Apparently, this is Nova's most difficult game for a while.
Win this one and they should win 5 straight, even without Phil Booth. The next 4 are Home games.

Gillespie will obviously get some of Booth's minutes. However, Donte, Omari and Cosby-Roundtree should also get more time. Once again, Donte hitting the 3 ball could be the difference.

A look at tomorrow's meeting with Marquette.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/round-2-villanova-at-marquette

More terrible news on the injury front for Villanova. For the third time this season, a Villanova player has suffered a broken bone in his hand. This time it's Phil Booth, who suffered the injury in the second half of last night's win over Providence. The official word from the school is that Booth will be out "indefinitely."

First, freshman Collin Gillespie suffered a broken bone in his hand in early December. Then, about three weeks later, fellow freshman Jermaine Samuels suffered a similar injury. Now it's Booth. With all due respect to Gillespie and Samuels, this is a particularly devastating blow for the Wildcats. Booth is the team's fourth-leading scorer with 11.6 points per game in 28 minutes. He was shooting 49% from the floor and 43% from three. 'Nova was already wrestling with a short rotation in the absence of Samuels and with Gillespie still working his way back.

The hope has to be that Booth's recovery takes a similar progression to that of Gillespie's, leading to a return in time for the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

Justin Moore, the 75th ranked player in the 2019 Rivals 150, talked to Corey Evans on the teams standing out in his recruitment, his recovery from an ACL injury, and a timeline for a decision, which is likely coming this spring.

A 6-4 guard that can play multiple positions, Moore would make a nice addition to the Villanova roster. He plans on visiting the Wildcats on February 3. Moore has said he wants to make a decision sometime around the start of/or during the EYBL circuit, which starts in mid-April. A visit from Moore that close to a potential decision is a good sign.

Villanova's prime competition for Moore is Maryland, Xavier, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame.

Full story with additional Nova quotes here:
https://basketballrecruiting.rivals...r-moore-explores-options-before-spring-commit

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Via Pat Lawless on Twitter, Nova was in for a look at 2019 G Paul Mulcahy from Gill St. Bernard's in New Jersey.

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Mulcahy is ranked 146 is the 2019 Rivals 150. There is the chance that this is simply due diligence, but it could be something to keep an eye on as the class of 2019 evolves.

Cats overcome another slow start to run away from Providence.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/nova-beats-providence-89-69

And update from Rivals' Corey Evans on 2019 forward Aidan Igiehon with a comment on Villanova.

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals...ecome-second-ireland-born-player-to-reach-nba

League insiders believe Niners-Broncos have a Kap deal in place that will be consummated on draft day, contringent on Niners drafting Goff. Which is likely.

Jason LaCanfora believes Eagles will grab Elliott if they can't trade up for Wentz.

Giants are gonna get a good player at 10.

A look at tonight's matchup with a hot Providence team.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/game-preview-providence-2

……in both Polls, almost unanimously

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings

Inside Source: Samuels won't return from his injury until early March. This has not been acknowledged publicly or officially.

Does it make sense to bring him back for just the BE Tournament and the NCAA Tournament?
What if it were just for the NCAA Tournament?

A Red Shirt year seems inevitable in my view.

Apparently Colin O'Mara is now running for Arkansas. Interesting story: Son of an Arkansas great chooses to attend Villanova. Figured that had something to due with a relationship between Frank O'Mara and Marcus and the kid wanted a real education. But why now Arkansas? What gives - now especially when Villanova is "hurting" at the mile ...? Men's program gets to be more confusing and disappointing ... but that is another very lengthy discussion.

A look at Saturday's win over UConn.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/nova-handles-huskies

A look at Saturday's old Big East throwback meeting with UConn.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/game-preview-uconn-1

A look at the Cats' dominant performance against the Hoyas.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/cats-overwhelm-hoyas

….by 13 points. A few Vegas houses have it at 12 1/2.

Always a risk to give the Home Team double digits, but after the St. Johns game, Nova has something to prove.

A look at tonight's matchup with the Hoyas.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/game-preview-georgetown-5

Per Jon Rothstein and FanRag Sports, injured Nova guard Collin Gillespie could be approaching a return to action, possibly as early as next week.

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A return next week would leave Gillespie's absence at six weeks, which depending on who you listen to would put him at either the tail end (4-6 weeks) or early end (6-8 weeks) of his expected recovery time. Either way, a Gillespie return would be great news for a Nova team struggling with depth after seeing two players go down with injuries. Something to keep an eye on as we head into next week.

...but not to Villanova.

The Duke transfer, who was ranked #72 in the class of 2017, was once considered close to choosing between Indiana, Villanova, and Syracuse before a late play by Coach K and Duke. Tucker struggled to secure playing time at Duke, and decided a move to a school with more available playing time was in his best interest.

According to ESPN's Jeff Borzello, Tucker is expected to make a decision on Monday, and will be deciding between Butler and Georgetown. He was reportedly on a visit to Butler this weekend.

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Over on Run Nova, it references a FloTrack article that ranks VU's women's DMR 7th. Team would be Siofra, Keegan, Ciluffo, Hutchinson. I think it will be McArthur on the 800 leg instead of Ciluffo. And I am not so sure about Keegan over Onque-Shabazz ...? If healthy (probably at Penn), one might start with Bockoven and anchor with Siofra. Big question: what is the status of Kelsey Margey?

Men? Don't ask. I am afraid VU men are no longer in the conversation ... Very sad. Too many years of poor recruiting. Will take a lot to turn that program around.

Former Wildcat standout Kyle Lowry has made a generous donation to the school.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/kyle-lowry-pledges-1-million-to-university

There were some very encouraging and uplifting moments, yesterday. I thought Rachel McArthur was a great recruit and she is proving it with her win in the 600m. But it was great to Kelsey Margey (4th in 600m and anchor 4x400) and Sammy Bockoven (12th in 1000m and leg on 4x800) back in action. Biggest surprise, though, was Brian Faust's anchor in 4x400 of 46.5. Might have been fastest split of the event and a time rarely seen by Villanova recently ...

This happened a couple days ago, my apologies for the delay. But there isn't much of a surprise here. Nova was considered a long-shot to land Hamilton, as the Cats got involved really late in the process for Hamilton, and it remains to be seen how serious their efforts really were.

It's really news only in the sense that Nova has been at least tangentially linked to interest in Hamilton, and because it leaves Courtney Ramey as the only 2018 prospect remaining that Nova has made a serious push for.

It was far from a perfect performance, but Villanova did enough to leave New York with the win.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/sloppy-cats-escape-st-john-s

A look at tonight's matchup with a struggling St. John's team.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/game-preview-st-john-s-2