what former Cats are on which rosters?

How are they playing?

Upcoming TV schedules?

Injuries / likelihood to make roster?

At the risk of getting crushed for trying to start some July discussion on Villanova basketball, I came across a few questions I have after some research. I figured there are a few hundred experts here, so I'll go ahead and post them and see how far off I am so far.

Villanova is poised to make another run at a national championship. The Wildcats are the defending champions, beating North Carolina in thrilling fashion to cap off a 35-5 season. A roster loaded with experience and talent leaves few questions for head coach Jay Wright’s team, but it is our job to find a few.

1. Will the focus change?

Most coaches and players tell you reaching the top is easier than staying on the top. The goal isn’t for Villanova to win a national title. The goal for the Wildcats is to win another national title. Repeating is never an easy task and many teams fall into the trap of looking too far ahead. Villanova didn’t win the national championship by simply beating North Carolina. Villanova won the championship with work put in during the offseason and by learning lessons during the regular season. Keeping the focus on today and not a tournament down the road must be Wright’s main coaching point this fall and into the early part of the season. Everyone starts 0-0 when the new season rolls around.

2. Can Omari Spellman fulfill his new role?

A quick look at the Villanova roster reveals few holes. The only glaring need after last season was a presence at center due to the departure of Daniel Ochefu. Enter five-star product Omari Spellman. The 6-foot-9, 287-pound center will likely be asked to step into a starting role. No one else in a Wildcats uniform can offer the sheer size and strength of Spellman. He needs to control the boards on both sides of the ball and be a presence in the paint as a defender. Any points coming from him would be a bonus for a Villanova team with plenty of firepower returning in the backcourt. If Spellman can give Wright 25+ minutes of controlled hustle (staying out of foul trouble), Villanova is the favorite to win the championship.

3. How good is Jalen Brunson?

Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins will get a lot of deserved pub entering the season, but point guard Jalen Brunson might be the most important player on the team. The sophomore started 39 of 40 games for Wright as a true freshman. The former five-star recruit was a unanimous Big East All-Freshman selection. He averaged 9.6 points per game and was second on the team with 100 assists.

Those numbers must improve for Villanova to cut down more nets. Ryan Arcidiacono is gone. Brunson must be the calming force on offense, as well as the driving force. That’s a tough balance for young players to find and it wasn’t always up to him to find it late in games as a freshman. Wright will give Brunson more of that responsibility as a sophomore and his ability to lead the team into the right offense, and score if necessary, will be a focal point all season.

4. Is the bench a strength?

On paper, Villanova’s depth is one of the numerous reasons the Wildcats should be considered one of, if not the, favorite to win this year’s title. Forward Tim Delaney, a redshirt freshman, still faces injury concerns, but at 6-foot-8.5 and 230 pounds, he can offer some help to true freshman Omari Spellman if healthy. As can Fordham University transfer Eric Paschall. He was the Atlantic Ten Conference Rookie of the Year in 2014. Paschall set out last season and has three years of eligibility remaining. He’s a long wing with the ability to shoot and rebound, the perfect combination off the bench. Finding a ball-handling guard after Hart and Brunson to lead the offense when both are off the court is a concern. Darryl Reynolds and Phil Booth determine how glowingly we'll look at Nova's bench in a lot of ways.

Are we allowed to discuss the child molestation and the subsequent fan reaction by the enabling community at Penn State?

baboo?
Mainliner II?
WCburrs87?
You guys still making excuses for JoPa and Sandusky?

Nobody knows what's going on.

Incoming Frosh reported to school today.

Here is the defense!

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Mike.....some stuff you need to know if you have to deal with "some" of the Nova Nation faithful. Reality plays little importance in reporting or posting on many situations.......for instance.......Nova hasn't lost a game in years, maybe ever, that wasn't the fault of the officials. Most Big East officials (which don't exist) all hate Nova. So, don't make the mistake of ever defending the refs..........
All of the big program coaches.......and you should know who I mean.......all cheat!! Either in the class room, cash to players or families, in recruiting.......etc. .
Should you ever live in a condo........keep it quiet if your lawn is cut or snow removed by Snow/Lawn Mexicans..........
And most importantly........no matter where you sit at Nova games........you should always stand for the entire game.....yell constantly......bark at the refs(of course)........and NEVER leave 2-3 minutes early even if winning by 20-30 points......
These are some of the topics that you will need to be very critical of if you hope to have any success in running this board.

LizReed - my golf game is a mess. I am hacking it out there right now. I have been the range a lot trying to work on my grip/swing and nothing seems to work.

My friend recommended going to a place where the record your swing and then analyze it and come up with a lesson plan for you. I can't decide if that would work well for me as opposed to just going to a pro for lessons. Which would you recommend?

There is no way that I could be on a site that did not include the Beefer--I would miss his insights and humor!!!

My name is Mike Craven and welcome to NovaIllustrated. The next few months hold exciting changes and my hope is to keep everyone here along for the ride while adding new faces to the community as our coverage of basketball, recruiting and even some football gets rolling. There will undoubtedly be some road blocks and growing pains. I’m ready for the challenges surely coming and my only goal is and will always be to provide coverage worthy of your subscription.

I want this site to be a lot of things, many of which it already is thanks to a great job by the previous staff. We hope to live up to those standards while making it our own. I want the site to be informative. I want the site to encourage discussion. I want us to engage in honest and respectable debate. I want us to be the water cooler of Villanova sports. I want us to write solid pieces.

None of this will happen overnight. I need to put together a staff and formulate a true game plan to take the site to a new level. A lot of that is on me, but some of it is on the subscribers. I’m not going to walk in here with a lot of ego. This is your site, not mine. I believe the consumers should dictate the news, so tell me what you like and don’t like in a website like this. Give me suggestions. Do you want more stories on prospects? More previews for the upcoming basketball season? More football?

I graduated from college in 2007 and was hired as a small-town sports editor in a town outside of Austin, Texas soon after. In 2012, I joined Rivals to work for Orangebloods.com and to start BirdsUp.com, which covers UTSA athletics. On top of this gig, I’m still the publisher of BirdsUp.com, and I’m the senior writer at TexasFootball.com. My background is mostly in football, but I did cover the Spurs for a season for SBNation.

It’s uncomfortable for me to write about myself because it shouldn’t be the focal point. The content is of importance and I’m open to ideas on how to move this site forward. I'm a pretty open book, so I'm here to answer any questions. Just shoot me an email.

Craven

Note: VUSports can be found at VUSports.com

Just a couple of days away.

Dwight Howard has meetings set up with BOS & ATL.

Tim Duncan opted in at 5.6 million, but could still retire.

The Spurs interest in Mike Conley has been overstated according to some.

..or of vusports as we've known it, loved it, perhaps hated it at times?

Thank goodness I'm on a monthly....only 'cause I once got blind-sided trying to cancel a yearly after a month and got told - in some many words - tough ass, buster!

A lot of questions though for those who like ot make informed decisions; e.g., still a premium charge for nova nation if/when all those who provide the meaty ( ) content leave?

and, will free board still be avail?

horrors! what happens to the measly count of "likes" i accumulated

...and, most important of all:

What about Ball?

and his hundreds of thousands of posts using tens of nicknames

sic transit mundi

or is it just......La-di-da! La-di-da!

Safe day to all NFC.

You pledge at 12:18 am on 7/3 that you would "watch the lingo". You have been pretty good so far, but there has been an infraction:

In the https://villanova.forums.rivals.com/threads/taking-questions.37338/page-2#post-637620 thread, message #76

Request we make this an updatable sticky to make notifications easier.

So far you owe $25 (factoring in inflation and the cost of living up here -- which is a good deal more than where you are).

i believe he is a free agent. Doesn't sound like okc is resigning him. 32 or 33 years old - maybe replaced by younger prospects. Saw an article that didn't even list him in the top 100 free agents. He has had a nice journeyman career. I hope he can play for another year or two but the sun might be setting.

I've always wanted to find more Villanova discussion on the interwebs and this Wexit basically forces that to occur. VUsports will always continue to exist, but this site might end up being a good place for a different type of discussion.

I'm surprised by how many people are just punting right away. It's not an either or situation.

Iceland falls to a suddenly revived French club, 5-2. Scoring 4 goals in the first half, the French staved off a tentative 2-1 comeback attempt in the second half and move on to face Germany in the semi-finals. Their match will be July 7. Portugal will face Wales in the other semi on Wednesday July 6.

Remember it's such a peaceful religion.

from the start?

Why do we have a new moderater? Can we vote for a new one?

Who is retiring from BW?

This really blows if true. Im on BW more than any other site.

Rankings are courtesy of MLBpipeline.com team top 30.

AAA - Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs
(11-9) - W 2-0
---Zach Eflin (#13) (3-0, 2.05) pitched 6.1 innings of shutout ball. He allowed 4 hits, while fanning six. Tommy Joseph hit a HR (4) and is now batting .380. Cam Perkins extended his hitting streak to 12 games and is batting .378.

AA - Reading Phillies
(13-7) - W 11-2
---JP Crawford (#1) reached base three times (2 walks). He now has 17 walks in 19 games and a sports a .420 OB%. Dylan Cozens (#23) slammed his 5th HR and his 6th double of the season. He walked thrice, drove in 3, and added his 5th SB. Rhys Hoskins (#20) extended his hitting streak to 15 games (1 hit in 14 of them), but is still only hitting .231 on the season. Anthony Vasquez improved to (4-0, 1.95) in allowing two runs over 6 IP.

A - Clearwater Phillies
(14-6) - W 14-2
---Matt Imhoff (2-1) got the win (6 IP, 1 ER, 5 W, 7 K's). Scott Kingery (#11) hit his first HR of the season. He's batting .293. Mitch Waldong hit his 6th HR. Kyle Martin went 3-5 (.308).

A - Lakewood Blue Claws
(4-16) - L 2-3
---Shane Watson had a ND after tossing 7 innings of 3-hit, 1-run ball (5 K's). 2B Josh Tobias had a hit and is slashing .343/.458/.998 on the season.

think we all know the w is for

I don't know if he has ever been an all star and he just got 5 years 153 million. Lin's deal with Brooklyn looks incredible at 3 for 36.

Whitecat.

Dude hasn't been able to log-in to Rivals for two years. A couple weeks ago he was giddy as a little school girl that his issues were fixed. Now eric is gone along with most everyone else. Talk about a kick in the nuts. Hopefully his computer wont have similar issues with Scout