BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: VILLANOVA @ PITTSBURGH

January 30, 2008


The Big East conference can change on a whim and two teams that suddenly find themselves facing lots of questions meet in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh has lost two of three, including a shocking home loss Saturday night to Rutgers. The Panthers circled the wagons when injuries decimated their club in late December, but the lack of depth and numbers looked to be taking a toll as the Panthers seemed in a mental fog on Saturday. However, that performance came just days after a dominating win over St. John's on the road.

After Villanova won at Syracuse, it was the Wildcats that seemed poised to make a litte run and position themselves favorably in the conference race. However, a trip to the RAC was no picnic as Rutgers came up with a win and then a trip home to face Notre Dame resulted in another double-digit loss. The Wildcats yielded 85 points a game in two losses last week, nunbers that Jay Wright will implore his team to improve upon vry soon.

Here are the local media previews on tonight's game:

Snapping out of Funk Wont Be Easy for 'Cats (Philadelhia Inquirer)
Pitt in a Must-Win Situation (Beaver County Times)
Panthers Must Avoid Turnovers (Beaver County Times)
Ramon Settles in at Point (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Pitt Tries to Solve Villanova (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

These two teams have already met once and Villanova came away with a thrilling one-point victory at the Villanova Pavillion when Dante Cunningham hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left. Villanova extended their defense and forced the Panthers to commit 22 turnovers, including one as the clock expired saving the victory for 'Nova. The Wildcats were keyed in that victory by Malcolm Grant and Antonio Pena off the bench as the Villanova reserves combined for 34 points and Dwayne Anderson added five more for 39 points from the bench compared to just 7 from the Pitt bench.

Villanova will have to use their deeper numbers and defensive pressure again to come up with a road victory. By extending the pressure against Pitt's guards, who do not have a true poit guard, Villanova can counter the Panthers' inside advantage.

On the other side, Pittsburgh needs to get back on the boards and pick up the defensive intensity once again. The Villanova guards are tough match-ups for Pitt, but the Panthers will have to make adjustments to control the dribble penetration of the Wildcats and to make sure they can get into their offense and are able to get shot attempts during their possessions. Pitt will likely get second chance opportunities, so every turnover takes away not only one shot attempt, but also potentially Pitt's biggest advantage, their front line duo of DeJuan Blair and Sam Young.

For Pitt, staying out of foul trouble and hiting some perimter shots to free up room for Blair and Young is the key to their offense. Rediscovering their intensity level is also a must and must come on their home floor.

While Pitt is not getting any healthier soon, Villanova might have Casseim Drummond available and the big body would be a big help against the Pittsburgh front court.

A lot of things point to Pittsburgh in this game, but this is a difficult match-up for the Panthers without Levance Fields to handle the ball. However Pittsburgh usually finds a way to get things down when you begin to count them out. The game is huge for both teams, while the loss to Rutgers is concerning, as of now it looks like an anomaly for the Panthers rather than the norm. So, look for the home team to pull it out, but it likely will not be easy. The Panthers are a 7.5-pt favorite and that seems a little too high to me.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Pittsburgh 67 Villanova 61

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: NOTRE DAME @ VILLANOVA

January 26, 2008



You have to believe that Jay Wright's Villanova Wildcats will be breathing a little fire on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats looked like a team on the rise after wins over DePaul and a road win at Syracuse the week before, but a resounding loss at previously winless (in Big East action) Rutgers pulled the rug out from beneath of the Wildcats.

Notre Dame is a team that is facing similar questions. The Irish have been unbeatable at home and have league home wins over West Virginia, Connecticut and Cincinnati already this season, but the road has been a different story. The Irish have lost by 26 at Marquette and 19 at Georgetown (it was not really even that close). Those two games (and it is January 25) are the only two true-road games the Irish have played all season. They have also lost to Georgia Tech and Baylor on neutral floors, but have a victory at Madison Square Garden over Kansas State to their credit.

On their home floor, this game is a near 'must-win' for Villanova and it will not be easy. The Irish feature bruising big man Luke Harangody in the middle and Villanova is unlikely to have anyone available (Casseim Drummond is injured) to combat his size and physical nature. Villanova will counter with quickness and effort from Antonio Pena and dante Cunningham, but neither is a vital cog in an offensive system that is predicated on guard play.

Luckily for Villanova, their guard play is strong and led by starters Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher, along with Malcolm Grant and Reggie Redding off the bench. Reynolds struggled with his shot (5-19) in the loss to Rutgers and will have to rebound on Saturday. Malcolm Grant is a new generation 'microwave' and he heated up quickly against Rutgers, scoring 23 points in just 18 minutes before fouling out. Grant seems to be a last gasp option and he has rescued them before, they need to find a way to get him, Reynolds and Fisher to effectively score together.

The Irish have been contemplating some potential line-up changes to give Mike Brey' sclub a little better from the start of the game. The two most likely candidates because of their subpar games on the road seeem to be Tory Jackson and Ryan Ayers. I find it hard to believe either would start the game on the bench as Jackson will be needed against the Villanova pressure defense and Ayers is from the Philadelhia area and they really need his confidence to be intact.

Rob Kurz is also making a return trip to his home area, so the Irish will put forth a strong effort. The will likely attempt to see how far Harangody can carry them, in games like West Virginia and Cincinnati, they found out he could carry them a long way. However, the road has been a different story for the Irish and even a big game from Harangody will be tough to equate into a victory.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Villanova 77 Notre Dame 74

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: VILLANOVA @ RUTGERS

January 23, 2008

Rutgers remains winless in the Big East but they did show some life in a road loss at DePaul over the weekend. Villanova got a cherished road win at Syracuse over the weekend and are positioning themselves favorably in the Big East race.

Here are a couple local media stories on tonight's game:

Rutgers Men's Basketball Readies for Villanova (Asbury Park Press)
Scouting Rutgers & Villanova (Courier News)


If the Big East was to hold form from what we have seen in the first three weeks, Rutgers would win this game. While, I can't really pull the trigger on the Scarlet Knights, they do have a similar make-up as a team to Villanova. However, their talent level is a notch below. for the Scarlet Knights to win, they will have to give their most inspired defensive effort of the season, come up big on the boards and not suffer one of their normal putrid offensive performances.

Villanova seemingly finds someone to step-up from game to game to lead them to victory. Whether it is Malcolm Grant, Antonio Pena, Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher or another player, Jay Wright has a deep team that gives him several different line-up options. He can go big, small or more of a traditional line-up. Quite a difference from his four-guard line-up out of necessity a few years ago.

Rutgers tends to play Villanova very tough at home from time to time. I think they will be fired up tonight and try to parlay some positives from the DePaul game into a more complete performance against the Wildcats. I do think Villanova has too much talent and once they find the right combination in this game, they will exert that talent to get the necessary stops on defense and get the points needed to win on offense. As a 9-pt favorite, Villanova wins, but it should be closer than expected.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Villanova 74 Rutgers 67

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: DEPAUL @ VILLANOVA

January 16, 2008


The DePaul Blue Demons are off to a surprising 3-1 start in conference play. In the preseason it definitely looked like this kind of start could be accomplished with their schedule, but home losses in the out of conference schedule at home to teams like Ill-Chicago and North Carolina A&T certainly left having ANY success in the Big East in doubt.

Villanova, on the other-hand, cruised through much of their out of conference schedule with a mark of 10-1. These teams have already met once on the young conference season, with DePaul earning an 84-76 win on their home court. Villanova has since won at home over Pitt (64-63), but lost on the road at Cincinnati (69-66) and will look to even their conference record tonight.

Here are the local media previews of tonight's Big East contest:

DePaul Goes for Sweep Against Villanova (Daily Herald)
DePaul Familiar With Villanova's Boat (Chicago Tribune)
DePaul Looks to Extend Big East Success (Sun Times)


Villanova is a 10-pt favorite at home tonight against the Blue Demons of DePaul. It was just 13 days ago that DePaul jumped out to a big lead and held on for an 84-76 win over Villanova in the league opener for both teams. DePaul was limited to six healthy players in that game, all of whome scored in double figures, as Jabari Currie, Majita Poscic and Dar Tucker were all injured. Tucker did play three minutes.

The Blue Demons are much healthier now and are still playing well. They sit at 3-1 in the Big East and are tied with Pittsburgh, Marquette, Georgetown and Notre Dame at the head of the conference standings. They even took their success on the road over the weekend picking up a valuable win at St. John's, 60-54, with Dar Tucker leading the way with 16 points.

Villanova finally got a big game from Scottie Reynolds over the weekend as the sophomore guard poured in 32 points. However, it came in a losing cause as the Wildcats fell on the road to Cincinnati, 69-66. Villanova got virtually nothing from forwards Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark and Malcolm Grant, the hero of wins over Pittsburgh and LSU, was scoreless in 8 minutes. Villanova got some good news on the injury front with Casseim Drummond, their leading rebounder, being cleared to practice this week. The 6'10 Drummond is a big body and Villanova does not have anyone else with the body to play physical in this league. Taht is an issue against a team like DePaul that has some beef in the frontcourt with Wesley Green and Mac Koshwal.

DePaul seems to be a team that plays well against Jay Wright's squad. Athletically, DePaul can match-up with most teams in the conference with a big front line and very athletic wings in Tucker and senior Karron Clarke. Draelon Burns is an accomplished scorer and the guard trio of Will Walker, Cliff Clinkscales and Currie continues to improve, find their roles and play more consistent.

Villanova relies on their guards to win. Their group of guards are definitely good led by Reynolds and freshman Corey Fisher, but they are young with the freshman Grant and sophomore Reggie Redding rounding out the group. This guard group is not qute to the level of previous Villanova units and with a thin frontcourt that has been missing Drummond, they need to carry the team.

One area I think Villanova can make a big impact is with pressure defense and I look for them to extend the defense and play with a little desperation, much like they did against Pitt when they forced 22 turnovers. DePaul is prone to this kind of attack and on their home floor, Villanova seems to up the ante defensively.

I still see this as a close contest, but the home team gets a MUCH needed win.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Villanova 68 DePaul 62

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: VILLANOVA @ CINCINNATI

January 12, 2008


The surprising Cincinnati Bearcats will look to knock off another upper-echelon conference foe when the Villanova Wildcats come to the Queen City. The Bearcats have already matched last season's conference win total (2) with wins over Louisville and Syracuse in their first three conference outings.

Villanova, a young team, got a hard lesson of life on the road when they opened up with a loss at DePaul. The Wildcats bounced back with a spirited defensive effort on their home court, forcing 22 turnovers, in a thrilling 64-63 win over Pittsburgh.

Here are the local media previews of the game:

Seniors Want Payback Tonight (Cincinnati Enquirer)
Williamson Puts Team First (Enquirer)
Injuries Hamper Nova's Reynolds (Philadelphia Inquirer)

The healthy of Scottie Reynolds will be a major key to this evening's game. The young Wildcats will need their leading scorer and accomplished Big East guard to set the tone on the road. As Villanova showed against Pittsburgh, they can survive an off night and still win, they are deep enough with talented players, but that was at home and this is on the road.

Obviously, this Cincinnati team is miles better than last year's team and even the team that started the season off in Novemeber, when Mick Cronin stepped back and said they just 'were not a good basketball team.' The return of point guard Jamual Warren has settled down the offense, allowing Deonta Vaughn to only worry about putting points on the board on the offensive side. John Williamson settling into a role that betters the team and with freshmen Rashad Bishop and Anthony McClain becoming contributors, the Bearcats have depth inside and out and more defined roles.

Still, this team kind of goes as their star Vaughn goes. He will face a tough match-up tonight against a group of Villanova guards that really like to get after it on the defensive end, and they should have learned from the Pittsburgh game, that is where they win games.

Freshmen Corey Fisher and Malcolm Grant have taken turns being the leading scorers in their two Big East games and forwards Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark know their roles.

This looks to be a tight game, but the Villanova guards will put the pressure on Vaughn, keeping him in check so the Wildcats can steal one on the road.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Villanova 68 Cincinnati 67

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: PITTSBURGH @ VILLANOVA

January 6, 2008



Although Sunday afternoon is a match-up of a pair of current Top 20 teams in Pittsburgh and Villanova, it is also a match-up of two teams with numerous questions surrounding them both.

The obvious questions at Pittsburgh is how are they going to navigate the Big East conference schedule with a depleted roster. Heading into practice in mid-October, the Panthers were expecting a full allotment of 13 scholarship players available. The news of Darnell Dodson not being cleared by the NCAA hardly caused a stir as he was expected to be redshirted because of depth on the wing. The news of Austin Wallace being injured in practice and lost for the season also hardly made waves since his contributions were expected to be minimal this season. Pitt pressed on, winning their first 10 games and met Duke at Madison Square Garden on ESPN. The Panthers pulled off the upset when Levance Fields hit a clutch three pointer with 4.7 seconds left in the contest, just moments after his best friend on the team Mike Cook went down with a serious knee injury.

Cook's injury raised a question on the Panthers, but they were still regarded as a Top 10 team and a Final Four contender once another of the pieces of the puzzle (Gilbert Brown) was plugged into the mix. Afterall, that is what Pittsburgh does, they plug in good players in place of good players each and every season. Brown even brought a little extra promise as the exciting redhsirt freshman has loads of potential in his 6'5 frame. However, things got worse, during a 25-point drubbing at Dayton, the Panthers saw their most irreplacable player go down with an injury, Levance Fields suffered a broken foot and initial reports had him sidelined for 8-12 weeks, if not the season. He could be back sooner, but now the Panthers enter Big East play with five new starters from a year ago.

for Villanova, the out of conference schedule was a solid success for Jay Wright's young squad. They won 10 of 11 contests, only a controversial last second foul against North Carolina State prevented them from being unbeaten. They did not overly push themselves (no games against Top 25 teams) and the only true road game took place at Temple, but they were working the kinks out as they looked to replace seniors Curtis Sumpter, Mike Nardi and Will Sheridan from last year's team.

Sometimes, winning masks problems, and Jay Wright raised concerns about his team's defense on several occassions, but the young Wildcats were scoring a lot of points and winning. However, that ended on Thursday night in Chicago when a 4-7 DePaul squad rose up and defeated the 17th-ranked Wildcats, 84-76. Now, the Wildcats return home to face cross state rival Pittsburgh in a key game.

Pittsburgh does have one game under their belt since Fields was injured, a 96-75 home win over Lafayette. The Panthers will move Ronald Ramon, a senior, into the starting point guard spot and senior Keith Benjamin will start at shooting guard. In their debut without Fields, Ramon had 11 pts, 10 assists and no turnovers and Benjamin had a career-high 20 pts. However, Lafayette maybe a school in Pennsylvania, but that is all they have in common with Villanova. The Wildcats will likely come out with a little more fire defensively, especially on the perimeter and will likely challenge the ball-handling abilities of Ramon and Benjamin. Scottie Reynolds and Corey Fisher will likely be after the Panther gaurds from start to finish, trying to force them to set-up their offense out of their comfort zone and make it difficult for them to get the ball inside to Dejuan Blair or to Sam Young on the baseline for then to work against Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham.

The Panther defense will also be challenged by the Wildcats as they will try to attack off the dribble and draw fouls. Pitt is down to jusy nine scholarship players, but Gary McGhee is also hobbled and likely headed for a redshirt and Cassin Diggs is a likely match-up dilemma that the Panthers will be unwilling to use, leaving them with a 7-man rotation. Villanova on the other hand can go with Corey Stokes, Antonio Pena, Malcolm Grant and Dwayne Anderson off the bench as options, so despite missing Casseim Drummond due to injury, the Wildcats are the deeper team.

One thing we do know about Pittsburgh is they will not quit. Jamie Dixon will have them playing hard, but the pressure opposing guards will apply against Pittsburgh is going to make it awful tough for them to run their offense effectively and take advantage of a pair of very good forwards in Blair and Young. it will be a tough game, but Villanova rebounds at home to win this one.

NBE Blogger: Villanova 67 Pittsburgh 62

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BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: VILLANOVA @ DEPAUL

January 3, 2008

DePaul has definitely been a disappointment so far this season, but the Blue Demons can start anew as conference play tips off tonight when they welcome Villanova to Allstate Arena. The Wildcats come in with a national ranking in the Top 20, but will be facing their first true road game outside of the city of Philadelphia when they head to Chicago. Here are the local stories on the contest:


'Nova Positively Tough to Beat (Chicago Sun-Times)
Is 'Nova ready for Big East Battles (philly daily News)
DePaul Starts Big East Campaign (Daily Herald)
Still Calling Chicago Home (Scottie Reynolds) (Chicago Tribune).
Wildcats Get Ready for Road Test (Philly Inquirer)
Fisher Gives 'Nova Options (Evening Bulletin)

I think, despite the disparity in records, this game will prove to be more interesting than one might think. DePaul matches-up with Villanova fairly well, however, the Wildcats definitely have the advantage of consistent perimeter play, while the Blue Demons can be all over the place on the perimeter. That, in the end, will likely decide the game.

Super-soph Scottie Reynolds leads the Wildcats with 17 PPG and he has freshman Corey Fisher as his sidekick. Fisher has been elevated into the starting line-up after a slow start battling tendonitis in his knees early in the season, and he continues to improve and look more and more like the prized recruit expected to be a force in the conference. On the wing, Shane clark has also raised his game this season and is a very effecient offensive weapon for Jay Wright's club. Dante Cunningham consistently shows up in the right place at the right time and gives the Wildcats a little more offensive punch than they have had previously in the paint.

The key to this year's Villanova team has been their depth, which allows them to play big, small or anyway in between. Corey Stokes, Reggie Redding, Antonio Pena, Malcolm Grant and Casseim Drummond have all provided quality play and have taken their turns at being key contributors of wins. This team is deep, and versatile, though some of that will be lost without 6'10 Drummond, who is out for at least the immediate future with a stress fracture in his right ankle.

DePaul, expected to be down a bit this year, has disappointed with a 4-7 record. They have won two in a row, so they have built a little positive momentum, but a tough pre-conference schedule has made things very rough on the young squd. The Blue Demons are athletic and they do have some size, but they are painfully inconsistent yet again, especially offensively as they still can not find any consistent point guard play. Karron Clarke (11.5 PPG and 5.7 rebounds) and Dar Tucker (13.6 PPG and 6.7 rebounds) are among the elite athletes in the country and Tucker's freshman classmate Mac Koshwal (11.2 PPG and 8.0 rebounds).

Draelon Burns leads the Blue Demons in scoring (19.4 PPG) and is second in the conference, but does so on a lot of shots (166 in 11 games). Burns and Tucker account for 43% of DePaul's shot attempts as their rotating point guard position (Jabari Currie, Will Walker, Cliff Clinkscales) by and large does a poor job of getting the ball inside and putting players in position to score consistently.

There is still some hope for this DePaul team, they need to start playing smarter and effecient basketball. However, this is the third season under Jerry Wainwright and they continue to lack any form of consistency offensively. You always think these teams are capable of more, sometime we might see it, but Villlanova is clearly better than NC A&T and Illinois-Chicago, two teams that have already won at Allstate this season.

As a 4-pt road favorite, look for Villanova to pull away for a win down the stretch.


NBE Blogger Prediction: Villanova 70 DePaul 61

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