Villanova Game thread 02/11/2017

[Anti-Homer]

At full strength with ES, X is as talented personnel wise as Nova. However, even without ES, X had a fighter’s chance today, especially since Nova’s only true post man was out. They were smart early on, and went to Jones down low the 1st few possessions. It worked. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t finish, nor shoot free throws well. They led by one at the 16 minute mark. After the 1st official timeout though, X’s chances diminished when Tre went down. However, incredibly, X was within 8 or 9 in the 2nd half, almost entirely due to Gaston scoring almost every time he touched the ball. This despite the fact that their pg missed 9 or10 labs, and the team shot poorly from the f.t. line. Unfortunately, for some reason, X seemingly made Gaston the 5th option on offense after that. I’m sure jay Wright didn’t mind. That’s the only consistent offense X had.

I’m a fan of Goodin, but I’ve never seen a college basketball player with his talent level finish at the rim at a lesser rate. I think he converted on about 15% of his labs, which has been a season-long trend. I think Jones might shoot better from 3 point land. Goodin is a very good defender,(although Divincenzo (sp?) looked like Westbrook against him and all other X defenders). It is a great asset when you get into the lane, but when you can’t shoot, throw it out to someone who can. He also threw up some treys which never came close. Inexplicably, he still had the freedom to take 14 shots, including 4 treys, scoring 3 total points, while Gaston scored over 40% of X’s baskets on 70% + shooting. Gaston took one less shot, and had 20 more points. He should have had at least 2 touches on every possession in the 2nd half before X took a shot, but that wasn’t the game plan.

What was most disconcerting was the last few minutes of the game, when X was still within 4 possessions. Bernard stopped his dribble near the sideline, and his teammates acted liked he had the Ebola virus, as no one came to him. A timeout would have been a good second option, but……. They seemed resigned to their fate, Meanwhile, Nova continued to play hard, and won going away again. Other than today, we’ve had the horses to compete with Nova, but thus far, have been as formidable a competitor to them as Fordham was for us in the A-10. We got rid of Stevens when he left for the Celtics. We need to start a campaign for Jay Wright to go to the Cavs. If they don’t win it this year, Lebron will probably cause another coaching change. Maybe they'll bring back Steve Lappas if JW bolts.

[Anti-Homer]

Good news for X is they still control their own destiny to finish 2nd in the league, as they should be favored in every game the rest of the way, w/the possible exception of playing at Marquette. They may be -1, but are definitely a better team. They are currently tied with Creighton, who still has to play at Nova.

X also will have several opportunities to play Top 50 teams, which they must win their fair share of for a good seed, b/c their current record against the former is horrid.

[N67ER]

We got beat by a team that had the better talent on the floor today. We did not get out toughed. You simply can not say that with the way we beat them on the boards. You can't expect us to score with the 2nd ranked team in the country when we are missing both Ed and Tre. That is half or our scoring. Our players played their hearts out. I'm damned proud of them. There is no shame in losing.

What we need now is some serious physical healing for Tre and all the players with bumps and bruises. Maybe we'll get lucky and play Nova in the Big East tourney - and get some pay back.

Goodin had a rough game. But handled the pressure pretty well and made some good passes. He will learn that finesse sometimes beats the hell out of a dunk. He needs to develop a 10-12 foot pull up and use that strength and jumping ability - like Byron did. And I predict he will be a really good player for us over the next 3 seasons.

[bmuskies]

I just got done watching the tape, I thought Xavier played their hearts out given they were missing their two best players. I thought the turning point was when X had a chance to cut to 49-44 when Gooden drove in and didn't finish his layup and Villanova hit a 3 at the other end. I think Macura played well but ran out of gas playing 40 minutes everytime he's around the ball good things happen. Xavier played too much 1on1 ball and not getting good enough shots. Yes Mack needed to rest his point guards gooden to calm him down it was too big of a situation for a freshman to play in. They should give Macura a shot at point guard because he makes the offense go just saying. I hope for Xavier's sake Blueitt is ready to go come march.

[commish118]

Imagine this game with a healthy Tre, healthy Ed, and Myles not getting into trouble last summer. We only had 3 healthy guards yesterday. It made it extremely tough to match-up with Nova defensively. Take away those three guys and this team still played right with them. Very proud of the effort and fight!

[thecoach]

I predict another early exit for Nova in the tourney. Paschal is no Ochefu. A team with a solid athletic front line will give that team trouble.

[Anti-Homer]

I predict another early exit for Nova in the tourney. Paschal is no Ochefu. A team with a solid athletic front line will give that team trouble.

Nova beat arguably the most athletic frontcourt last year in NC (6'9" post players in Hicks, Meeks , and Johnson, and 6'8" wing in Justin Jackson) playing mainly only one tall post guy in Ochefu most of the game. Both Reynolds (6'9") & Bridges (6'7") played about 20 minutes cumulatively. For the most part, Nova played:

Ochefu 6'11", Jenkins 6'6", Hart 6'5", Arc 6'3", and Boothe or Brunson (both 6'3" or smaller). NC killed them on the boards, and had a bunch of offensive rebounds. Nova countered by making their bigs chase Nova's smaller, quicker lineup around. One of Nova's guards, Brunson or Booth, had a great shooting game. JW neutralized NC's major advantage, by pressuring them, and making their bigs catch the ball away from the block.

This year is similar, in that Reynolds is their only true post player at 6'9". They should have a Top 20 ranked center in 6'9" Omari Spellman, but despite missing him and Phil Boothe, Nova & JW are having another stellar year. I think this team is even better than last, because of the improved play of Bridges and Brunson, and breakout year of their tall freshman pg DiVincenzo, who is playing like Grayson Allen did in his freshman year at Duke. I think Nova can win it again, no matter whom they play.

They are who X and all other teams in the BE aspire to be. If X can't the flagship of the conference, proud that Nova is.

[Anti-Homer]

Imagine this game with a healthy Tre, healthy Ed, and Myles not getting into trouble last summer. We only had 3 healthy guards yesterday. It made it extremely tough to match-up with Nova defensively. Take away those three guys and this team still played right with them. Very proud of the effort and fight!

I'm proud of their effort as well, save the last 3 minutes, but Nova was also missing Spellman, Boothe, & Reynolds.

[JTG]

Good news for X is they still control their own destiny to finish 2nd in the league, as they should be favored in every game the rest of the way, w/the possible exception of playing at Marquette. They may be -1, but are definitely a better team. They are currently tied with Creighton, who still has to play at Nova.

X also will have several opportunities to play Top 50 teams, which they must win their fair share of for a good seed, b/c their current record against the former is horrid.

Without Bluiett, they are Not going to be favored in the rest of their games. He needs a week off, as yesterday proved playing with his ankle that tender makes it more susceptible to reinjury. I would sit him all week and hope we can win the last 3 games, with him fairly healthy. Maybe we get lucky in the next 2 games without Tre. But playing him hurt risks blowing any shot in the Dance.

[Anti-Homer]

Good news for X is they still control their own destiny to finish 2nd in the league, as they should be favored in every game the rest of the way, w/the possible exception of playing at Marquette. They may be -1, but are definitely a better team. They are currently tied with Creighton, who still has to play at Nova.

X also will have several opportunities to play Top 50 teams, which they must win their fair share of for a good seed, b/c their current record against the former is horrid.

Without Bluiett, they are Not going to be favored in the rest of their games. He needs a week off, as yesterday proved playing with his ankle that tender makes it more susceptible to reinjury. I would sit him all week and hope we can win the last 3 games, with him fairly healthy. Maybe we get lucky in the next 2 games without Tre. But playing him hurt risks blowing any shot in the Dance.

I agree with all of your points. However, though we are safely in the field (7 seed range) now, losing the majority of the final games, and an early exit in the tourney makes us bubblelicious - unfortunately. However, Trevon's health and future should be the priority. He is playing on grit and integrity. He probably needs at least 2 full weeks off, but I doubt he'll sit out more than a game or two, by his own choice.

I remember playing Mman in Stratego, and he claimed he sprained his hamstring walking to the kitchen to get us more YooHoo. He was disabled for 8 months. It coincidentally still flares up when he runs his General into one of my bombs, which usually occurs about 3-4 moves into our game.