Villanova's Magical Two Game Giant Killer Winning Streak Comes to an End

The Villanova Wildcats were unable to stretch their winning streak to three after coming off their improbable week of knocking off #5 Louisville and #3 Syracuse.  

If you would have asked any college basketball fan back on November 25^th what they thought of Villanova they would have likely been confused as to why you were even mentioning Villanova.  At the time they were coming off losses to Columbia and La Salle.  Villanova was supposed to struggle this year, but not have a hard time with Ivy League schools type of struggles.  So it goes without saying that if you were to tell that same person that this team would beat the #5 and #3 team in the same week in mid-January that they would have assumed that the end of the Mayan calendar and whatever repercussions were to come with that came to fruition.  

I considered writing a blog post earlier in the week discussing how far they have come from that mid-November fiasco, but I wanted to watch one more game -- this time a road game; which also happened to be against a good opponent. 

Notre Dame is no Louisville or Syracuse, but they are a good team and especially good at home.  And while the game did come down to the final moments to be decided, I still came away not knowing how I felt about Nova.   

On one hand I was encouraged.  Villanova led for a large portion of the game, and when they did get down they continued to battle back just as it looked the Irish were going to go on a big run to put it out of reach.  It took a barrage of three pointers from Jerian Grant and Cameron Biedscheid in the second half to grab and maintain a small lead.  Their resolve was good to see.  I was also surprised with how well Mouphtaou Yarou and Daniel Ochefu played in the low post with Jack Cooley and Tom Knight all over them.  That’s what kept the Wildcats in the game because…

I was discouraged with how difficult it was for Villanova to get open shots. Part of this has to do with the play of Ryan Arcidiacono.  He had a rough game.  He took many forced and awkward shots and was nonexistent running the point often.  His play aside, there still wasn’t much happening along and just inside the perimeter from the rest.  JayVaughn Pinkston, James Bell and Darrun Hilliard hit their shots here and there, but nothing came easy for them.  Notre Dame is one of the worst defensive teams in the conference, so this should not have been the case.  

Jay Wright made comments and hints in the preseason that this year’s team was young and was bound to struggle.  Youth and inexperience doesn’t tend to prevail in the Big East, especially when it loses to an Ivy League school in its first few games.  However, Wright made a few comments recently stating that his team is beginning to click and has become much improved.  Clearly that’s easy to say when you beat the likes of Louisville and Syracuse in the same week.  But Villanova does look better – you could see it in the last few minutes of the Syracuse game when they were playing with swagger and confidence.  But there is a lot more improvement to undergo, as Wednesday night’s game showed. 

Their next three games are winnable, and for a team that just crept into the bubble discussion they are ‘must win’ games – vs. Providence, at DePaul and vs. South Florida.  Villanova has improved seemingly every game since November, and they must not become complacent with their recent success.  I still feel that the jury is still out on the Wildcats, but we’ll find out soon enough if their big wins were a fluke or a sign of better days. 

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac

Player and Rookie of the Week [week of 1/21-1/27]

Player of the Week:

Darrun Hilliard

Darrun Hilliard had not been the most significant contributor for Villanova to date, but he came up big in an upset win against #3 Syracuse on Saturday afternoon. After the opening tap the game started with Hilliard going on a 7-0 run by his lonesome, and he finished with a game high 25 points along with seven rebounds in the Wildcats’ 75-71 overtime victory over the Orange. Earlier in the week when Nova toppled then #5 Louisville Cardinals, Hilliard chipped in with 11 points to help get the monumental week get off to a court stormin’ start. The fact that Villanova knocked off the #3 and #5 teams in the same week meant that someone on the team was bound to be Player of the Week. And while it takes a team effort to pull off such a feat, it was Hilliard who had the biggest game of his teammates in the two contests.

Rookie of the Week:

JaKarr Sampson

JaKarr is becoming a regular in this segment as this is his second consecutive week and fifth overall (in 11 weeks) being named Rookie of the Week. Sampson is currently the second leading scorer on the Red Storm -- averaging 14.3ppg while also leading the team in rebounding at 6.5rpg. Last week he finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in a 72-60 win at Rutgers and 19 points and five rebounds in a 71-67 win against Seton Hall. The Johnnies are currently riding a four game winning streak and are sitting fourth in the Big East (5-3). While this team’s youth shows at times, they have been playing better as of late and will continue to make noise in the convoluted Big East.

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac

Player and Rookie of the Week (week of 12/31 - 1/6)

Player of the Week:

Brandon Triche

Triche led the Orange to three victories last week, which included a win over conference foe Rutgers to move Coach Boeheim into second place on the all time wins list. In that game Triche had his highest scoring output of the season, 25 points, as he went five of seven from beyond the arc to lead the Orange in scoring on the night. He also finished with 20 against South Florida and 13 against Central Connecticut State. Triche, who is never flashy, often goes unnoticed when on the floor with Michael Carter-Williams and C.J. Fair, but he actually leads the Orange in scoring this year at an even clip of 15 points per game and is second on the team in assists per game (albeit that is a whopping 6+ behind MCW). His calm, steady, senior-laden demeanor should bode well for the Orange come March.

Rookie of the Week:

Ryan Arcidiacono

The Villanova Wildcats only played one game last week, but it was a 98-86 overtime victory at home over St. John’s. Arcidiacono led the way with 32 points in a performance that included seven three-pointers. The Johnnies left Arcidiacono wide open time and time again and he made them pay over and over as he only missed four of his attempts. Previously, Arcidiacono only eclipsed the 20 point threshold once in 13 games, and this was the first time he surpassed the 30 point barrier. Arcidiacono is currently second on the team in points scored per game (13.0), but leads the team in assists with 3.4 per. Arcidiacono has displayed flashes of brilliance in the point guard role, but he has also been just as inconsistent (just like my inconsistence in spelling his name even though I am really trying to type it as much as possible in this post). The Wildcats have reeled off six straight victories, but they get Pittsburgh, Louisville and Syracuse twice in the next three weeks. We’ll know more about the ‘Cats and Arcidiacono after this upcoming stretch.

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac

Big East Preview: #10 Villanova Wildcats

Previewing all 15 teams in the Big East from #15 to #1

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 46^th ranked player and 6^th ranked Point Guard

Rivals.com’s 57^th ranked player and 7^th ranked Point Guard

Daniel Ochefu – [Center] – 6 foot 10, 230

ESPN’s 54^th ranked player and 12^th ranked Center

Rivals.com’s 42^nd ranked player and 10^th 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

Quick Recap of Connecticut at Villanova

Shabazz's 3 gave UConn the victory

Shabazz Napier backs up his talk  

By Shane McCarthy on February 20, 2012

After calling out his team for lacking heart and giving up after UConn’s loss to Marquette over the weekend, it was only right for Shabazz Napier to back-up that talk the next time the Huskies took the floor.  And back-up that talk is exactly what Napier did by hitting the game winning shot, an on-the-run deep three pointer, with one second left in overtime.

Before the game started at Villanova on Monday night, Alex Oriakhi used holy water to bless his teammates to hopefully bring better fortune to their on-court performance.  It didn’t look like it had any effect as Villanova ran out to an 18 point lead halfway through the first half.  But then UConn started to play much better defensively, led by the on-ball pressure from Ryan Boatright, which translated into more confidence on offense.    The Huskies were able to storm all the way back to make it a tie game at halftime.

UConn was never able to go on a run in the second half to gain separation from Villanova, but Jeremy Lamb single handedly hit shot after shot to keep the momentum rolling.  His ability to move without the ball, use screens and make his own shots led to a career high 32 points and the only Huskie in double figures.  

There is no doubt that UConn has many talented players, but they have showed consistently over the course of the conference season that talent alone is not enough to win games.  When this group plays hard together as a team and displays the emotion and determination that they showed tonight, they will be tough for anyone to beat. 

Over the past few weeks it looked as if UConn was playing their way out of the NCAA Tournament, instead of in it.  Maybe this win, and the huge shot from Napier, was just the spark they needed to gain momentum and start rolling in the right direction.  Syracuse better be ready on Saturday.

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