By: Shane McCarthy
Just as the college basketball
community was caught off-guard by the success of South Florida last year; it
was just as surprising to witness the disappointment of Villanova. Could that
be a one year anomaly? Or should we expect a repeat of that dismal performance
this season?
Who’s Back:
Mouphtaou Yarou –F– Senior
– 27.5 Min, 11.3 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 0.5 apg
Maurice Sutton –C– Senior
– 13.7 Min, 3.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 0.4 apg
JayVaughn Pinkston –F–
Soph – 25.9 Min, 9.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.1 apg
James Bell –G– Junior –
23.0 Min, 7.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.3 apg
Ty Johnson –G– Soph – 17.7
Min, 3.3 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 2.0 apg
Darrun Hilliard –G– Soph –
18.1 Min, 4.8 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.0 apg
Achraf Yacoubou –G– Soph –
10.6 Min, 2.2 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 0.3 apg
Incoming
Recruits:
Ryan Arcidiacono – [Point
Guard] – 6 foot 3, 180
ESPN’s 46th ranked player and 6th ranked Point
Guard
Rivals.com’s 57th ranked player and 7th ranked
Point Guard
Daniel Ochefu – [Center] – 6
foot 10, 230
ESPN’s 54th ranked player and 12th ranked Center
Rivals.com’s 42nd ranked player and 10th ranked
Center
Mislav Brzoja – [Shooting
Guard] – 6 foot 5, 210
Incoming
Transfers:
Tony Chennault – [Guard] – 6
foot 2, 195
Chennault is a Junior transferring from Wake Forest and will be
eligible right away. He started all 31
games at point guard last year, averaging 9.0 ppg and 2.8 apg.
Who’s
Out: Maalik
Wayns, Dominic Cheek
Outlook:
Villanova struggled to score from the field last
year, ranking last in the conference with a 41.2% FG percentage. They also
allowed the third most points per game in the conference – that being 70.6 ppg.
Those two statistics
go hand-in-hand because their lack of scoring caused them to struggle on the
defensive end as they failed set up their three quarter press that they are
accustomed to. Without being able to set up the press and shift into their
traditional defense past half court, the opposition was able to exploit them
for favorable scoring opportunities in transition.
Villanova isn’t
necessarily labeled as an elite Big East team, but they tend to finish in the
mid to upper tier of the conference on a regular basis. And popular belief
would suggest that they will likely return to that area this upcoming
season.
However, a bounce-back season is a bit difficult to predict after losing their two leading
scorers (Wayns and Cheek with 17.6 and 12.5 ppg respectively) who left early to
pursue their professional careers.
The squad entering
the 2012-13 season is a compilation of unproven players who are either
new-comers or have been too inconsistent in the past – making it difficult to
be optimistic about the Wildcats this year.
Ryan Arcidicono and Tony
Chennault will likely split time at the point, but the former is an incoming
freshman while the latter is an incoming transfer. Jay Wright has praised each
(especially Arcidicono), but practicing in July is different from playing at
the Carrier Dome in January.
JayVaughn Pinkston, Maurice
Sutton and Mouphtaou Yarou all showed flashes in the front court last year, but
will one or all of them be able to put together a full season of above average
play?
And will Ty Johnson
live up to the hype of a top-100 recruit after battling through injuries in his
freshman campaign?
Now Jay Wright is an
excellent coach who has some pieces to work with, but will he get competent
play from more than one or two guys game to game? The combination of last
year’s result and the loss of Cheek and Wayns would suggest ‘no’, but the
encouraging thing about all sports is that the past does not necessarily
indicate future results. New players arrive, players improve over the offseason
and lucky bounces they didn’t get last year reverse in the next.
Villanova will be
better than the disaster that took place last season, but as I mentioned in
earlier posts – the overall quality of the Big East is also going to improve
this year. With that, I can see the Wildcats getting to .500 in the conference
as the best case scenario.
Twitter: @shane_t_mac
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