Nova Basketball Recruits- 2010 (Looking into the bright future)

2010-03-23T02:54:23Z

It was a disappointing end to Nova's 09-10 basketball season ending to a loss to St. Mary's. We will miss Scottie Reynolds who will probably be ballin in the NBA. I believe Scottie actually put Nova in the spotlight, which gets Nova some good recruits that probably would never have committed to Nova. Hopefully Corey Fisher, and Stokes come back. Yarou will be amazing next year once he develops, along with Armwood, and Wayns, and hopefully Cheeks can step it up.

I do have some good news though, Nova's basketball recruits that are going to be freshman in 2010-11 season for next year look really good. Jay Wright did quite a good job recruiting because the 3 prospects that have either signed or verbally committed to Nova are all ranked in the 90's on a scale of 100 by ESPN, and 2 out of the 3 are on ESPN's top 100 prospects for the 2010 class

Analysis of the recruits after the jump.

1. James Bell

The highest rated recruit by ESPN for Nova is named James Bell. He is rated 95 out of 100. His position is Small Forward, and he currently attends Montverde Academy which is located in Florida. He is 6-4 and weighs 217 pounds. Out of all the Small Forwards in the 2010 class, James Bell is ranked the 9th best, and is the ESPN's top 100. Additionally, he is ranked #61 best prospect by Scout, #98 best prospect by Rivals and #38 best prospect overall by ESPN. He is currently signed to Nova.

Bell is a physical player, with great athletic ability. He is versatile, and also played Power Forward.(He probably won't be playing PF at the college level though) James is a terrific competitor, and shows natural defensive instincts. Despite his size, he is not afraid to constantly crash the board or to post up. Bell is a team player, and is a leader, and constantly encourages his teammates. James also displays a nice shooting touch from outside the arc, hitting some clutch 3's to win a couple of games. Though he is young, he will develop in time and is a nice addition to Jay Wright's already formidable team. (Sounds like Scottie Reynolds a little guys?)

Link to a Video of him:

James Bell Team Stat AAU Highlights (via VillanovaBasketball)Original Vid is from Here

From Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBYw7sDl4WM

2. Jayvaughn Pinkston

Second on the list is Pinkston. He plays Power Forward and currently attends Bishop Loughlin Memorial H.S. which is located in New York. Jayvaughn is listed as 6-6 and weighs 220. He has verbally committed to Nova, and has not officially signed with them yet. Ranked the 25th best Power Forward in the 2010 class, ESPN has him included in their top 100 prospects. Scout ranks him the 7th best in his position.

His strengths include rebounding, toughness, and is an aggressive scorer. Areas for improvement for him are ball handling and his perimeter shot.(He is a PF though) Jay is big and buff and always know where the ball is. Pinkston runs the floor well, rebounds in traffic, and rebounds in traffic and can finish tough shots down low. Scout calls him a merge of like Charles Barkley and Dejuan Blair. (PInkson sounds nice to don't you guys think?) I'm feeling very happy about this recruiting class.

He's #55 in the Vid.

JayVaughn Pinkston (Bishop Loughlin) (via HSSMTV)

Link to Original Video Here: Here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCcfzcdo9AU

3. Markus Kennedy

The 3rd best, and last that has either verbally or signed with Villanova is Markus Kennedy. He is 6-9 and weighs a hefty 268 pounds. Markus played at center for Winchendon School which is located in Mass. Markus's hometown is Philly. Ranked the 10th best at his position by ESPN, he has already signed with the Wildcats. A fun fact is that Markus picked Nova over West Virginia. Hah! take that.Oh yeah, he also was considering Temple.

Scouts have been all over this kid's nice hands, and his pretty array of post moves.Kennedy has good footwork, yet he does not have impressive hops. Also has good passing skills...... ESPN calls him a less athletic DeJuan Blair. (Again?)

Didn't find that much info on this guy, and I couldn't find a video on youtube of his highlights.

I am excited for next season.Guys, its gonna be great if these Freshmen can step up their game and help us to the Final Four, and hopefully the Championship! I enjoyed learning more about these guys. Hope you guys liked my first post on "The Nova Blog"

Poll

Ready for next season?

Heck Yes

39 votes

No, I think we wil suck next year

3 votes

I miss Scottie ;(

9 votes

51 votes | Poll has closed

Villanova was an enigma all season?

2010-03-22T16:52:12Z

Were the Villanova Wildcats fooling the nation all season? Villanova started the season 20-1, but head coach Jay Wright said his team wasn't as good as people and thought they were then. Wright also said that the Wildcats weren't as bad as they looked down the stretch this season, including in yesterday's upset loss to St. Mary's. Said star senior guard Scottie Reynolds: "We can't have everybody have their own way of playing basketball. It has to be everybody on the same page, and he's the guy we look to for that. We assessed it and we started going in the direction he wanted us to be going in, and we just ran out of time. Time was not on our side this year."

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/20100321_Reynolds__Time_not_on__Nova_s_side.html

Portland Trail Blazers fan sayin' hi and good luck!

2010-03-17T03:40:45Z

Hello all,

Look, I really don't know anything about your school. I'm not even sure what state you're in, but I know it's east of the Rockies. Here's what I do know:

I likes me some Dante Cunningham!

Seriously. He's not like a budding mega-star, but hands down he's my favorite rookie on our team this year, more so than Jeff Pendergraph (fun and hard nosed from Arizona) and Patty Mills (Aussie Olympic standout but otherwise a waterbug type PG). He's got great hustle, great defense, scraps for rebounds, hits that mid-range turnaround J, does whatever his coach tells him and has that awesome "gap-tooth" mouth guard that makes him look like he's going to club you when you turn your back on him.

So with March Madness coming up, no Oregon teams made it into the tourney and the only other NW team is the Huskies, who I am contractually obligated to hate. Yes, our star Brandon Roy is an ex-Husky, but we forgive him for that. So I needed somebody to root for going into the tournament, and I have settled for your team, in honor of Dante Cunningham.

If you could please, tell me what I'm supposed to yell at the TV screen when your team is on the floor.