why do I have an Ohio State shirt? Our son was born in Ohio so my wife so this shirt and bought for me for Christmas. I looked at it when I opened the box and gave her a quizzical look. She didn't realize that Penn State fans hate Ohio St. She says she saw it and since that was where Jackson was born she had to buy it. Well on Sunday I put it on and thought "Iowa isn't Ohio St" what the heck. I put it on tonight after my shower but my son was freaking out so I really didn't think about it. Well we now have played our 2 best games of the year while wearing it, so you know what I'm wearing Saturday.

we couldn't have played better. huge games from jenkins, arch, ochefu, hart.

63% from field

67% from three

wow. looked awesome on the big stage!

n/m

That is our record in Sweet 16 games, our only two losses were to the eventual NC.

Congratulations to the team and coaches. What a joy to watch this program. Everyone down there, be safe and enjoy the next couple of nights!

We got another game to win on Saturday night!

Miami 67% Nova 64% in the first half........whoever can play some defense can win this game....turnovers keeping Nova in the game.......

hopefully history repeats itself

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Great article in today's NYT. I especially like these quotes:
“Most good programs do a really good job recruiting their home base,” said Baker Dunleavy, Villanova’s associate head coach and a former Wildcats player. “We’re extreme.”

Ja’Quan Newton, a Miami guard who comes from Philadelphia, said, “If you’re from the Northeast, that’s the school everybody wants to go to.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/s...a-roster-ncaa-tournament.html?ref=sports&_r=0

are these shows archived anywhere? Would be nice to listen to some of them.

I was just curious if there was a location to find them.

If you're looking for somewhere to watch Thurs. night's Sweet 16 matchup between 'Nova and Miami, I'm hosting a gamewatch at Tilted Kilt in King of Prussia (http://tiltedkilt.com/king-of-prussia/). Although the game isn't scheduled to start on CBS until 7:10 p.m., we'll have at least half of the upper level reserved for us at Tilted Kilt starting at 6 p.m.

Please note that we'll be on the SECOND FLOOR (not the first floor).

All ages are welcome.

As always, yes, the audio will be on for the game.

If possible, PLEASE REPLY to let me know if you and/or anyone else you know is planning on coming. We don't have to have an exact headcount, and, of course, anyone can show up without notice (the more, the merrier), but it would be helpful to have a list of definites in advance, so I can get some semblance of how many to expect. (If we end up needing more space, I've been assured that we'll get it, but I'd like to give Tilted Kilt a heads-up in advance if that's the case.)

Time to start playing the games. Some of the stories are beginning to look like those during Super Bowl week.
Wall Street Journal today has a ranking of the schools in the Sweet 16 based on the 'bro' factors- popularity of Greek life on campus; how many alumni go into finance and consulting; party school ranking, success of lacrosse; number of bro-centric items sold in the campus store; and the proximity of the nearest J Crew store. We came in #7- Article says "The competition was so fierce that even Villanova, which led the pack in finance and consulting grads, failed to crack the top six." Fell short in the party rank and campus store depts.
Let the games begin... Good luck Cats!