AP poll - Nova 8, Creighton 9

[mpwalsh8]

Nova is the clearest example of a good team overachieving. They were not even in the preseason top 25. That's for a reason. In no way, shape, or form are they a real legit top 10 team. They are the most beatable looking top 10 team I've seen since SDSU. The fact is that Nova won 2 huge games both upsets with miracle shots early in the season 1 of them a blue blood opponent. That is what catapulted them to the ranking they still have. Do you really think every year Nova will just go out and dispose of a top 5 team right away then beat another top 25 opponent right after with last second 3's dropping in? Come on. You know in your gut your team is just not top 10. It's extremely possible that Nova goes from top 10 insane overachieving to #22 or even unranked next year without that early season magic.

Every year there are teams which for whatever reason, are off the radar screen for the preseason rankings. In some ways Villanova is still dealing with the 13-19 record from two seasons ago. No one expected much out of them last year, particularly after losing to Columbia at home in a blowout. However, from the midpoint of last season and continuing into this season, VU has played good basketball and beaten a lot of good teams.

I assume the two early season games you refer to are the Kansas and Iowa games. Neither game was won on a "miracle" shot. Tyler Ennis hit a "miracle" shot to beat Pitt a few weeks ago. Ryan Arcidiacono getting a good look for an open 3 to beat Kansas, which he made, is not a miracle shot. It was a good shot by a pretty good shooter who to that point had not had a very good game. FWIW, Villanova had been leading the majority of the game, Kansas didn't take the lead until late in the game. Against Iowa VU was down early and came back in the second by playing exceptional defense. VU had the lead late in the game, Iowa had to tie to send it to overtime. What classifies two three pointers at the end in the flow of the offense as "miracle" shots?

I think what you see from Villanova is a good group of very good 3 and 4 star players who play as a team instead of a collection of individuals who all happen to wear the same jersey. Unselfish team basketball with solid defense is what has made VU successful this year. Solid defense can keep games close when shots aren't falling and Villanova's defensive effort is much, much improved over the past 2-3 years. The Creighton games are a concern as it shows that VU's aggressive help defense can be beat by crisp execution and very good shooting. Fortunately few teams are able to do what Creighton does well.

Do I think VU is a top 10 team? Borderline. I do think they are better than most teams in the 10-25 range. There are teams like Kentucky who I think would give Villanova fits but I think VU would match up well with Duke. I was in San Diego last week for work and saw SDSU in person. I think Villanova is better than SDSU. I think it would be close game but based on my own personal eye test, I like VU's team better.

VU had a period of very selfish basketball after the 2009 Final 4 run which peaked with the 13-19 debacle of a season. Last year VU made significant progress in getting back to team basketball and this season has stepped it up a notch.

As a Villanova fan I was thrilled Villanova made it back to the tournament last year. Coming into this season I thought they'd be better than last year and would have a good chance to make the tournament and might flirt with a top 25 ranking at some point during the season. Clearly they've exceeded my expectations as well as those of the press and other pundits.

Seth Davis interviewed Jay Wright back in January (see it http://sports.yahoo.com/video/seth-davis-show-jay-wright-050104505.html) and you can hear how Villanova got off track for a few seasons but has gone back to recruiting players that fit well at Villanova. I think this season is showing that getting the right players can make the whole better than the sum of the parts.

[bmorex]

Xavier has a top ten recruiting class coming in next year.

And unless Xavier makes a run in the tournament (my guess would be Sweet Sixteen), Semaj will be back.