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Impressed with Marquette

IMO, that's a tourney team. Cap tip to Wojo, he did a very nice job. Especially after being down early and with one point guard on the roster who was in foul trouble. They are a good club who will only improve. Could be the 6th BE team to make the dance. Ellenson or Ellison, don't know his name, is the best big in the league. Solid down low.
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Jay Wright....

I personally don't think our coach gets enough credit on this board for how great a job he has done and where he has elevated our team to. His distribution of minutes within his current 8 man rotation has been spot on. He has been criticized in the recent past for his constant substituting....me included. Nova is currently on a 79-10 run and heading for a 3rd straight BE title.Nova is now a fixture in the top ten.This team, fans, and university are hopefully grateful for what we have....because I know I am.

Better, Worse, or about the Same?

Before the season started, and early on in the season as well, we had some nice back-and-forth about how good this team would be, and whether there would be a drop-off from last year after losing 3 starters.

Prior to the start of the season, it was generally agreed that we would have a harder time on defense and especially rebounding. On the flip side, with the addition of Brunson and Jenkins in the starting line-up, the general consensus was our offensive output would increase.

Mid-way+ thru the season, we are actually seeing a better (statistically) defense, and a less effective offense. The differences are slight, but they are there. Defensively, we have an eFG% of 43.9% vs a full-year 45.5% last year. Offensively we have an eFG% of 54.3 vs 55.3 last year. Our 2P FG% is way up this year and 3P is way down. Also, it is interesting to note that our % of offensive rebounds given up this year is exactly the same as last year (31%).

We played a much tougher OOC this year, which has resulted in the top SOS (to date) and top RPI. We are at the top or near the top in every statistical model that measures team performance.

Looking at individual players...

Arch: Much improved (thanks to no injuries) OOC. Early Big East shooting is up and down, but while his efficiency is down, he is contributing more defensively and with rebounding.

Hart: major junior year leap. Lucky to have him!

Jenkins: started slow but he has really started to blossom into his 4-man starting roll. Shooting is still below average, but he has expanded his game and is contributing defensively as well.

Ochefu: I would say he is better offensively year over year at times, and other times not so much. Defense and rebounding are both better.

Booth: Hard to keep up with last year's efficiency, but his lack of aggression is surprising. Next year I expect a change. His defense is better, but he still lacks the aggressive nature that Jay loves to help generate TOs.

Reynolds: His offensive game actually looks worse, but he has held his own nicely defensively in significantly more minutes than he is used to.

Losing JVP, DH, Ennis: Gaining Brunson, Bridges, DD: Obviously you can't replace SR leadership and production with freshmen, but I have been super-impressed with what we have gotten from both Brunson and Bridges. Brunson to me has performed just about where I expected. He is probably holding back a bit, but that's normal. Bridges is amazing. Who'd have thought his impact would be this big and consistent every single game? DD got hurt and his rookie season really got hurt by it. He wasn't going to play much in the BE schedule, but he is losing out on practices too. I like his potential though and expect big things from him over the rest of his career.

I think overall we are about the same right now as we were last year, but with the potential to be better overall if we can find some consistency with our outside shooting. We have addressed rebounding and defense nicely, and if our offense picks up, we can be really really dangerous in March.

Villanova Sports Hall of Fame, March 5, 2016

H of F president Whitey Rigsby announced the newest class of: Eric Eberz, BB, 2016; Kareem Austin, 1998 T+F; Chris Boden, 2000, FB; Tina Conti, 1991, Soccer; Carmen Donma, 2000, T+F; Lisa Flood, 1995, Swimming; Megan OBrien 1999 Volleyball; Taymon Zargham, 1992, Lacrosse.

Special Recognition Award to Bill DiSipio,1975, former assistant to Jake Nevin!
Writeups on all proposed recipients on the website. Induction Dinner @ Connelly Center.

Likely need to sign up early if interested. Eric's wife, Michelle Thornton Eberz is already a BB, Hall of Fame member. A large family group from McGillicuttys could be among those in attendance, with some former Wildcat fans too including some former NBA and NFL players as well as fans of all other recipients as well.

Georgetown off to impressive 4-1 BE start , but.....

Combined BE record of teams they have defeated is 2-18. Beat SJ (0-5) DePaul twice (0-5), and Marquette (2-3). Loss was to Creighton by 13 (we beat Creighton by 14).

Not trying to say it will be easy (all BE away games are hard, DO may be hobbled, Georgetown will be pumped, they did play Maryland, Syracuse, Duke and Wisc tough, etc. etc.), but the 4-1 start is misleading.
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zone lineup

Jay seems to be toying with a lineup of Arch, Hart, Jenkins, Bridges, and Ochefu/Reynolds in combination with the 2-3 zone. I generally hate our zone, but most of that relates to our personnel. I'm warming up to it only when that lineup is in there. I can see the zone and that lineup being useful as a change-up in end-of-half or even end-of-game situations, particularly when we can't defend the opposing guards one-on-one. Might be useful against Providence, for instance. Might even make an appearance this weekend if we can't stop Smith-Rivera.
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The Game Experience

I don't get up to the Pav for too many games but I got up there last night, went alone. I forgot just how much the game experience is influenced by the people around you since I usually go with buddies and talk to them all game ignoring those around me.

Hopefully, the guy I sat next to, who I have never seen before, is not on the board and I won't give specifics on where I sat. But this guy's ingame comments were so off base it was comical.

It was obvious he was a lifetime Nova fan. But jeez, he spent the entire game moaning about all the things that this team does wrong. You would have sworn we were down by 20 and a 5-10 team. It was mind-numbing. I got to hear:

1. Ochefu is a bum, he should dunk it every time he touches it.
2. Jenkins is a horrible defender, he shouldn't see the court.
3. Reynolds should never see the floor, ever. The entire 2nd half he couldn't figure out why he was playing and not DO (duh, DO is visibly injured).
4. Jay substitutes way too much and nobody has time to get into a rhythm.
5. All of our guards are soft and afraid to drive the ball into the lane and settle for 3s.
6. He yelled at Jenkins when he was backing down his man on the block that "That isn't your game, don't do it". Of course, KJ then drained a little fallaway J.


To make it even better, there was a guy behind me telling everybody that Marquette is going to great next year because they have two stud 6'11" sophomore big men in Fischer and Ellenson who are going to rule the Big East. I did not have the heart to tell him that Fischer is a junior and Ellenson is a frosh and there is a decent chance Ellenson may not ever be on the roster next year.

latest depth chart

if you haven't noticed yet, the front pages and articles on RIvals and VUSports are being reformatted / updated to display better on any device (mobile, tablet, smart phone, PC, laptop).
I created a new version of the Depth Chart that is hopefully easier to read for everyone.
I also incorporated some of the updates people have asked for in terms of - better position data, indications of "true offers", etc.
Here it is:
https://villanova.n.rivals.com/news/villanova-recruiting-depth-chart

Pick 'Em Standings (through Marquette)

starting to get some separation:
the big O116

EdMcM116

Flyingscot106

Adp98106

ak3883106

Barrister106

MVP15106

Bobby Dix106

Marty1029106

sal02106

Doug93106

Nova69106

vlurker106

LBCnova106

DoctorZ68106

tooch106

msines01106

Eagleye5106

Frog Hollow106

vu68106

ace106

jtvu106

VNOVA97104

nova97104

Novaclassof90104

CT_cat104

vnovacats104

Kbnova104

PeterN104

nova73104

RobN104

louieg104

steve_vu9196104

Nova74104

SirMic104

boomie104

dirtyd104

ericw104

zintang104

Shammer104

nova_law104

A_QUARTERofaMAN104

Chimpat104

RAC14104

Mortydog104

nova72104

Narberth96

djrun8596

RichH8796

Goose242996

KOP96

PEHUSHRY96

tkuder00796

Nova Nut96

thebench96

geezer5496

TheJoker20394

PlaySomeD7594

Jim8094

lot8b94

OnIn2TO94

NovaRoc94

rtronce94

CWertz94

G7594

lad1694

Tomdudes94

norcalvu1094

jeffhell94

Ruzzard94

novajoe94

Mike3394

VNovaCat94

NovaTras2294

Mainliner II94

VU8594

tjc384494

ghill0394

Nova6694

sackpack94

nardifan94

Steve T94

emcee9294

Dave9994

GerryGA94

pmorrow94

vumaverick94

etown100094

NovaGer194

mcbruce94

Joquinones94

Bruiser194

bwbinkley94

Boog42094

nittanynick294

rusty194

Joeyjumpshot94

Josh94

NovaFan121994

JJ2594

Vinny Terranova94

Unbelievapelle94

Strykeman92

VURebound92

ytsejam92

EV7892

RB Nova92

Cats8592

kef9892

CarolinaCats84

Squancat84

kloebs2184

jiggie_agent84

Bear7584

VU8284

final4cast84

VUMAC84

Hnrg84

ctnova9984

kmill1484

novapoppy284

NovaBill84

JK7484

1jaxcat84

Mosby284

mikeyt82

centraljerseycat82

GWild82

Lowry4582

LBTF82

Nova9882

Valmont80

Wildcat madness72

CAT9670

JTIII quotes

What are you most focused on defensively to slow down Villanova offense:
"You can't focus on one thing because their offensive arsenal is complete. They can play fast , they can play slow, they can score inside, they can score outside. They are a very complete team on both offense and defense."

Also "it is Georgetown - Villanova - it will be a tough game".

On Josh Hart:
"The conversation about Josh Hart begins and ends with how hard he plays. He plays as hard as any player in the country. He gives 110% per possession. Add to the complete effort how hard he has worked to improve his shot. At the end of the day his work ethic and caring are his biggest asset."
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