2007-2008 BIG EAST PREVIEW: 7) VILLANOVA

October 14, 2007

VILLANOVA ESSENTIALS:

Official Website of Villanova Basketball

2007-2008 Official Villanova Roster & Bios

Meet Coach Jay Wright

The Pavilion

2007-2008 Villanova Basketball Schedule


OVERVIEW:

Jay Wright is one of the hottest names in college basketball and enters his seventh season as head coach of the Villanova Wildcats. Coming off three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the Wildcats will gun for their fourth in a row. Over the last two seasons, the Wildcats have seen Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Lyle Lowry, Jason Fraser, Mike Nardi, Curtis Sumpter and Will Sheridan move on to the professional ranks. They high profile recruits built the foundation and helped launch Jay Wright into the upper echelon of coaching names with his ability to recruit and develop players for the NBA. With the addition of another high profile recruiting class, the beat looks to continue this season for the Wildcats.

In his first few season at Villanova, Jay Wright looked to be snake-bitten as his team never seemed to stay healthy and the top recruiting classes kept landing in the NIT, not the NCAA’s. Then, with a healthy squad for much of a season, the Wildcats busted into the Sweet 16 and nearly knocked off eventual champion North Carolina. However, bad luck once again hurt the Wildcats as Curtis Sumpter was injured and lost for the tournament in the 2nd round. The injuries woes continued as Sumpter had to undergo another surgery prior to the 2005-2006 season, but Wright showed his innovative side unleashing a four-guard line-up on the college basketball world that earned the Wildcats a #1 seed and a trip to the Elite 8 in 2005-2006.

At one time earlier this summer, Wright referred to this season as a bit of a rebuilding task. They have seen a lot of talent move on over the last two years, but the Wildcats, although young, are definitely talented and ready to scratch and claw their way into the mix of another bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2007-2008.

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THE 2006-2007 SEASON:

Life after Lowry, Ray and Foye was not the easiest at times last season. Facing a brutal opening stretch in the Big East, a Big Monday home loss to Pittsburgh had the Wildcats sitting at 3-5 in the Big East at the halfway mark. In fact, they got out of the gates losing three of their first four and their only win was an improbably 56-52 upset of Georgetown on the road.

The Wildcats regrouped as Scottie Reynolds became one of the elite scorers in the conference, even pumping in 40 in a road win over UConn and Curtis Sumpter was a steady force on both ends of the floor. Villanova won six of their last eight conference games to rebound to a 9-7 record and earn a chance to dance in the NCAA Tournament.

Their dance ticket expired pretty quickly as they fell to the Wildcats from Kentucky 67-58 in round one. Sumpter and Reynolds combined for 42 of their 58 points and all too often in big games, nobody else was able to step up and provide the Wildcats some offensive support. This season Sumpter is gone and takes his 17 PPG scoring average with him. Also, third leading scorer Mike Nardi (11 PPG) and the glue, Will Sheridan, also have graduated, meaning Villanova must replace three starters this season.




THE BACKCOURT:

Once again, Jay Wright showed his ability to recruit with the best of them. After landing Scottie Reynolds late in the process the spring before, Wright signed Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes out of New Jersey as well as NYC native Malcolm Grant. Reynolds was one of the biggest stories in the Big East last year as the freshman exploded to average over 18 PPG in 16 conference games. He also added over 3 rebounds and 4 assists a game in league play and shot an impressive 43% from beyond the arc and nearly 85% from the line. He has a tendency to push his own offense too much at times (41.5% shooting from the field and 60 turnovers in 16 league games), but a year wiser can do wonders for college players.

Reynolds will be helped greatly by the presence of Fisher, a 6’1, 185 lb PG who played at prep power St. Patrick in New Jersey last season. Another NYC native recruiting by Wright, Fisher has all the flair and calmness of a blacktop NYC product. He is tremendous with the ball, creating offense for others or himself. He also has immediate chemistry with incoming McDonald’s All-American Corey Stokes. Although they played on rival prep programs (Stokes played at St. Benedict’s), the pair have been longtime friend. Stokes is a deadly long range shooter that has the ability to be a very good well-rounded player if he can find the aggressiveness in his mentality to attack off the dribble a little more. At 6’5, 195 lbs, expect him to be the deadly stationary shooter benefiting from all the one-on-one dribble penetration by Reynolds and Fisher.

The talented corps of guards is rounded out by sophomore Reggie Redding and freshman Malcolm Grant. Redding is an old-school throwback that is the type of player that winning teams have. He will handle the ball, pass, defend and rebound above average from his guard position. With other offensive-minded teammates, he is the perfect compliment. Grant is NYC tough and has that NYC flair. He will remind onlookers of Kyle Lowry with his take anyone to the rim mentality. He will have to play a little more under control consistently as he is not quite the finisher that Lowry was, but his confidence to compete will allow him to be successful more than not.


THE FRONTCOURT:

Still an area that needs to be improved for the Wildcats to reach their peak potential. Dante Cunningham return for the Wildcats with the most experience in the group. Both are very solid players, however, they are asked to play out of position in Wright's guard-heavy attack. It is on the defensive end of the floor that I have my biggest concerns with the duo in Big East play. Cunningham and Clark can defend very well against similar players, but asking Cunningham to defend a center and Clark to defend a power forward in this league night in and night out will bring some very tough match-ups for the 'Cats.

The newcomer to watch is redshirt freshman Antonio Pena, a 6’8 forward originally from NYC. Pena was highly touted coming out of high school and word is his game has continued to eveolve as a true combo forward. He has size and strength to play a power forward position at this level and his skills away from the basket are said to be improving steadily. Cunningham, Pena and Clark form a very solid trio of forwards that will cause match-up problems of their own agains the bigger, slower front lines in the conference. However, they will have to be consistently playing at a high level on the boards and on the defensive end of the floor for Villanova to improve upon last season's record. I expect them to improve as the year goes on, but some early stumbles could result.

Dwayne Anderson also returns as a small forward, but his playing time really decreased as last season went on and his opportunity for playing time this season is limited as well. Rounding out the frontcourt is Caseim Drummond, Frank Tchuisi and Andrew Ott. Drummond has loads of potential in his 6’10, 280 lb frame and when the Wildcats are forced to go big and with a traditional line-up, he should come in use. I would like to see them use him more and put Cunninghah, Clark and Pena at their more natural positions as I think they can be successful there too. Ott and Tchuisi are going to find minutes hard to come by again this season.

2007-2008 PREDICTION:

The Wildcats definitely have a talented group to work with. It is likely you could see a lot of a three guard line-up and maybe even some of a four-guard look again. However, that group that previously excelled in that type of line-up were juniors and seniors for the most part, something that this current team is lacking in the backcourt. The frontcourt has some very nice pieces to work with and is an underrated group that gets under-appreciated because of the system they are playing in. It will be interesting to see if coach Wright goes a little more towards a traditional set-up and takes advantage of the experience of Clark and Cunningham as opposed to the young backcourt, however, it is tough to do so because of the talent and potential in the backcourt.

Look for another tough start in the early part for Villanova when conference play arrives. However, they should be able to hit their stride once again in the second half and be a better team down the stretch. Depending too much on the young guards will cause some inconsistency, but on some nights, expect this team to look like world-beaters…but on others, a reminder that they are young. The program is strong and should continue to be very good, but this season will have its ups and downs because of that youthful exuberance.

BIG EAST PREDICTION: 10-8