Top 25 BE players as per Bleacher Report

[TheHall]

5) JVP is our best player. Although stunning he wasn't a starter for all of last year, I don't think the jury is still out on him. Bell still has something to prove....

Let me rephrase because I agree...the jury being out in the sense of will he be an ring of honor type for nova (randy foye) or someone who balled up but didn't reach their full potential at nova (Wayans, who still made the league eventually, sixers then clippers right?)...He is nova's best player & I wouldn't be surprised if JVP had a monster year this year which would eclipse his previous seasons 18-20 pts/gm instead of 13-15 pts/gm.

[Dave]

5) JVP is our best player. Although stunning he wasn't a starter for all of last year, I don't think the jury is still out on him. Bell still has something to prove....

Let me rephrase because I agree...the jury being out in the sense of will he be an ring of honor type for nova (randy foye) or someone who balled up but didn't reach their full potential at nova (Wayans, who still made the league eventually, sixers then clippers right?)...He is nova's best player & I wouldn't be surprised if JVP had a monster year this year which would eclipse his previous seasons 18-20 pts/gm instead of 13-15 pts/gm.

I wish Wayns and Cheek the best. He and Cheek got out to leave a bad situation, at worst earn Euros, and hope for an NBA chance. Neither were drafted. Wayns has had a few short term contracts, a number of 10 days, and is trying to hold on with the Clips. I think he is on the roster as 3rd string, but not sure of his contract status.

[TheHall]

5) JVP is our best player. Although stunning he wasn't a starter for all of last year, I don't think the jury is still out on him. Bell still has something to prove....

Let me rephrase because I agree...the jury being out in the sense of will he be an ring of honor type for nova (randy foye) or someone who balled up but didn't reach their full potential at nova (Wayans, who still made the league eventually, sixers then clippers right?)...He is nova's best player & I wouldn't be surprised if JVP had a monster year this year which would eclipse his previous seasons 18-20 pts/gm instead of 13-15 pts/gm.

I wish Wayns and Cheek the best. He and Cheek got out to leave a bad situation, at worst earn Euros, and hope for an NBA chance. Neither were drafted. Wayns has had a few short term contracts, a number of 10 days, and is trying to hold on with the Clips. I think he is on the roster as 3rd string, but not sure of his contract status.

Totally agree on that angle...but the disturbing part for the program was that neither got substantially better under wright, same with mouph, maybe bell & unfortunately the same can be said for my guy out of jersey corey stokes before them. The BE needs a strong nova (philly) so i'm rooting for this trend to end.

[Dave]

I wish Wayns and Cheek the best. He and Cheek got out to leave a bad situation, at worst earn Euros, and hope for an NBA chance. Neither were drafted. Wayns has had a few short term contracts, a number of 10 days, and is trying to hold on with the Clips. I think he is on the roster as 3rd string, but not sure of his contract status.

Totally agree on that angle...but the disturbing part for the program was that neither got substantially better under wright, same with mouph, maybe bell & unfortunately the same can be said for my guy out of jersey corey stokes before them. The BE needs a strong nova (philly) so i'm rooting for this trend to end.

On Mouph, I think you have to give some development cred. He came in very raw without much hoops experience, but as a very smart and athletic kid with that size. Even many Nova fans were not on board with him through junior year, criticizing his hands on touches. I was a fan from day 1. So while he was developed, could be argued that he was not developed fast enough or effectively enough. And the real valid critique, I think, is that we did not showcase the big game with Mouph. He had to get his through rebounds and put backs, not through plays to the post. Especially in the '11-'12 debacle, with Wayns and Cheek lofting it from outside, Mouph and other post options would have provided a stronger balance and opened things up for the struggling guards. And Mouph could have had a monster senior year (and improved pro prospects) if he had been featured, instead of having to get his own.

Stokes... not sure that is fair. Contributed to a Final 4. Should have had more of a showcase in senior year, but was plagued by injuries. Foot stress fracture? Another issue we have had under Jay's tenure, although not as bad lately... a rash of injuries, way over norm. Loved Stokes.

[Dave]

Mouph. Love that guy. One of the great examples of a STUDENT-athlete getting a great opportunity, having a great athletic career, getting a good education, and sharing in the American dream.

I'll take Mouph as a shining example of the possibilities of the Villanova experience.

[TheHall]

Fair points...I just thought based on early flashes from Mouph & Stokes, that these guys had NBA tools to start with. Stokes with his shot & Mouph his size and overall smarts. The fact that neither was close to be drafted at the end just didn't feel right. But they were both shining examples of great young men who happened to be collegiate athletes.

[GumbyDamnit!]

First of all I'm pretty sure Dave is not a Nova fan. He says he is but it seems clear he's a fan of Temple or some other loser program and using this board to throw barbs at Jay and VU. He's sly with a compliment here and there and then follow it with several snide comments meant to disparage the program. Troll.

2nd, Hall, give me a freaking break. When Willard does anything of note you can comment about JW and his abilities as a coach. Need I remind you that he is one of two current BE coaches to get to a FF. Enough said. Jay has been feeding the coffers of SHU with NCAA toruney credits and has received $0 in return since he got to Nova.

Not sure why this thread ran down this rabbit hole. Originally it was a discussion on a random list that had 5 SJU players and 1 G'twn player. I thought that was an injustice. Some SJU fans thought it was justified. I thought that if we were to accept that SJU has THAT much talent than they should win the league, without question. If not, it is an indictment of Lavin. Do you disagree? Heck SHU and DePaul apparently have 4 of the top 8 league players. With that talent neither should finish in 9th or 10th but that seems like the only safe bet this year. Do you disagree?

[GumbyDamnit!]

And before you say something like: "Geez, why so touchy..." let me note some of your comments that I take issue with:

TheHALL has stated in this thread:

The fact that neither was close to be drafted at the end just didn't feel right.
Oh ok. I guess Jay just can't produce pros. No need to talk about: Randy Foye, K. Lowry, Dante Cunningham, M. Wayns & Speedy Claxton. List of pros that Willard has produced:_________?

but the disturbing part for the program was that neither got substantially better under wright, same with mouph, maybe bell & unfortunately the same can be said for my guy out of jersey corey stokes before them. The BE needs a strong nova (philly) so i'm rooting for this trend to end.
Mouph improved tremendously. He was a 6'8" center with limited athletic ability. The NBA loves that kind of player, right?. His only shot at the NBA would be to develop a 15 ft jump shot. And if you actually watched any of our games that was the biggest thing that Mouph improved on over the years. He'll be just fine making more $ than most of us in his career overseas. Mouph was a great 4 year player for us. Stokes didn't develop either? Yeah, OK. 3 year starter; member of FF team; 1300 career pts. Yeah, terrible job Jay.

A lot of pressure being thrown at SJU but Villanova (Jay Wright) is in the same boat...Both programs should win more games than they have over the last 3-5 years
Jay's a great coach and we want him here for as long as possible. If he was so terrible why has his name come up at Kentucky and UCLA and any other high major program that has an opening? Jay has made the tourney 4 of the last 5 years with a final four. Why would he be under any pressure whatsoever?

Before this summer nova was getting waxed on the recruiting trail the last few years (Amile Jefferson, Savon Goodman, Rasheed Jordan, Harrison Twins, etc), you do know you got Arch b/c he had a family tie to nova. Nova only has one big man on the roster because of that lack of recruiting success.
This is a joke right? Jefferson went to Duke. Harrison twins to Kentucky and Goodman barely qualified and had some serious character issues so we passed and it was the right move (read the paper about Savon recently?). Rasheed Jordon? I don't remember hearing Jay going after him hard at all. You clearly know more about us than we do... If getting "waxed" is losing out to the greatest coach in colege hoops (Coach K) and the greatest recruiter in college hoops (Calipari) than you're right Jay is a terrible recruiter. At least Jay is not handing out coaching jobs just to land certain recruits. Pathetic. What happens when there are no more jobs for Willard to hand out?

Buzz & Marquette have leap-frogged Wright & nova in the BE pecking order since that epic F4 run (scottie coast-2-coast!).
Yeah, OK. When Buzz gets to the FF or has been at Marquette for as long as Wright has been at Nova, then you at least have an argument.

Stunning amount of key transfers: Isaiah Armwood, Marcus Kennedy, Ash Yacoubou, Ty Johnson, Brzoja.
Do you even pay attention to how many kids transfer throughout college hoops every year? If they don't play they want to leave. Brzoja was our last player off the bench; we recruited Arch and TJ saw that he'd be a career backup; Yac was behind Hillard and Ennis and Hart were being added (saw the writing on the wall); Kennedy?-- please; he went to Marist for God's sake. Armwood is the only transfer that we have missed. He just wanted to be the featured player and we had too much talent around him for that to ever happen. It happens sometimes that kids think there are better situations out there for them. Oh well.

To top it off the jury is still out on the development of Bell & JVP.
Nice passive aggressive d-bag comment. JVP will probably be a 1st team BE player this year as a junior, and Bell is a 3 year starter. Yeah, terrible job Jay.

Pretend all you want, deny it all you want, call it what you want but what happens on the mainline doesn't just stay on the mainline

WTF does this even mean? Hall, these are all big time douchy comments. Why does a fan of another team pay such close attention to every aspect of a rival program if not for complete jealousy? How bout you stick to drawing cartoon characters of HS "superheros" in SHU jerseys?

[TheHall]

Not sure why this thread ran down this rabbit hole.

Nice line while you break out your old shovel and start digging at light speed...

[TheHall]

And before you say something like: "Geez, why so touchy..."

Rants= Truth hurts, every sports fan knows that...Anyways things are looking up in Jersey compared to the last decade lol so I'm good!