Sat 1/25 BE Game Thread (5 Games).

[JohnnyBoy]

Ok, Nova is the #1 team in the country and undefeated and head and shoulders above everyone else in the conference. Sorry. Can we move on?

Don't get too comfortable because this is probably among the weakest Big East years we will have with SJ 12-8 with 6 top 100 recruits (can't think of any other team with that much talent that failed so bad), a rebuilding Butler, a bad Marquette team, and a beat up G'Town team that lost a ton. Even Seton Hall has a good class coming. I really don't think Nova is head and shoulders above anyone. I think they just close out better than other teams. They won every single OT game and every single nail biter in the final seconds. Will it continue? Who knows?

Isn't that one of the primary differences between a good team and a great one?

And I'm with everyone else, I can't think of a reason to be strafing Nova with a bunch of negativity at the moment.

I guess we'll see what happens. If I had to bet my money I would bet they finish more around 15. If they stay around their current place and totally dominate the rest of the year I will have to tip my cap. Don't mean to come off as negative, just a prediction.

[Bill Marsh]

It's amazing how fast things change in this league…not too long ago PC got bad news that they had guys either injured or transferring. They were on a downturn and St. John's had them dead to rights at the end of the game but pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory. PC wins a squeaker then they go beat Creighton and Xavier. G'Town and Marquette now have a worse record than us overall. Who would have thought? Oh and by the way please stop mentioning undefeated teams with Nova. Nova has 2 losses including their recent one by 30 and was really more like 40 much of the 2nd half. How many #4 teams lose by that much to an unranked team?

I guess you didn't get my point when I used Arizona and Syracuse as examples. The point was that everyone has close games on their schedule, games that could go either way - EVEN UNDEFEATED TEAMS. So, no, I won't stop mentioning undefeated teams with Villanova. Besides, as you've pointed out, things can change very quickly - even for those undefeated teams.

As for real #4 teams losing by 30 to unranked teams (It was 28 and Creighton was ranked), I already gave the example in another post of Louiscille's Final Four team losing to Providence by 31. Another example was last year's Michigan team was blown out by Michigan State by 23 on their way to the national championship game. I can keep coming with the examples if you'd like. But the plain truth is that no team is judged by a single loss. They're judged by their total body of work.

[CTYankee10]

You don't mean to come off as negative? You absolutely do, because you joined the site yesterday (1/25) and all of your posts have been demeaning Nova. You share the same rhetoric as Lavinwood when referring to refereeing bias. Also, you not once mentioned that Creighton lost to an A-10 team as well as a team Nova beat, yet we get dinged for losing to Syracuse on the road? Troll! Don't bother responding, because I'm just gonna put your on ignore anyway. I have nothing productive to say about St John's, so I won't say anything at all.

[Bill Marsh]

Ok, Nova is the #1 team in the country and undefeated and head and shoulders above everyone else in the conference. Sorry. Can we move on?

Don't get too comfortable because this is probably among the weakest Big East years we will have with SJ 12-8 with 6 top 100 recruits (can't think of any other team with that much talent that failed so bad), a rebuilding Butler, a bad Marquette team, and a beat up G'Town team that lost a ton. Even Seton Hall has a good class coming. I really don't think Nova is head and shoulders above anyone. I think they just close out better than other teams. They won every single OT game and every single nail biter in the final seconds. Will it continue? Who knows?

Uhh . . . isn't the ability to close out better than other teams the mark of a winner? And isn't the inability to close out games when younhave the opportunity the mark of a loser? I'm talking to you, St. John's.

[Bluejay]

Agreed…great to see that crowd. Let's hope it stays that way though once every contributor leaves except Artino.

Look, I'm sick of hearing this same line. We were top 10 in attendance before Doug ever came to campus.

[JaysOldfan]

We've been top 25 in attendance since 2006. Also, we aren't losing every contributor except Artino. Our starting PG is back (Chatman), our first guard off the bench is back (Brooks), our current starting SF is back (Dingman). There's no doubt we lose alot after this season, but we have some guys with good experience coming back, and we're very excited for our redshirts and recruits coming in next year.

We may not compete for the championship next year, but we have plenty of talent and skilled basketball players to stay in the top 1/2 of the league.

[Bill Marsh]

We've been top 25 in attendance since 2006. Also, we aren't losing every contributor except Artino. Our starting PG is back (Chatman), our first guard off the bench is back (Brooks), our current starting SF is back (Dingman). There's no doubt we lose alot after this season, but we have some guys with good experience coming back, and we're very excited for our redshirts and recruits coming in next year.

We may not compete for the championship next year, but we have plenty of talent and skilled basketball players to stay in the top 1/2 of the league.

Who are your redshirts, if you don't mind me asking?

[JaysOldfan]

James Milliken - a JUCO guard - 6'2", vertical leap close to 40" and scored 18 pts/gm while shooting 42% from 3 in JUCO - he was expected to contribute a lot this year, but was squeezed out when Gibbs got another year of eligibility

Darian Harris - 6'6" guard from Arkansas - seems to be a Gibbs-type facilitator, but can score when needed

Toby Hegner - a 6'10" SF/PF from Wisc - has a similar skill set as Doug (obviously not on the same level, but a inside/outside player who can score from anywhere) - was offered by Iowa State, Marquette, Boston College, among others. He fits our system perfectly as the typical stretch 4 ala Doug and a lot of folks in Omaha expect him to be a star.

[mpwalsh8]

... snipped ...

I guess we'll see what happens. If I had to bet my money I would bet they finish more around 15. If they stay around their current place and totally dominate the rest of the year I will have to tip my cap. Don't mean to come off as negative, just a prediction.

I don't think too many Villanova fans would be disappointed with a top 15 finish to the season. After the past few seasons I for one would be thrilled.

At some point this season I fully expect Villanova to lose a couple more games and one of them will almost certainly be a head scratcher. Just about any team in the BigEast can beat any other team on any given night but right now, Villanova's body of work warrants a top 10 ranking. It may not at the end of the season but right now it does.

[Jays 4 3]

This is a fact that's easily checked. You should have done that.

1. Nova doesn't average 30-40 FTs every game. They average 27.
2. I'll tell you who else does that. Seton Hall leads the Big East with 28 FTs per game.
3. Xavier and DePaul are right behind Villanova, each with 25 per game. Georgetown & Matquette each average 24. SJU, PC, & Buttler are bunched up right behind them with 23
4. It seems to me that most teams in the conference are bunched up in a pretty narrow range of 23-28.
5. Getting to the line is a skill. A team doesn't deserve to be criticized for doing a god job with that skill.
6. The team that's an anomaly is Creighton, who averages only 19. The reason for that is because they don't take the ball to the hole. That's not a good thing. It's something that could come back to haunt them before the season is over.

Re #6. It may haunt them I guess, however when you are the most efficient offense (and probably best shooting) team in the country you roll with what you have. Why would a bunch of guys who are better than 40% career three point shooters start driving when it is not their strength at all just to try and take more free throws?

I didn't say they should start driving. Every team has their strengths and weaknesses. The inability to take the ball to the hole is one of Creighton's weaknesses and that weakness, I'm saying, may come back to haunt them. When those 3's aren't dropping, the fact that they don't have another weapon is a problem. We aleady saw that against Peovidence who killed them on the offensive boards.

Fair point, but you hit the nail on the head with your second statement there. The key to most games for Creighton this year is rebounding along with defensive effort. When they get out rebounded the outcome is not good.