tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72074133972694469842011-07-08T10:02:02.231-04:00DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-72984481370451949892009-11-18T21:20:00.002-05:002009-11-18T22:29:41.663-05:00

WHO ARE THE NEWCOMERS?FreshmenThis freshman class is the most highly-touted recruiting class of Jay Wright's career. Better than the Fisher, Stokes, Grant class, better than the Reynolds, Redding, Pena, Drummond class and even arguably better than the Foye, Ray, Sumpter, Fraser class. Its no guarantee that they will have better careers than the other guys I mentioned but these guys were the

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-91265856927290881282009-04-22T18:04:00.001-04:002009-04-22T18:11:52.442-04:00

Scottie Reynolds announced his intention to declare for the NBA draft last night. He will not hire an agent so as to keep open the possibility of returning to Villanova for his senior year. This is not a surprise (I will explain why below) and has been rumored for several weeks.http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/villanova/20090422_Villanova_s_Reynolds_enters_NBA_draft__for_now.htmlHow

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-53575583313702851992009-03-26T07:58:00.003-04:002009-03-26T08:00:26.156-04:00

BRING ON THE DUKIES!I didn't mention it last week so as not to jinx us, but one of the reasons I liked our bracket draw so much (in addition to an absence of size) was because I LOVE this matchup against Duke. Given the opponent, the national stage and whats on the line, it would easily be the biggest win of the Jay Wright era if the Cats can pull it off. Don't get me wrong - Duke is an

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-89221720356453629912009-03-19T07:46:00.003-04:002009-03-19T07:53:46.687-04:00

Bracket ThoughtsI love the #3 seed (mainly cause it keeps us as far away from the #1's as possible) and the fact that we are playing in Philly, but make no mistake - this will be no cakewalk. Every team in our pod this weekend is a tough, experienced, defensive-minded team that knows how to win close games. On the bright side, we didn't draw anybody with a superior size advantage, which should

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-50293514556729466382009-01-21T22:41:00.002-05:002009-01-22T20:17:19.783-05:00

This is the annual mid-January Villanova basketball "don't panic" post. Everyone seems to be convinced something is wrong with this team because they are under .500 in the Big East and they don't have that marquee win yet that is so critical for NCAA tournament resumes. Well I'm here to tell you that you can relax...at least a little. It is true that we don't have a win over a ranked team yet

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-12664237608970326492008-12-07T17:50:00.002-05:002008-12-07T17:52:16.704-05:00

Believe it or not, the regular season is ¼ of the way complete so I thought I’d share some observations. Villanova is 8-0 and ranked #16 in the nation, but it is hard to get a read on what exactly that means cause the team’s strength of schedule to date is ranked 254th out of 343 Division I teams. The game against #8 Texas on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden will be a huge test for this

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-15963005410711845542008-11-13T22:44:00.004-05:002008-11-13T22:59:23.602-05:00

Five Fearless Predictions (11/14) 1. No Big East team will win 15 conference games.Since the creation of the 16-team mega conference in 2005, the Big East champion has lost no more than 3 conference games. I think that changes this year. If a team can manage to get to 14-4, that should be good enough to win a conference this loaded. So while I predict that no team will win 15 league games, by

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-81786287926203701702008-11-13T00:06:00.003-05:002008-11-13T00:08:12.900-05:00

Keys to the Season (11/13)1. In my mind the biggest key to this season is the development of Corey Stokes and Antonio Pena. Along with Corey Fisher, these guys must grow up in a hurry - there is no time for them to be role players anymore. We know what to expect from most of the players on this team - we know that Reynolds will be a great scorer and team leader, that Cunningham will give us 10-

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-70507283298251784662008-11-11T22:54:00.001-05:002008-11-11T22:58:39.555-05:00

What to Watch For (11/12)Jay Wright has a lot of experience coming back, which should eliminate a lot of the lineup shifting that we saw during the first half of last season. Expect to see a starting lineup of Scottie Reynolds, Corey Stokes, Dwayne Anderson, Antonio Pena and Dante Cunningham. Shane Clark may have challenged Anderson or Pena for a starting spot but he just had arthroscopic knee

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-20869729364363582902008-11-11T22:53:00.000-05:002008-11-11T22:54:20.876-05:00

Beastly Big East! (11/11)In most other years, this Villanova team with every major contributor coming back from a Sweet 16 run, would be picked to contend for the Big East title. Not this year. Nobody even picked Nova to crack the top 3. The coaches picked them to finish 5th and most of the national media has the Cats 6th or 7th. But this is not a slight against Jay Wright or the Villanova

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-57228696230050545902008-11-09T22:20:00.010-05:002008-11-11T22:52:59.658-05:00

The Villanova 2008-2009 Season Preview will be rolled out in 5 parts, one day at a time this week, leading up to the season opener against Albany on Friday.Rankings Reaction (11/10)Villanova is ranked # 23 in the AP poll and # 25 in the Coaches Poll. What's interesting about this is the dispersion of the team's ranking among voters. A few voters have Nova as high as # 13, while several others

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-13398710363184281922008-03-27T17:16:00.000-04:002008-03-27T17:17:34.936-04:00

The ChallengeRemember the Florida team we lost to two years ago in the Elite 8? Remember the UNC team we lost to in 2005 on that last second traveling call? Both of those teams went on to win the national championship and this Kansas team is just as good. Kansas has 5 or 6 guys that could potentially be in the NBA next year if they choose to leave early, and another 3 that are very good role

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-83702752520399458652008-03-22T21:55:00.003-04:002008-03-22T22:04:08.961-04:00

Five things you need to know about the Nova-Siena matchup1. Walking into the gym, Villanova has an immediate advantage in talent, experience and size. Big East level recruiting is just on a different playing field than the MAAC and Siena doesn't have anybody of the pedigree of Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher or Corey Stokes. That said, Siena plays very good team basketball with great ball movement

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-7131022920631926702008-03-21T00:13:00.006-04:002008-03-21T07:47:17.367-04:00

Admittedly, I have not seen many Clemson games this year but my initial reaction to the matchup was positive:1. ACC = up-tempo but limited defense and a bit soft (compared to the Big East)2. Clemson may be overseeded due to their ACC tournament run3. We have just as much talent (if not more) on our roster.4. They press - but it is very beatable.I still believe those things, but after doing a

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-67706791427699753122008-02-05T14:33:00.000-05:002008-02-05T21:13:32.673-05:00

Most Villanova fans probably hit the panic button about a week ago and rightfully so, as this team has lost 5 in a row by double digits and has displayed an alarming lack of heart lately. The team is clearly struggling right now and it seems to be in all facets of the game - offense, defense, rebounding, turnovers, etc. So what is going on? Two weeks ago we were # 18 in the country, has Jay

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-8678906632185483142008-01-02T21:40:00.000-05:002008-01-02T22:31:38.153-05:00

Hey folks, updated plus-minus stats are posted below. The first list is the total plus minus stats per minute for the season thus far, thru 11 games (for most players). (Note that Anderson has only played in 6 games and Drummond has been out with a stress fracture in his ankle since the Temple game and will be out another 4-6 weeks, so he has only played in 8 games). The second list only takes

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-31757064078633671182008-01-02T20:35:00.000-05:002008-01-02T21:34:24.080-05:00

So I was all set to do a Big East preview, thinking I would have to rush to get it up before the slew of games started this week, when I read this Andy Glockner ESPN preview which is pretty much the way I would've gone with it. The main themes are 1) there is no real pre-defined conference hierarchy (lots of parity) unlike most years and 2) there have been a lot of injuries....both of which lead

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-43067693379357176152007-11-30T15:52:00.000-05:002007-11-30T16:10:53.409-05:00

Now that the dust has settled on the Old Spice tourney and that heartbreaking loss on Sunday, I have had a few days to do some more objective analysis. There’s not a whole lot to say about the last second foul call – you usually don’t see a ref call a foul in that situation, but I’m not gonna pretend like its never happened before. In 2005 it happened to Nova twice, first against Georgetown and

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-70316253985185770412007-11-19T19:40:00.000-05:002007-11-19T21:21:47.837-05:00

OVERVIEWVillanova plays in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, FL later this week. While the tournament takes a bit of a backseat to other Holiday tourneys like the NIT Tip-Off, Maui Invitational or Great Alaska Shootout, the 8-team field does feature three ranked teams and 2 more that are right on the cusp of the Top 25. Villanova enters the tourney ranked # 19 (#20 AP), followed by # 20 Kansas St

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-71764387807226487032007-11-15T15:07:00.000-05:002007-11-15T15:09:55.557-05:00

Be sure to join the DRE HOOPS Season Pool by December 1st!

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7207413397269446984.post-91032379396745835902007-11-14T21:42:00.001-05:002007-11-14T21:45:57.951-05:00

Jay Wright and Villanova come into the season in somewhat of an unusual situation. Despite graduating 3 senior starters that lead the team to an average of 25 wins a year during their tenure, Jay Wright is not exactly "rebuilding". At the same time, while he's got some talented freshman, he hasn't exactly "re-loaded" with a major roster overhaul. As it stands, we are ranked # 25 in the Pre-Season

DREhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05664575755468322917noreply@blogger.com0