Continuing our breakdown of the Big East with a look at Providence, a really intriguing team.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/big-east-breakdown-providence

If anyone is interested in live streaming tonight's exhibition against Drexel, here is a tweet from Jay that includes a link.

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The Preseason AP Poll has been released, and the Villanova Wildcats find themselves in the 6th spot. The Cats will start the season at 6 in both polls, after coming in a 6 in the Coaches Poll almost two weeks ago.

Nova trails Duke, Michigan State, Arizona, Kansas, and Kentucky who comprise the top five. Michigan State, Arizona, and Kansas all picked up at least one first-place vote.

Big East foes Xavier (17) and Seton Hall (23) join Villanova in the top 25. Providence and Butler lurk just outside the rankings in the "also receiving votes" category.

Rivals' Eric Bossi has identified eight three-star freshman that he thinks can surprise as freshmen and out-play their ranking. Villanova's Collin Gillespie made the list.

https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/bossi-s-best-three-stars-who-may-surprise-as-freshmen

Nova's next Shining Star.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-10-30/college-basketball-must-see-tv-team-players-who-are-joy-watch

im going with TJC, myself or Burrs

Discuss.

banging this girl about a year now. 2 years ago I was also banging her older sister secretly. Sister is married so on the down low.

Do I have any kind of moral obligation to inform the current girl that I was crushing her sister just 2 years ago? For some more context, this older sister from 2 years ago doesn't know about my current situation either. So neither sister knows about the other. Both these girls don't really like each other either.

It was reported last week that Nova was in for a visit with top 40 2018 guard Tyler Herro, who recently decommitted from Wisconsin. Herro talked to Rivals about five schools that have stood out as his recruitment has been reopened, and Villanova was included.

A couple of notes: According to Herro, Nova has told him that they are recruiting other guys, but that he is their priority. He also said he plans on taking official visits to Oregon and Villanova.

Full story and complete Nova quote here: https://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/news/top-50-guard-tyler-herro-sees-five-stand-out

Continuing our breakdown of the Big East with a look at Marquette. Things could go quite well or rather poorly for the Golden Eagles this season.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/big-east-breakdown-marquette

Perhaps Villanova's pursuit of a PG for the class of 2018 isn't over quite yet. Via Rivals' Corey Evans, Villanova was in to check out 2018 four-star 39th ranked Courtney Ramey.

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Ramey decommitted from Louisville following the bombshell accusations released by the FBI.

While it remains to be seen whether or not Villanova becomes a legitimate player in Ramey's recruitment, Ramey has all the tools of an elite lead guard and would make a fantastic addition to the 2018 class. Something to keep an eye on.

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Excellent article by Dana O'Neil analyzes the 2017-18 Cats

https://theathletic.com/137950/2017/10/26/no-7-turnover-of-talent-at-villanova-nothing-to-fear/

https://xc.tfrrs.org/results/xc/12526.html?platform=hootsuite
Low keyed Main Line inv. but note that Lauren Ryan ran unattached which to me likely means there may be a clearinghouse question?
Sometime it takes a while? If it's cleared by BEC time, think they can win with the new talent (McA/Ryan).

Continuing our look at Nova's rotation with arguably the most anticipated player on the 2017-18 roster, Omari Spellman.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/player-profiles-omari-spellman

Via Rivals' Corey Evans, Jay Wright will be conducting an in-home visit with 2018 G Tyler Herro.

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Herro is ranked 38th in the Rivals 150 and is out of Wisconsin. He had originally committed to Wisconsin before reopening his recruitment. He is 6-4 and looks to be a pretty elite shooter. Something to keep an eye on going forward.

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Continuing our breakdown of Big East opponents with a look at Georgetown.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/big-east-breakdown-georgetown

Earlier today it was reported by Rivals' Corey Evans that Wright was conducting an in-home visit with top 50 2018 G Tyler Herro.

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Now there are reports he will be in for 2018 G and Louisville decommit Courtney Ramey.

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For more details on each player, see the two threads below this one on the forum board. It appears that Wright still prefers to round out the 2018 class with a guard despite being in good position with a bevy of 2019 prospects. Perhaps after the way the summer has played out, he doesn't want to go into next summer with the assumption he will land a player that the program appears to be in the lead for, and is taking a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush approach. It remains to be seen how much of a player Nova really is for either recruit, but this is a significant development that clearly shows that Wright isn't prepared to move on from the 2018 class just yet.

I apologize for the slight delay in getting this posted, but here is our in-depth look at yesterday's media day with quotes, observations, and takeaways.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/media-day-quotes-observations-takeaways

Just wanted to give everyone some quick hitters from today's Villanova media day. A more in-depth post on the days happenings will be coming soon. In the meantime...

Nova fans should be excited about Spellman.

While there might be a bit of a learning curve, Jermaine Samuels should make an impact this season and has star potential.

Delaney looked a lot better than I expected.

Phil Booth was a full participant and didn't appear limited in any way.

Cosby-Roundtree has been working on his offense.

Expect DiVincenzo to build on his late season efforts, and also look to begin to grow into a leadership role.

I will go more in-depth on each of these observations, as well as discussing some more of what I saw during practice and providing some quotes, in a full post coming soon, but wanted to give everyone a quick update until I can get the full post worked up.

Who want to get it awwwwnnnnnnnn?

Continuing our look at Villanova's rotation, this time it's Mikal Bridges' turn.

https://villanova.rivals.com/news/player-profiles-mikal-bridges

Via Pat Lawless on twitter...

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Former Wildcat Josh Hart, whose professional career was slowed slightly by injury, had an encouraging performance on Sunday night.

In 15 minutes of action, Hart scored five points on 2-3 shooting and 1-2 from three, grabbed four rebounds, and dished out one assist. Most impressively, he was a plus-21, the highest mark on the team.

Great to see Josh finding his footing and making a positive impact.

and at the very top of those rankings is the Villanova Wildcats. The Cats ranked second in adjusted offensive efficiency and sixth in adjusted defensive efficiency. They were one of only five teams to rank in the top ten in both categories (Kentucky, Arizona, Wichita State, and Kansas).

In addition to Nova topping the rankings, there were four Big East teams in the top 28 (25 Providence, 26 Xavier, and 28 Seton Hall), and eight of the 10 Big East teams ranked in the top 51.

Obviously these are just computer rankings and the games need to be played and things proven on the court, but the data likes Villanova this season and is bullish on the Big East as a whole as well.

Villanova came in at 6th in the preseason coaches poll. Big East foes Xavier (17) and Seton Hall (23) joined the Wildcats in the top 25.

Some thoughts on the initial poll here: https://villanova.rivals.com/news/nova-6th-in-preseason-coaches-poll

Full poll here: http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/basketball-men/polls/coaches-poll/2017/1/

As expected, Nova topped the preseason Big East coaches poll, garnering eight of ten first-place votes. Seton Hall and Xavier followed the Cats in second and third respectively, each garnering a first-place vote.

Rounding things out were Providence, Creighton, St. John's, Marquette, Butler, Georgetown, and DePaul.

Meanwhile, the Cats picked up some individual accolades as well. Jalen Brunson was named preseason POY. Omari Spellman was named preseason Freshman of the Year. And Mikal Bridges was named to the preseason Big East All-Conference Second Team. Well deserved recognition for three players Nova Nation is exited to watch this season. However, is it just me, or is Donte DiVincenzo being slept on?