Well, we've all had our therapy session so here's mine:

I'm not sure what happened. Thursday was outstanding. We played loose and could have scored 110 if we wanted. Saturday came and it all went to heck. We were tight. There is no way to sugarcoat it and as Jay said at the hotel post-game, "we've got to own this loss". I'm not going to go over the game as we all saw and I refuse to single out individual players in a negative way. Here is what I know and why something such as a basketball game means a little too much to this guy.

I can only speak for myself but here is what strikes me and makes our situation so special and yet so painful. The community that is Villanova Basketball is unmatched. We don't have 2 million fans like Kentucky, we might not bring 38 buses to Pittsburgh. However, what we have is a community of tight-knit alums (and non-alums) who all support and love our program. What makes us unique is the program loves us back. You spend time with the Administration, the coaches, support staff, the players and people connected there is something very special about what we do. It's truly a family/community. To see these kids return Saturday night and see the absolute anguish kills you. These kids were hurting. For me, that's why the loss sucks so much. It's also what is so special. This kids and our staff are treated like conquering hero's by many dedicated fans who cheered them as they entered the hotel post-game. This is actually the stuff that matters, not if the ball goes in on an open 3 at the end of the game. Yes, that matters and don't tell Jay, those kids or any of us it doesn't. However, my point is that not what defines our program or who we are. That's what I love about our program. It's an insult to our level of play to suggest there is anything mid-major about it. However, what we do is have a family. A family that molds men on-and-off the court led by the best leader we could have in Coach Wright. Losing sucks. I don't let my kids win when we play games at home. I don't like losing arguments on a message board for crying out loud. So this to say losing doesn't matter or it's all right. Losing sucks. However, what we have at Villanova and the community that is our program is what matters. It's what bonds generations and is truly a family-affair. I was telling my wife that my biggest regret is my kids are still young to come with us to these events. We have a very special community and a special program that doesn't utter lip-service to terms like "family, community and student-athlete". Those are truly what matters moreso than if we won or lost a game.

Thank you to this team and also to many who showed up. We shared lots of laughs, met some great people and it was truly a wonderful ride. To Jay, the staff and the team thank you even more. Especially to Jay. What he's built is incredible. I hope everyone appreciates what we have because there are no guarantees in life. Enjoy the ride, handle the losses but remember the greater good happening here. Now someone give me a kleenex because I'm still not over Saturday but at least I'll now be home April 6 to take my kids to Opening Day at Nats Park.

South Carolina, Michigan, Boston College, Davidson and Rhode Island mentioned. Not sure if there is as much interest as he does. I think Rhode Island as a total guess. FTL

sina

But I have read every thread numerous times. Jay's demeanor started
a few days before the game. I expected to see us play good team
O with ball reversals and the extra passes which result in good shots.
That is part of the reason we have had such a great record for two

great seasons. Posters have stated it didn't happen last Saturday. On D. we
have out toughed teams. From only reading this board, I get the feeling
that we got out-toughed. That is not what I expected.

I do not believe any one posted that we made significant adjustments in the the game.
In today's paper there is rather a lengthy article about a huge adjustment that Izzo
made in two days prior to the UVA game. Usually the Spartans give help D
from the guards; against UVA he had his help come from his bigs.

After the horrendous season of 13-19, a number of us were frustrated. But we righted the ship.
But I don't think we are going to nab a true 4 who can rattle the rims at both ends. Scratch,
I know what you have posted, but I don't see it happening.

Not to dwell on what could/should have been but I was nuts at the way the first half ended. Went back to look at the play-by-play:

2:13 Booth hits a 3 to put us up 3
1:48 NCST Hits a 3 and 1 (Hilliard Foul). NCST FT up 1
1:32 DO Misses Layup
0:59 NCST Misses Jumper, DO Rebound
0:49 Arch Misses 3
0:34 NCST Turnover
0:07 Hilliard Misses Drive Layup, DO Rebound
0:04 DO misses Layup, Jump to NCST on Reb
0:01 NCST hits a 3 at the buzzer to go up 4

For the life of me, I cant understand why DH is driving with 7 Secs and the clock. Worst we should have faced was down 1 at the half and that 3 never should have happened. What did we lose by again?

Can only imagine how the locker room was at half. The writing was on the wall at that point.

LaSalle

MSU knocks off the talking head's favorite team UVA. Now ACC no longer undefeated. Now lets go SDSU and ND

On next weeks coverage of the dance? Cannot hurt....Doubt he would turn it down....

nm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IahtKV5PWrI

OUT THERE?

http://grantland.com/features/providence-friars-dayton-flyers-ncaa-tournament-upset-ed-cooley-kris-dunn-god-shammgod/

Gives a good perspective on scouting/preparing for other teams' systems.

If memory serves, we were involved with Freeman. He was a late signnee and choose NC State. We got Reynolds who signed April 25. Saturday Freeman had 11 pts and 12 boards. He signed with NC State after his senior season on April 29th. This entire idea of being lacking in talent, playing a better schedule, not enough this or that etc...is all hooey. Here is a 3 star recruit that we were involved late and almost got, who killed us. The point is, $hit happens. You win some, you lose some. I'm reading all these guys arm-chairing it and I get it. We all deal with losses in our own manner. But for crying out loud, we lost a possession March game because we shot 31%, played like completely dog $hit and gave an inferior opponent belief in their ability to beat a superior team. Enough. We lost one game. The reasons are obvious. We played like $hit. However, we don't need to re-examine everything. We played tight. I'd love to know why but I'm not smart enough to figure out why 18-22 year old kids get tight or do certain things. I'm almost 40 and still have not figured out my own $hit.

This post was edited on 3/23 1:12 PM by adp98

Like it or not, the sport of college basketball, and every sport, is defined by what you do in the postseason...in this case March Madness. 1985's GTown team will always be the giant that Nova slayed. As great as this group has been in the regular season, they will always be defined by what they did not accomplish in crunch time. Jay knows it..the players know it...we as fans know it. That said, I am very proud of Hilliard and JVP as seniors...they should hold their heads high and feel good about so many things they did the right way. Hilliard in particular finished his career as well as anyone could ask. They both left the program better than when they entered it, and we can and should all be proud for everything they did as senior leaders.

I don't think there is one magic recipe for success in March. Like chess, there are countless ways to set your line-up and run your offense. Jay has proven quite adaptive and sucessful at mix-and-matching different skill-sets, schemes, etc into a winning formula. I thought the gameplan for NC State was good...but execution was not.

On that note, in our 33 wins this year, 3 things stood out to me that we did well: wreckless abandon on getting after 50/50 balls, aggressive man-to-man defense, and quick and confident ball movement and shooting strokes. Against NC State, I thought our man-to-man defense was fine overall in terms of how we played it, but we did NOT show our typical wreckless abandon for loose balls, nor did we confidently and quickly move or shoot the ball (Save for Hilliard and Booth). There was too much thinking and hesitation. I don't think it matters one bit how many power 5 teams or top 20 teams we schedule or play. UCON last year didn't play a world-beater schedule in or out of conference, but they had a guy in Napier who played with supreme confidence and that became contageous throughout the team as they kept winning in March...same with Kentucky. We did not enter the game against NC State with supreme confidence...we were tight and worried about doing everything just right.

Next year get ready for 99% of our line-ups to include just 1 big and 4 "guards". Some combination of Ochefu OR Reynolds and Arch, Booth, Brunson, Hart, Ennis and Jenkins will be on the court at all times. We will still work the ball inside often, but there will be a lot more outside-in movement. On defense, I expect more helter-skelter and trapping for much of the season. We will be smaller at the guard positions with the loss of Hilliard and more time for Booth/Brunson, so Jay will need to play to those strengths.

Bottom line for next season...we need to play every game with wreckless abandon and confidence on both sides of the ball. When the second game of the NCAA's comes calling again, these guys just need to go out there and play.

It was stated many times that we must be such a tough team to prepare for because of our multiple scoring options. How the hell was a dipsh!t coach like Gottfried able to put together a good-enough game plan in one friggin day to get a very mediocre defensive team (kenpom defense in the 80s) to shut down the #4 offensive efficiency team in the country? I just don't get it and probably never will. Bad shooting, rebounding, blah blah blah I know I watched the game. It still makes 0 sense.

Six Big East teams had better defensive efficiency rankings than NC State, including MARQUETTE, and Nova went 14-1 against those teams. Strange.

Explain the last sequence of 1 st 1/2

Now that the season is over and I know I won't be spending any money in Indy it's time for an annual vacation thread. Looking for a car ride type trip from NJ, and probably a beach town/ resort. I have a 4 year old daughter. I was thinking of Myrtle Beach, Ocean City, MD, or Cape Cod but I haven't been to any of those places in many years. I am also open to other suggestions as well. Places to stay, things to do- any info anyone can provide would be great. Thanks!

n/m
This post was edited on 3/22 9:44 AM by Nova98

Have been waiting for the board experts to throw this out........I remember how the losses last year were the result of bad match-ups.
And, have to say it sure looked like the Wolfpack was a bad match-up.....outplayed at every position except for Darrun Hilliard. So, just want to be sure we didn't get beat by a better team, and it was just a bad match-up..... say what??

I guess DePaul didn't move fast enough

http://zagsblog.com/articles/source-ben-howland-is-considering-taking-mississippi-state/#more-131503

Brunson , Hart and Booth are super athletic guys that can break you down off dribble. Having those three will hide Arch's and Ennis's limitations which were on full display last night

As I search for ways to deal with the disappointment of Saturday, I began to think about what effects that this loss coupled with our history since 2010 would have on recruiting, future success and even the NBE. Short term we are going to take our hits from the media, even guys who were loving us until Saturday, like Steve Serby in the NY Post are now taking their shots at us as well as the conference in general. That's ok and it comes with not living up to expectations. I wonder what recruits think and how much shine if any comes off Jay. I truly believe he has the personality and the positivity to find a way to change the perception of his teams and will have a lot of tournament success in the future. For starters we will be back next year with a ranked and talented team. At least we aren't rebuilding. Their will be pessimism from the media. They will say that Jay has another loaded team for 2016 that will be ranked all season and will give him an opportunity for another early exit. It will be a burden but one that he will eventually overcome. I don' t think the recruits care about the early exits as much the media does. They notice the programs that always seem to be ranked high and gain the best seeds come March. We have gone on a wonderful run of success in regular seasons that we only dreamed of under Rollie. It has been achieved through multiple classes, unlike Lappas who only had that success with essentially one class (Kittles and Eberz were Rollie recruits). Deep down that is always the concern that recruiting will suffer because of the a lack of tournament success and that is what undid Lappas. Jay on the other hand, is a program builder and he keeps Villanova part of the national conversation and that doesn't appear to change anytime soon. Keep knocking on the door and eventually the tournament success will come. Just be relevant and part of the conversation. That was the advice that Jack gave to a young Tiger Woods many years ago.

Donofrio tournament starts tonight in Conshy.

...a kid named Sean McGonigle, you need to sit him down and do your best to teach him some class. Based on some of the posts here in the last 24 hours, I'm not certain many here are equipped properly to do that.

On Instagram today, Ochefu posted a photo of the team and wrote, "Are we disappointed? Hyfr! I love my brothers tho. Thank you NOVA NATION for sticking behind us this great year. #LoveMyTeam"

This little shit kid replied to his post with, "you couldn't hit a layup in an empty gym you bafoon."

His profile says Archmere '17, in the event you know what that means.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Just came from the team send off at the Renaissance. Fantastic turnout. I'm guessing there will be many more Nova fans in the arena tonight! Go Cats!!!

Just in case any of you are still interested in seeing them.

It was a very long drive home on Sunday from Pittsburgh with my son after that loss. So many questions, so few answers, and now all we can do is wait and hope that next post-season is more successful.

Still wonderful to see the Cats win the Big East and give us such a strong regular season and BE tournament. We had the longest win streak in the country when leading at half-time. When we couldn't score to close out the first half and then they sunk that buzzer beater 3 (to go into the locker room up 4 instead of down 1 or 2) it was the harbinger of things to come. That 5 or 6 point swing was the difference in the end.

http://www.independentphilly.com/ncaa-3rd-round-nc-state-wolfpack-stun-1-seed-and-done-villanova-wildcats-71-68/