Reynolds Makes CHN's All Big East December Team

Jeff Fox over at College Hoops Net put together an All December Big East Team. Looks like Scottie would man the point on this three guard team. He would run with DePaul's Draelon Burns (saw more than enough of Draelon last week...), South Florida's sensational freshman Dominique Jones, Notre Dame's Luke Harangody and Pittsburgh's super frosh DaJuan Blair (saw a lot of him last week too). Not a bad team at all. Interesting that the Wildcats faced two teams with hot players in their first week of Big East play.

Post Game: DePaul

I thought I would look at this before going on to the Pittsburgh game. It does not take much to tease out the differences between the halves. Again the Villanova staff (and team) made significant adjustments at the halftime, as reflected in some of the stats. Note how their Offensive Rating (Rating under the Offense column), effective field goal percentage (eFG%) and offensive rebounding picked up over the halves.

 

Opponent	DePaul
	1st	2nd	Total
Pace	31.2	33.4	64.6
	Offense				Defense
	1st	2nd	Total		1st	2nd	Total
Rating	94.1	140.7	119.0		122.3	142.1	131.9
eFG%	42.0	60.3	51.9		60.0	61.4	60.6
TORate	16.8	23.4	20.4		24.5	16.1	20.4
OR%	26.3	62.5	42.9		46.2	40.0	42.9
FTRate	40.0	51.7	46.3		48.0	95.5	70.2
FTMRate	28.0	44.8	37.0		40.0	77.3	57.4
ARate	40.0	46.7	44.0		58.3	50.0	54.2
Blk%	12.0	0.0	5.6		8.0	9.1	8.5
Stl%	3.4	11.7	7.8		9.2	6.5	7.9

But for every improvement on the offensive side, there was backsliding on the defense. The failures are numerous, but we can start with the Defensive Rating. DePaul bested their already strong 122.3 from the first half to 142.1, even better than Villanova's improvement. The 'Cats did not defend well in the first half and were even worse in the second half. Note the near reversal between first and second half turnover rates. What they took in the first half they gave back in the second half. That second half was possibly the worst half of basketball the team has played so far this season.

I will post the numbers for Pittsburgh shortly.

Vinny Pezzimenti Moment -- Week 8

The 'Cats stalled at #16 again last week. I will be interested to see how Vinny reacts to Villanova's loss at DePaul last week. It was an ugly game that the 'Cats did not seem to want to play. While I believe they will remain in the Top 25 complements of their rebound win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, I would not be surprised to see them lose a spot or two. Forget those nine voters who continue to leave Villanova off their ballots completely. The Wildcats will be lucky if they don't lose another voter or two.

My Big East Blogger Poll for this week:

1 - Georgetown
2 - Marquette
3 - Pittsburgh
4 - Notre Dame
5 - Villanova
6 - West Virginia
7 - Syracuse
8 - Louisville
9 - Connecticut
10 - Providence
11 - South Florida
12 - DePaul
13 - Seton Hall
14 - St. John's
15 - Cincinnati
16 - Rutgers


Player of the Week: Luke Harangody, Notre Dame

Rookie of the Week: Donte Greene, Syracuse

Who's Up...Who's Down...
Changes are coming to the top quartile. I swapped Georgetown and Marquette again. The Warriors dropped a home game against West Virginia on Sunday, so they could not stay #1. I left Pittsburgh at #3, but the loss to Villanova (albeit by a single point) illustrates their vulnerability at the point guard spot. Pitt had 22 turnovers, 5 from Ramon alone. Right now Coach Dixon has Ronald Ramon and Brad Wanamaker sharing a little (with Keith Benjamin and Gilbert Brown splitting the wing duties). The Panthers may be in for some frusturating outings until Fields gets back. Notre Dame, Syracuse and West Virginia moved up to varying degrees based on their strong conference starts. The Irish have been on a pretty good run lately. Their opening win over West Virginia is all the more impressive given WVU's upset of Marquette. So I moved them into the #4 spot. The Orange also jumped a few spots, having beaten St. John's and then South Florida on their homestand opening. And lastly the Blue Demons who took down the Wildcats and then the Friars moved to the last seed in the BET. Villanova, Louisville, Connecticut, Seton Hall and Rutgers, all having lost at least one game, also lost rankings. Of the three seasons since the Big East expanded to 16 teams this may prove to be the most wide open race yet. Injuries and youth have scrambled the pecking order in place since the late 1990s. Hang on to your seats, this is going to be a bumpy ride...

This week's OWs...
Dominque Jones continues to make his case for ROY, scoring 23 and 24 in successive games against Rutgers and Syracuse (a road game). DePaul's Mac Koshwal had a decent double-double against the Wildcats on Thursday, but turned in an average game against Geoff McDermott and the Providence Friars, even though the Blue Demons won their second Big East game in a row to start the season 2-0. Speaking of Blue Demon freshmen, Dar Tucker was hobbled for the Villanova game but turned in a 15 point performance in 20 minutes of play against Providence. My vote goes to Donte Greene of Syracuse though. Greene turned in two 20+ point games to get Syracuse a 2-0 start to their Big East season. Greene scored 22 against St. John's and 21 against South Florida. As for the Player of the Week, I voted for Luke Harangody of Notre Dame. Harangody turned in two double-doubles, the first against West Virginia (29 and 16) in Notre Dame's opener, and then the "and one" against Hasheem Thabeet (14 and 10) and the Connecticut Huskies.

A New VU Hoops Blog

Villanova Basketball Blog posted their first articles over the weekend. The Villanova blogosphere has doubled (or tripled?) since the start of the season. The first round of posts included a look at the La Salle game, a look at the rotation using EFF stats and a preview of Villanova's Big East opener against DePaul. They are looking for a Wildcat win in the Second City tomorrow. Good luck to the Wildcats. And good luck to the Villanova Basketball Blog.

The Big East - A10 Challenge: Rhode Rage?

Dan Hanner, Georgetown graduate and resident of Minnesota authors the Yet Another Basketball Blog, a terrific source for information and analysis on D1 basketball. His December 14 post, "Early Season Cheat Sheet", takes stock of the 2007-08 season so far (he "Best Comeback" so far...to Villanova for the LSU game). Among the areas he highlights is the BCS - nonBCS matchups, and how they have played out to that point. While reading the section Mid Major Wins to Brag About, I could not help but notice the number of A10 - Big East games the A10 has taken this season. It reminded me of a post I wanted to develop about the large number of games the teams from the two conferences play against each other. Many, like Philadelphia's Big 5 series, which includes 3 A10 teams -- La Salle, St. Joseph's(PA) and Temple -- and Villanova from the Big East, are annual affairs whose histories stretch back decades (if not a century). While Hanner's list identified the A10 wins, it did not include all of the games teams from the two conferences have played to date. A complete list would include:

12/12 Cincinnati 59 Xavier 64 (R, -5)
12/23 DePaul 93 La Salle 88 (N, +5)
12/08 Louisville 65 Dayton 70 (H, -5)
11/11 Pittsburgh 69 St. Louis 58 (H, +11)
12/05 Pittsburgh 73 Duquesne 68 (A, +5)
12/29 Pittsburgh 55 Dayton 80 (A -25!)
11/15 Providence 66 Temple 64 (N, +2)
12/04 Providence 60 Rhode Island 77 (A, -17)
11/16 South Florida 67 Rhode Island 74 (H, -7)
11/13 Syracuse 72 St. Joseph's (PA) 69 (H, +3)
11/16 Syracuse 80 Fordham 63 (H, +17)
11/28 Syracuse 100 Massachusetts 107 (H, -7)
12/08 Syracuse 89 Rhode Island 91 (H, -2)
12/09 Villanova 101 Temple 93 (A, +8)
12/29 Villanova 71 La Salle 58 (H +13)
12/08 West Virginia 92 Duquesne 68 (H +24)

Which puts this "challenge" at 9-7 Big East. Individual records:

Team	W	L
Cincinnati	0	1
DePaul	1	0
Louisville	0	1
Pittsburgh	2	1
Providence	1	1
South Florida	0	1
Syracuse	2	2
Villanova	2	0
West Virginia	1	0

The Rhode Island Rams and Dayton Flyers are this year's giant killers, while the Big 5 contingent appears to be really struggling (currently 0-5). As for the traditional rivalries, Pittsburgh is the dominant team in Western Pennsylvania while Villanova would take their 3^rd straight Big 5 title should they defeat St. Joseph's(PA) in February. Should Georgetown beat the "other Rams" (Fordham) today (the Hoyas are well ahead in the second half), the Big East is guaranteed to maintain the upper hand this season. [Note -- the Hoyas did defeat the Rams 82-55, +27] The complete record for the A10 teams:

Team	W	L
Dayton	2	0
Duquesne	0	2
Fordham	0	1
La Salle	0	2
Massachusetts	1	0
Rhode Island	3	0
St. Louis	0	1
St. Joseph's(PA)	0	1
Temple	0	2
Xavier	1	0

Still to play...
12/31 Georgetown -- Fordham (H)
02/04 Villanova -- St. Joseph's(PA) (A)

Post Game: La Salle

As usual, both Let's Go Nova and I Bleed Blue and White provide good narratives and descriptions of the game and players, so I will just look over the box score and point out one or two things. The numbers by half:

Opponent	La Salle
	First	Second	Total
Pace	36.0	35.9	72.0
	Offense				Defense
	First	Second	Total		First	Second	Total
Rating	118.4	77.4	97.9		84.0	75.0	79.4
eFG%	54.4	36.5	46.7		45.8	40.3	42.7
TORate	19.3	27.6	23.4		30.8	29.5	30.1
OR%	44.4	33.3	38.9		29.4	38.1	34.2
FTRate	20.6	50.0	33.3		50.0	22.6	34.5
FTMRate	17.6	34.6	25.0		33.3	9.7	20.0
ARate	52.9	66.7	57.7		66.7	58.3	61.9
Blk%	2.9	3.8	3.3		4.2	6.5	5.5
Stl%	11.0	13.8	12.4		8.4	18.8	13.7

The offensive collapse between the first and second half is obvious (and disappointing). Is it possible the team lost interest? Or did Dr. G make the necessary adjustments? The jump in the assist (and FTRate), coupled with much better rebounding from the Explorers, suggest that Dr. Giannini made half-time adjustments and the 'Cats had some difficulty responding to them. Nevertheless, Villanova's half-to-half defensive effort was very much in evidence in the stats. La Salle's second half eFG% declined from their first half eFG%. Villanova was able to maintain the same level of turnovers while keeping the Explorers off the line. Aside from rebounding the 'Cats appear to have maintained their defensive pressure over the course of the game. I would have been happy with an 84.0 defensive rating for the entire game (Villanova has typically been in the 95-100 range so far this season), but to rachet La Salle down to 75.0 is very encouraging. Observers have suggested that La Salle missed open looks, but the TO% and FTRate (above) suggest there was effort on the defensive side of the ball...

Odds and Ends...
Dante Cunningham turned in his 3^rd double-double of the seaon, the second in three games. He will need a good game against DePaul on Thursday as Drummond will not be available. Dante and another frontcourt player will have to contend with 5^th senior Wes Green and super freshman Mac Koshwal.
Dwayne Anderson went 2-4 in 18 minutes of play. Ordinarily that would be a very decent outing, but for Anderson, who had not missed a shot in 4 previous games, it would have to be considered "substandard". Congratulatins to Dwayne for going 8-10 so far. His only 3 point shot was a miss, so his 2FGM is 0.899. Not bad. The 18 run was Anderson's longest so far this season. His PPWS is 1.43, an excellent shooting average.
Five Wildcats scored in double digits, 9 in all scored at least 3 points. Nine Wildcats also recorded assists (they are getting it...) in probably the best indication that the Take 'em Offense is giving way to set plays and offensive schemes. The pace however, at 76+ suggests these guys are not slowing down.
Casiem Drummond, as reported by Let's Go Nova Sunday, has been sidelined with a stress fracture in his ankle. This is terrible news for Drummond, as he has been rounding into great shape this season, and seems ready to breakout. Hopefully the Nova Nation will see him back in action, with the proper rehabilitation, soon. Injuries of this type are becoming far too common for many teams in D1 basketball to continue to go uncommented on. Hopefully the NCAA will complete it's study of athlete injuries and come up with recommendations.

Vinny Pezzimenti Moment -- Week 7

Vanderbilt managed to leapfrog Villanova in last Monday's poll. The 'Cats stayed at #16 as the unbeaten Commodores jumped from #17 to #15 in the 12/24 poll. Vinny remained true to Villanova as he ranked the Wildcats one spot above the Commodores on his ballot last Monday. But Nova's standing is hurt by the nine voters who continue to leave Villanova off their ballots completely. Mid-teens is probably close to the ceiling for a team that can't get at least a #25 ranking on every ballot.

My Big East Blogger Poll for this week:

1 - Marquette
2 - Georgetown
3 - Pittsburgh
4 - Villanova
5 - Louisville
6 - Connecticut
7 - West Virginia
8 - Providence
9 - Notre Dame
10 - Seton Hall
11 - Syracuse
12 - South Florida
13 - DePaul
14 - St. John's
15 - Rutgers
16 - Cincinnati


Player of the Week: Jerome Dyson, Connecticut

Rookie of the Week: Corey Fisher, Villanova

Who's Up...Who's Down...
The top 3 rotated again as Pittsburgh dropped a 15 point game at Dayton on Saturday. Far worse than the losing the game, the Panthers have lost another starter, this time Levance Fields, their pg who scored the winning points in their win over Duke. Fields will be out 5+ weeks with a fracture in his foot. Marquette moves up to #1 while I moved Georgetown up to #2. Teams #1 through #4 all have one loss now. The 1/06/08 Villanova -- Pittsburgh game in the Pavilion (Villanova's homecourt) looms very large for both teams now, but especially for Pitt as they now have 40% of their starting lineup on the shelf. I swapped spots for Louisville & West Virginia. The Mountaineers dropped their 2^nd game of the season to Oklahoma while the Cardinals got Palacios back (and maybe some good news about injured David Padgett). #8 through #16 stay pretty much the same as Cincinnati

This week's OWs...
Dar Tucker had another good performance, this time against Detroit. But Villanova's Corey Fisher turned in another outstanding game, this time against Big 5 opponent La Salle. So I am voting for Corey this week. As for the Player of the Week, I voted for Paul Harris of Syracuse. He had an impressive 19 point, 15 rebound performance against Northeastern on Sunday.