#3 Wildcats @ Maryland in 15th Annual BB&T Classic - Preview - Sunday, December 6, 7:30 PM

To the Wildcat faithful-

Yesterday, I took a detailed look, at the short history of the Villanova / Maryland series.  Although it consists of only three games, all three play a large role in Villanova basketball history...

Also, apparently there will be a fifth game of the history, in 2010-11.  According to the Maryland blog Turtle Waxing's Twitter page, Maryland coach Gary Williams indicated on his radio show that the Terrapins will be coming up 95 to take on the Wildcats next season (presumably at the Wachovia Center.)

(Above - Testudo, the formal name of the Maryland Terrapin.)

Today, I'll analyze Sunday night's contest at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.  This game is a de facto home game for the Terrapins, as it is played near the College Park campus, in suburban Maryland - much in the same way that the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia serves a de facto home court for the Wildcats.

The 15th Annual BB&T Classic

The Wildcats and Terrapins will be battling in the second half of the doubleheader.  The first game, scheduled to tip-off at 5:00 PM Sunday, will match George Washington, located in DC, against Navy, located in Annapolis, Maryland.  Villanova is the only non-DC sphere of influence school involved.

The BB&T Classic was launched as a charity event in 1995, largely through the efforts of the prominent sports journalist John Feinstein, a Duke graduate based in the DC area.  Its original title was the Franklin National Bank Classic.  It has varied in format over the years - sometimes a tournament, other times a doubleheader or tripleheader- but the basics have remained the same.  Both Maryland and George Washington have participated in all 15 BB&T Classics, since its inception.  I speculate that Feinstein, an admirer of the Big Five in Philadelphia, used it as the model for the Classic.

The Viewpoint on the Maryland Terrapins

Maryland coach Gary Williams is from the Philadelphia area.  He grew up in Collingswood, NJ, and attended Big Five games at the Palestra.  He originally hoped to play for Penn, but ultimately ended up playing at Maryland.  A long coaching odyssey ensued, in which he would coach at Boston College and Ohio State before returning to his alma mater.  When he came back to take over the reins, he inherited a program in shambles, as the result of NCAA probation, due to extreme corruption and violations committed by his two predecessors.  In a remarkable resuscitation, he took the Terrapins to their first Final Four in 2001, and their first national title in 2002.

It didn't come easily, though.  Williams arrived in 1990, amidst the wreckage of probation, and his first four seasons, in no small part due to life in the rugged ACC - were very difficult.  The program turned the corner in 1994, when the Terrapins reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in six seasons, as a #10 seed - and made it to the Sweet 16, to boot.

The 1994 Sweet 16 was the first of 11 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances for the Terrapins.  Prior to the 2001 season, Williams had gotten to the Sweet 16 four times in six appearances, but Maryland had received many high seeds, and had yet to get past that round.

In 2001, they reached the Final Four, where they faced archrival Duke.  The Terrapins were not able to hold an enormous first-half lead, and fell to the Blue Devils, the eventual winner.  But they made up for it the following season, when they brought the national championship back to College Park.

The Terrapins returned to the tournament in 2003 and 2004, making it 11 appearances in a row.  In that span were seven Sweet 16s, two Final Fours and a national title.

Maryland's stature as a national titan, however, has eroded over the last five years.  In both 2005 and 2006, Maryland went 19-13 and headed to the NIT.  In 2007, the Terrapins finished the season in the Top 25, garnering a #4 seed in the NCAA tournament, but were eliminated in the second round.  In 2008, Maryland went 8-8 in the ACC, but did not receive an NCAA bid.  And last season, Maryland was very much a bubble team, finishing with a 7-9 record in the ACC, 20-13 overall.  (The previous year, an 8-8 conference mark had only brought a NIT bid).

The Terrapins did secure an at-large bid, last season, sliding in as a #10 seed.  In my personal opinion, when I went through the bracketology, I thought that Maryland deserved the bid, but the Terrapins were certainly sweating out Selection Sunday, with a RPI of 55.  The Terrapins upset #7 California in the first round, but they were eliminated in the second round.by #2 Memphis.

Of course, Maryland remains a very difficult opponent with a very talented coach, and the Terrapins will be a challenge for Villanova.

Maryland, nationally ranked earlier this season, brings a 5-2 record overall into the game.  The Terrapins breezed past three opponents in College Park, walloping Charleston Southern, Fairfield, and New Hampshire by wide margins.  Maryland - then ranked #21 - participated in the EA Sports Maui Invitational, topping host Chaminade in the opener.  The Terrapins subsequently fell to Cincinnati and Wisconsin in the later rounds.  Their last game was a victory @ Indiana, their fifth victory of the year.

I would not put too much stock in four of the victories, as the intriguing Maryland blog Turtle Soup wrote in its basketball preview:

Easy Wins aka Cupcakes aka Teams that if we lose to will cause me to put a hole through my flatscreen TV


(Note: I realize that we have lost to cupcakes in each of the last two years so my flatscreen is not feeling safe right now)

The author included the aforementioned Charleston Southern, Fairfield, New Hampshire, and Chaminade, in the group.  For further reading on Maryland, I'd recommend the full preview, which provides a great overview of the overall expectations and analysis for the Terrapins this season.  

In the preseason ACC poll, the Terrapins were projected to finish fifth in the 12-team conference, which seems to dovetail well with their record and ranking.  The big gun is Greivis Vasquez, a senior guard, who was named pre-season All-Conference, and who came in second in voting for the Preseason ACC Player of the Year. 

Ironically, three of Villanova's most recent players were recruited out of Maryland's backyard - two members of the Class of 2009- Dante Cunningham, now with the Portland Trail Blazers, and his good friend Dwayne Anderson, were both from Silver Spring, Maryland.   Also, current standout Scottie Reynolds is from Herndon, Virginia, on the other side of the Potomac.

Other Previews 

VUHoops has a great collection of links from other sportswriters on Villanova / Maryland...


I Bleed Blue and White has preGame Villanova / Maryland...

And for a fresh, outsider's look on Villanova, I'd recommend this preview from the Washington Post...

I'll have a full recap after the game. 

Also, a hearty congratulations to the Villanova football team, who throttled New Hampshire, 46-7, yesterday, in blizzard-like conditions at Villanova Stadium, to advance to the next round of the national playoffs....

Go Wildcats!

E-mail: villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com

#3 Wildcats / Maryland Terrapins Series History - Two Games in the Magical 1985 National Championship Season - and the First-Ever Game at the Pavilion

To the Wildcat faithful-

As the #3 Wildcats aim to extend their 7-0 record, against the University of Maryland Terrapins, on Sunday night, I thought that it might be interesting, to look at the extremely short series history.  The schools meet for the first time in a generation on Sunday.

(Above- Testudo, the formal name of the Maryland Terrapin)

Although the rivalry is only three games long, two of them rank prominently in the annals of Villanova's storied history.    Two games are inextricably intertwined with the most revered Villanova season - 1984-1985 - which culminated in the national championship, on April 1 of that year.

And the third meeting was... Villanova's first-ever game at the Pavilion, which took place on February 1, 1986, less than a year after the Wildcats won it all, in Lexington, Kentucky, stunning Georgetown in the national title game.

Villanova / Maryland Series History

Despite the fact that the schools are geographically close - the University of Maryland is located in College Park, within the DC media market - they have met only three times.  And only two of those games were planned, in fact.

It's only 131 miles or so, between the two schools, all of it highway on I-95 and I-476, but they didn't meet at all, until 1985.  Ironically, Villanova spent its first 64 seasons of competition without playing Maryland-  but then played the Terrapins twice - once in the regular season, as well as the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, in 1985.

January 27, 1985 - Cole Field House, College Park, MD - Maryland 77, Villanova 74

In the January 28, 1985, edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, writer Jayson Stark - now far better known for his outstanding baseball coverage on ESPN and ESPN.com - concluded his game story, with an eerily prescient paragraph:

Strangely, these two teams had not crossed paths before. And unless the tourney trail brings them back together, there are no immediate plans for them to meet again. So you will have to read what you want into what transpired yesterday at Cole Field House.

Maybe 14,500 people filed out singing hosannas for the grand old ACC. But [Ed}Pinckney knew differently. And if there's any justice, he'll get another shot at this debate come the middle of March.

On January 27, in front of a national television audience - and a spirited,14,500-strong throng at Maryland's beloved Cole Field House - the Terrapins - coached by Lefty Driesell - topped the Wildcats narrowly, 77-74.  The Terrapins improved to 16-5.  The Wildcats, ranked #14 nationally, fell to 13-4.

But Ed Pinckney nearly- singlehandedly - led the Wildcats to glory - prefiguring his later performances in March.  Pinckney scored a career-high 29 points, with 17 of them coming in the final eight minutes, powering a valiant Villanova comeback that fell just short.  The Wildcats, guided by Rollie Massimino, trailed by a dozen points with 9:33 left in the second half- a much larger deficit than today, since there was no three-point line and no shot clock.

Nevertheless, Pinckney almost got them all the way back.  He scored to make it 58-56 with 4:57 to play, and Villanova still trailed only 64-60, with 3:07 to go.  But Pinckney's heroics weren't enough - in addition to the career-high in points, he also dominated the paint, hauling in 16 rebounds.

Perhaps even more amazingly, Pinckney did all of this- despite a bad ankle, a cold, and foul trouble, which limited him to just ten minutes in the first half.  The foul trouble rendered it impossible for him to contain the Terrapins' superstar, junior Len Bias, who exploded for 30 points, a career-high.

March 22, 1985 - Sweet 16, NCAA Tournament, Birmingham, Alabama - Villanova 46, Maryland 43

Rollie Massimino did not want this game played in the 70s, as the January meeting had been.  And so he utilized his vaunted stallball, and the game was played in the 40s.  And there was a different outcome.  The eighth-seeded Wildcats advanced to meet second-seeded North Carolina in the Elite Eight.  Villanova ended the season of #3 seed Maryland, 46-43.

How did they do it?  Massimino clamped down on Bias.  Bias - now the ACC Player of the Year - had posted a career-high 30 points back in January, and he carried a 52-game streak of scoring in double figures, into the contest with Villanova.  The streak didn't make it to 53.

Using the game film of Georgetown / Maryland as his guide, Massimino devised a game plan for Pinckney to shut down Bias, with Pinckney playing the role of Patrick Ewing.  And it worked perfectly.  Bias managed just eight points, on 4/13 shooting from the floor.  In frustration, he committed his third and fourth fouls against Wildcat junior Harold Pressley, in quick succession, further evidence of the effectiveness of the defense.

Villanova trailed 20-19 at halftime, but opened the second half on a 11-0 run to take a 30-20 lead, which they never relinquished - seven of the 10 points were from Pinckney.  The Wildcats didn't shoot any better than Bias - as a team, they were 17/46 from the floor - but it was enough to win.  Pinckney added 16 points of his own, on 5/7 shooting, to his suffocating defensive work.  The only Terrapin to have a fine day was Adrian Branch, who shot 9/19 from the floor to finish with a game-high 21 points - nearly half of Maryland's entire total of 43.  (The other Terrapins combined to shoot 10/27 from the floor.)

Other standouts for Villanova were senior Dwayne McClain (a dozen points) and Pressley (seven points, 10 rebounds).  Another major factor was rebounding; in keeping with Rollie's style, Maryland pulled down only a single offensive rebound in the entire game, being outrebounded 40-29.  (Villanova had only six more points than rebounds!)

And the rest is history. The Wildcats went on to sweep their next three opponents - North Carolina, Memphis State, and Georgetown, capturing its first national championship.

February 1, 1986 - The Pavilion - Villanova 64, Maryland 62

The following season saw the return game of the home-and-home series, as the Terrapins visited the Pavilion in its inaugural campaign.

The Wildcats had lost enormous experience in Pinckney, McClain, and Gary McLain, but brought a 14-9 record into the game; Maryland, which still had Bias, now a senior- took a 10-9 mark to the Pavilion.  Bias scored 25 points, with 17 of them coming in the first half.  Villanova was able to contain him, though, in the second half, even without the departed Pinckney.  Bias took only three shots in the final 15 minutes.

It was a thriller for those 6,400 Villanovans fortunate enough to be there.  The first half witnessed ten lead changes and four ties.  The Wildcats took a 37-29 lead into the locker room, the result of a 8-0 run, sparked by a technical foul on Driesell. 

In the second half, led by Bias, Maryland rallied to take a 48-44 advantage.  Villanova tied it, and then the teams kept trading baskets.  The game was tied at every two-point increment from 48 to 62.  Maryland's Keith Gatlin gave the Terps their final lead, 62-60, on a long jumper with 1:29 to play.  The Wildcats' freshman (and eventual star) Doug West tied it on a layup, assisted by Mark Plansky, to retie it at 62 with 1:13 left.

After Maryland drained nearly all the time off the then-45 second shot clock, Gatlin missed and Plansky grabbed the rebound, and Villanova called timeout with 28 seconds left, to hold for the last shot.  The plan was for Kenny Wilson to get it to Pressley, and it worked - Pressley had a uncontested layup for the winning basket.  Maryland pushed the ball up without calling timeout, but Wilson forced a turnover, ending the game.

As Stark put it, in his lead in the Inquirer story:

It is going to be their home from now into the 21st century. But as many times as the Villanova Wildcats may trot out onto the hardwood floor of the John E. duPont Pavilion in the future, they are going to have a hard time topping the show they staged yesterday to open the joint.

They played a game yesterday that any team and any arena in America would have been proud to call its own.

The rafters shook. The tempers raged. And as each minute ticked by, the drama welled larger and larger in the jittery stomachs of all 6,400 folks in the building.

And, finally, they ground on down to the spectacular finish you could see coming all day. They finished it with Harold Pressley scoring inside with 9 seconds to play, and then with freshman guard Kenny Wilson poking the ball away from Maryland's John Johnson with 2 seconds left.

They finished it with Villanova on top, 64-62. And when it was over, you had to hand it to old Roland V. Massimino, the great coach and theatrical- production wiz. When this guy opens a building, he sure doesn't mess around.

And so, in front of 6,400 fans, Villanova hung on for a nailbiting 64-62 victory, one of many Pavilion victories to come over the next three-plus decades.  It was the first of Villanova's now-200+ victories, in the on-campus venue.

More on the 2009 game with Maryland to come - and check out the other fine Villanova blogs on the sidebar.

Go Wildcats!

#3 Wildcats, Pena Incinerate Drexel Dragons, 77-58, At Pavilion; Pena Sets Career High With 19 Points

To the Wildcat faithful-

The last time the Drexel Dragons roared into the Pavilion, the underdog Dragons, ironically, became the dragon-slayers.  On December 9, 2006, Drexel stunned Villanova, defeating the Wildcats for the first time ever, after 17 losses, dating all the way back to 1924.

Had the Dragons pulled off another upset - this time over the third-ranked Wildcats - it would have been national news.  But it was not to be.  This, year it was the Dragons themselves, who were slain.

The #3 Wildcats had little trouble, in vanquishing their third straight crosstown rival, on Wednesday at the Pavilion.  An overmatched Drexel Dragons squad fell, 77-58. 

The Wildcats improved to a perfect 7-0 on the young season.  Drexel fell to 3-5 overall.  Villanova now owns victories over Penn, La Salle, and Drexel, among the Greater Philadelphia programs.

The game was ugly in the early going.  Drexel made just five of its first 26 shots; Villanova just six of its first 24.  But 'Nova led, 24-13, nonetheless, despite being outrebounded 20-18...

Villanova nearly doubled up Drexel at halftime, taking a comfortable 34-18 lead into the break. 

Inside the Box Score

Antonio Pena - seeing more and more minutes in the paint, with the news of Mouphtauo Yarou's hepatitis - recorded a double-double.  Pena finished with 19 points and 11 boards, to lead the Wildcats in both categories.  The 19 points represented a career-high for the forward, shouldering more and more of the load underneath.

However, Pena was far from the only Wildcat, to distinguish himself tonight.  Taylor King continues to impress, coming off the bench.  The Duke transfer dropped in 16 points on 6/11 shooting, including 4/6 from beyond the arc.  King added five rebounds, a pair of steals and a blocked shot - and did it all, in just 23 minutes of action.

Scottie Reynolds had an outstanding game in the backcourt - and he was the only Wildcat remaining, from the aforementioned Drexel upset, in December 2006.  (He played 20 minutes, was 0/5 from the floor, and scored a single point.)  Times certainly have changed, since he was a freshman: Reynolds is now enshrined in Villanova history, as a result of The Shot that catapulted the Wildcats to the Final Four, last March.

Tonight, the senior star scored 14 points on 4/7 shooting, but he really filled in the box score: Reynolds had eight rebounds, six assists, a steal, and just two turnovers in 27 minutes.

This worked out well, as neither Corey had his shooting touch this evening.  Fisher had a very rough shooting night, making only one of his six attempts and finishing with five points.  But Fisher came up big in other areas: five assists and four steals, against one turnover in 25 minutes.

For Stokes, it was largely the same - poor shooting, contributing in other ways.  In 30 minutes, the Bayonne Bomber was anything but: 2/8 from the floor, finishing with seven points.  But Stokes added five rebounds, an assist and a block.

Looking at the role players:

Along with Pena, Maurice Sutton will have to play a lot of minutes in Mouph's absence.  Sutton plugged away tonight, chewing up 23 minutes underneath and providing some interior defense.  Sutton finished with two points, three rebounds, one steal, a turnover (and most importantly) three blocked shots.

Dominic Cheek received 20 minutes tonight, and his game was respectable: three points on 1/4 shooting, four rebounds, two turnovers, one steal, and two blocks.

Maalik Wayns, in 17 minutes, provided some offensive spark: seven points on 3/4 shooting.  He did commit three turnovers against one assist, though.

Isaiah Armwood saw 7 minutes, had two points on 1/2 shooting, and one rebound.

Russell Wooten - the only walk-on Wildcat, now that Jason Colenda has opted to leave the team - saw 2 minutes of action, to Jay Wright's credit.  Wooten scored two points on his lone shot and grabbed a rebound.  How it happened: with 16 seconds to play, Wooten rebounded a miss by Cheek, and laid it in to get in the scoring tally.  Congratulations to Wooten - the Pavilion crowd went wild.

As a team, Villanova blocked eight shots and committed only 15 fouls.  The low foul total is partly attributable to the lopsided score, but given the foul trouble the team encountered regularly en route to the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic title, it's an encouraging sign.

Shooting accuracy, both overall and from three-point range, was also a strength for the Wildcats.  Villanova was extremely accurate: 24/52 (46.2%) from the floor, and a stellar 7/15 (46.7%) from beyond the arc.  The Wildcats were also strong at the foul line: 22/30 (73.3%).  The big star at the line, ironically, was Pena, who was 11/16 there.

The Drexel Side of the Box Score

There were some fine performances.  Derrick Thomas (yes, the same name as the legendary Kansas City Chiefs linebacker) had a career-high 23 points to lead all scorers, in only 26 minutes.  On a minute-per-minute basis, Chris Fouch was even more impressive.  Fouch came off the bench to score 20 points on 6/9 shooting, including 5/8 from three-point range.  He added two rebounds and four assists, and did it all in just 20 minutes.  Samme Givens just missed a double-double, with nine points and 10 rebounds in 33 minutes.

What really killed Drexel tonight, was field goal and free throw accuracy.  The Dragons were only 18/58 (31%) from the floor, a credit to the Villanova defense.  But the Dragons were also 11-20 (55%) from the line, which Villanova, obviously, had nothing to do with.

The Game Action

Villanova raced out to a 11-0 start, and it appeared that the game would not be close, initially.  But the game stayed close for a while, because neither team scored much, early.  Drexel rallied, although the closest Drexel got was an 18-13 margin, which came after a triple from Gouch with 4:50 to go in the first half.

The Villanova lead ballooned to as much as 28 points, in the second half; that zenith came with 9:28 to play, after a pair of free throws from Pena.  The Wildcats led at that point, 58-30.  It's quite a game when the opponent takes 30:32 of the game just to get to 30 points, and then scores 28 points in the final 9:28, but that's what happened.

The final score - a 19-point Villanova victory - is actually a bit misleading.  The Wildcats still held a 26-point lead - 73-47 - after a triple by Wayns with 2:24 to go.  Drexel ended the game on an 11-4 run to pull to within 19.  Two of the four Villanova points came memorably, from Wooten.

Closing Thoughts: Drexel Vis-a-Vis the Big Five

In the preview, I discussed the question of why Drexel was not included in the Big Five, back in the 1950s.  During the 1990s, when Villanova had withdrawn from the full round-robin and played only two City Series foes a year, a not-uncommon battle cry within the Greater Philadelphia sports community was "Kick out Villanova and bring in Drexel!"

Drexel certainly would have taken the deal.  I speculate, however, that the idea was never seriously considered.  Villanova's decision to withdraw for a decade, was a complete and unmitigated disaster, and not just in retrospect.  I give the school great credit for recognizing the mistake and correcting it after a decade.

However, looking at it from the perspective of the other four schools, there was no way that they were going to cede their shot at Villanova - even if it was only every other year - for the right to play Drexel every year.  During Villanova's absence, the other four continued to play each other annually, although not all counted as "official City Series" games.  St. Joseph's, La Salle, and Temple were all in the Atlantic 10, and would have played each other annually, even if they didn't want to.  Drexel appeared regularly on some of their schedules, anyhow...

This was Villanova's last home game until Christmastime, on December 23.  They will next face the ACC's Maryland Terrapins on the road, on December 6.  I will have a full preview...

Go Wildcats!

#3 Wildcats Host Drexel Dragons at Pavilion - Dragons Try to Make It Two in a Row - A Preview

To the Villanova Wildcat faithful-

The Wildcats - exalted to #3 in Monday's AP poll - will host the crosstown rival Drexel Dragons at the Pavilion, on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM... In terms of television, unfortunately, the game will only be available on Villanova: All-Access....  and of course, Ryan Fannon and Whitey Rigsby on radio...

Drexel hopes to defeat the Wildcats for the second straight time.  After losing all 17 previous contests to Villanova, the Dragons scorched the Pavilion with an upset, back in December 2006... here's my game story...

A preview of tonight's game...

The #3 Wildcats take a perfect 6-0 mark into the game.  It will be their last home game for three weeks, however.  The program suffered a setback recently, as reported by The Villanovan Sports Blog, with the discovery that freshman center Mouphtaou Yarou has contracted hepatitis B.  (This was widely rumored, but not officially confirmed by Villanova until yesterday.)  Of course, we wish him a speedy recovery.  There is no timetable for him to return.

Looking at Drexel...

James E. "Bruiser" Flint

The Dragons carry a 3-4 record to the Pavilion.  They are coached by James E. "Bruiser" Flint, a 1987 graduate of St. Joseph's, who became an assistant to John Calipari at Massachusetts, during the Minutemen's heyday in the mid-1990s.  Massachusetts reached the Final Four in 1996, after being ranked #1 for most of the year, but fell to the other superpower that year, Rick Pitino's Kentucky, in the Final Four.

Calipari resigned after that season, and Flint replaced him.  He could not replicate Calipari's record, though, in spite of the brand-new Mullins Center.  Flint got the Minutemen to the NCAA tournament in each of his first two seasons, but they were eliminated in the first round each time.  In his third season, 1998-99, they missed postseason play completely.  After a NIT bid in 2000, they missed postseason play once more in 2001, after which Flint was fired.

This is where Flint intersects with Villanova history.  While Flint was at the helm in Massachusetts, the teams played a home-and-home series, with Villanova triumphing at the Pavilion, 66-55, on December 15, 1998.  Massachusetts won the return game, on December 16, 1999, by a single point, 52-51.  It was widely believed (and accurately, as it turned out), that Flint would be fired, unless Massachusetts reached the NCAA tournament during 2000-01.

Coincidentally, at the same time, Lappas's position at Villanova was becoming untenable, as the team had missed the NCAA tournament by one game in both 2000 and 2001.  According to unconfirmed reports, Villanova had privately told Lappas that if he didn't make it to the tournament in 2002, he would be fired.  Lappas - knowing that with much of his talent leaving, the odds of that wouldn't be high - decided that he would be interested in seeking the vacancy at Massachusetts, succeeding the ousted Flint.

And so, everyone won - Lappas ended up at another program, Villanova didn't have to buy out his contract.  And most importantly, Villanova was able to offer the job to Wright, who was on the verge of leaving Hofstra to take the head coaching job at Rutgers.

Flint decided to return to Philadelphia, where he had grown up and also played at SJU.  (When SJU's John Griffin abruptly resigned after the 1995 season, SJU narrowed its coaching choices to Phil Martelli and Flint, and ultimately went with Martelli.)  He was introduced as the new coach at Drexel, succeeding Bill Herrion, in 2001-02, the same year Wright began at Villanova.

Flint has done well at Drexel, and this is now his ninth season.  In his first six seasons, he piloted the Dragons to four NIT bids, an impressive feat for a CAA program.  His seventh season, 2007-08, was pretty rough; the Dragons suffered a 20-loss season, going 12-20 overall and 5-13 in the CAA.  But last year, they rebounded, going 15-13 overall, 10-8 CAA, although they did not receive a NIT bid.

Flint vs. Wright - The Best-Dressed Coaches in the Land?

Flint has always been among the - and I would say the most - well-dressed coaches in all of college basketball.  As far as I can tell, he has never coached against Wright before.  Accordingly, Wright faces an opposing coach in Flint, whose wardrobe rivals, and arguably surpasses, his own, in terms of quality and style.  Regrettably, with the game not on TV tonight, I'll have to wait till the 11 PM news to comment on this major confrontation on the sidelines.

2009-10 Season So Far - 3-4 overall

Drexel dropped its first three games, as the Dragons struggled to ignite their breath.  They fell @ SJU, Flint's alma mater, in the season opener, and the inaugural game for SJU's renovated Hagan Field House.  They also lost @ Niagara and @ Rutgers.

They then made the shortest road trip in all of college basketball - namely, the Penn / Drexel rivalry.  The Dragons crossed the street to the Palestra, and defeated the Quakers, 58-49, for their first win.  They then won home games against Vermont (Rollie Massimino's alma mater) and Toledo, before losing to Cornell on Sunday.  Tonight will be Drexel's third battle against a Big Five member.


Outlook

This is certainly a game that Villanova should win easily.  Drexel has losses to Niagara, Rutgers, and Cornell, and for the third-ranked team in the nation, playing on its true home court, it's a must-win.  But of course, when local teams are involved, one never knows...

Villanova / Drexel Series History

Villanova won the first 17 meetings in the series.  One of the sole dubious distinctions, in Jay Wright's eight-plus seasons at the helm on the Main Line, is that he is the first coach to lose to Drexel.  This is even more ironic, in light of the fact that Wright began his coaching career as an assistant at Drexel, under the late Eddie Burke.  (Wright once mentioned his pleasant memories of participating in Burke's "Dragon Wagon", a means of publicizing the University City school's program.)

The series is nearly as old as Villanova basketball itself.  The Wildcats launched their program under Michael Saxe in 1920-21; the Wildcats met the Dragons for a home-and-home series, in just their fourth series of intercollegiate play.  On February 6, 1924, the host Wildcats defeated Drexel, 29-25; on March 5, in the return game at Drexel, the Wildcats swept the series, triumphing 25-22.

With two close games, the teams probably decided that it was worth facing each other the following season.  However, the game was incredibly lopsided; on March 7, 1925, the Wildcats genuinely slew the Dragons, by a 50-11 score (not a typo).  Perhaps due to this inequity, the series then lay dormant, until the 1950s.

The series was revived for four years during that decade, with two home-and-home series.  The Wildcats managed to win all four, now 7-0 against Drexel.  The fourth and final game was on January 21, 1959, @ Drexel.  The Wildcats cruised to a 62-46 victory.

For reasons which aren't entirely clear, the series ended for the next two decades.  The formation of the Big Five in 1955-56 may have had something to do with it, although Villanova was still playing Drexel in the third and fourth seasons of the Big Five.

The series resumed on February 4, 1980, after a Rip Van Winkle-esque 20 years' passage.  Rollie Massimino guided the Wildcats to a 94-76 victory @ Jake Nevin Fieldhouse.

Five years later, halfway through the 1980s, the teams began meeting regularly, playing six games from 1985 to 1990.  During the Wildcats' magical 1985 NCAA championship season, they faced Drexel for the first - and only - time at the Palestra, winning 63-55.

The series then shifted to the then-brand-new Pavilion, where it has remained ever since.  During Christmas time in 1986 (the Pavilion's second season), the visiting Dragons fell, 62-50.  On February 22, 1988 - a year which saw the Wildcats reach the Elite Eight - Villanova won, 90-73.

The Dragons would visit the Pavilion for the next three years, culminating in a Thanksgiving time victory by the Wildcats on November 26, 1990, 92-71.  Villanova had now won all 15 contests.  However, the series would now lie dormant, until Wright became head coach after the 2000-01 season, succeeding Steve Lappas.

Drexel's reappearance at the Pavilion, after a dozen years had passed, likely had a great deal to do with Wright's gratitude to the Dragons, as well as his desire to rebuild Villanova's relationships within the Greater Philadelphia basketball community.  (Villanova had just announced its intention to restore the full round-robin City Series, prior to the 1999-2000 season.)

Accordingly, on November 22, 2002 - the beginning of Wright's second season on the Main Line - the Wildcats breezed by the Dragons, 64-41.  It was Drexel's fewest points against Villanova since 1959.

The next meeting came as a surprise.  The Dragons made an unplanned appearance at the Pavilion on St. Patrick's Day, 2004, in the opening round of the NIT.  It was the first time that the schools had met in a postseason tournament.  The Wildcats won, 85-70, Villanova's record was now a sterling 17-0.  My game story - Wildcats Slay Dragons, 85-70, in NIT Opener...

In 2005-06, Villanova made a Sweet 16 run, and the Dragons reappeared on the regular-season schedule for the first time in three years.  Although the Wildcats had lost key players such as Allan Ray and Randy Foye, it did not seem likely that the 18th game of the series, scheduled for December 9, 2006, would be much trouble.

But, ironically, Wright became the first Villanova coach to fall to the flames of the Dragons.  In one of the biggest victories in Drexel basketball history, the Dragons stunned the Wildcats, 81-76, at the Pavilion... 

That was the last meeting between the schools, until this evening.

Speaking of that...

A Logical and Frequent Question - Why Isn't Drexel in the Big Five?

It's time to address that.  Here is the best answer I can offer, although it's not definitive...

Drexel did not become part of the Big Five, because it was not playing big-time basketball at the time it was proclaimed.

This, to me, is the most plausible answer.  It would have made more sense to include the Dragons, if they had been.  Any conference arrangement is necessarily awkward, if it has an odd number of teams (ask the Big East!)  An inclusion of Drexel would have solved that problem.  This was particularly problematic due to the fact that there were frequent doubleheaders, and six teams would have been easier to schedule than a round-robin of five teams.

Further evidence is the fact that shortly after the Big Five was formed, Villanova was no longer playing Drexel - and it would have been logical to continue playing the Dragons, if they had been a big-time program.

Worth noting: In 2002, Drexel was invited to participate in the Big Five Classic at the Palestra, which made a great deal of sense, given their membership in the basketball community and the fact that an even number of teams was needed to stage the tripleheader.

The Drexel Dragon - "Mario the Magnificent"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tncowart/ / CC BY 2.0

Personally, the Dragon is one of the best mascots in college basketball.  Surprisingly, given its status as a fierce, mythical creature, it is not widespread as a nickname.  I'm not aware of anyone, other than Drexel, who uses it.  If you visit the University Campus, there is a very nice sculpture of the Dragon at the southeast corner of 33rd and Market Streets.  Unveiled in December 2002, it's worth checking out on your way to or from the Palestra.  (Its official name is "Mario the Magnificent", as a courtesy to a prominent alumnus who had that first name.)

I'll have a full recap after the game...

Other detailed previews, worth checking out-

derp @ VUHoops - A Look at Drexel

Chris @ I Bleed Blue and White - preGame: #3 Villanova vs. Drexel

Go Wildcats!

Questions, comments, information - e-mail: villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com

I Bleed Blue and White and The Villanovan Sports Blog Reporting Mouph May Be Done For Season

To the Villanova Wildcat faithful-

The outstanding Villanova blog I Bleed Blue and White is reporting that freshman center Mouphtou Yarou may be done for the season...  Yesterday, this is what Chris had to say in "Mouph gone for the year":

It appears that all the smoke surrounding Mouphtaou Yarou has quickly turned into fire. Rumors were abound this morning on campus that the big freshman was out for the year, but many held out hope that it wasn’t true. While we still are waiting an official response from the school, Jeff Goodman of FoxSports has gone on record as saying a source has told him that Yarou is gone for the entire 2009-2010 season due to the viral infection that was first discovered in Puerto Rico...

David Cassilo at The Villanovan Sports Blog, adds in "Mouph out for the season?":

As you know by now rumors are circulating that Mouphtaou Yarou is possibly out for the season.  As of this afternoon, the athletics department had no new information about Yarou.  After Saturday’s game against La Salle, Jay Wright said the team was probably receiving Yarou’s test results on Monday (today).

My two cents:

Assuming that Yarou is in fact out for the season, it isn't clear as to whether he would be permitted to take 2009-10 as a medical redshirt season, thus permitting him four full seasons of eligibility.  My understanding - at least the way it used to be - was that if the injury occurred early in the season, and the player had participated in only a small number of games (I'm not sure of the number), that the NCAA at least considers granting the redshirt year.

In this situation, although Villanova has played six games, Yarou only participated in the two victories over Fairleigh Dickinson and Penn.  He didn't play at all, in the three games of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic, or against La Salle on Saturday, so he would seem to fall clearly into this category...

A preview of the game against the Drexel Dragons, tomorrow night at the Pavilion, will be up later...

Go Wildcats!

E-mail: villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com

#4 Wildcats Win 8th Straight Over City Series Rival La Salle, 81-63, at Pavilion

To the Wildcat faithful-

The #4 Villanova Wildcats continued their juggernaut, within the Philadelphia Big Five, on Saturday afternoon, at the Pavilion.  Villanova had no trouble routing crosstown rival La Salle, 81-63, for the eighth consecutive time.  La Salle's last victory had come on November 27, 2001, right after Jay Wright had taken over for Steve Lappas.  The eight-game winning streak by Villanova represents the longest streak of success for either team, in this particular Big Five rivalry.

It does seem odd, however, focusing on basketball on Thanksgiving weekend.  The holiday is so closely associated with football - as it should be.  This weekend is really too early, to be thinking about the hardwood.

But the 6,500 Pavilion partisans did not let their feasting (both on Thursday and throughout this weekend) on turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes, inter alia, deter them from turning out in large numbers to support their Wildcats, in City Series play.

The Wildcats remain unbeaten in City Series play, at 2-0; La Salle fell to 0-1.  The Wildcats also improved their overall record to 6-0, while La Salle dropped to 3-2.  Villanova is now also well on its way, to sweeping its City Series rivals for the third straight season - only St. Joseph's and Temple stand in its path.  Villanova has now won 20 of its last 21 contests, against Big Five opponents.

La Salle fell to 5-4 at the Pavilion, all-time, an exceptionally strong record there, as it is a very hostile environment for visitors.  In fact, the Explorers won five of their first six games there.  However, Villanova has now won three in a row at the Pavilion.

Four Wildcats reached double figures.  Scottie Reynolds and Antonio Pena each contributed 14 points, while Corey Fisher added 13 points, and freshman Dominic Cheek came off the bench to score 10 points in just 23 minutes of action.

For La Salle, Kimmani Barrett had a game-high 17 points on 7/10 shooting from the floor.  Two Explorers also recorded double-doubles: Aaric Murray, with 15 points and 14 rebounds (nine on the offensive end), and Jerrel Williams had 15 points and 16 rebounds (a dozen on the offensive end of the glass).  Williams struggled, however, despite the lofty numbers.  He went just 3/11 from the floor, as well as shooting only 9/19 from the foul line.

La Salle missed all seven of its initial three-point attempts, and never really got on track.  The Wildcats enjoyed a solid 38-30 lead at intermission.  In the second half, it was only marginally competitive.  The closest that La Salle got to Villanova, was early in the second half.

Villanova's lead was just a half-dozen points, 45-39, shortly after play resumed.  But the Wildcats turned on the jets, launching an 16-5 run that effectively ended the contest.  The Wildcats now led 61-44, with just under nine minutes to play; La Salle was never able to close the gap to single digits, the rest of the way.

Next Up for the Wildcats

Villanova will take on another Philadelphia team (although not a Big Five member), the Drexel Dragons, at the Pavilion, on Wednesday, December 2.  Check back for a full preview...

Of course, I hope all of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving weekend...

Go Wildcats!

E-mail: villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com

#4 Wildcats Tangle with La Salle for 59th Time - Preview of the City Series Contest

To the Wildcat faithful-

The fourth-ranked Wildcats (5-0 overall, 1-0 City Series) tangle with ancient rival La Salle (3-1 overall, 0-0 City Series) for the 59th time, on Saturday at the Pavilion..  Tip-off is at 3:30 PM, and the game will be televised by ESPN2.

Villanova has swept all of its City Series opponents in the last two seasons, and can do so again this year.  The Wildcats are 1-0 in City Series play, after crushing Penn less than two weeks ago.  Villanova has also won 19 of its last 20 games in City Series play.

A Year Ago


Last season, on December 14, 2008, #12 Villanova made its first-ever visit to La Salle's newly-renovated Tom Gola Arena.  Despite the hostile environment in the on-campus venue, the Wildcats were able to triumph, 70-59, after jumping out to a 36-26 lead at halftime. The two leading scorers for Villanova are still here - Scottie Reynolds and Corey Stokes.  Reynolds had 13 points on 5-12 shooting, while Stokes scored a game-high 18 points on 6-10 shooting.

There was also an incredible defensive performance from Dante Cunningham - in addition to scoring nine points, the senior forward had, in an interesting bit of statistical symettry, had four defensive rebounds, four steals, and blocked four La Salle shots.  Corey Fisher came off the bench, to deal six assists without a single turnover, and also threw in eight points in 26 minutes.


For La Salle, Kimmani Barrett and Rodney Green both led the way with 16 points each, the only two Explorers in double figures.

La Salle finished the season 18-13 overall, and 9-7 in the Atlantic 10, but did not receive a NIT bid; the fact that the Explorers lost in overtime to St. Louis in the Atlantic 10 tournament's opening round may have affected the NIT's decision.

Villanova / La Salle Series History

Villanova leads, all-time, 32-26; as formal Big Five opponents, the Wildcats lead 30-25. The Wildcats have won the last seven contests, and will try to make it eight in a row against the Explorers on Saturday.  Villanova's seven-game winning streak is the longest either school has ever had, in this ancient rivalry.  The Wildcats have also won 11 of the last 13 contests, going back to 1994.

La Salle's last victory came on November 27, 2001, in Jay Wright's first season at the helm.  The Explorers won, 61-58, in overtime at the Pavilion. 

The respective campuses are separated by less than 14 miles.  But surprisingly, prior to the formation of the Big Five in 1955-56, the two geographically close Catholic colleges had faced each other only three times, in two seasons - 1933-34 and 1934-35.

The Wildcats won the first meeting, at what is now Jake Nevin Fieldhouse, on March 6, 1934, a close 25-23 victory.  There were two games the following year.  The first, at the now-defunct Philadelphia Civic Center (then known as Convention Hall), the Wildcats edged La Salle, 22-21.  A month later, at La Salle, the Explorers won, 29-23.  The series would lay dormant for another generation, however.

The City Series was officially proclaimed in 1955-56.  For 45 seasons, the Blue and White would meet the Blue and Gold every year.  From 1956-1983, every game was at the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, the home of Big Five basketball for much of its history.

The series hit its nadir in the 1990s, due to three factors- two from La Salle, and one from Villanova.  La Salle's unfortunate and disastrous decisions to both temporarily join a midwestern conference, and play all of their home games in the cavernous old Spectrum, had devastating effects on the success of its basketball program, from which even now, it has yet to fully recover.

From Villanova's end, the horrendous decision to withdraw from the full round-robin, for the entire decade of the 1990s, meant both the end of cherished traditions and justified animosity from Philadelphia sports fans.  As for Villanova / La Salle - they  were playing only every other year, in the Spectrum, and there was no appropriate atmosphere for this particular Big Five rivalry. 

In the 21st century, the rivalry began to recover, after La Salle had abandoned the Spectrum, and Villanova - to its inestimable credit - decided not only to resume the full round-robin in the City Series, but to agree to some games returning to the Palestra.  Since 2000, all nine Villanova  /  La Salle games have been at the Pavilion, the Palestra, or, for the first tim last season, La Salle's on-campus Tom Gola Arena.

One quirk in the rivalry has been La Salle's remarkable record at the Pavilion, since it opened in 1986.  The Explorers won their first four games in the Pavilion, from 1986-90.  After a decade's absence, the Explorers returned to the Pavilion, and lost, in 2000.  But they won in November 2001, giving them five victories in six appearances, a rare feat for any opponent.  Villanova has won the last two at the Pavilion, in December 2005 and December 2007, but La Salle is still 5-3 in the building,  That mark, as far as I can tell, the best record of any Villanova opponent, Big Five or otherwise, who has played enough games there to be meaningful.

Over the last two decades, Villanova's dominance in the series obscures the fact that the schools, at one time, were both roughly equivalent as basketball powers.  La Salle hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1991, but it was a powerhouse for a long time.  To illustrate - Villanova has won 11 of the last 13 games, but leads the overall series by only six.  La Salle led, all-time, until Villanova's victory in December 2003, at the Palestra.

Go Wildcats!

Happy Thanksgiving...

"Back in Blue" - #5 Wildcats Are 2009 Puerto Rico Tip-Off Champions! Villanova Tops Mississippi, 79-67, in Title Game

To the Wildcat faithful-

"Back in Blue"

The #5 Wildcats were, in fact, "back in blue", in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday night. They sported their dark blue road jerseys for the first time this season - and emerged as the 2009 O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off Champions!  

The Wildcats overcame an albatross of 22 turnovers to win by a dozen points, defeating Mississippi, 79-67, in the championship game.  With victories over George Mason, #19 Dayton, and now Mississippi, Villanova improved to 6-0 overall.

By coincidence, the venerable Australian hard-rock band AC/DC played San Juan last night - clarifying to me, why games were scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Sunday, but not Saturday.  (The phrase in the headline refers to AC/DC's famous 1980 album, "Back in Black".)

This fact came to light during the ESPN2 broadcast, which demonstrated via film, how quickly the crew at the Coliseo could transform the building, from holiday basketball tournament, to arena rock venue, and back again, in 36 hours.  I would not be shocked, if the reverberations from the Saturday night concert, were still bouncing around the cavernous Coliseum, 24 hours later.

Well, to paraphrase AC/DC, Villanova really did shake the Coliseo all night long, to the extent that the near-empty building could be shaken, under the circumstances.  (I'm not a fan of the band, but there are very few opportunities to integrate AC/DC, into a Villanova basketball game story...)

The leading Coliseo-shaker for Villanova was Antonio Pena, who had a tremendous tournament.  When it came time to "Shoot to Thrill", Pena delivered.  The redshirt junior finished with a superb 17 points on 8-13 shooting, and a stellar 16 rebounds, including six on the offensive end.


Scottie Reynolds led the Wildcat scorers with 21 points, on 6-16 shooting, 7-10 from the line, and 2-4 from three-point range - in only 26 minutes.  The impressive output was tempered, though, by six turnovers compared to a lone assist.

The Return of the "Bayonne Bomber"

The other main story line was the most-welcome return of the "Bayonne Bomber" - Corey Stokes.  Stokes had finished the first two games with a combined 2-23 shooting performance in Puerto Rico, entering tonight, but he returned to form with a vengeance.  The junior scored 18 points on 5-9 shooting, and was a major factor in keying the Villanova victory.

Rounding out the honors list for Villanova, was the performance of Duke transfer Taylor King.  King continues to impress in his first season on the floor, as he narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with nine points and 11 rebounds, in 31 minutes of action.

To be certain, this was not an aesthetically-pleasing game to watch.  Mississippi took even worse care of the ball than the Wildcats, finishing with 23 turnovers- and any game where the teams combine for 45 turnovers is ugly.  Villanova led 27-23 at halftime, after starting the game on a 8-0 run.  The Wildcats pulled away late in the second-half, when the lead widened into double-digits.

However, the Wildcats grew sloppy, and a couple of three-point plays later, Mississippi - although still down by a considerable margin - was close enough that Rebels coach Andy Kennedy opted to foul, thus prolonging their inevitable defeat.  This decision only added to the already-low aesthetic value of the contest.

For Mississippi, Chris Warren had a game-high 24 points, with Terrico White adding 14 points and nine rebounds, and Murphy Holloway also reaching double figures with 10 points.  One of the key factors was inside play - Villanova's scoring output in the paint was double that of Mississippi, 36-18.

Props to the George Mason Pep Band - The "Green Machine"

A final note to this memorable holiday tournament, are the props that must be given to the George Mason pep band.

They apparently were the only pep band to make the trip, and ESPN2 noted that they remained in the Coliseo for the entire tournament, performing and entertaining the small crowds.  Their dynamic, sunglass-wearing bandleader got plenty of face time on-camera. 

In an otherwise empty building, the intrepid GMU pep band, known as the "Green Machine",did their best to create at least a semblance of proper collegiate basketball entertainment, playing at timeouts during the other games.  It undoubtedly made it more pleasant for those who made the trip, and it certainly did for us viewers at home, as it was good to hear the music in what otherwise would have been a virtually empty building.

It was also funny to hear them chant to each other, "George" and"Mason", back and forth, during garbage time of our game, when their team wasn't one of the two on the court.  At one point late in the game, the ESPN2 cameras showed one particular vantage-point, from behind one basket, where you saw nobody there- other than the full strength, green-and-gold clad pep band from George Mason.  The band members had undoubtedly had a great time, and highly memorable experiences, on this trip to sunny Puerto Rico - which, in the final analysis, is what college athletics is supposed to be all about.

So props to the GMU pep band, for their commendable, spirited entertainment this week.

Villanova / Mississippi Series History

This was only the second-ever meeting between the schools, and the first in the regular season.  Villanova - although a decade late - finally avenged its narrow loss to Mississippi in the 1999 NCAA tournament, where the Rebels edged the Wildcats, 72-70, in the first round in Milwaukee.


Next Up for the Wildcats

The Wildcats will now enjoy nearly a week off, through Thanksgiving.  They do not take the floor again until Saturday afternoon, November 28, when they host City Series rival La Salle at the Pavilion.  I will be posting a comprehensive preview...

And don't forget to take a look at the other Villanova blogs on the sidebar, for their respective takes on the Wildcats' Puerto Rico Tip-Off Championship...

Go Wildcats!

E-mail - villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com

Preview - Puerto Rico Tip-Off Championship - #5 Wildcats vs. Mississippi, 8 PM, Sunday - ESPN2

To the Wildcat faithful-

A preview of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off Championship, which will take place at approximately 8 PM, on Sunday, November 22, on ESPN2... (fans will no longer have to hunt around digital cable to find ESPNU...)

The Viewpoint on the Mississippi Rebels

2009-10 Record - 4-0 overall

#5 Villanova (4-0 overall) will be facing a challenge from another unbeaten squad.  Mississippi has not faced difficulty in its four games thus far, all of which it has won, by double-digit margins.

The Rebels opened the season with two home games in Oxford, Mississippi, crushing two low-major opponents.  They walloped Arkansas-Little Rock, 92-64, to open the season on Friday the 13th - see the previous entry on triskaidekaphobia.  Three days later, they had no trouble annihilating Alabama State, 90-53.

In Thursday's quarterfinal of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic, the Rebels breezed past once-powerful Indiana, 89-71.  Yesterday, in the other semifinal, Mississippi cruised to a 72-58 victory over Kansas State, after leading by just two at halftime.

2008-09 season - 16-15 overall, 7-9 SEC, 5th place finish in the six-team Western Division.

The Rebels fell in the first round of the SEC tournament in Tampa, against Kentucky, and did not qualify for postseason play.  As a major-conference team with a winning record overall and a respectable record in SEC play, it was surprising that the Rebels did not receive an invitation from the NIT.  It's even more puzzling, in light of the fact that Mississippi had reached the NIT semifinals in 2007-08 (more on that below...)

The team was plagued with injuries, but benefited from the impact of freshman Terrico White, named SEC Freshman of the Year.  White considered leaving early for the NBA, but ulimately withdrew his name, a break for the Rebels.  They did lose one other key player, though.  David Huertas, a guard who averaged over 18 points/game last season, gave up his senior year to play professionally, ironically in Puerto Rico.

The other standout for Ole Miss is Chris Warren, a junior guard who missed half of last season due to a knee injury, but had averaged 15.8 pts/game as a freshman, and 19.6 last year before his injury.  Warren had 27 points in the victory over Kansas State on Friday.

Junior guard Eniel Polynice also missed almost all of last season due to injury, but has played well thus far - he's scored in double figures in three of the last four games.  Sophomore forward Murphy Holloway has exploded in Puerto Rico, scoring 26 points against Indiana and recording a precise double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) against Kansas State.   In the paint, Mississippi has deterred opponents' shot;  freshman Reginald Buckner  has helped to provides that shot blocking presence; swatting three of K-State's shots on Friday.  As a team, Mississippi blocked seven K-State shots, as well as a dozen Indiana shots, in the quarterfinals.

With Villanova hampered by the unavailability of freshman Mouphtaou Yarou, due to illness, it may be difficult for the Wildcats to establish an inside presence.  The Wildcats will likely try to win by using their accurate outside shooters; a key factor could be whether Taylor King can help spread the Mississippi defense, due to his perimeter skills.

The school colors are Harvard crimson and Yale blue... here's why:

In 1893, when Ole Miss' first football team was in training for a five–game season, Dr. A.L. Bondurant, organizer and manager–coach, later recalled that "The team had much discussion as to the colors that should be adopted, but it was finally suggested by the manager that the union of the Crimson of Harvard and the Navy Blue of Yale would be very harmonious, and that it was well to have the spirit of both of these good colleges." These were adopted as the football colors, and have since been adopted by the University as its athletic colors.

Mississippi Basketball History

Although in the heart of football country, Mississippi basketball actually is more than a decade older than Villanova's program.  The Wildcats began play in 1920-21; the Rebels played their first game on January 28, 1909, against the memorably named Memphis Physicians.  As the Mississippi web site puts it:

Ole Miss plays its first organized basketball game, but the celebration is cut short by a 12-11 loss to the Memphis Physicians. Legend has it that Ole Miss led 7-6 at the half, but lost out in the second half when “with the wind at their backs, the Physicians overcame our half-time lead for a narrow victory.” The game was reportedly played outdoors on a court located behind the Lyceum on the Oxford campus.

Although the Rebels' program is older, it has been far less prominent than the one on the Main Line.  Mississippi did not qualify for the NCAA tournament until 1981, and has only been there five times.  Of those five appearances, they have only made it to the Sweet 16 once, in 2001.  Four of the five appearances came during the span of 1997-2001. 

In 1997, the Rebels made their second-ever NCAA appearance, 16 years after their initial one, but they fell to Temple in the first round.  In 1999, they defeated Villanova (more on that, later in the post, below).

Replayed Every March: Bryce Drew and Valparaiso in 1998

Ironically, the most famous Mississippi game in the NCAA tournament, was a game that they lost - in the first round, in 1998.   In one of the most dramatic, stunning underdog victories in the entire history of the tournament, the 5th-seeded Rebels lost to Bryce Drew and #12-seed Valparaiso, on a length-of-the-court, catch-and-heave triple at the buzzer.  (You've seen this play, at some point in your life, as it was an incredible ending; CBS uses it as a staple of their montages.)

The Rebels also have only been in the NIT, eight times.  Other than the Sweet 16 in 2001, the deepest that the Rebels have ever gone in March, was in 2007-08, when they enjoyed a strong run in the NIT.  Mississippi won three games and made it to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals, the first time in school history that it had ever played in the basketball mecca.  But Mississippi fell to Ohio State, which would win the NIT. 

Villanova / Mississippi Series History

The schools have only faced each other, on one occasion.  And it was one of the most heartbreaking NCAA tournament losses in Villanova's storied history.  On March 12, 1999, at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, the eighth-seeded Wildcats fell to the ninth-seeded Rebels, 72-70.  The Wildcats had two shots on their final possession, in the waning seconds, but could not get any of them to drop...  That team featured Howard Brown, John Celestand, Brian Lynch, T.J. Caouette, Malik Allen, Brooks Sales, Rafal Bigus, and Jermaine Medley, among others...

The Wildcats trailed 72-65, with less than two minutes to play, but rallied for five points to draw to within 72-70, on a triple from Caouette and a basket from Allen, with 55 seconds to go; Celestand and Brown each had a shot on the last possession, but neither fell.  In the last game of their careers, Brown finished with 17 points and nine rebounds; Celestand, a dozen points; Allen, a junior at the time, led the team with 19 points.   

In particular, the Wildcats had enormous trouble dealing with Jason Harrison, from Mississippi; at 5-5, he was very difficult to trap.  Marcus Hicks scored 21 points, and Keith Carter (now an Mississippi broadcaster) added 18 points, and Jason Smith, 17 points.

The game, ironically, figures far more prominently in Mississippi history - that was the Rebels' first win - ever - in the NCAA tournament (which has been played since 1939).  As their timeline puts it:

March 12, 1999 

After losing a heartbreaker at the buzzer to Valparaiso just the season before in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the Rebels record their first NCAA Tournament win by defeating Villanova 72-70. Ole Miss did not make it to the Sweet 16 because Michigan State defeated the Red and Blue 74-66 in the second round.

For the Wildcats, the final season of the 20th century, was also the final NCAA tournament appearance, under Wright's predecessor, Steve Lappas.  During his nine years at the helm, from 1992-2001, Lappas-coached teams reached the NCAA tournament four times (1995, 1996, 1997, and 1999), but won only two games.  All six of Villanova's games were against lower seeds, but their record was 2-4.

The inability of the team to advance beyond the second round, was one of the major factors in his replacement by Wright after the 2000-01 season, after Lappas's final two teams narrowly missed at-large NCAA bids, and had to settle for the NIT.

This is a good segue, into an impressive accomplishment by Lappas - winning the Puerto Rico Shootout in 1996-1997.  Widely remembered as "the Tim Thomas year", the team featured such notables as Alvin Williams, Jason Lawson, Chuck Kornegay, and freshmen Lynch, Allen, and Caouette.

Ironically, Mississippi also won the San Juan Shootout, in 2007.

I'll have a comprehensive recap after the game...

Also, check out the fine Villanova blogs on the right sidebar, for their takes, on the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic Championship - Chris at I Bleed Blue and White already has preGame: #5 Villanova vs. Ole Miss ...

Go Wildcats!

E-mail: villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com

#5 Wildcats Hold Off Furious #18 Dayton Rally in Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic Semifinal, 71-65

To the Wildcat faithful-

Villanova led by 18 points, with 12 minutes to play in the second half, but had to withstand a furious Dayton rally, holding them off in the final two minutes, to advance to the final of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic.

More to come...
 

UPDATE:

The Wildcats entered Friday's semifinal with #19 Dayton, with the memory of a near-miraculous, comeback win over George Mason, in Thursday's quarterfinal, fresh in their minds.  But Villanova carried a lofty #5 rank into the contest, and today, they continued to justify their national standing.

Unlike yesterday, it was the Wildcats who were trying to stave off the rally, today.  And thanks to clutch shooting at the foul line from Corey Fisher, they were able to improve their record to 4-0 overall, and advance to face Mississippi, in Sunday's championship game.  Fisher was the clear standout today, finishing with a game-high 18 points, three rebounds, two steals, and three assists.

The most important factor in Villanova's victory, was its performance at the foul line.  The Wildcats converted 22 of their 29 free throw attempts, an outstanding 75.9% clip.  And Fisher was the single greatest contributor at the line.   The junior guard took a dozen free throw attempts, making ten, including four in the final minute, with Dayton charging.

As a team, of the Wildcats' final ten free throws, they made all but one.

Taylor King once more came off the bench, and had a major impact on the outcome.  The Duke transfer logged 31 minutes, tying him with Fisher for the most of any Wildcat, and surpassing the minutes of the other four starters.  King was just one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds.  He nailed four of his eight three-point attempts, which helped to open up opportunities for the Wildcats inside.

But perhaps most importantly - unlike yesterday against George Mason - King stayed out of foul trouble, and stayed on the court.  He had only two fouls today.

Fortunately, as a team, the Wildcats by and large avoided foul trouble, committing only 17 fouls in the game (compared to the 26 against George Mason, the day before). 

After being one of the quartet of Wildcats to foul out against GMU, Antonio Pena once more struggled with foul trouble, playing only 19 minutes.  But he was tremendously effective, in his limited minutes.  Pena ended up with 13 points and seven rebounds, including two key free throws in the final minute.

Scottie Reynolds struggled mightily with his shot today, finishing with eight points on 3-12 shooting, including 0-3 from three-point range.  He did better at distributing the ball, dealing five assists against two turnovers in 29 minutes.

Corey Stokes had a second consecutive ghastly day from the floor.  After going 1-12 from the floor against George Mason, he went 1-9 (and also committed three turnovers and had no assists.)  Yesterday, he made up for the inaccuracy by hitting 10-12 from the line; today, he didn't even get to the line.  He finished with three points and half a dozen rebounds.  It's a good sign that Villanova has seen Stokes shoot 2-21 from the floor, and still managed to win twice, but the Wildcats really need him as a scoring threat.

Maurice Sutton turned in another strong performance underneath the hoop, collecting eight rebounds and two blocks, to go with four points, in 30 minutes.


Dominic Cheek saw substantial playing time off the bench, logging 17 minutes, scoring seven points and adding three rebounds.

Maalik Wayns missed three field goal attempts, but had a pair of assists in seven minutes.

Last, but certainly not least, was yesterday's hero, Isaiah Armwood, who also played seven minutes, finishing with four points.

Villanova appeared to have the game well under control, almost halfway through the second half.  But a furious counterattack by the Flyers meant that Villanova's once-double-digit lead was whittled down to just two points, 62-60, at the 2:23 mark.  Only the quality foul shooting from the Wildcats held off the charge.

Three Dayton Flyers reached double figures: Luke Fabrizius with 16 points, Chris Wright with 15 points, and Chris Johnson with 13 points.

Irony: There is a long connection between the city of Dayton and aviation; this connection goes all the way back to the Wright Brothers, who were from Dayton, and that connection is why their nickname is the Flyers.  (The Wright Brothers' first successful flight, per se, was in North  Carolina at Kitty Hawk, but they lived in Dayton.  They traveled to Kitty Hawk, because it had the best weather conditions, for the potential success of the flight.)  Coincidentally, Jay Wright has now faced Dayton three times as a head coach, and Dayton also has a player named Wright...

Villanova / Dayton Series History

The Wildcats have now evened the all-time series with Dayton, at five wins apiece.  The first meeting was on February 24, 1953, at the Palestra, with the Wildcats winning 80-70.

Dayton figured significantly in the 1985 national championship run.  The Wildcats, despite their #8 seed, were forced to face the ninth-seeded Flyers on their home court in the first round.  On a per capita basis, Dayton is perhaps the most basketball-mad city in the United States, which is why it is the permanent home of the play-in game in the NCAA tournament.  This first-round game represented a considerable obstacle for Villanova's hopes that March, the first year of the 64-team field.

(Eventually, the NCAA no longer permitted teams to play on their home floor -  although there are major loopholes, such as the fact that Villanova has twice been permitted to play at the Wachovia Center, as long as no more than three games are scheduled there.)

As a result, the 51-49 victory by Rollie Massimino's Wildcats was properly deemed a substantial feat - but as subsequent events demonstrated, the Villanova faithful hadn't seen anything yet, at that point.

More recently, in the Wright era, the schools played a home-and-home series during his first two seasons.  Villanova triumphed at the Pavilion on November 24, 2001, 59-57.  At Christmas time, the following season, on December 22, 2002, the Flyers won with a dramatic finish, 80-78, in Dayton.  The teams hadn't faced each other since then, until today.

I'll have a preview up for the championship game against Mississippi, as soon as possible.

Also, take a look at the recaps from the fine Villanova blogs, on the right sidebar...

Go Wildcats!

E-mail: villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com