The Big Dance: Villanova’s Piccolo Girl Not So Sad Anymore
Showing posts with label villanova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label villanova. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
It's Friday, Time to Dance
In case you missed it, Villanova's own Randy Foye drilled a buzzer-beater earlier this week to give his Denver Nuggets a one-point victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, and the announcer broke out into song as a result.
Good on Randy. Always liked that guy.
By the way, Foye's college teammate Kyle Lowry, who is having an absolutely awesome season for the Toronto Raptors, had his own incident this week, as he was called for a completely bogus offensive foul, then got T'd up for absolutely no reason, and finally decided to just run the hell off the court.
Let's be honest, official Michael Smith should be suspended for that. Not so much the absolutely horrific call — which was beyond awful — but for then giving Lowry a technical and running him from the game. That's just absurd. Michael Smith is a fucking joke.
I got your back, Kyle. And I definitely think Lowry should be an all-star over Joe Johnson.
Good on Randy. Always liked that guy.
By the way, Foye's college teammate Kyle Lowry, who is having an absolutely awesome season for the Toronto Raptors, had his own incident this week, as he was called for a completely bogus offensive foul, then got T'd up for absolutely no reason, and finally decided to just run the hell off the court.
Let's be honest, official Michael Smith should be suspended for that. Not so much the absolutely horrific call — which was beyond awful — but for then giving Lowry a technical and running him from the game. That's just absurd. Michael Smith is a fucking joke.
I got your back, Kyle. And I definitely think Lowry should be an all-star over Joe Johnson.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Villanova Stuns Kansas, Goes on to Win Battle 4 Atlantis
This past week Villanova traveled down to the Bahamas for
the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. The Wildcats' journey through the tournament led them
to a Friday night semifinal showdown against second-ranked Kansas. I love
Villanova basketball, and even I thought that the Cats had a 0% chance of winning
that game. Kansas was just too talented, and especially too big, for the
Wildcats to have a shot to compete with the Jayhawks.
And five minutes into the game, my lack of confidence was
being justified. 'Nova trailed 11-2 and was something like 0-7 from the field.
I was prepared to take in a long, frustrating game. Even though I had no
expectations for the game, it is never fun to watch your team get completely
out-classed and overwhelmed.
But then things started to change. A couple buckets went down. The team seemed to settle in a little bit. Slowly you could feel the tide start to change, and that change was reflected on the scoreboard. That early 11-2 deficit turned into a 29-22 Villanova lead at the half. As cold and out of sync as 'Nova was to start the game, Kansas was to end the half.
Much credit goes to coach Jay Wright for the turnaround. For
much of the half, Villanova played a hounding, smothering, three-quarter court
trap. The trap was effective at forcing turnovers, and even when it didn’t
force a turnover, it never allowed Kansas to get into the flow of their
offense. Stan Van Gundy, who was calling the game for NBCSN (and who did a
fantastic job by the way), mentioned how Kansas is used to teams sagging off of
them and allowing them to move the ball freely and shoot the jumper, choosing
to force them to make jump shots rather than give their incredible athletes an opportunity to drive to the basket or to dump the ball into their post players,
where against many college teams they have a sizable size advantage.
Sizable size advantage, that sounds weird, but I digress.
Villanova would have none of that, instead pressuring to the max, making Kansas work to get the ball up the court and guarding super tight, which forced freshman phenom Andrew Wiggins into several traveling turnovers.
Villanova would have none of that, instead pressuring to the max, making Kansas work to get the ball up the court and guarding super tight, which forced freshman phenom Andrew Wiggins into several traveling turnovers.
So at halftime, my whole perspective changed. My team
had a seven-point lead. I certainly wasn’t putting the W in the bag, but I was
feeling confident and letting myself entertain thoughts of an upset.
The second half was a half of runs, with the teams taking
turns bursting and then answering. 'Nova had managed to increase its halftime
lead to 11 with about 7 minutes remaining, but the lead evaporated following a
13-1 Kansas run. The Wildcats looked out of gas, and with the frenetic defensive pace
they were playing in the first half, no one could blame them.
With the lead relinquished, I had lost all hope. In the end,
Goliath was too big, too strong. My team had put up a valiant effort, acquitted
themselves well, given hope for the rest of the season, but an upset was not in
the cards. I won’t let such doubt absorb me when it comes to this team
anymore.
With 13 seconds remaining, Villanova was inbounding the ball
from its offensive baseline. Darrun Hilliard and Dylan Ennis had been the
best outside performers for the Cats all night, so I expected the ball to go
to one of them and let them make a play, or send it inside to JayVaughn
Pinkston. Instead, sophomore Ryan Arcidiacono (who hadn’t made a shot from the
field all night and had just one point on a free-throw in the opening minutes)
curled off of a couple screens to come free near the corner. He caught the
pass, rose up and drained a three-pointer to give Villanova a two-point lead. I
was going wild, but there were still 10 seconds left and a plethora of
talented Kansas players who could make a play. But Frank Mason missed a
three-pointer, James Bell got the rebound, and he iced the game with two clutch
free throws with just seconds left.
It was an incredible game, and I was going wild. Villanova is
now 4-1 in its last five games against top-5 opponents.
One other tactical move I want to point out besides the trap is the decision to front the post most of the game. Villanova was outsized at two and sometimes three positions the entire game. Obviously there would be times where Kansas tried to exploit that. And on countless occasions, you would see a Kansas guard holding the ball, looking into the post. And you would see a smaller Villanova player fronting his man, denying an entry pass. It proved to be effective throughout most of the game, and I thought it was another great call by coach Wright. And props to freshman Josh Hart, who spent much of his night doing the dirty work down in the post defensively, and who did a great job.
One other tactical move I want to point out besides the trap is the decision to front the post most of the game. Villanova was outsized at two and sometimes three positions the entire game. Obviously there would be times where Kansas tried to exploit that. And on countless occasions, you would see a Kansas guard holding the ball, looking into the post. And you would see a smaller Villanova player fronting his man, denying an entry pass. It proved to be effective throughout most of the game, and I thought it was another great call by coach Wright. And props to freshman Josh Hart, who spent much of his night doing the dirty work down in the post defensively, and who did a great job.
Villanova moved on to face 23rd-ranked Iowa in
the championship game. I didn’t know what to expect after the energy that had
been expended the night before. After a solid start, turnovers started to
plague the Wildcats and they fell behind.
Somehow the Wildcats were able to erase a 15-point second-half deficit to force overtime and managed to pull out a gutty overtime victory
to claim the Battle 4 Atlantis championship.
Villanova fans have to be incredibly proud of the toughness and energy their team was able to show in two hard-fought games on back-to-back nights. It is a great asset to have two quality wins, including a signature win, just seven games into the season. With their great run in the Bahamas, Villanova has gone from unranked to 19th in the USA Today Coaches Poll and 14th in the AP poll. The rest of the season should be pretty damn exciting.
Villanova fans have to be incredibly proud of the toughness and energy their team was able to show in two hard-fought games on back-to-back nights. It is a great asset to have two quality wins, including a signature win, just seven games into the season. With their great run in the Bahamas, Villanova has gone from unranked to 19th in the USA Today Coaches Poll and 14th in the AP poll. The rest of the season should be pretty damn exciting.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Georgetown Forgot About Jay(Vaughn)
A couple weeks ago, I was sitting around with silver fox when he said we might as well go to the Georgetown-Villanova game to close out the Wildcats' regular season. Since the game was to be played at the Wells Fargo Center, securing tickets wouldn't be a problem, and shit, the game itself would most likely have huge NCAA Tournament implications for a Nova squad that has been on the bubble for more than a month.
So last night, the two of us headed down to the Wells Fargo Center and secured two tickets six rows off the court to the right of the Villanova band and student section.
After walking around a little bit deciding on food options, we finally nabbed a few overpriced sausages and headed to our seats. When we got there, an older woman had her coat and scarf draped over one of our two seats. Being the irrationally angry person I am at times, this infuriated me. Not the fact that the woman had her coat in a seat she didn't have a ticket for — if no one is next to you, by all means, put your coat there — but the fact that she was sitting a couple seats over, not directly next to her coat. The fuck was she doing?
Somehow showing some restraint, I was polite about it, handing her her coat and scarf and letting her know it was our seat, but I really wanted to choke her to death because I was in a bad mood and I had the feeling I was about to watch Villanova toss away its NCAA Tournament hopes the same way it had tossed away apparent victories over the likes of Seton Hall and Pittsburgh in previous games.
Add to that the fact that every time I got to a Villanova home game, I cannot help but notice the incredible lack of diversity of the crowd. Head to the travesty of a gym that is the Pavilion or take in a marquee game in South Philadelphia for the Wildcats, and you walk into seemingly some sort of J.Crew catalog ad. There are swarms of old to middle-aged couples wearing designer clothes and looking like people I would never even want to talk to, and then there's the student body you would associate with an expensive private university out on the Main Line. Translation — even as a middle-class white male who grew up mostly in suburbs before returning to the City of Brotherly Love as an adult, I feel much more comfortable at a Temple home game with its diverse crowd. I'm not entirely sure why, but there you have it.
Anyway, back to the game. Almost immediately, my fears were coming to fruition, as the Hoyas began the game with a three-pointer and jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. I jokingly said the game was already over at that point, might as well beat the traffic.
But then a funny thing happened. Jay Wright made a quick substitution after his team started with two turnovers and a foul, and everything changed from there. Senior Mouphtaou Yarou was dominating the glass, and JayVaughn Pinkston was playing as aggressive as I've ever seen him play, attacking whichever Hoya was attempting to handle him inside nearly every possession he was on the court.
Further, Wright, sensing that he'd need his team fresh for an intense, crucial 40 minutes, began subbing his players in and out at nearly every dead ball, almost as if making line changes in hockey. It was quite a sight to behold, some real chess going on against John Thompson III, and it worked — perfectly. Before you could blink, the Wildcats went on a 10-2 run to take the lead, and suddenly it was a ballgame again. However, it was tough to tell from the crowd. The upper section was barren, and even the full lower bowl was subdued most of the first half. That is, until James Bell threw down a thunderous, improbable alley-oop from Ryan Arcidiacono. When Arcidiacono threw it, I honestly thought he had tossed it way too high and that it was destined to go out of bounds. Instead, Bell somehow caught it and threw it down emphatically, sparking the mostly dormant crowd.
By the time the first half was winding down, Nova had the ball up by four following an Arc three, and Mouphtaou Yarou hit a jumper as time was winding down to seemingly put the Cats up by six with 20 minutes to play. Alas, the ball was still in Mouph's hands as the buzzer sounded, so Nova had to settle for a four-point halftime lead. Not too shabby, particularly when you take into account the way Nova played that first half.
The aforementioned Pinkston was nearly unstoppable, embarrassing any Hoya who dared try to handle him, and he began to parade to the free throw line.
Mouph was a monster on the boards, cleaning up the glass any time the ball came near him, and Bell not only hit a couple of big three-pointers, but he also completely and utterly shut down the heralded Player of the Year candidate Otto Porter Jr. in the first 20 minutes, to the point that you could hardly notice Porter on the floor at all. It was the best defensive job I've ever seen Bell do, taking Georgetown's best player and making him a complete non-factor in the first half.
However, it was going to take another really strong half to come away with the victory. After all, the Hoyas kept it close despite sloppy play in large part because they were defending the three and giving Ryan Arcidiacono no space, and also because D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera kept hitting big shots every time it looked like Nova might pull away.
As expected, Georgetown did not go away quietly, but it really didn't matter. Wright continued his hockey-style substitutions, keeping all his guys fresh, and the defense continued to hound Georgetown into turnovers and bad shots. Porter did get on track a little when Bell wasn't guarding him, but with the game in the balance, Bell went back to his shutdown work on the top Hoya and took him off his game yet again.
From there, it was the JayVaughn Pinkston show. The man simply took over, playing arguably the best game of his career, if not then certainly the most aggressive.
Thanks to his aggressive nature, Nova was in the bonus and then double bonus in no time … but the Cats uncharacteristically were struggling from the line. Early anyway. But once it came to crunch time, Pinkston, Arcidiacono and Darrun Hilliard couldn't miss. Just like that, it was Nova's third victory of the season over a top 5 team, and it more than likely punched the Wildcats' ticket to the big dance.
It was a total team effort, no doubt. Defensively, James Bell was the star, keeping Porter in check and making him a complete non-factor at times. I can't say enough about the job Bell did last night. Further, his teammates were aggressive all over the court defensively, forcing 22 Georgetown turnovers and doing it without fouling.
Conversely, the team was just as aggressive on offense, getting to the line an insane 42 times, led by Pinkston — the star of the game — who managed a game-high 20 points on just 4-6 from the field … and 11-14 from the line. He added five steals and four boards for good measure.
On top of that, Nova didn't force things on the offensive end, particularly Arcidiacono. That's somewhat of a rarity for the freshman out of Neshaminy, a kid who's never passed up an open shot in his life. But last night, he was patient and smart with the ball. Arcidiacono went the first five minutes without even a shot attempt, and he only took five shots from the floor all game thanks to Georgetown's tremendous defense around the perimeter and defending the three-point line. So Arc just played within himself and the system and helped feed Pinkston and the rest of the squad.
It resulted in another great win for Nova, and now a team that many picked to finish at the bottom of the Big East standings is not only sitting at 10-8 in conference play, but at 19-12 overall with big victories over Louisville, Syracuse and now Georgetown. With last night's capper, Villanova should be securely in the field of 68 — a win or two (or three) in the Big East Tournament, and it's not even a question.
After the muted celebration, we headed out for celebratory cheesesteaks, watched some Workaholics and then saw us all get Nnamdi'd.
Maybe he was calling Ruxin while he was eating lunch in his car. It all makes sense now, unlike the Big 5 this year.
But hey, Villanova got a great victory last night, Temple destroyed Fordham and St. Joe's really destroyed Rhode Island, so things aren't nearly as bad as they were just a little while ago for Philadelphia college basketball. And now there's a very real chance Nova, Temple and La Salle will be dancing. For the Wildcats, they can thank Georgetown for forgetting about JayVaughn Pinkston last night.
So last night, the two of us headed down to the Wells Fargo Center and secured two tickets six rows off the court to the right of the Villanova band and student section.
After walking around a little bit deciding on food options, we finally nabbed a few overpriced sausages and headed to our seats. When we got there, an older woman had her coat and scarf draped over one of our two seats. Being the irrationally angry person I am at times, this infuriated me. Not the fact that the woman had her coat in a seat she didn't have a ticket for — if no one is next to you, by all means, put your coat there — but the fact that she was sitting a couple seats over, not directly next to her coat. The fuck was she doing?
Somehow showing some restraint, I was polite about it, handing her her coat and scarf and letting her know it was our seat, but I really wanted to choke her to death because I was in a bad mood and I had the feeling I was about to watch Villanova toss away its NCAA Tournament hopes the same way it had tossed away apparent victories over the likes of Seton Hall and Pittsburgh in previous games.
Add to that the fact that every time I got to a Villanova home game, I cannot help but notice the incredible lack of diversity of the crowd. Head to the travesty of a gym that is the Pavilion or take in a marquee game in South Philadelphia for the Wildcats, and you walk into seemingly some sort of J.Crew catalog ad. There are swarms of old to middle-aged couples wearing designer clothes and looking like people I would never even want to talk to, and then there's the student body you would associate with an expensive private university out on the Main Line. Translation — even as a middle-class white male who grew up mostly in suburbs before returning to the City of Brotherly Love as an adult, I feel much more comfortable at a Temple home game with its diverse crowd. I'm not entirely sure why, but there you have it.
Anyway, back to the game. Almost immediately, my fears were coming to fruition, as the Hoyas began the game with a three-pointer and jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead. I jokingly said the game was already over at that point, might as well beat the traffic.
But then a funny thing happened. Jay Wright made a quick substitution after his team started with two turnovers and a foul, and everything changed from there. Senior Mouphtaou Yarou was dominating the glass, and JayVaughn Pinkston was playing as aggressive as I've ever seen him play, attacking whichever Hoya was attempting to handle him inside nearly every possession he was on the court.
Further, Wright, sensing that he'd need his team fresh for an intense, crucial 40 minutes, began subbing his players in and out at nearly every dead ball, almost as if making line changes in hockey. It was quite a sight to behold, some real chess going on against John Thompson III, and it worked — perfectly. Before you could blink, the Wildcats went on a 10-2 run to take the lead, and suddenly it was a ballgame again. However, it was tough to tell from the crowd. The upper section was barren, and even the full lower bowl was subdued most of the first half. That is, until James Bell threw down a thunderous, improbable alley-oop from Ryan Arcidiacono. When Arcidiacono threw it, I honestly thought he had tossed it way too high and that it was destined to go out of bounds. Instead, Bell somehow caught it and threw it down emphatically, sparking the mostly dormant crowd.
By the time the first half was winding down, Nova had the ball up by four following an Arc three, and Mouphtaou Yarou hit a jumper as time was winding down to seemingly put the Cats up by six with 20 minutes to play. Alas, the ball was still in Mouph's hands as the buzzer sounded, so Nova had to settle for a four-point halftime lead. Not too shabby, particularly when you take into account the way Nova played that first half.
The aforementioned Pinkston was nearly unstoppable, embarrassing any Hoya who dared try to handle him, and he began to parade to the free throw line.
Mouph was a monster on the boards, cleaning up the glass any time the ball came near him, and Bell not only hit a couple of big three-pointers, but he also completely and utterly shut down the heralded Player of the Year candidate Otto Porter Jr. in the first 20 minutes, to the point that you could hardly notice Porter on the floor at all. It was the best defensive job I've ever seen Bell do, taking Georgetown's best player and making him a complete non-factor in the first half.
However, it was going to take another really strong half to come away with the victory. After all, the Hoyas kept it close despite sloppy play in large part because they were defending the three and giving Ryan Arcidiacono no space, and also because D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera kept hitting big shots every time it looked like Nova might pull away.
As expected, Georgetown did not go away quietly, but it really didn't matter. Wright continued his hockey-style substitutions, keeping all his guys fresh, and the defense continued to hound Georgetown into turnovers and bad shots. Porter did get on track a little when Bell wasn't guarding him, but with the game in the balance, Bell went back to his shutdown work on the top Hoya and took him off his game yet again.
From there, it was the JayVaughn Pinkston show. The man simply took over, playing arguably the best game of his career, if not then certainly the most aggressive.
Thanks to his aggressive nature, Nova was in the bonus and then double bonus in no time … but the Cats uncharacteristically were struggling from the line. Early anyway. But once it came to crunch time, Pinkston, Arcidiacono and Darrun Hilliard couldn't miss. Just like that, it was Nova's third victory of the season over a top 5 team, and it more than likely punched the Wildcats' ticket to the big dance.
It was a total team effort, no doubt. Defensively, James Bell was the star, keeping Porter in check and making him a complete non-factor at times. I can't say enough about the job Bell did last night. Further, his teammates were aggressive all over the court defensively, forcing 22 Georgetown turnovers and doing it without fouling.
Conversely, the team was just as aggressive on offense, getting to the line an insane 42 times, led by Pinkston — the star of the game — who managed a game-high 20 points on just 4-6 from the field … and 11-14 from the line. He added five steals and four boards for good measure.
On top of that, Nova didn't force things on the offensive end, particularly Arcidiacono. That's somewhat of a rarity for the freshman out of Neshaminy, a kid who's never passed up an open shot in his life. But last night, he was patient and smart with the ball. Arcidiacono went the first five minutes without even a shot attempt, and he only took five shots from the floor all game thanks to Georgetown's tremendous defense around the perimeter and defending the three-point line. So Arc just played within himself and the system and helped feed Pinkston and the rest of the squad.
It resulted in another great win for Nova, and now a team that many picked to finish at the bottom of the Big East standings is not only sitting at 10-8 in conference play, but at 19-12 overall with big victories over Louisville, Syracuse and now Georgetown. With last night's capper, Villanova should be securely in the field of 68 — a win or two (or three) in the Big East Tournament, and it's not even a question.
After the muted celebration, we headed out for celebratory cheesesteaks, watched some Workaholics and then saw us all get Nnamdi'd.
Maybe he was calling Ruxin while he was eating lunch in his car. It all makes sense now, unlike the Big 5 this year.
But hey, Villanova got a great victory last night, Temple destroyed Fordham and St. Joe's really destroyed Rhode Island, so things aren't nearly as bad as they were just a little while ago for Philadelphia college basketball. And now there's a very real chance Nova, Temple and La Salle will be dancing. For the Wildcats, they can thank Georgetown for forgetting about JayVaughn Pinkston last night.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Props for Jay Wright
On Saturday, Villanova got a huge win against 17th-ranked Marquette. It was 'Nova's third win against top-20 competition this season, adding to their wins against #3 Syracuse and #5 Louisville. Add in their win against UConn and the Wildcats have 4 top-30 RPI wins. The win on Saturday inched Villanova a little bit closer to securing an NCAA tournament bid. And I am here to argue that this season's campaign is the best that coach Jay Wright has had on the Main Line.
That statement says a lot. Since Jay Wright took over on the Main Line, the Wildcats have made 7 NCAA tournament appearances and 3 NIT appearances. They've made a Final 4, an Elite 8, and two Sweet 16's. In 2005, they were a phantom traveling call on Allen Ray from reaching another Elite 8, and in 2006 they lost in the Elite 8, and an injury to Curtis Sumpter will leave that 'Nova squad forever in the "what might have been" category.
Coach Wright took over a mediocre program from former coach Steve Lappas and returned it to national prominence. Solid recruiting classes, perennial top-25 rankings, and trips to the NCAA tournament have become the norm at Villanova under Wright's guidance.
Last season they stumbled to a putrid 13-19 record. It was only the second time Villanova failed to record a winning record under Wright, and the only time during his tenure where they failed to qualify for any postseason basketball.
The season was a tough one for 'Nova fans to stomach, as they had gotten used to 20+ win seasons and NCAA tournament bids. It also opened the door for some of Wright's critics. Even the proprietor of this here site has been critical of Wright, citing that the coach has struggled at developing his usually stellar recruiting classes, although I certainly wouldn't classify the Rev a critic of Wright overall.
The disaster that was Villanova's 2011-2012 season had led to much-diminished expectations heading into this year. The Wildcats were picked by the Big East coaches to finish 12th in the conference this season (they currently sit tied for 7th at 9-6). You would be hard-pressed to find even the staunchest of 'Nova supporters and optimists claiming they expected the team to be anywhere near an NCAA tournament bid. Personally, at the beginning of the season I would have been satisfied with a .500 record and an NIT berth.
And yet here we are, in late February, and the Wildcats trending toward an invite to the Big Dance. They are 18-10 with three regular-season games remaining. They play Seton Hall tonight, who they should (and need to) beat. Knock on wood. Then they finish with tough games against two nationally ranked teams in Pitt and rival Georgetown.
It's still too early to try to figure out what the résumé will look like in two weeks' time. It could look about the same, or it could look drastically better or worse. But the fact that the Wildcats are squarely in the discussion and ultimately hold their fate in their own hands is a testament to the players and to the job coach Wright has done this season.
He's gotten his guys to play tough night in and night out. They've gutted out several wins. The biggest difference is that this year they are finding ways to win games that last year they would find a way to lose. I am equally surprised/excited/impressed with the season they have put together and where they stand with Selection Sunday drawing ever closer.
Perhaps even more importantly, the team seems to be in good hands going forward. Mouphtaou Yarou and Maurice Sutton are the only seniors on the team. Next season they will return the leadership and clutch play of James Bell, the steady play of an increasingly confident and comfortable JayVaughn Pinkston, and the hopefully improving play of already promising and impressive freshman Ryan Arcidiacono. Sophomore Darrun Hilliard has also surprised, showing flashes of offensive brilliance.
Regardless of how the rest of the season goes and what their ultimate fate concerning the NCAA tournament becomes, they have shown great improvement and growth from last year. They were coming off an abysmal season and into a season with low expectations. And they've been working with arguably the least amount of talent that they've had under Wright. So I just needed to give some props to coach, who is doing perhaps his best job since arriving on the Main Line, despite all the success he has already had there.
That statement says a lot. Since Jay Wright took over on the Main Line, the Wildcats have made 7 NCAA tournament appearances and 3 NIT appearances. They've made a Final 4, an Elite 8, and two Sweet 16's. In 2005, they were a phantom traveling call on Allen Ray from reaching another Elite 8, and in 2006 they lost in the Elite 8, and an injury to Curtis Sumpter will leave that 'Nova squad forever in the "what might have been" category.
Coach Wright took over a mediocre program from former coach Steve Lappas and returned it to national prominence. Solid recruiting classes, perennial top-25 rankings, and trips to the NCAA tournament have become the norm at Villanova under Wright's guidance.
Last season they stumbled to a putrid 13-19 record. It was only the second time Villanova failed to record a winning record under Wright, and the only time during his tenure where they failed to qualify for any postseason basketball.
The season was a tough one for 'Nova fans to stomach, as they had gotten used to 20+ win seasons and NCAA tournament bids. It also opened the door for some of Wright's critics. Even the proprietor of this here site has been critical of Wright, citing that the coach has struggled at developing his usually stellar recruiting classes, although I certainly wouldn't classify the Rev a critic of Wright overall.
The disaster that was Villanova's 2011-2012 season had led to much-diminished expectations heading into this year. The Wildcats were picked by the Big East coaches to finish 12th in the conference this season (they currently sit tied for 7th at 9-6). You would be hard-pressed to find even the staunchest of 'Nova supporters and optimists claiming they expected the team to be anywhere near an NCAA tournament bid. Personally, at the beginning of the season I would have been satisfied with a .500 record and an NIT berth.
And yet here we are, in late February, and the Wildcats trending toward an invite to the Big Dance. They are 18-10 with three regular-season games remaining. They play Seton Hall tonight, who they should (and need to) beat. Knock on wood. Then they finish with tough games against two nationally ranked teams in Pitt and rival Georgetown.
It's still too early to try to figure out what the résumé will look like in two weeks' time. It could look about the same, or it could look drastically better or worse. But the fact that the Wildcats are squarely in the discussion and ultimately hold their fate in their own hands is a testament to the players and to the job coach Wright has done this season.
He's gotten his guys to play tough night in and night out. They've gutted out several wins. The biggest difference is that this year they are finding ways to win games that last year they would find a way to lose. I am equally surprised/excited/impressed with the season they have put together and where they stand with Selection Sunday drawing ever closer.
Perhaps even more importantly, the team seems to be in good hands going forward. Mouphtaou Yarou and Maurice Sutton are the only seniors on the team. Next season they will return the leadership and clutch play of James Bell, the steady play of an increasingly confident and comfortable JayVaughn Pinkston, and the hopefully improving play of already promising and impressive freshman Ryan Arcidiacono. Sophomore Darrun Hilliard has also surprised, showing flashes of offensive brilliance.
Regardless of how the rest of the season goes and what their ultimate fate concerning the NCAA tournament becomes, they have shown great improvement and growth from last year. They were coming off an abysmal season and into a season with low expectations. And they've been working with arguably the least amount of talent that they've had under Wright. So I just needed to give some props to coach, who is doing perhaps his best job since arriving on the Main Line, despite all the success he has already had there.
LeBron James Is Too Good
I was going to write about the Big 5 teams with NCAA Tournament hopes — La Salle, Villanova and Temple — all winning over the weekend, but I only watched the Nova game and don't have too much to say other than the Wildcats almost blew it because they stopped feeding Darrun Hilliard even though he was on fire.
Then I was debating writing about the Flyers or Sixers, but there's not too much I have to say at the moment.
And finally, I was gonna write about how LeBron James is the best basketball player I have ever seen, at least as an adult, after his triple-double against the Sixers, but I've already sang the praises of LeBron James here and elsewhere that there's not much to add.
Basically, to start the third quarter, LeBron simply decided he'd had enough of the Sixers and took over completely, even without shooting much, as James' 16 points were well behind teammate Dwyane Wade's 33. So instead, I'm just gonna put up LeBron's highlights from Saturday and leave it at that, because LeBron James is too good.
Then I was debating writing about the Flyers or Sixers, but there's not too much I have to say at the moment.
And finally, I was gonna write about how LeBron James is the best basketball player I have ever seen, at least as an adult, after his triple-double against the Sixers, but I've already sang the praises of LeBron James here and elsewhere that there's not much to add.
Basically, to start the third quarter, LeBron simply decided he'd had enough of the Sixers and took over completely, even without shooting much, as James' 16 points were well behind teammate Dwyane Wade's 33. So instead, I'm just gonna put up LeBron's highlights from Saturday and leave it at that, because LeBron James is too good.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
What in the World Is Up With the Big 5?
Anyone who knows anything about college basketball knows the importance, tradition and success of the Big 5. For Philadelphians, it's a source of pride, and heading down to the Palestra to see a Big 5 battle was a right of passage for decades — albeit one that's fading with the new arenas and money grabs for each of the respective schools.
The Big 5 is college basketball in a nutshell. The passion. The intensity. The pride. The hatred. The rivalries. The bragging rights. The camaraderie. It's all there within a few measly miles of each other — Tobacco Road times three (if you add in Drexel for the City Six, that is).
While the ultimate prize has been oh-so-elusive for the Big 5 teams — the last championship for the city came in 1985 when Rollie Massimino's Villanova Wildcats upset the Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown Hoyas — the Big 5 has produced some of the all-time great players, historic figures and winning schools.
The names are endless: John Chaney, Ed Pinckney, Aaron McKie, Eddie Jones, Kerry Kittles, Jameer Nelson, Delonte West, Guy Rodgers, Mark Macon, Paul Arizin, Lionel Simmons, Michael Brooks, Fran Dunphy, Tom Gola, Chuck Daly, Jack Ramsay — you could go on for days.
Beyond that, you have two of top 10 all-time winningest programs with Temple sixth behind the likes of Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse, and Penn sitting 10th. Which is all to say that the Big 5 has a rich history — one that is so rich that there has been at least one Big 5 representative in the NCAA Tournament for 35 straight years.
Well guess what? That streak is incredibly in peril this year. While ESPN Bracketologist (and St. Joe's man) Joe Lunardi does have La Salle and Villanova currently in the dance, they are by no means locks, and the likes of Temple and St. Joe's need something close to resembling a miracle to get themselves in. The Quakers have absolutely no shot.
The team with the best case right now, believe it or not, is La Salle. The Explorers have the best record of all the Big 5 teams, sitting at 18-6 overall and tied with Butler at 8-3 for third in the improved Atlantic 10 — thanks to the additions of VCU and Butler. And La Salle has built a strong case thanks to defeating the newest A-10 teams, knocking off then No. 9 Butler at home and following it up immediately by defeating VCU on the road. The problem is La Salle has absolutely zero good out-of-conference wins. The only real tough opponent they played outside the A-10 is Miami, who crushed them — just as they have damn near everyone, Duke and North Carolina included. Adding to that lack of a definitive out-of-conference victory, the Explorers also somehow suffered embarrassing defeats to Central Connecticut State and Bucknell, not to mention losses to Charlotte and UMass.
So while the Explorers have a god shot to get in, they cannot afford to slip up down the stretch. That's no easy task with a difficult game against Big 5 and conference foe Temple Thursday, not to mention two more road games to close out the regular season — the last one coming against a 19-5 Saint Louis squad that trails only VCU in the conference standings.
Without question, Villanova is the other team that has the best shot at the tourney. Their 17-10 record is boosted by one hell of a week in which the Wildcats knocked off then No. 5 Louisville and then No. 3 Syracuse in the span of a few days. But will those wins alone be enough, particularly given the tough remaining schedule for Nova? The Cats close out the season by hosting No. 17 Marquette Saturday, followed by back-to-back road games against Seton Hall and No. 20 Pittsburgh, then home again to host No. 11 Georgetown in the season finale. Villanova could easily lose all of those games, in which case you can kiss the NCAA tournament goodbye barring an unforeseen run in the Big East Tournament.
And again complicating matters, Nova has had some major hiccups along the way. They lost three in a row to Alabama, Columbia and La Salle. I repeat, they lost to Columbia. They also had another three-game losing streak, dropping games at Syracuse, against Pitt and at Providence. In fact, Nova lost both games against the Friars, a team that is just 14-11 on the season and 6-7 in the conference.
Hell, it looked like the Wildcats might completely blow up their tourney chances last night, when they came out and played horrifically uninspired basketball in the first half against Rutgers before righting the ship in the second half. Again, Nova is already a bubble team as is — far from a lock, and in more danger than even La Salle at this point.
Then there is the curious case of Temple.
The Owls have basically been the class of the A-10 since Fran Dunphy succeeded fellow Big 5 legend John Chaney — and as we all know the Owls were also dominant during much of Chaney's tenure. This year, while the team definitely lost key contributors, there was no reason to think they wouldn't be a tournament team yet again. Only right now, they are on the outside looking in, on the wrong side of the bubble.
It's been a baffling year for the Owls, just as it has been for the entire Big 5. Somehow, a team that started 8-1 with its only loss coming at then-No. 2 Duke lost at home by 10 points to something called Canisius. It made no sense, particularly considering immediately after that inexplicable, embarrassing loss, Temple went up and topped No. 3 Syracuse and looked every big like a legit NCAA tournament threat. Then the Owls traveled to Lawrence and damn near upset then-No. 6 Kansas, and everyone thought Temple was going to be a handful come tournament time. Then they lost a tough one at Xavier, hardly an embarrassing defeat, but it was precursor of struggles to come.
Temple lost to St. Bonaventure, then lost by double digits to Butler and dropped games to St. Joe's and Duquesne. Not good. Even the victory over UMass over the weekend took everything the Owls had. As Fran Dunphy said, this team simply was overrated. Now Temple sits at 17-8 overall and 6-5 in the conference. It very well may take another run to the A-10 Tournament title for the Owls to keep their tournament streak alive.
As for St. Joe's and Penn, the hopes of a tournament birth are all but gone. In fact, the Quakers have absolutely not shot with their dismal 6-18 record. There will be no dancing for the Palestra inhabitants this year. As for the Hawks, it's going to be an uphill battle that quite frankly won't happen.
St. Joe's is 14-10 overall and 5-6 in A-10 play. And while they did beat Notre Dame, Xavier and Temple, the Hawks have also lost to Fairfield, St. Bonaventure, Dayton and UMass, not to mention dropping games to bubble teams Villanova and La Salle.
Coming off a 20-win season last year, the Hawks were supposed to take a step forward and become a tournament team in 2013. Instead, they have regressed, failing to live up to any sort of expectations. As a result, the Hawks have to win out to even get consideration, and probably need a very, very deep — as in winning it all — A-10 tournament run to actually get in. The outlook is not good.
And if you go ahead and add in Drexel, another team that many thought could be the best in the city this year, playing horrid basketball and sitting at 11-15, there are no surefire NCAA Tournament locks for any Philadelphia team.
It's as if not a single team in the city can figure out who exactly it is. Every one of them has been up and down, at times looking impressive only to slip up or get embarrassed by seemingly inferior competition. And it very well could cost the Big 5 and Philadelphia their dancing shoes for the first time in a long, long while.
The Big 5 is college basketball in a nutshell. The passion. The intensity. The pride. The hatred. The rivalries. The bragging rights. The camaraderie. It's all there within a few measly miles of each other — Tobacco Road times three (if you add in Drexel for the City Six, that is).
While the ultimate prize has been oh-so-elusive for the Big 5 teams — the last championship for the city came in 1985 when Rollie Massimino's Villanova Wildcats upset the Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown Hoyas — the Big 5 has produced some of the all-time great players, historic figures and winning schools.
The names are endless: John Chaney, Ed Pinckney, Aaron McKie, Eddie Jones, Kerry Kittles, Jameer Nelson, Delonte West, Guy Rodgers, Mark Macon, Paul Arizin, Lionel Simmons, Michael Brooks, Fran Dunphy, Tom Gola, Chuck Daly, Jack Ramsay — you could go on for days.
Beyond that, you have two of top 10 all-time winningest programs with Temple sixth behind the likes of Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse, and Penn sitting 10th. Which is all to say that the Big 5 has a rich history — one that is so rich that there has been at least one Big 5 representative in the NCAA Tournament for 35 straight years.
Well guess what? That streak is incredibly in peril this year. While ESPN Bracketologist (and St. Joe's man) Joe Lunardi does have La Salle and Villanova currently in the dance, they are by no means locks, and the likes of Temple and St. Joe's need something close to resembling a miracle to get themselves in. The Quakers have absolutely no shot.
The team with the best case right now, believe it or not, is La Salle. The Explorers have the best record of all the Big 5 teams, sitting at 18-6 overall and tied with Butler at 8-3 for third in the improved Atlantic 10 — thanks to the additions of VCU and Butler. And La Salle has built a strong case thanks to defeating the newest A-10 teams, knocking off then No. 9 Butler at home and following it up immediately by defeating VCU on the road. The problem is La Salle has absolutely zero good out-of-conference wins. The only real tough opponent they played outside the A-10 is Miami, who crushed them — just as they have damn near everyone, Duke and North Carolina included. Adding to that lack of a definitive out-of-conference victory, the Explorers also somehow suffered embarrassing defeats to Central Connecticut State and Bucknell, not to mention losses to Charlotte and UMass.
So while the Explorers have a god shot to get in, they cannot afford to slip up down the stretch. That's no easy task with a difficult game against Big 5 and conference foe Temple Thursday, not to mention two more road games to close out the regular season — the last one coming against a 19-5 Saint Louis squad that trails only VCU in the conference standings.
Without question, Villanova is the other team that has the best shot at the tourney. Their 17-10 record is boosted by one hell of a week in which the Wildcats knocked off then No. 5 Louisville and then No. 3 Syracuse in the span of a few days. But will those wins alone be enough, particularly given the tough remaining schedule for Nova? The Cats close out the season by hosting No. 17 Marquette Saturday, followed by back-to-back road games against Seton Hall and No. 20 Pittsburgh, then home again to host No. 11 Georgetown in the season finale. Villanova could easily lose all of those games, in which case you can kiss the NCAA tournament goodbye barring an unforeseen run in the Big East Tournament.
And again complicating matters, Nova has had some major hiccups along the way. They lost three in a row to Alabama, Columbia and La Salle. I repeat, they lost to Columbia. They also had another three-game losing streak, dropping games at Syracuse, against Pitt and at Providence. In fact, Nova lost both games against the Friars, a team that is just 14-11 on the season and 6-7 in the conference.
Hell, it looked like the Wildcats might completely blow up their tourney chances last night, when they came out and played horrifically uninspired basketball in the first half against Rutgers before righting the ship in the second half. Again, Nova is already a bubble team as is — far from a lock, and in more danger than even La Salle at this point.
Then there is the curious case of Temple.
The Owls have basically been the class of the A-10 since Fran Dunphy succeeded fellow Big 5 legend John Chaney — and as we all know the Owls were also dominant during much of Chaney's tenure. This year, while the team definitely lost key contributors, there was no reason to think they wouldn't be a tournament team yet again. Only right now, they are on the outside looking in, on the wrong side of the bubble.
It's been a baffling year for the Owls, just as it has been for the entire Big 5. Somehow, a team that started 8-1 with its only loss coming at then-No. 2 Duke lost at home by 10 points to something called Canisius. It made no sense, particularly considering immediately after that inexplicable, embarrassing loss, Temple went up and topped No. 3 Syracuse and looked every big like a legit NCAA tournament threat. Then the Owls traveled to Lawrence and damn near upset then-No. 6 Kansas, and everyone thought Temple was going to be a handful come tournament time. Then they lost a tough one at Xavier, hardly an embarrassing defeat, but it was precursor of struggles to come.
Temple lost to St. Bonaventure, then lost by double digits to Butler and dropped games to St. Joe's and Duquesne. Not good. Even the victory over UMass over the weekend took everything the Owls had. As Fran Dunphy said, this team simply was overrated. Now Temple sits at 17-8 overall and 6-5 in the conference. It very well may take another run to the A-10 Tournament title for the Owls to keep their tournament streak alive.
As for St. Joe's and Penn, the hopes of a tournament birth are all but gone. In fact, the Quakers have absolutely not shot with their dismal 6-18 record. There will be no dancing for the Palestra inhabitants this year. As for the Hawks, it's going to be an uphill battle that quite frankly won't happen.
St. Joe's is 14-10 overall and 5-6 in A-10 play. And while they did beat Notre Dame, Xavier and Temple, the Hawks have also lost to Fairfield, St. Bonaventure, Dayton and UMass, not to mention dropping games to bubble teams Villanova and La Salle.
Coming off a 20-win season last year, the Hawks were supposed to take a step forward and become a tournament team in 2013. Instead, they have regressed, failing to live up to any sort of expectations. As a result, the Hawks have to win out to even get consideration, and probably need a very, very deep — as in winning it all — A-10 tournament run to actually get in. The outlook is not good.
And if you go ahead and add in Drexel, another team that many thought could be the best in the city this year, playing horrid basketball and sitting at 11-15, there are no surefire NCAA Tournament locks for any Philadelphia team.
It's as if not a single team in the city can figure out who exactly it is. Every one of them has been up and down, at times looking impressive only to slip up or get embarrassed by seemingly inferior competition. And it very well could cost the Big 5 and Philadelphia their dancing shoes for the first time in a long, long while.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Nova Caps Incredible Week
Last week was a pretty remarkable week for Philadelphia college hoops. Just the week before, there were murmurs that this season could be the first since 1977 that not one of Philly's six college basketball teams would get an invite to the NCAA Tournament. That would be the first time in my life that Philly wouldn't be represented in the Big Dance. In a city with a college basketball tradition as rich as Philadelphia's, that would be a damn shame.
But after an incredible week of basketball, there is a glimmer of hope. In the past seven days, Philly has seen three court-stormings thanks to three wins against top 10 opponents. And Philly schools compiled a 4-1 record against top 25 competition. Villanova and La Salle were the ones providing the victories (Temple lost to #9 Butler for the only loss), and after their impressive weeks both are at least in the discussion to join the party in March.
I'll start with Villanova. The Wildcats came into the week in a tailspin, having lost three straight games. They lost a hard-fought contest at Syracuse in which the 'Cuse was just too much for them in the end. Then they played a horrendous five minutes of basketball to close the game at home against Pitt, turning what at one point was a back and forth game into a 15-point blowout loss. In the next game, they again faltered down the stretch, falling by 3 at Providence.
After those three games, which left the Wildcats with an 11-7 record, Nova Nation had pretty much accepted the fact that there would be no postseason play this year, and certainly no NCAA berth. Especially with games against #5 Louisville and #3 Syracuse coming up.
That's when the unexpected happened. On Tuesday, the 'Cats gutted out a tough win against Louisville. 'Nova students stormed the court, and it was fun and exciting, but chances were that it would just be a bright spot in a rough season.
The 'Cats weren't done giant-slaying though. They followed up the Louisville win with a thrilling win against #3 Syracuse. 'Nova was able to score the final six points of the game, including a 3 from freshman Ryan Arcidiacono with 2.2 seconds left to force overtime. In overtime, junior James Bell took over, scoring 8 points. Despite his first few shots in the OT going halfway down and then somehow rattling out, he stayed confident and hit several huge shots to get the victory. Sophomore Darrun Hilliard (25 pts, 7 rebs, 6 ast) and Mouphtaou Yarou, (14 points, 16 rebs), one of only two seniors on the team, also deserve mention.
Defeating two top-five teams back-to-back is an incredible feat for any team, let alone one who was struggling and who wasn't expected to make much noise anyway. It's still a long shot that the 'Cats get in the tournament, but after two huge wins they at least have a pulse. They are 13-7 and here is their remaining schedule: @ #24 Notre Dame, Providence, @ DePaul, South Florida, @ #21 Cincinnati, @ UConn, Rutgers, Marquette, @ Seton Hall, @ Pitt, and Georgetown. If they can manage 6 or 7 wins from those games, they will certainly be in the discussion.
Villanova wasn't the only city school making noise last week. The night after 'Nova's win against Louisville, La Salle incited another court-storm after beating #9 Butler. It was the first win for the Explorers against a top-10 opponent since 1980. And then hours after Villanova beat Syracuse, La Salle capped of their impressive week with a win on the road against #19 VCU.
La Salle stands at 14-5 with 10 games remaining. Butler and VCU currently stand as the only ranked opponents on La Salle's schedule, so it was key for them to get those signature wins. They also have a win against Villanova, which is looking more impressive than it was just a few weeks ago.
La Salle still has work to do, but the Atlantic 10 is much improved, especially with the additions of Butler and VCU, and the conference may receive a few more at-large bids than they are used to. And the Explorers have their signature wins.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way and what ultimately becomes the fate of the postseason hopes of Philly's college hoops teams, it was a historic week for the Big Five, and that says a lot. As Philadelphia sports fans have been getting bombarded with mediocrity and disappointment from every angle recently, 'Nova and La Salle provided some excitement and a reason to smile for the weary Philly sports fan.
But after an incredible week of basketball, there is a glimmer of hope. In the past seven days, Philly has seen three court-stormings thanks to three wins against top 10 opponents. And Philly schools compiled a 4-1 record against top 25 competition. Villanova and La Salle were the ones providing the victories (Temple lost to #9 Butler for the only loss), and after their impressive weeks both are at least in the discussion to join the party in March.
I'll start with Villanova. The Wildcats came into the week in a tailspin, having lost three straight games. They lost a hard-fought contest at Syracuse in which the 'Cuse was just too much for them in the end. Then they played a horrendous five minutes of basketball to close the game at home against Pitt, turning what at one point was a back and forth game into a 15-point blowout loss. In the next game, they again faltered down the stretch, falling by 3 at Providence.
After those three games, which left the Wildcats with an 11-7 record, Nova Nation had pretty much accepted the fact that there would be no postseason play this year, and certainly no NCAA berth. Especially with games against #5 Louisville and #3 Syracuse coming up.
That's when the unexpected happened. On Tuesday, the 'Cats gutted out a tough win against Louisville. 'Nova students stormed the court, and it was fun and exciting, but chances were that it would just be a bright spot in a rough season.
The 'Cats weren't done giant-slaying though. They followed up the Louisville win with a thrilling win against #3 Syracuse. 'Nova was able to score the final six points of the game, including a 3 from freshman Ryan Arcidiacono with 2.2 seconds left to force overtime. In overtime, junior James Bell took over, scoring 8 points. Despite his first few shots in the OT going halfway down and then somehow rattling out, he stayed confident and hit several huge shots to get the victory. Sophomore Darrun Hilliard (25 pts, 7 rebs, 6 ast) and Mouphtaou Yarou, (14 points, 16 rebs), one of only two seniors on the team, also deserve mention.
Defeating two top-five teams back-to-back is an incredible feat for any team, let alone one who was struggling and who wasn't expected to make much noise anyway. It's still a long shot that the 'Cats get in the tournament, but after two huge wins they at least have a pulse. They are 13-7 and here is their remaining schedule: @ #24 Notre Dame, Providence, @ DePaul, South Florida, @ #21 Cincinnati, @ UConn, Rutgers, Marquette, @ Seton Hall, @ Pitt, and Georgetown. If they can manage 6 or 7 wins from those games, they will certainly be in the discussion.
Villanova wasn't the only city school making noise last week. The night after 'Nova's win against Louisville, La Salle incited another court-storm after beating #9 Butler. It was the first win for the Explorers against a top-10 opponent since 1980. And then hours after Villanova beat Syracuse, La Salle capped of their impressive week with a win on the road against #19 VCU.
La Salle stands at 14-5 with 10 games remaining. Butler and VCU currently stand as the only ranked opponents on La Salle's schedule, so it was key for them to get those signature wins. They also have a win against Villanova, which is looking more impressive than it was just a few weeks ago.
La Salle still has work to do, but the Atlantic 10 is much improved, especially with the additions of Butler and VCU, and the conference may receive a few more at-large bids than they are used to. And the Explorers have their signature wins.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the way and what ultimately becomes the fate of the postseason hopes of Philly's college hoops teams, it was a historic week for the Big Five, and that says a lot. As Philadelphia sports fans have been getting bombarded with mediocrity and disappointment from every angle recently, 'Nova and La Salle provided some excitement and a reason to smile for the weary Philly sports fan.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Bright Spots in a Dark Season on The Main Line
This season has not gone the way we have come to expect under Jay Wright. Villanova finished the regular season 12-18 and 14th in the Big East. Barring what would have to be called a beyond miraculous run at this week's Big East Tournament, the Wildcats will miss out on postseason play for the first time in 7 seasons. I fully expected this to be a somewhat down season for the 'Cats, but was thinking more along the lines of sneaking into the field of 68 or at least a trip to the NIT. Neither of those will be happening. And so all that is left for a fan to do is to look towards next season and for some glimmers of hope. Here are the few I could find and what I will be clinging to as I wait for next season.
The development of Mouphtaou Yarou.
The Rev and I have discussed the fact that Mouph's development had slowed or even disappeared during the course of the season, and there is evidence to support this idea. However, I will choose to look at his season to season improvement (4.5 pts and 3.7 rebs as a freshman, 8.4 and 7.1 last year, and 10.9 and 8.2 this season) and hope that this trend will continue into his senior year, allowing him to be an impact player for the Wildcats next season. One disturbing trend is that his FG percentage has declined each season since he was a freshman, but hopefully he will put in the work this summer to reverse that trend.
JayVaughn Pinkston.
JayVaughn came to the Main Line as a highly touted recruit last season, only to be suspended for the entire year because of an off campus incident. He redshirted and began this season with freshman eligibility. Pinkston didn't show much early in the season, and this combined with the fact that he doesn't really look like a basketball player had me concerned that he wouldn't be what Jay Wright hoped he would when he recruited him. However, Pinkston finished the season averaging 10 points and 5 rebounds, decent numbers for a freshman in a big time conference. Even more encouraging were a few select performances, most notably his 23 and 11 against Seton Hall (sadly 'Nova's most impressive win of the season) and his 28 and 14 in a comeback win over Providence after Maalik Wayns went down with a knee injury. If JayVaughn can continue to mature and put up games like that more consistently, 'Nova has a much greater chance of returning to the type of program we now expect them to be.
The 2012 recruiting class.
Highlighted by two four-star recruits, Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu, the class has been ranked as a top five group. Arcidiacono is a 6'3" point guard out of Neshaminy and Ochefu is a 6'9" center from Westtown. If coach Wright and the Wildcats can manage to add five-star Amile Jefferson and/or four-star Torian Graham to an already promising class Villanova will have the talent to start another long streak of NCAA tournament appearances and an opportunity for some very special seasons.
Maalik Wayns was a bright spot, pretty much doing what was expected of him. He averaged 17.5 points and 4.6 assists and was named second-team All Big-East. More reason for hope lies in the fact that not one senior played significant minutes for this team. Maalik and Mouph will return as senior leaders next season, and five freshman (Ty Johnson, JayVaughn Pinkston, Darrun Hilliard, Markus Kennedy, and Achraf Yacoubou) all averaged over 10 minutes a game, gaining invaluable experience. Next season should certainly be an improvement, and a few years down the line there is potential for the Wildcats to be a very dangerous team.
Monday, January 16, 2012
MaaLiK Wayns Day
In Cincinnati on Saturday, Villanova junior Maalik Wayns had one of the most dominant all-around performances of any player all season long. He scored a game-high 39 points on 12-22 from the field, 6-13 from beyond the arc and 9-10 from the foul line, while also hauling in 13 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists. He was in a zone and working his ass off, only to watch his struggling Wildcats drop to 8-10 on the season with a heartbreaking 82-78 loss.
You really have to feel for Wayns, the 6'2 Roman Catholic grad who is busting his ass night in and night out only to get little to no help from his teammates. It's certainly true that Maalik has struggled with his shooting this year, but part of that is because he's forced to take so many shots because none of his teammates can get buckets. It's led to a disastrous season for Villanova, and some porous shooting percentages for Wayns.
That doesn't and shouldn't take away from his effort, however. Wayns is leading Nova with points (17.8 ppg), assists (4.7), steals (1.0), minutes (33.7) and free-throw percentage (89.0), and is third in rebounding (4.2). He's doing damn near all he can with a young Villanova squad that lacks any other scoring punch, and he deserves some recognition for that, especially after his insane performance on Saturday.
Friday, January 13, 2012
It's Friday, Time to Dance
Struggling Villanova heads west to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats tomorrow. Given what happened between cross-town rivals Xavier and Cincy earlier this season, Nova not only has to bring its A game, but it should probably watch itself around Yancy Gates, who clearly is not opposed to sucker-punching someone and knocking them out.
Monday, December 19, 2011
A Beatdown, a Meltdown, a City Showdown and a Touchdown (Record)
This was one hell of an eventful weekend here in Philadelphia. Saturday was jam-packed with action, as the Flyers hosted the Bruins, Temple took on Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl in football while the basketball team headed to Austin to take on Texas, and Villanova traveled down Lancaster Avenue to St. Joe's for this year's rendition of the Holy War.
Then, the Eagles took on the Jets yesterday to try and keep their playoff hopes alive, and in between, Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies and Matt McGloin got punched out by teammate Curtis Drake and suffered a seizure.
After a relatively sports-free Friday night, I awoke on Saturday to a text message from my buddy at 10 a.m. that simply read, "Flyers/Bruins at 1. You in?" That might as well have been a rhetorical question, because of course I was in.
As I was waiting for my friend to get out of work and pick me up, I nabbed a couple hoagies from Slack's and got ready for a busy day of sports. Running a bit behind, we got to our seats just as the puck was being dropped … and literally as I plopped my ass into my seat, the Bruins scored the first of many goals in a 6-0 route.
Nothing was going right for the Flyers at all. They couldn't make a simple pass, couldn't defend whatsoever, couldn't really do anything. The only guy on the ice that looked remotely alive was Max Talbot.
Ilya Bryzgalov got hung out to dry on most of the four first-period goals he let in, though he also let in a huge softy by Zdeno Chara.
Chara, by the way, was an absolute force on the ice in his first game back in about a week. While the Flyers were missing their big defenseman, Chara showed up and dominated. He had a goal and an assist, both power play points, completely shut down any and all Flyers' chances, and also rabbit-punched Jody Shelley to death in a fight.
Now, even though Shelley clearly was bested by the enormous Chara, I'll take that trade 100 times out of 100. It's way more detrimental to the Bruins to lose Chara for five minutes than it is for the Flyers to lose Shelley for five minutes. Although that really wasn't the case here, as the Bruins scored almost immediately following that and forced the Flyers into perhaps the worst period of hockey they've played all season.
To make matters even worse, Sean Couturier took a Kimmo Timonen slap shot right off the head, dropped to the ice and laid motionless for a while. It was a frightening scene that added to the already worrisome head injuries sustained to Chris Pronger, Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn.
Thankfully Couturier did get up and skate off under his own power, but he clearly didn't look right. He was taken to the hospital and stayed overnight, and he's currently listed as day to day. Hopefully he's OK. As I've said before, Couturier has become one of my favorite players on the team. In fact, I was just telling my friend on the way down to the arena that Couturier sort of reminds me of a young Rod Brind'Amour, minus the face-off dominance. He's incredibly responsible defensively, a tremendous penalty-killer, and while he doesn't have incredible speed or awe-inspiring puck-handling skills, you can see he has the scoring touch to development into a pretty decent goal scorer. Plus, he's only 19, so he's only going to get better.
Beyond wishing him a quick recovery, his injury also brings more concern over the PK. Without Giroux and Couturier, the Flyers are without two of their top four PK forwards — not exactly good for the team that leads the NHL in minor penalties.
We knew it was only a matter of time before the injuries would harm the Flyers at least for one game. Saturday, that was the case, and that first period was about as disastrous as it gets. With a few minutes left in the 2nd, as it became clear the Flyers really had nothing to generate a comeback and fell behind 5-0, we departed so we could watch the Temple action.
I checked in on Temple's bowl game and saw the Owls were trouncing Wyoming behind a big game by Bernard Pierce. Thus, I focused my attention on the basketball team's game in Texas. Early on, things were going well with Temple leading virtually the entire first half against a young Texas team. But then they let the Longhorns go on a run and tie it before Khaliff Wyatt hit a tough three at the buzzer to put Temple up 3 at half.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The Owls couldn't buy a buck and Texas got out in transition rather easily to pull away. To make matters worse, Juan Fernandez limped off the court after getting tangled up. Ugly all around, though not as ugly as the what I was seeing on Twitter — that Penn State wide receiver Curtis Drake punched out his quarterback Matt McGloin in the locker room after practice and that McGloin suffered a seizure.
Not good. At all. The football program clearly could have done without this as the Nittany Lions prepare for their Jan. 2 bowl match-up with Houston given all the turmoil this season. Damn.
That was a pretty bad start to Saturday, but good news was sprinkled in. Beyond Temple winning its bowl game, news also circulated the Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies, keeping him in the only professional uniform he's ever worn for at least three more years.
Then, we were all given a tightly contested first half between Villanova and St. Joe's before the Hawks trounced Nova in the second half behind the shooting of Langston Galloway and Carl Jones, and especially the shot-blocking of C.J. Aiken.
Aiken, who had four blocks Saturday night, leads the nation in blocks, averaging an insane 4.7 blocks per game. This is fascinating to me. I had the opportunity to watch Aiken play a few times in high school for Plymouth Whitemarsh. He was clearly a very good player and used his size and length to block shots, but I never thought he'd turn into the premier shot-blocker in the nation in college. Yet that's exactly what he's become this year, absolutely owning the paint and altering shots.
On Saturday, you could see the Wildcats were hesitant to challenge Aiken inside. The sophomore, who set a St. Joe's freshman record for blocks last year, was in Nova's head all night long, and he was a big reason the Hawks blew away the Cats in the second half.
It's clear that St. Joe's is the real deal and will be among the A-10's best teams, on par with Temple and St. Louis behind Xavier. And this game showed that right now, Villanova is at best the third best team in the city.
Yesterday was a little less crazy, though plenty exciting. The Redskins went out and upset the Giants pretty easily, giving the Eagles' slim playoff hopes a boost. Then the Eagles went out and trounced the Jets at the Linc despite their best efforts to allow New York back in the game.
After going up 28-0 behind a defensive touchdown and an interception by Asante Samuel, the Eagles started their own turnover brigade to put the Jets back in it. But it didn't matter. LeSean McCoy continued his MVP-type season, scoring three touchdowns and gaining 102 yards to break the franchise record for single-season touchdowns and rushing touchdowns, passing Steven Van Buren for both.
McCoy has 20 touchdowns on the season, 17 on the ground, setting new franchise marks. The man is incredible.
Brent Celek also had a huge game, hauling in five catches for 156 yards and a score.
But even more impressive than the offense in this 45-19 win was again the defense. Suddenly, the Birds don't look as horrid on that side of the ball as they have for most of the year.
The Eagles held the Jets to just 241 yards of offense, forced four turnovers and got the off field on third down time and time again. Jason Babin had three sacks. The secondary looked really good. And Casey Matthews even had a nice game, flying all over the field and making plays. It was crazy, almost like these guys care about playing defense all the sudden.
Even more crazy, the Eagles really are alive for the playoffs despite this whirlwind of a season, though they still need help. First and foremost, the Birds have to win their remaining two games, next week at Dallas and home against the Skins on New Year's Day. Then the Jets have to beat the Giants next week, followed by the Giants beating the Cowboys in week 17. Still a lot that has to happen, and probably still unlikely, but certainly not impossible. Unreal.
Watch this be the dumb year where the Eagles back in and then win the whole damn thing. Wouldn't that piss off everyone after a steady chorus of "Fire Andy!"?
I can't even believe this team has even a remote chance at the postseason, yet here were are. Crazy.
Then, the Eagles took on the Jets yesterday to try and keep their playoff hopes alive, and in between, Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies and Matt McGloin got punched out by teammate Curtis Drake and suffered a seizure.
After a relatively sports-free Friday night, I awoke on Saturday to a text message from my buddy at 10 a.m. that simply read, "Flyers/Bruins at 1. You in?" That might as well have been a rhetorical question, because of course I was in.
As I was waiting for my friend to get out of work and pick me up, I nabbed a couple hoagies from Slack's and got ready for a busy day of sports. Running a bit behind, we got to our seats just as the puck was being dropped … and literally as I plopped my ass into my seat, the Bruins scored the first of many goals in a 6-0 route.
Nothing was going right for the Flyers at all. They couldn't make a simple pass, couldn't defend whatsoever, couldn't really do anything. The only guy on the ice that looked remotely alive was Max Talbot.
Ilya Bryzgalov got hung out to dry on most of the four first-period goals he let in, though he also let in a huge softy by Zdeno Chara.
Chara, by the way, was an absolute force on the ice in his first game back in about a week. While the Flyers were missing their big defenseman, Chara showed up and dominated. He had a goal and an assist, both power play points, completely shut down any and all Flyers' chances, and also rabbit-punched Jody Shelley to death in a fight.
Now, even though Shelley clearly was bested by the enormous Chara, I'll take that trade 100 times out of 100. It's way more detrimental to the Bruins to lose Chara for five minutes than it is for the Flyers to lose Shelley for five minutes. Although that really wasn't the case here, as the Bruins scored almost immediately following that and forced the Flyers into perhaps the worst period of hockey they've played all season.
To make matters even worse, Sean Couturier took a Kimmo Timonen slap shot right off the head, dropped to the ice and laid motionless for a while. It was a frightening scene that added to the already worrisome head injuries sustained to Chris Pronger, Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn.
Thankfully Couturier did get up and skate off under his own power, but he clearly didn't look right. He was taken to the hospital and stayed overnight, and he's currently listed as day to day. Hopefully he's OK. As I've said before, Couturier has become one of my favorite players on the team. In fact, I was just telling my friend on the way down to the arena that Couturier sort of reminds me of a young Rod Brind'Amour, minus the face-off dominance. He's incredibly responsible defensively, a tremendous penalty-killer, and while he doesn't have incredible speed or awe-inspiring puck-handling skills, you can see he has the scoring touch to development into a pretty decent goal scorer. Plus, he's only 19, so he's only going to get better.
Beyond wishing him a quick recovery, his injury also brings more concern over the PK. Without Giroux and Couturier, the Flyers are without two of their top four PK forwards — not exactly good for the team that leads the NHL in minor penalties.
We knew it was only a matter of time before the injuries would harm the Flyers at least for one game. Saturday, that was the case, and that first period was about as disastrous as it gets. With a few minutes left in the 2nd, as it became clear the Flyers really had nothing to generate a comeback and fell behind 5-0, we departed so we could watch the Temple action.
I checked in on Temple's bowl game and saw the Owls were trouncing Wyoming behind a big game by Bernard Pierce. Thus, I focused my attention on the basketball team's game in Texas. Early on, things were going well with Temple leading virtually the entire first half against a young Texas team. But then they let the Longhorns go on a run and tie it before Khaliff Wyatt hit a tough three at the buzzer to put Temple up 3 at half.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The Owls couldn't buy a buck and Texas got out in transition rather easily to pull away. To make matters worse, Juan Fernandez limped off the court after getting tangled up. Ugly all around, though not as ugly as the what I was seeing on Twitter — that Penn State wide receiver Curtis Drake punched out his quarterback Matt McGloin in the locker room after practice and that McGloin suffered a seizure.
Not good. At all. The football program clearly could have done without this as the Nittany Lions prepare for their Jan. 2 bowl match-up with Houston given all the turmoil this season. Damn.
That was a pretty bad start to Saturday, but good news was sprinkled in. Beyond Temple winning its bowl game, news also circulated the Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies, keeping him in the only professional uniform he's ever worn for at least three more years.
Then, we were all given a tightly contested first half between Villanova and St. Joe's before the Hawks trounced Nova in the second half behind the shooting of Langston Galloway and Carl Jones, and especially the shot-blocking of C.J. Aiken.
Aiken, who had four blocks Saturday night, leads the nation in blocks, averaging an insane 4.7 blocks per game. This is fascinating to me. I had the opportunity to watch Aiken play a few times in high school for Plymouth Whitemarsh. He was clearly a very good player and used his size and length to block shots, but I never thought he'd turn into the premier shot-blocker in the nation in college. Yet that's exactly what he's become this year, absolutely owning the paint and altering shots.
On Saturday, you could see the Wildcats were hesitant to challenge Aiken inside. The sophomore, who set a St. Joe's freshman record for blocks last year, was in Nova's head all night long, and he was a big reason the Hawks blew away the Cats in the second half.
It's clear that St. Joe's is the real deal and will be among the A-10's best teams, on par with Temple and St. Louis behind Xavier. And this game showed that right now, Villanova is at best the third best team in the city.
Yesterday was a little less crazy, though plenty exciting. The Redskins went out and upset the Giants pretty easily, giving the Eagles' slim playoff hopes a boost. Then the Eagles went out and trounced the Jets at the Linc despite their best efforts to allow New York back in the game.
After going up 28-0 behind a defensive touchdown and an interception by Asante Samuel, the Eagles started their own turnover brigade to put the Jets back in it. But it didn't matter. LeSean McCoy continued his MVP-type season, scoring three touchdowns and gaining 102 yards to break the franchise record for single-season touchdowns and rushing touchdowns, passing Steven Van Buren for both.
McCoy has 20 touchdowns on the season, 17 on the ground, setting new franchise marks. The man is incredible.
Brent Celek also had a huge game, hauling in five catches for 156 yards and a score.
But even more impressive than the offense in this 45-19 win was again the defense. Suddenly, the Birds don't look as horrid on that side of the ball as they have for most of the year.
The Eagles held the Jets to just 241 yards of offense, forced four turnovers and got the off field on third down time and time again. Jason Babin had three sacks. The secondary looked really good. And Casey Matthews even had a nice game, flying all over the field and making plays. It was crazy, almost like these guys care about playing defense all the sudden.
Even more crazy, the Eagles really are alive for the playoffs despite this whirlwind of a season, though they still need help. First and foremost, the Birds have to win their remaining two games, next week at Dallas and home against the Skins on New Year's Day. Then the Jets have to beat the Giants next week, followed by the Giants beating the Cowboys in week 17. Still a lot that has to happen, and probably still unlikely, but certainly not impossible. Unreal.
Watch this be the dumb year where the Eagles back in and then win the whole damn thing. Wouldn't that piss off everyone after a steady chorus of "Fire Andy!"?
I can't even believe this team has even a remote chance at the postseason, yet here were are. Crazy.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Bill Clement and Fran Dunphy Must Bring Back the Stache
As the Temple-Villanova game got underway at the Liacouras Center Saturday evening, there was an air that something or someone was missing. Gone were Temple mainstay Lavoy Allen - off to pursue his NBA dream after graduating and being drafted in the second round by his hometown 76ers - and Villanova's Coreys, Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher - all players who excelled for four years in the Big 5.
But that couldn't quite be it. We already knew that Allen, Stokes, Fisher and Antonio Pena for that matter had moved on. Perhaps it was the absence of Temple's Michael Eric and Scootie Randall, two key players for the Owls who are expected to be even bigger contributors than they already were this season.
That's not quite it either, because again, we knew those two would be out going in. No, the biggest thing missing in this Big 5 battle was without question was the most famous mustache in Big 5 history. Fran Dunphy, just like Bill Clement, just does not look right sans stache.
I know Dunph shaved his mustache in honor of Dionte Christmas, but it's time to grow that sucker back. Same for you, Mr. Clement.
Some people just are meant to have mustaches, and Bill Clement and Fran Dunphy are two of those people. They look ridiculous without their patented facial hair, and frankly it's disconcerting looking at them with a completely clean-shaved face. Fix this, pronto.
As for the game itself, it was everything you expect from a Big 5 clash between the two teams that have historically owned college basketball supremacy in Philadelphia. Villanova battled hard and stayed with Temple throughout the majority of the game behind tremendous play from Mouphtaou Yarou inside and Maalik Wayns on the perimeter, as the game went on the see-saw. Unfortunately for Nova, Wayns and Yarou got little help.
I keep waiting for Dominic Cheek to break out and be the Kerry Kittle-type player he was expected to become. He has all the tools. He came in as a heralded shooter. And he works hard defensively to cause trouble. But the consistency just hasn't been there for the junior as of yet, and with a cast of underclassmen behind him and fellow juniors Yarou and Wayns, Villanova needs Cheek to be at his best on a nightly basis. He wasn't Saturday, while his counterpart was fantastic.
In the end, the much more veteran Temple team was able to outlast and eventually put the Wildcats at arm's length because Ramone Moore exploded offensively while the role players did all the dirty work.
Moore was simply unstoppable, taking command of the Owls and asserting himself as the leader from the opening tip on. He scored a game-high 32 points, attacked the rim at every opportunity - evidenced by his 15 free throw attempts (of which he made 14) - and set the tone for the Owls. His teammates followed suit, as Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson had an outstanding game on the boards, hauling in 14 rebounds and creating a ton of second chances for Temple, and Khaliff Wyatt did what he does, chipping in with 13 big points.
Further, freshman Anthony Lee fought hard in the absence of Eric, grabbing 9 boards himself and giving Temple some much-needed size when he was in there. All that led to the 78-67 win even with Juan Fernandez struggling from the field. Though even as Fernandez was being outshined by Wayns, he played under control, limited his turnovers to 2 and made sure Moore kept getting the ball.
Basically, it was a clinic of a veteran team using its experience to put away a younger, error-prone squad. When Randall and Eric get back, the Owls are only going to get better. With all that talent coming back, even with Allen gone, the Owls are going to be formidable all year long.
As for Nova, you can see Jay Wright struggling to find a way to get his young team to mesh this season. For the first time, the reigns have been completely turned over to Wayns, Yarou and Cheek now that Fisher and Stokes are gone. With no seniors to speak of contributing, it may take a little while for the Wildcats to find their way.
In all likelihood, they're probably a year away. This season will have its ups and downs for Nova, but with Wayns, Yarou and Cheek being seniors next year, this talented freshman class getting a season under its belt and another talented crew coming in for Wright, the 2012-13 season could be big for Villanova. This year, the team still has a ways to go, as Temple just proved. And with St. Joe's defeating Creighton over the weekend, Villanova may actually be the third best team in the Big 5 this season.
All that still is yet to be determined. But what has been officially determined is that Fran Dunphy and Bill Clement must grow their mustaches back for the sake of our eyes.
But that couldn't quite be it. We already knew that Allen, Stokes, Fisher and Antonio Pena for that matter had moved on. Perhaps it was the absence of Temple's Michael Eric and Scootie Randall, two key players for the Owls who are expected to be even bigger contributors than they already were this season.
That's not quite it either, because again, we knew those two would be out going in. No, the biggest thing missing in this Big 5 battle was without question was the most famous mustache in Big 5 history. Fran Dunphy, just like Bill Clement, just does not look right sans stache.
I know Dunph shaved his mustache in honor of Dionte Christmas, but it's time to grow that sucker back. Same for you, Mr. Clement.
Some people just are meant to have mustaches, and Bill Clement and Fran Dunphy are two of those people. They look ridiculous without their patented facial hair, and frankly it's disconcerting looking at them with a completely clean-shaved face. Fix this, pronto.
As for the game itself, it was everything you expect from a Big 5 clash between the two teams that have historically owned college basketball supremacy in Philadelphia. Villanova battled hard and stayed with Temple throughout the majority of the game behind tremendous play from Mouphtaou Yarou inside and Maalik Wayns on the perimeter, as the game went on the see-saw. Unfortunately for Nova, Wayns and Yarou got little help.
I keep waiting for Dominic Cheek to break out and be the Kerry Kittle-type player he was expected to become. He has all the tools. He came in as a heralded shooter. And he works hard defensively to cause trouble. But the consistency just hasn't been there for the junior as of yet, and with a cast of underclassmen behind him and fellow juniors Yarou and Wayns, Villanova needs Cheek to be at his best on a nightly basis. He wasn't Saturday, while his counterpart was fantastic.
In the end, the much more veteran Temple team was able to outlast and eventually put the Wildcats at arm's length because Ramone Moore exploded offensively while the role players did all the dirty work.
Moore was simply unstoppable, taking command of the Owls and asserting himself as the leader from the opening tip on. He scored a game-high 32 points, attacked the rim at every opportunity - evidenced by his 15 free throw attempts (of which he made 14) - and set the tone for the Owls. His teammates followed suit, as Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson had an outstanding game on the boards, hauling in 14 rebounds and creating a ton of second chances for Temple, and Khaliff Wyatt did what he does, chipping in with 13 big points.
Further, freshman Anthony Lee fought hard in the absence of Eric, grabbing 9 boards himself and giving Temple some much-needed size when he was in there. All that led to the 78-67 win even with Juan Fernandez struggling from the field. Though even as Fernandez was being outshined by Wayns, he played under control, limited his turnovers to 2 and made sure Moore kept getting the ball.
Basically, it was a clinic of a veteran team using its experience to put away a younger, error-prone squad. When Randall and Eric get back, the Owls are only going to get better. With all that talent coming back, even with Allen gone, the Owls are going to be formidable all year long.
As for Nova, you can see Jay Wright struggling to find a way to get his young team to mesh this season. For the first time, the reigns have been completely turned over to Wayns, Yarou and Cheek now that Fisher and Stokes are gone. With no seniors to speak of contributing, it may take a little while for the Wildcats to find their way.
In all likelihood, they're probably a year away. This season will have its ups and downs for Nova, but with Wayns, Yarou and Cheek being seniors next year, this talented freshman class getting a season under its belt and another talented crew coming in for Wright, the 2012-13 season could be big for Villanova. This year, the team still has a ways to go, as Temple just proved. And with St. Joe's defeating Creighton over the weekend, Villanova may actually be the third best team in the Big 5 this season.
All that still is yet to be determined. But what has been officially determined is that Fran Dunphy and Bill Clement must grow their mustaches back for the sake of our eyes.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Philadelphia Ballers Keeping It Fresh
SLAM once again recently put out its annual Fresh 50, Fresh 25 and Fresh 10, and there are some local high schoolers ballers represented as always.
Fresh 50 - Class of 2012
Amile Jefferson
25 Amile Jefferson 6-7 PF Friends’ Central (PA) Undecided Can do damage facing the basket and is always looking to attack.
Daniel Ochefu
42 Daniel Ochefu 6-9 C Westtown (PA) Villanova Can do damage in the post and facing the basket.
Ryan Arcidiacono
44 Ryan Arcidiacono 6-3 PG Neshaminy (PA) Villanova A scoring point guard, Ryan can put up points in a hurry.
Others of note:
Marcus Paige
26 Marcus Paige 6-0 PG Linn-Mar (IA) North Carolina An offensive orchestrator, Marcus is one you want pushing the ball.
Fresh 25 - Class of 2013
Rysheed Jordan
24 Rysheed Jordan 6-3 PG Vaux Roberts (PA) Explosive guard with quick moves to the basket.
Others of note:
Isaiah Hicks
15 Isaiah Hicks 6-8 PF Body of Christ (NC) A North Carolina-commit, Isaiah can do a bit of everything.
Fresh 50 - Class of 2012
Amile Jefferson
25 Amile Jefferson 6-7 PF Friends’ Central (PA) Undecided Can do damage facing the basket and is always looking to attack.
Daniel Ochefu
42 Daniel Ochefu 6-9 C Westtown (PA) Villanova Can do damage in the post and facing the basket.
Ryan Arcidiacono
44 Ryan Arcidiacono 6-3 PG Neshaminy (PA) Villanova A scoring point guard, Ryan can put up points in a hurry.
Others of note:
Marcus Paige
26 Marcus Paige 6-0 PG Linn-Mar (IA) North Carolina An offensive orchestrator, Marcus is one you want pushing the ball.
Fresh 25 - Class of 2013
Rysheed Jordan
24 Rysheed Jordan 6-3 PG Vaux Roberts (PA) Explosive guard with quick moves to the basket.
Others of note:
Isaiah Hicks
15 Isaiah Hicks 6-8 PF Body of Christ (NC) A North Carolina-commit, Isaiah can do a bit of everything.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Villanova Learned Nothing
Heading into the 8-9 match-up between Villanova and George Mason, I was convinced Nova would win despite the team's epic slide down the stretch. Here's why: For one, few people believed Nova could right itself, so it only made sense that they would. It is March Madness after all. Second, I thought Jay Wright would use the end of the season as a teaching tool and have his team prepared to correct those mistakes in the NCAA Tournament, since Nova has been a very strong tournament team under Wright.
I was wrong. Dead wrong. Instead, it was the same old Villanova. Blowing a double-digit lead? Check. Making boneheaded plays late? Check. Missing crucial foul shots? Check. And Corey Stoke choking big time? Check. I mean, seriously, that was the best final shot of your career you could get? A god-awful shot off the side of the backboard? Corey Stokes is terrible.
This Villanova team was the most undisciplined and least mentally tough squad in the Jay Wright era. And they should be ashamed of themselves. They learned nothing all season long, and they got what they deserved. Check that, they got more than they deserved. This team should have been an 11 seed at best, a 14 at worst given how horrendous it was in February and March.
Now Philadelphia's hopes lie in the hands of Temple, and nothing would be sweeter than seeing the Owls upset No. 2 seed San Diego State.
I was wrong. Dead wrong. Instead, it was the same old Villanova. Blowing a double-digit lead? Check. Making boneheaded plays late? Check. Missing crucial foul shots? Check. And Corey Stoke choking big time? Check. I mean, seriously, that was the best final shot of your career you could get? A god-awful shot off the side of the backboard? Corey Stokes is terrible.
This Villanova team was the most undisciplined and least mentally tough squad in the Jay Wright era. And they should be ashamed of themselves. They learned nothing all season long, and they got what they deserved. Check that, they got more than they deserved. This team should have been an 11 seed at best, a 14 at worst given how horrendous it was in February and March.
Now Philadelphia's hopes lie in the hands of Temple, and nothing would be sweeter than seeing the Owls upset No. 2 seed San Diego State.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Villanova Has Nothing on Virginia's Late-Game Ineptitude
As anyone who's followed Villanova at all this season knows, the Wildcats have found remarkable ways to to lose the past two months.
But man, not even that four-point play quite compares to Virginia blowing a 10-point lead with 38 seconds left yesterday to lose in overtime against Miami in the ACC Tournament.
Wow. I can't even add anything to that.
But man, not even that four-point play quite compares to Virginia blowing a 10-point lead with 38 seconds left yesterday to lose in overtime against Miami in the ACC Tournament.
Wow. I can't even add anything to that.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The Highs and Lows of Wells Fargo Teams
Here in Philadelphia, there are two professional teams that call the Wells Fargo Center home and one college basketball team that plays a handful of its home games in the building as well. The fortunes for those three teams — the Flyers, Sixers and Villanova — have been quite surprising of late.
Villanova began the year the same way most Jay Wright teams begin the year, by rattling off win after win to go 16-1. Then Kemba Walker hit a ridiculous floater to give the Wildcats their first lost in conference play and just second loss on the season.
That ending was difficult to stomach, but there's no shame in losing at UConn by two points, especially with the way Kemba Walker was playing at the time. Nova rebounded nicely to roll Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, and the Cats looked like a real force to be reckoned with. Then it all fell apart.
Nova lost by 15 at Providence, then dropped a heartbreaker against Georgetown. Back-to-back wins against Marquette and West Virginia looked to get Nova back on track, but looks can be deceiving. What came next can only be described as self-destructing. Villanova lost to a bad Rutgers team in spectacular fashion.
Little did we know that that finish would turn out to be the true identity of this team. Since that epic choke job, Villanova has been a really, really bad basketball team. They headed into last night's first-round Big East Tournament game against South Florida having lost four straight games. After defeating Maryland on Jan. 15, Nova finished the regular season 5-9 in its last 14 games. They hadn't beaten a ranked opponent since defeating then No. 25 West Virginia on Feb. 5, and the only two wins Nova had since that West Virginia game came against Seton and Hall and Depaul … winning by a combined 5 points.
Somewhere along the way, this team that had started 16-1 and risen to the top 5 in the nation turned into an absolutely awful basketball team. And it all came to a head last night.
Having choked away a bye in the Big East Tournament, Villanova entered Madison Square Garden as the 10th seed, taking on the 15th-seeded South Florida Bulls. Early on, the Wildcats had cause for concern, getting off to slow a start, but then they took over. Corey Stokes was active and connecting from distance. Maalik Wayns and Corey Fisher were on point. And Nova built a 16-point lead. Everything looked good. After a very tough stretch to end the season, it looked like Nova was regaining its confidence and would move on and hope to right itself in the Garden.
Then everything came crashing down yet again. Stokes disappeared. Fisher disappeared. Mouphtaou Yarou got hurt. And Nova folded. It was embarrassing. Fisher forgot how to play basketball. The front line behind Yarou couldn't do a damn thing. And the rest of the team looked lost out there.
The only player who seemed game was Maalik Wayns, who finished with a game-high 24 points, but even he couldn't make it last.
Nova let the Bulls back in the game, but they still had the outcome in their control. Nova was up by three with less than a minute left when Corey Stokes stole the ball. The Bulls then fouled Wayns, an 80-plus percent free throw shooter, to put him on the line. Nova had not missed a free throw all game. But Wayns went ahead and missed the front end of a one-and-one, Bulls ball.
Still, South Florida did what a bad team does, literally trying to give the game away. Shaun Noriega slipped and turned it over to Nova. With 37 seconds left, Corey Stokes, a 90 percent free throw shooter who led the Big East in free throw percentage, was fouled. And guess what? That asshole missed the front end of a one-and-one too. Unbelievable.
What happened next was even more despicable. South Florida connected on two free throws to make it a one-point game. Then Wayns, a player I absolutely love, made one of the single worst passes in the history of college basketball. He lobbed a pass up back toward his own basket. It was out of the reach of Antonio Pena, stolen and laid in with 23 seconds, 68-67 South Florida.
Wayns momentarily made up for it by hitting two free throws to put Nova back up a point, but it didn't matter. Dominic Cheek played laughable defense — see none whatsoever — on Anthony Crater, letting him just go right by him for the game-winning layup.
It's as if this Villanova team is going out of its way to find new ways to lose. Blowing a 16-point lead against a far inferior (talent-wise) opponent, excellent free-throw shooters missing crucial foul shots down the stretch, inexplicable turnovers, and just letting a guy get an uncontested layup to win the game. Those are qualities of a bad team. A really bad team. And that's what Villanova is and has been for more than a month, a bad basketball team.
For the first time in memory, this is a Jay Wright team that literally has no composure and no heart. None whatsoever. Corey Fisher forgot how to play basketball. Corey Stokes is a bona fide choke artist. Antonio Pena's first half of the season proved to be a fluke. The bench is terrible. And the sophomores, as talented as they are, make incredibly boneheaded plays in big moments. Maalik Wayns with the missed free throw and horrific pass. Dominic Cheek failing to develop offensively and literally yielding a layup with the game on the line. And Yarou, while possessing tons of talent, is still raw.
This is a bad team that looks poorly coached right now. That's just the facts. Jay Wright is a fantastic coach and these players are really talented, but none of the parts have been good in 2011. None of them. Wright hasn't developed the youngsters enough. The seniors completely faded down the stretch. And this team has literally gone from a promising power to one of the worst teams in the conference. I honestly don't see Villanova winning a game in the NCAA Tournament. They will be an 8 seed at best, and even that is generous given the way the Wildcats are playing.
A once promising season has completely turned into a disaster. I'm not sure anyone saw this coming.
Conversely, the Sixers have had a completely opposite trajectory to their season. In Doug Collins' first season at the helm, the Sixers picked up right where Eddie Jordan left off, starting the year an embarrassing 3-13, including losing the first four, then losing six straight. It was terrible.
But since, the Sixers have been one of the best teams in the NBA. No, they're not going to be a contender or anything, but the Sixers have become a winning basketball team that I'm pretty sure no one wants to see in the playoffs. And they're doing it with a truly team mentality.
Take last night's game for example. The Sixers easily handled the Indiana Pacers 110-100 and took at 65-53 lead into the half. That was despite the leading scorer having all of four points after 24 minutes for Philadelphia. When it was all said and done, seven Sixers had scored in double figures: Thaddeus Young (18), Jrue Holiday (16), Andre Iguodala (16), Jodie Meeks (15), Elton Brand (12), Spencer Hawes (12) and Evan Turner (10).
Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand are playing some of the best basketball of their lives. Last night, Iggy added 10 assists to record a double-double, and Brand had 8 boards. Beyond that, Jrue has continued to develop, and there are no questions anymore about his selection. He is this team's point guard of the future. Jodie Meeks has turned into a nice scorer and is the team's most reliable three-point threat. Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams have been fantastic off the bench, and after a slow start in the NBA, rookie Evan Turner keeps developing the more he plays.
Honestly, the Sixers are a fun team to watch. They've won three straight, 7 of their last 8 and 9 of their last 11. After that 3-13 start, they're now 33-30 on year and virtually a lock for the playoffs, just a game behind the new-look Knicks for sixth in the East. Yes, they still have their issues — namely giving up double-digit leads in the 3rd and 4th quarters — but they are finding ways to win and certainly moving in the right direction. People should start taking notice.
As it stands, the Sixers will most likely have to face Boston, Chicago or Miami in the first round. An upset still would require an awful lot of luck and near flawless play. But this team should put a scare into anyone else in the East if for no other reason than they play the game the way it's meant to be played — moving the ball, running the floor and hustling nonstop. And if they can find a way to catch Atlanta and pass the Knicks for the 5th seed, they could very well give Dwight Howard and the Magic a real scare.
For the first time in a while, it's actually fun watching the Sixers again.
Then there is the matter of the Flyers. This team has been atop the Eastern Conference for so long that it's hard to be overly upset with the four-game losing streak that they finally ended last night. But unlike Matt P. at The700Level, I do care about the play of late.
Do I think the Flyers will be fine? Yes. They are too talented, too deep and have too many good players to continue to struggle, and the body of work for the season speaks for itself. They are, after all, still leading the entire Eastern Conference with 88 points and have games in hand over most of the teams chasing them. But that doesn't excuse the bad play of late.
The Flyers lost to four teams that frankly they should beat during that streak. The Senators have the fewest points in East and second fewest in the NHL, yet they lost to them 4-1. The Maple Leafs are 5-1-4 in their last 10 games, but they're also 10th in the East, a team the Flyers should handle, not lose to by folding late. And while the Sabres and Rangers are fighting for every point and have far more desperation than the Flyers, sitting at 8th and 7th in the conference respectively, the Flyers should be able to beat one of those teams. Instead they lost a tough one to the Sabres and got completely embarrassed by the Rangers.
The good news is the Flyers got back to their winning ways last night, beating the worst team in the NHL 4-1. But the victory over the Oilers wasn't all that consoling either, mainly because the same troubles that have plagued them during the losing streak crept up.
Now, in the first period, the Flyers did exactly what they should do. They completely dominated the entire period, outshooting the Oilers 17-1 and taking a 2-0 lead, highlighted by an absolutely brilliant stretch pass by Matt Carle to spring Danny Briere for the breakaway.
If it wasn't for Edmonton goaltender Devan Dubnyk standing on his head, the Flyers easily could have been up 4 or 5. But as good as the Flyers played in that first period — and don't get me wrong, they really took it to Edmonton — they still had trouble with their power play and connecting on passes.
Ladislav Smid earned a five-minute major for mashing Darroll Powe from behind face-first into the boards. On the ensuing major, it took the Flyers 3 minutes before they actually set up. And while they ultimately did tally on a Jeff Carter goal, they wasted the first 3 minutes of a five-minute major and missed an opportunity to completely bury the Oilers in the first.
I cannot understand for the life of me why a team this talented cannot figure out the power play, but their man-advantage is atrocious. It has been all year. To me, the biggest culprit is that these guys routinely try to get too cute, try to make the perfect play, instead of just keeping it simple. They need to get back to firing the puck and crashing the net, none of this cute stuff.
Anyway, after a owning the first period, the Flyers fell flat in the second. Edmonton just looked like a hungrier team. The Flyers were making lazy passes, turning the puck over, playing on their heels. It was maddening. Luckily, Sergei Bobrovsky was outstanding, preserving the lead, and the Flyers actually made it 3-0 on an absolutely beautiful set play off of an offensive zone draw. Claude Giroux won a draw back to James van Riemsdyk, and immediately Kimmon Timonen went backdoor. JVR hit him with a perfect pass, and Kimmo drew the defense and the goalie. Then he calmly passed it to a wide-open Jeff Carter for the slam-dunk goal.
But then the Flyers continued an alarming trend, giving the goal right back just 55 seconds later on a great deflection by Jean-Francois Jacques. That's something the Flyers have been doing routinely during this slump, surrendering a goal immediately after scoring themselves. It's been maddening.
And even though the Flyers held on with Blair Betts adding an empty-netter, they were far from impressive the rest of the way. The defensemen had some really terrible turnovers. Instead of making the smart, safe plays while protecting a two-goal lead in the third, the Flyers tried risky passes and put themselves in bad positions. Far too often, they try to enter the zone by stickhandling or making tough passes, instead of just dumping and chasing, using the forechecking style Peter Laviolette wants.
Defensively, far too often they look backward, try to reverse the puck and end up turning it over instead of just chipping it out of the zone and living to fight another shift.
And most frustrating of all has been the reluctance some of these guys have had with the puck. Claude Giroux has been outstanding all season and is without question my favorite player on this team. But lately, he has been passing up way too many shots, electing to pass instead. I know he's creative, a great passer and a guy who looks to pass first, but sometimes you just have to let it fly. Over the course of this rough patch, he's passed up prime shooting lanes in the slot and around the net, instead opting for a worse play. The man needs to shoot a little more. The same can be said for Kris Versteeg.
And defensively, the top four have been outstanding still as you would expect. Timonen, Coburn, Pronger and Carle continue to be stalwarts. But lately, that third pair that has been so awesome all season has begun to struggle. Andrej Meszaros simply has been taking too many penalties, though he managed to stay out of the box last night and had a nice game. But Sean O'Donnell, who thoroughly impressed me this year, has struggled lately. He's been getting beat on some goals, and suddenly he has the yips, coughing up the puck like Eric Desjardins in the playoffs.
The good news is these are all things that can be easily corrected and I'm confident they will. The Flyers have been too good for too long, and the talent is still there to continue to be elite. But they definitely need to pick up the intensity and play smarter, playoff-style hockey here soon. Because as we saw last year with the Flyers, a lower-seeded team can catch the top seeds off-guard and make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
And as Nova has shown, sometimes a little slump can snowball into something much bigger.
Villanova began the year the same way most Jay Wright teams begin the year, by rattling off win after win to go 16-1. Then Kemba Walker hit a ridiculous floater to give the Wildcats their first lost in conference play and just second loss on the season.
That ending was difficult to stomach, but there's no shame in losing at UConn by two points, especially with the way Kemba Walker was playing at the time. Nova rebounded nicely to roll Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, and the Cats looked like a real force to be reckoned with. Then it all fell apart.
Nova lost by 15 at Providence, then dropped a heartbreaker against Georgetown. Back-to-back wins against Marquette and West Virginia looked to get Nova back on track, but looks can be deceiving. What came next can only be described as self-destructing. Villanova lost to a bad Rutgers team in spectacular fashion.
Little did we know that that finish would turn out to be the true identity of this team. Since that epic choke job, Villanova has been a really, really bad basketball team. They headed into last night's first-round Big East Tournament game against South Florida having lost four straight games. After defeating Maryland on Jan. 15, Nova finished the regular season 5-9 in its last 14 games. They hadn't beaten a ranked opponent since defeating then No. 25 West Virginia on Feb. 5, and the only two wins Nova had since that West Virginia game came against Seton and Hall and Depaul … winning by a combined 5 points.
Somewhere along the way, this team that had started 16-1 and risen to the top 5 in the nation turned into an absolutely awful basketball team. And it all came to a head last night.
Having choked away a bye in the Big East Tournament, Villanova entered Madison Square Garden as the 10th seed, taking on the 15th-seeded South Florida Bulls. Early on, the Wildcats had cause for concern, getting off to slow a start, but then they took over. Corey Stokes was active and connecting from distance. Maalik Wayns and Corey Fisher were on point. And Nova built a 16-point lead. Everything looked good. After a very tough stretch to end the season, it looked like Nova was regaining its confidence and would move on and hope to right itself in the Garden.
Then everything came crashing down yet again. Stokes disappeared. Fisher disappeared. Mouphtaou Yarou got hurt. And Nova folded. It was embarrassing. Fisher forgot how to play basketball. The front line behind Yarou couldn't do a damn thing. And the rest of the team looked lost out there.
The only player who seemed game was Maalik Wayns, who finished with a game-high 24 points, but even he couldn't make it last.
Nova let the Bulls back in the game, but they still had the outcome in their control. Nova was up by three with less than a minute left when Corey Stokes stole the ball. The Bulls then fouled Wayns, an 80-plus percent free throw shooter, to put him on the line. Nova had not missed a free throw all game. But Wayns went ahead and missed the front end of a one-and-one, Bulls ball.
Still, South Florida did what a bad team does, literally trying to give the game away. Shaun Noriega slipped and turned it over to Nova. With 37 seconds left, Corey Stokes, a 90 percent free throw shooter who led the Big East in free throw percentage, was fouled. And guess what? That asshole missed the front end of a one-and-one too. Unbelievable.
What happened next was even more despicable. South Florida connected on two free throws to make it a one-point game. Then Wayns, a player I absolutely love, made one of the single worst passes in the history of college basketball. He lobbed a pass up back toward his own basket. It was out of the reach of Antonio Pena, stolen and laid in with 23 seconds, 68-67 South Florida.
Wayns momentarily made up for it by hitting two free throws to put Nova back up a point, but it didn't matter. Dominic Cheek played laughable defense — see none whatsoever — on Anthony Crater, letting him just go right by him for the game-winning layup.
It's as if this Villanova team is going out of its way to find new ways to lose. Blowing a 16-point lead against a far inferior (talent-wise) opponent, excellent free-throw shooters missing crucial foul shots down the stretch, inexplicable turnovers, and just letting a guy get an uncontested layup to win the game. Those are qualities of a bad team. A really bad team. And that's what Villanova is and has been for more than a month, a bad basketball team.
For the first time in memory, this is a Jay Wright team that literally has no composure and no heart. None whatsoever. Corey Fisher forgot how to play basketball. Corey Stokes is a bona fide choke artist. Antonio Pena's first half of the season proved to be a fluke. The bench is terrible. And the sophomores, as talented as they are, make incredibly boneheaded plays in big moments. Maalik Wayns with the missed free throw and horrific pass. Dominic Cheek failing to develop offensively and literally yielding a layup with the game on the line. And Yarou, while possessing tons of talent, is still raw.
This is a bad team that looks poorly coached right now. That's just the facts. Jay Wright is a fantastic coach and these players are really talented, but none of the parts have been good in 2011. None of them. Wright hasn't developed the youngsters enough. The seniors completely faded down the stretch. And this team has literally gone from a promising power to one of the worst teams in the conference. I honestly don't see Villanova winning a game in the NCAA Tournament. They will be an 8 seed at best, and even that is generous given the way the Wildcats are playing.
A once promising season has completely turned into a disaster. I'm not sure anyone saw this coming.
Conversely, the Sixers have had a completely opposite trajectory to their season. In Doug Collins' first season at the helm, the Sixers picked up right where Eddie Jordan left off, starting the year an embarrassing 3-13, including losing the first four, then losing six straight. It was terrible.
But since, the Sixers have been one of the best teams in the NBA. No, they're not going to be a contender or anything, but the Sixers have become a winning basketball team that I'm pretty sure no one wants to see in the playoffs. And they're doing it with a truly team mentality.
Take last night's game for example. The Sixers easily handled the Indiana Pacers 110-100 and took at 65-53 lead into the half. That was despite the leading scorer having all of four points after 24 minutes for Philadelphia. When it was all said and done, seven Sixers had scored in double figures: Thaddeus Young (18), Jrue Holiday (16), Andre Iguodala (16), Jodie Meeks (15), Elton Brand (12), Spencer Hawes (12) and Evan Turner (10).
Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand are playing some of the best basketball of their lives. Last night, Iggy added 10 assists to record a double-double, and Brand had 8 boards. Beyond that, Jrue has continued to develop, and there are no questions anymore about his selection. He is this team's point guard of the future. Jodie Meeks has turned into a nice scorer and is the team's most reliable three-point threat. Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams have been fantastic off the bench, and after a slow start in the NBA, rookie Evan Turner keeps developing the more he plays.
Honestly, the Sixers are a fun team to watch. They've won three straight, 7 of their last 8 and 9 of their last 11. After that 3-13 start, they're now 33-30 on year and virtually a lock for the playoffs, just a game behind the new-look Knicks for sixth in the East. Yes, they still have their issues — namely giving up double-digit leads in the 3rd and 4th quarters — but they are finding ways to win and certainly moving in the right direction. People should start taking notice.
As it stands, the Sixers will most likely have to face Boston, Chicago or Miami in the first round. An upset still would require an awful lot of luck and near flawless play. But this team should put a scare into anyone else in the East if for no other reason than they play the game the way it's meant to be played — moving the ball, running the floor and hustling nonstop. And if they can find a way to catch Atlanta and pass the Knicks for the 5th seed, they could very well give Dwight Howard and the Magic a real scare.
For the first time in a while, it's actually fun watching the Sixers again.
Then there is the matter of the Flyers. This team has been atop the Eastern Conference for so long that it's hard to be overly upset with the four-game losing streak that they finally ended last night. But unlike Matt P. at The700Level, I do care about the play of late.
Do I think the Flyers will be fine? Yes. They are too talented, too deep and have too many good players to continue to struggle, and the body of work for the season speaks for itself. They are, after all, still leading the entire Eastern Conference with 88 points and have games in hand over most of the teams chasing them. But that doesn't excuse the bad play of late.
The Flyers lost to four teams that frankly they should beat during that streak. The Senators have the fewest points in East and second fewest in the NHL, yet they lost to them 4-1. The Maple Leafs are 5-1-4 in their last 10 games, but they're also 10th in the East, a team the Flyers should handle, not lose to by folding late. And while the Sabres and Rangers are fighting for every point and have far more desperation than the Flyers, sitting at 8th and 7th in the conference respectively, the Flyers should be able to beat one of those teams. Instead they lost a tough one to the Sabres and got completely embarrassed by the Rangers.
The good news is the Flyers got back to their winning ways last night, beating the worst team in the NHL 4-1. But the victory over the Oilers wasn't all that consoling either, mainly because the same troubles that have plagued them during the losing streak crept up.
Now, in the first period, the Flyers did exactly what they should do. They completely dominated the entire period, outshooting the Oilers 17-1 and taking a 2-0 lead, highlighted by an absolutely brilliant stretch pass by Matt Carle to spring Danny Briere for the breakaway.
If it wasn't for Edmonton goaltender Devan Dubnyk standing on his head, the Flyers easily could have been up 4 or 5. But as good as the Flyers played in that first period — and don't get me wrong, they really took it to Edmonton — they still had trouble with their power play and connecting on passes.
Ladislav Smid earned a five-minute major for mashing Darroll Powe from behind face-first into the boards. On the ensuing major, it took the Flyers 3 minutes before they actually set up. And while they ultimately did tally on a Jeff Carter goal, they wasted the first 3 minutes of a five-minute major and missed an opportunity to completely bury the Oilers in the first.
I cannot understand for the life of me why a team this talented cannot figure out the power play, but their man-advantage is atrocious. It has been all year. To me, the biggest culprit is that these guys routinely try to get too cute, try to make the perfect play, instead of just keeping it simple. They need to get back to firing the puck and crashing the net, none of this cute stuff.
Anyway, after a owning the first period, the Flyers fell flat in the second. Edmonton just looked like a hungrier team. The Flyers were making lazy passes, turning the puck over, playing on their heels. It was maddening. Luckily, Sergei Bobrovsky was outstanding, preserving the lead, and the Flyers actually made it 3-0 on an absolutely beautiful set play off of an offensive zone draw. Claude Giroux won a draw back to James van Riemsdyk, and immediately Kimmon Timonen went backdoor. JVR hit him with a perfect pass, and Kimmo drew the defense and the goalie. Then he calmly passed it to a wide-open Jeff Carter for the slam-dunk goal.
But then the Flyers continued an alarming trend, giving the goal right back just 55 seconds later on a great deflection by Jean-Francois Jacques. That's something the Flyers have been doing routinely during this slump, surrendering a goal immediately after scoring themselves. It's been maddening.
And even though the Flyers held on with Blair Betts adding an empty-netter, they were far from impressive the rest of the way. The defensemen had some really terrible turnovers. Instead of making the smart, safe plays while protecting a two-goal lead in the third, the Flyers tried risky passes and put themselves in bad positions. Far too often, they try to enter the zone by stickhandling or making tough passes, instead of just dumping and chasing, using the forechecking style Peter Laviolette wants.
Defensively, far too often they look backward, try to reverse the puck and end up turning it over instead of just chipping it out of the zone and living to fight another shift.
And most frustrating of all has been the reluctance some of these guys have had with the puck. Claude Giroux has been outstanding all season and is without question my favorite player on this team. But lately, he has been passing up way too many shots, electing to pass instead. I know he's creative, a great passer and a guy who looks to pass first, but sometimes you just have to let it fly. Over the course of this rough patch, he's passed up prime shooting lanes in the slot and around the net, instead opting for a worse play. The man needs to shoot a little more. The same can be said for Kris Versteeg.
And defensively, the top four have been outstanding still as you would expect. Timonen, Coburn, Pronger and Carle continue to be stalwarts. But lately, that third pair that has been so awesome all season has begun to struggle. Andrej Meszaros simply has been taking too many penalties, though he managed to stay out of the box last night and had a nice game. But Sean O'Donnell, who thoroughly impressed me this year, has struggled lately. He's been getting beat on some goals, and suddenly he has the yips, coughing up the puck like Eric Desjardins in the playoffs.
The good news is these are all things that can be easily corrected and I'm confident they will. The Flyers have been too good for too long, and the talent is still there to continue to be elite. But they definitely need to pick up the intensity and play smarter, playoff-style hockey here soon. Because as we saw last year with the Flyers, a lower-seeded team can catch the top seeds off-guard and make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
And as Nova has shown, sometimes a little slump can snowball into something much bigger.
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