City of Pain

After watching the Syracuse – St Joe’s battle the other night, I thought about doing a Big 5 season preview. Yea, can you believe it? No, really I’m not joking. The problem is that the Big 5 isn’t a real conference, it screws Drexel out of the equation when they should absolutely be included in it, and there are basically two decent teams (Villanova and St. Joe’s), and three teams that should locate Marty McFly and his DeLorean so they can travel back to the 1950s and remember when they used to be good (Penn, Temple, La Salle). Ok that was a little harsh on Temple…sorry Owls fans. I thought about the history, the pageantry, the rivalries, the…..lack of real competition over the past, oh I don’t know, TWENTY YEARS. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ll be attending some Big 5 games this season and thoroughly enjoying them, but we live in an era ruled by the major conferences and prime time television. Previewing the Big 5 this season is about as relevant as paging through Consumer Reports and comparing value and pricing on new VCRs. I’m not even sure if people in Philadelphia care that much about it anymore. Anyway, in case you were wondering, I like Villanova to win the imaginary Big 5 title. Which brings us to…….(drum roll), your City of Pain Villanova Wildcats Season Preview!! It doesn’t get much better than this folks. Only finger painting, making sand castles, children’s laughter, running topless on a summer evening through a wheat field in the American Mid-West, and watching bestiality porn can top this.

2006-2007 Record: 22-11 (9-7 Big East), Lost in NCAA First Round (Kentucky)

Starting Line up
Shane Clark F (Junior)
Dante Cunningham F (Junior)
Casiem Drummond F-C (Sophomore)
Scottie Reynolds G (Sophomore)
Reggie Redding G (Sophomore)

Key Bench Players
Antonio Pena F (Freshman)
Malcolm Grant G (Freshman)
Corey Stokes G (Freshman)

Graduated Players
Curtis Sumpter F
Mike Nardi G
Will Sheridan G

Ok…well, we’ve established just how young this team is already. In fact, Villanova doesn’t even have a senior on the roster. On paper it certainly appears that this is going to be a transition year because the three seniors they lost accounted for almost half of the team’s scoring last year. Once again we have Jay Wright attempting to build smaller, quicker shooting teams, and he certainly has the foundation for it now. He’s going to ask a lot from freshman players and while that is going to help this core of players develop quicker over the next two years, it will undoubtedly cost them a few games this season.

Most preseason publications have Villanova finishing in the middle of the pack in the Big East. While Georgetown and Louisville head the conference, after that there is no clear cut leader. Villanova should be fighting it out with Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, West Virginia, and possibly Uconn for that next spot. Looking at their schedule, I see it shaping up like this:

Wins: Stony Brook, Bucknell, UCF, Penn, Hartford, Columbia, La Salle, DePaul (twice), at Rutgers, at St. John’s, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Seton Hall, West Virginia, Uconn, South Florida

Losses: LSU, at Temple, at Pittsburgh, at Cincinnati, at Syracuse, at St. Joe’s, at Georgetown, Marquette, at Louisville, at Providence

Predicted record: 18-10

Predicted Big East finish: 11-7 (tied for 4th)

Summary: Nova is going to enter the NCAA tournament like they did last year as a #8 or #9 seed. It’s just so goddam hard to predict the Big East Year in and year out. The teams that are expected to be good (Louisville, Georgetown, Marquette) are not the historical powers that usually reign over this conference (Uconn, Syracuse, Pitt). Villanova could easily finish 11-7 or 7-11 and I wouldn’t be shocked either way. I think the important thing for Nova fans this year is not so much where they finish, but how quickly they are able to grow into a cohesive team. Scottie Reynolds can easily become an All American player (he’s already been named to the First Team All Big East), but after him you only have potential and youth. Both Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher (two Coreys?? We could definitely go places with this one) are top freshman in the conference and could hold the key to Nova’s success this year. You’re looking at a group of players now that should all be together for the next two to three years, so the sooner they can create the chemistry needed to sustain winning (see the 06 and 07 Florida Gators), the quicker they will improve. After this season, I fully expect Villanova to be the Big East front runners for the next three years. In college basketball, you have to catch lightning in a bottle. Villanova’s chance begins this season, and it begins with their youngest players.

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