The unofficial commissioner of the Big East has yet another spot with the Sports Pope. Really easy to listen live to WFAN online - 101.9 FM in NYC.

The Pope had a good spot with Raftery just a little while ago. Both agreed that Villanova is one of the few teams in the country that has something of a shot at taking down mighty Kentucky. Raf praised the team's unselfishness and willingness to make the extra pass, and said Ochefu is key to our chances of advancing. Pope has known Raf for many years, and, while praising Raf's opportunity to announce the Final Four, said that Raf is probably the only guy in college basketball who doesn't have one enemy.

Arch was interviewed by Fox in the post-game, and Kevin O'Neill gave him major props for the way he handled the Sterling Gibbs incident. Amazing program leader.
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Momentum going Creighton's way, up 47-45 after the Chatman three. Josh Smith had missed a three-footer on the other side, and just made a bad turnover out of a nice double-team. Blue Jays are doing a poor man's impersonation of Villanova three-point shooting - they're 7/16 from deep. Would love to see the Hoyas get taken out!
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-8 at betonline.ag

early numbers

I am looking for two tickets for the SAT BET game at MSG. If you have tickets available contact vuscratch@gmail.com.

Don't think it matters but we are playing a higher seed than gtown...helps the rpi right?

That's all I got. It's wierd.

This post was edited on 3/12 10:39 PM by kbnova

...not criticism...is it just me or does it seem that DH's handle is not as tight as in the past when driving into traffic...I always feel like he is extended with the dribble to the point where he's going to get stripped...I would guess that tangible stats won't back me up so maybe it's just my own personal mirage...

The defense in general -- but especially the job on Carlino. The Cats absolutely smothered that dude and he's going to see Villanova jerseys in his sleep for the next month. That was an impressive team defensive effort.

One thing I noticed is that whoever was guarding the guy screening for Carlino off the ball was jumping out on Carlino (instead of Carlino's man just fighting through screens) and leaving the screener (usually Fischer) wide open near the basket. It took a while for Marquette to adjust to this and they missed a lot of opportunities and then had a bunch of bad passes/turnovers when they first tried throwing it to the open screener. Eventually they got some easy buckets this way later in the game.

I found this interesting just because we usually don't defend this way. We'd usually just have whoever is guarding Carlino fight through an off-the-ball screen. Interesting game plan that really worked well.

We went out today with focus. It helps that Marquette is terrible. This is what I was expecting from this team. When you are in line for a #1 SEED, you beat up on teams like Marquette like we did today. It's what the Duke's the Wisconsin's etc....do against the bottom of the league.

This is what I expected in the discussion of Marquette in the other thread.

The difference in this team and last years is everyone is a little better, but Josh Hart is A LOT better. He makes so many plays that go unnoticed, if he shoots like he did today he is an All American.

On to tomorrow night.

We're shooting 197/479 from 3. 41.1%

197 is the 4th most 3's made, in conference games, in the country.
479 is the 14th most 3's taken, in conference games, in the country.
41.1% is the 16th best 3 point percentage in conference games in the country.

But we're not just a 3 point shooting team.

We shot 325 / 441 from the line (just under 73%), both of which were in the top three in the BE and top 50 nationally (conference games only)

We also know our defense is good, but we only committed 320 fouls in these 19 games, which is least in the Big East and in the top 100 nationally.

I never noticed Rysheed Jordan's habit of violently moving his head.

Has he been doing that all along?

It looks like it could cause neck strain.

Have they tried to help him with that?

Can't imagine it will be difficult to grab 4 for our 12:00 tip but wondering if I should just hit up stubhub.... Anyone have any experience with the New Big East Tourney and scalping.....

Fisher is going to be a handful

Let's hope this game isn't as close.

Nova/Marquette

You'll never believe this, but we try to focus on one game at a time. We try not to worry about seeding or what happened last year.

BE website

Started to take the open J today. Didn't do it all season. New little wrinkle for teams to plan for. Love it.

Unlike today, he'll have to actually make them of course, but he will.

For those who don't want to go through a 1000 post thread.
This post was edited on 3/12 2:57 PM by RP_Gambit

GTown -7 against Creighton
Butler 1.5 against Xavier

Anyone else like Creighton and the number? Thought that like might be bigger. Think I'd go Butler in the other one.
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...don't sell him short...confident swag, agile footwork developing, great physique, shot blocker, runs the floor etc....monster follow up dunk today...will be more than a contributor imho...

We have not had a player on this team in 18 years........hard to believe, doesnt help that we havent had more than 1 win since 2004, but still. I said it a few weeks ago but IMO this weekend(starting today) is vital in regards to our run in the NCAA next week. If we do not make it to at least the finals, I fear doubts will creep into our players minds, since they will be constantly asked about their poor showings in postseason tournaments. Winning the BET or losing today or tomorrow does not guarantee anything, but for our players' state of mind IMO it is essential that they win at least twice. Not too mention I wont be able to watch Championship Week tv since all that we will hear is how Villanova postseason struggles continue. That destroyed my week this time a year ago, and did the same for the NCAA tournament after we lost. When we were a higher seed earlier in Jay's tenure it didnt affect me as much. But the way we have performed these past two seasons, the expectations just continue to go up. Today's game will tell me a ton about our players' mindset. Lets jump on Marquette early and erase any hope they may have of an upset. The longer an inferior team sticks around in a game, their confidence skyrockets. Case in point last Monday night in Creighton.

Johnnies laying an egg so far. Jordan got hurt, too. I'd rather play PC tomorrow night anyway.

We have to be close with 16 so far

Not sure what others think but this team to me has the best collection of offensive weapons of any Nova team ever...EVER.

We have 8 guys capable of 18 points plus on any given night...shooters everywhere...almost impossible to stop all of them at once

The offensive firepower of this team is unmatched in Nova history...that includes the Kittles, Foye, Reynolds, and Pinckney/Pinone, and Porter teams

starters had 45 while the bench came through with 39 points. That is great statement by the bench.