I don't have much to say about this game. The Villanova Wildcats were absolutely awful in a 2nd round Big East Tournament loss to the South Florida Bulls. And you know what? They were completely in it until the final minute. It was obscene. Just a bizarre, bizarre game.

Maalik Wayns, JayVaughn Pinkston and Dominic Cheek were complete no-shows, and if it wasn't for Mouphtaou Yarou, Villanova might have not scored more than 30 points.

What a pitiful end to a pitiful season (I'm almost hopeful we don't have to watch this team again in the CBI). Jay Wright, Stan Heath has your number, and frankly, it's embarrassing.

More after this season-long hangover wears off.

In the opening round of the 2012 Big East Tournament, the Villanova Wildcats turned around a 4-point halftime deficit and absolutely manhandled the Rutgers Scarlet Knights Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, blowing the doors off the place in a 70-49 romp.

[Wildcats vs Scarlet Knights coverage]

Villanova started out the game like they did last time out against Cincinnati. A balanced attack and strong defense kept them in front of Rutgers for most of the half. But Rutgers, particularly Eli Carter, caught fire from deep and their 7-11 first half mark from beyond the arc spurned an 15-2 run to close the half and put Rutgers ahead at the break.

After that though, it was one-way traffic. More after The Jump.

Continue reading this post »

Villanova played a very balanced game throughout today, and Jay Wright had a great gameplan to attack inside with Mouphtaou Yarou and Maurice Sutton, but in the end a couple of late 3-pointers by the Cincinnati Bearcats doomed the Villanova Wildcats as they fell 72-68 in the regular season finale for the Big East conference.

The opening half was a bit of a struggle for Villanova, as hot shooting by Cincinnati and a late 3 at the buzzer by Cashmere Wright stretched the Bearcats' lead to 8 at the break.

Villanova stayed in the game through Dominic Cheek and Maalik Wayns, who each had 10 points in the opening stanza. After the break, Villanova's D began to tighten and they found a way to make this a great game.

More after The Jump.

Continue reading this post »

It was the same story again. In the first half, Villanova looked like a Top-10 team as they cruised to a 16-point halftime lead in which they dropped 48 points in the half.

Then, Jay Wright sang his halftime lullaby yet again and put his team to sleep. Within 6 minutes, the lead had evaporated down to 5 points as Wright pulled back the reigns on his team and instituted the famed burn offense.

Luckily, tonight the team was able to push through and survive, which is a huge step in the right direction for a young team trying to find its way.

More after The Jump.

Continue reading this post »

On Saturday afternoon at the Verizon Center in the nation's capital, Villanova provided a lackluster offensive output in losing to the Hoyas of Georgetown 67-46. Even with the return of Maalik Wayns to the lineup, Georgetown's lock-down defense stifled the Wildcats all day, as the visitors finished with a total of 14 field goals for the game. Four players scored in double figures for the nationally ranked Hoyas; Jason Clark and Otto Porter had 15 each, while Henry Sims scored 12 and Hollis Thompson put up 10 points. For the reeling Cats, Dominic Cheek was the lone bright spot on the offensive end. Cheek poured in 19 points, but the rest of the squad was 8-37 from the floor, including Wayns' 1-10 effort. As a whole, Villanova shot 28% for the game, committed 13 turnovers, and scored 23 points in each half.

The downward spiral continues for Jay Wright's squad, although it's certainly not for lack of effort When Gtown jumped out to a 17 point lead in the first half, Villanova could've folded the tent, but they battled back to make it a 7 point game at intermission. Georgetown broke the game open late, as Nova just could not get anything going on the offensive end. It didn't help that JayVaughn Pinkston hurt his ankle in pregame warmups and only played a few minutes even though he shouldn't have been out there at all. With James Bell still out, the rotation is thin and the legs got real tired today down the stretch. Even if the Cats had a full squad, Georgetown is a much better team on both ends of the floor. They don't have any stars, but they all know their roles and feed off each other. In addition, the Wildcats just don't have enough weapons to carry the load.

Two games remain in the regular season; Thursday at Rutgers and Saturday vs. Cincy. After that, it's off to Madison Square Garden and the Big East Tournament.

After Saturday's second half debacle at home against Notre Dame, the Villanova Wildcats provided a near mirror image tonight at the Wells Fargo Center vs. UConn. The Cats let a 19 first point half lead evaporate by halftime, and a buzzer beater by Shabazz Napier in overtime handed Nova a 73-70 loss. For the defending champion Huskies, Jeremy Lamb poured in a career-high 32 points, while Andre Drummond dropped 8 points and grabbed 11 boards. Four players scored in double figures for the Wildcats. Dominic Cheek notched 23 points, but he also had 6 turnovers. Ty Johnson scored 14 points, JayVaughn Pinkston had 13, and Mouphtaou Yarou contributed 11 points. Johnson didn't help the cause with 4 turnovers.

Without James Bell and Maalik Wayns, Villanova simply does not have enough quality ballhandlers to run the team. After a horrific start by UConn, which allowed the home squad to build yet another double digit lead, the Huskies switched up their defense and started to press the young Villanova guards. With the Cats unable to generate a fluid offense, UConn stormed back to take the lead late. Villanova actually led by 2 with twenty seconds left, but Cheek threw a terrible inbounds pass, and UConn converted that into a game-tying bucket. Then, in overtime, Ty Johnson made a layup with five ticks on the clock, but the Huskies pushed the ball right back up the court, and Shabazz Napier dapped a 35 foot three to stun the Wells Fargo Center crowd. Not much else to say at this point.

Villanova lost to South Florida tonight (and has now lost 3 straight against the former doormat of the conference). Does that make us the doormat?

- Maalik Wayns was out injured with a sprained MCL.

- The referees single-handedly took Mouphtaou Yarou out of the game with soft fouls while letting a war go on everywhere else.

- JayVaughn Pinkston was 1-13 from the field, was continually hacked all night, and got 1 foul called for him, when he was 20 feet from the basket.

- James Bell for all intents and purposes tried to injure an opponent, wasn't thrown out of the game, and Jay Wright kept him in for the remainder of it anyways.

That last one has me partially embarrassed to be a Villanova fan tonight.

This season if nothing else is a serious test of my fandom. Oh, and Big East refs? They all suck. Not just in Villanova games either. It's an embarassment to our proud basketball conference how much fun they've taken out of watching the game this year.

/Rant.

On Tuesday night at the Pavilion in front of a paltry crowd, Villanova stormed back from a 19 point second half deficit to edge the Providence Friars 74-72. The contest was evenly matched over the first fifteen minutes, but the visitors went on a big run to end the first stanza and eventually led 44-30 at intermission. Trailing 60-41 with fourteen minutes on the clock, the Cats, without the services of Maalik Wayns for much of the second half due to a knee injury, pulled together and completed an epic comeback. Credit the Villanova defense for finally coming up with numerous defensive stops late in the game to give themselves a chance.

Only 3 players were in double figures for Nova, but one of the trio was an absolute beast all night. Freshman JayVaughn Pinkston poured in a career high 28 points while also grabbing 14 rebounds. He hit the game-winner with 20 seconds left to cap off the ferocious rally. Mouphtaou Yarou and Dominic Cheek each contributed 17 points to compliment Pinkston's performance. For Providence, Bryce Cotton was en fuego in the first half, as he dapped 5 trey balls. All in all, Cotton notched 20 points to lead the Friars.

Villanova returns to action next Wednesday night at South Florida.