Villanova

Villanova Awakens And Cruises In Ncaa Opener

... energy. "I thought we were capable of coming out and missing some shots. making some mistakes. But the level of energy we started the game with, I just didn't think we were capable of that. I'm in a little bit of shock myself.". Villanova point guard Jalen Brunson gave the credit to the Mountaineers. "They came out shooting the ball, sharing the ball, and just playing with great energy," he said. "You've got to give them credit. We've just got to come out and play harder.". If it wasn't for Brunson and Donte Di Vincenzo, the Wildcats might have trailed by more than the eight points that was the Mount's largest margin in the first half. Brunson scored 10 of his 14 points in the half, including a layup that gave the Cats a 30-29 lead at the break. Di Vincenzo, a redshirt freshman, took over in the second, scoring 15 of his 21 points. He also contributed a career-high 13 rebounds, posting his first double-double. "My job off the bench is just to bring energy, focus on ...

Legendary Cbs Broadcaster Verne Lundquist Has A Soft Spot For Villanova's Jay Wright

... Tournament, where he called Villanova's 76-56 first round victory over St. Mary's  on Thursday night. He will also call the second-round games at Key Bank Center in Buffalo, including Villanova's matchup against the winner of the late game between No. 8 seed Wisconsin and No. 9 Virginia Tech. Lundquist isn't discarding his journalistic objectivity to openly root for Villanova, but a little piece of his heart wants head coach Jay Wright to do well. “I received two phone calls after my last football game, both from college basketball coaches,” Lundquist said at a recent CBS-Turner press event as he sipped a Diet Coke. “One was from Tom Izzo of Michigan State. The other was from Jay Wright.”. Lundquist, who has developed a friendly relationship with Wright over the years, says the Villanova coach just ...

Villanova Did It Once, And Knows How To ‘hunt’ Everyone Again

... an 86-56 rout of UNC-Asheville, and if these ’Cats respect the UNC-Ashevilles as much as they do the UNCs, they will have as good a chance as anyone in a tournament where at least a dozen teams can win it. “Every game is a battle no matter who you’re playing,” Jenkins said. “If we can remember that and what that felt like and what it felt like to go out there and battle and fight to the end in each game, then it can only help us.”. SEE ALSO. Villanova is the next team trying to duplicate what hasn’t. Some of the faces have changed — Wright doesn’t return the same starting five, as Florida did in 2006-07 — but the belief has not. It was there at the start of the Dance a year ago — when the ’Cats carried a monkey on their backs from losing to N. C. State as a No. 1 seed in the second round of the 2015 tournament — and it is here at the start of this one. “After we lost to Seton Hall [in the Big East Tournament final], we got back and we watched film, and from that day forward we knew that if we continue to learn and take it one game at a time that we could do something special, and we feel the same thing about this year,” ...

History Favors Villanova Final Four Run

... have made it back to the Final Four in 37 tournaments. Georgetown in 1985. Michigan State in 2001. Florida in 2007. As you can see that list is mainly concentrated in the 90’s, and no Champion has made it back to the Final Four this decade. However, there’s still something wrong with these numbers. 7 (number of defending champs who made the final four) divided by 37 (number of tournaments since 1979) doesn’t equal 16.7%, it’s 18.9%. Even if you include the 1979 tournament, you still get 18.4%. In fact, in order to get the 16.7% in the video, you’d have to divide 6 by 36, which means they probably skipped one of the years listed above. Outside of the basic lessons of check your work, the problem I have here is again that not all defending Champions are created equal. Heck, just two years ago UConn missed the NCAA tournament as the reigning Champions, so of course they missed the Final Four. When trying to find an analytical way to compare these Wildcats to previous seasons, you need to pick metrics that compare apples to apples, not apples to terrible UConn teams. Only 28 of 78 Reigning Champions Advanced Past The Sweet 16. This statement is so ...

Fatal Flaw For Villanova, And Every Other Contender

... 100 possessions, Kansas is allowing teams to score 95 points, still good defense, but not elite. “Having a good-not-great D” is not an Achilles heel, but given how many really good Kansas teams we’ve seen over the years not win the title, what makes you confident this will be the year KU wins six straight? Another issue: Josh Jackson’s foul trouble and poor foul shooting. South No. 1 North Carolina: Foul trouble for the big men. Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks combine to commit 9.3 fouls per 40 minutes. Without those guys on the floor, the Tar Heels remain a top-15 team but no longer a title contender. Because UNC doesn’t force turnovers at the rate of most teams on this list, and with its two front-court players vulnerable to hacking, the Tar Heels have floated in and out of the great-team ...

Josh Hart, Villanova Deal With High Expectations

... time of elation for everyone involved, but they returned to the tournament Wednesday still having difficulty with enjoying the experience since the questions have changed from surviving to repeating. "Everything that came around with the first-weekend exit the last couple of years, that was kind of hard to embrace," Hart said. "Because we knew, no matter how we played that first game, if we won, we knew we were going to have to answer that question. We knew that was going to be the big story. "It's hard to do it now because we have questions about repeating, so you can't really embrace it too much. Obviously it's a blessing to be here. This isn't a privilege. That's why we have to rely on each other and focus on each other and don't focus on anything else. We have to embrace the time we have together. That's really the only thing we can really embrace.". The Wildcats (31-3), the No. 1 overall seed, begin defense of their title Thursday night against Mount St. Mary's (20-15) at ...

Villanova Could Become 1st Repeat Champs In 10 Years

... to the Final Four, actually, I think some of the pressure subsided, which you would have thought would be the opposite.". Florida made a second straight title look easy — creating an aura of invincibility. "Anytime you win like that, and you have your whole starting team come back, the expectations change, and in a lot of ways, you get critiqued under a microscope, and sometimes, that can take the joy out of it," Donovan said. "It's like, you win, but you didn't win by enough. You lost, but you shouldn't. All those things get factored in.". Your Wildcats are the 1 st overall seed & will face the winner of New Orleans/Mount Saint Mary's in Buffalo in the first round #Lets March Nova __link__/Z 1 KM 1 RNCt 7. — Villanova MBB (@Nova MBB) March 12, 2017. The Wildcats had some of the same scrutiny, but in a major sports market like Philadelphia, the biggest victories or ...

Attitude, Commitment Are Hallmarks Of Villanova Basketball

... we snicker a little less. Or even a whole lot. So, is Villanova Basketball some kind of state of mind? Or a list of rules written on stone tablets? The world according to Jay Wright, which has created a Stepford-like culture within the locker room. Whatever it is, it's also created an environment that's produced a 128-16 record from this senior class. And they're hardly done. Snicker that. "It's pretty simple," said assistant coach Ashley Howard. "I mean, when you walk into the (Davis Center), we have it on the wall: Attitude. Everyone knows the values we live by. All the time. We play hard, we play together and we play right. You dive on the floor, you take a charge, you pick your teammate off the floor. We take pride in being a Villanova basketball player. "You have to have the players. But our core beliefs help us be successful. There's sacrifices, and compromises, they have to make. If our guys didn't embrace it, they wouldn't be here. I'm sure other programs have things they value. Our right way might not be their right way. We just feel if we're doing what coach wants, good things will happen.". You want a definition of VB? A few years ago in ...

Villanova Over Msm

... on Saturday. Kris Jenkins (33 Min, 7 Points, 2-13 FG, 0-6 3 PFG, 3-4 FT, 5 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Turnovers, 0 Blocks, 71 ORtg)  Jenkins couldn’t find his shooting touch in this game - especially from beyond the arc.  He showed the mental fortitude to contribute in other aspects of the game and stay focused on defense.  The good thing is that his reputation as a deep shooter demands attention and he can force teams to spread the floor at this stage in his career without having to knock down shots.  Jenkins has had some good bounce-back games coming off poor shooting performances this season.  To extend his career he will need to improve his offensive efficiency, pronto. Mikal Bridges (31 Min, 13 points, 4-7 FG, 2-4 3 PFG, 3-3 FT, 3 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Blocks, 1 Steal, 1 Turnover, 159 ORtg)  Bridges played well on both ends of the court after shaking off the early doldrums that seemed to have the entire ‘Nova team struggling out of the gate.  His three-point stroke looked solid and he used his length to make ...

Wright A Finalist For Naismith Coach Of The Year Award

... • Few has guided the Bulldogs to a 32-1 record thus far, which marks their 10 th straight season with at least 25 wins, and third 30-win season in program history. • Gonzaga had its second number-one ranking in program history this season, and earned the top seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament. Bill Self. • Self led Kansas (28-4) to its NCAA-record-tying 13 th-consecutive Big 12 regular-season title. • Had an 18-game winning streak, and was 5-0 against teams ranked in the top-10 this season and 4-0 against top-five opponents. • Self was named the 2017 Big 12 Coach of the Year earning conference coach of the year accolades for the eighth time in his career and the seventh time at Kansas. • The Jayhawks earned a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament. • Self won the 2012 Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Award. • Guided Villanova (31-3) to its fourth consecutive regular season BIG EAST Conference Championship. • Won the BIG EAST Conference Tournament title for the second time in three years. • The Wildcats have not been ranked outside of the Top 4 in either the media or coaches poll all season. • Earned the overall No. 1 seed (East Region) in the ...

Tale Of Two Halves As Villanova Tops Mount

... in a First Four matchup on Tuesday, gave the defending champions all they could handle in the first half. "I was thinking we could get the win," Mount St. Mary's Elijah Long said. But the Big East champions, who entered this tourney with more wins than any past champion, regrouped at halftime and reserved a date with either Wisconsin or Virginia Tech on Saturday. It wasn't easy. It's not supposed to be. "They outplayed us," Wright said. "At the end, we had more size and some more talented players who made plays. They deserve a lot of credit.". Jalen Brunson scored 14 points and Mikal Bridges had 13 for the Wildcats. Villanova not only survived a tough test from the Mountaineers but a horrendous shooting night by senior Kris Jenkins. The hero of last year's NCAA title game, when his 3-pointer at the horn defeated North Carolina, Jenkins missed his first 10 shots and finished just 2 of 13. "I'm not worried about him at all," Wright said. ". The Mount St. Mary's players wear warmups with "Mayhem" written on the back, and they caused quite a commotion in the early going. Showing no fear against a team the smart-money guys in Las Vegas said would beat them by 25, the ...

Sluggish Villanova Eventually Shakes Off No. 16-seeded Mount St. Mary's

... test from the Mountaineers but a horrendous shooting night by senior Kris Jenkins. The hero of last year's NCAA title game, when his three-pointer at the horn defeated North Carolina, Jenkins missed his first 10 shots and finished just two of 13. “I'm not worried about him at all,” Wright said. “. The Mount St. Mary's players wear warmups with “Mayhem” written on the back, and they caused quite a commotion in the early going. Showing no fear against a team the smart-money guys in Las Vegas said would beat them by 25, the Mountaineers jumped to a 10-2 lead against the Wildcats, who missed their first eight shots, committed two turnovers and had three shots blocked in the opening five minutes. “I thought we were capable of coming out and, you know, missing some shots, coming out and making some mistakes,” Wright said. “But the level of energy we started the game with, I just didn't think we were capable of that. I'm in a little bit of shock myself.”. Villanova's players looked nervous and played that way, and when Long threaded a no-look pass to Chris Wray for an easy ...