Villanova

[NavinRJohnson]

Watching that game last night, they are definitely a team we should beat - especially at home. They do some good things offensively, and they certainly make their free throws, but their defense is brutal.

[🏀]

Is it me or is Reynolds trying a bit too hard to be DJames? He single-handily lost that game with 4 or 5 turnovers in a 2-3 minute span.

[NYWarrior]

Reynolds is out of control more often than not.....lots of talent though, he'll be really good for the 'Cats.

[AlumKCof93]

I've watched Villanova a few times this year and each time I've thought they were pretty good but at the end of the games they've either blown it or just narrowly escaped.  Once they learn how to win, they'll be dangerous.  Hopefully, they'll still be finding ways to lose when they come to the BC on Feb 19th.

[Ready2Fly]

I agree AlumKC.  Watching the Nova vs. ND game this weekend, I thought they would be a tougher opponent than ND.  They really blew it at the end in that game, they had a bunch of chances to win it and they gave it away.  Granted, we have them at home and we go to ND's place, but I think we should handle the domers much easier than Nova. 

[ONeills Barstool]

I agree, sure seemed like Villanova blew it.  Turning the ball over on 7 out of 10 possessions in the second half will do that to a team.  Pitt's two 3s near the end were absolute killers as well though.

Maybe it was the lettuce.  WTF was that promotion all about - what idiot decided it would be a good idea for fans to chuck heads of lettuce from half court into a grocery cart at the free throw line, leaving a friggin salad bar all over the floor.  Watching everybody trying to clean all the lettuce scraps off the floor coming back from the TV timeout was hilarious.  I don't expect you'll see that promo again any time soon.

[BallBoy]

I disagree.  Nova is not a sure win.  I think MU will pull it out but I wouldn't be surprised to see the loss.  Regardless, I expect it to be a close game.

I was watching the Nova/Pitt game and  it made me concerned about the Nova/MU game.   Nova is a very talented team who happened to fold down the stretch against Pitt.  I credit Pitts defense but also have to point out the number of bad passes and stupid turnovers by Nova.   Nova had 16 TOs off of 10 steals.  If Nova learns to reduce those TOs and take care of the ball better, watch out.

Pitt was called for 17 fouls.  There probably could been a whole lot more called on both teams but I believe in games where Pitt fouls less than 20 times their winning % is awesome.  Pitt was very physical and I don't think Nova could handle that.  MU won't have that Pitt type physical play which will allow Nova to play their game.

Nova was trapping very effectively against Pitt.  They were repeatedly catching Pitt in the "coffin corner".   I can see a few of the MU plays getting themselves in the position and making bad passes.

Nova has some very good starters but no depth which could have lead to fatigue at the end of the Pitt game.  Nova had an 8 man rotation which is deceiving since 6 of players played 26 minutes or more. 5 above 30.  The other two players played 13 minutes combined.  

Nardi is a good shooter and is able to handle the ball effectively.  Sumpter is very athletic and is going to be a hard to handle on the low post.  I don't see those two guys shooting 8-25 that often. The team shot 38% from 2pt and 26.3% from 3pt land.  That is 7% and 9% off their season average.  Again credit Pitt def but it could have been an off night.  Sumpter averages 46% and Nardi 41% but for this game they were at 31%.  Big difference.  Nova had a problem scoring against Pitt but against everyone else they haven't.  See the 102 against ND.  In that game they had 4 players 18+pts.

Nova is a very athletic team which is why I think they will be a huge challenge against MU.  The nice thing is that MU will have somewhat of a height advantage. Their posts are under 6-8.  Also Nova needs to marquee win to make the tourney.   Since they couldn't do it at Pitt, I look for them to be jacked up to take it to MU.  MU will be coming off a big game against lousiville with only a days in between.  MU might have some tired legs.

I think the key is going to be pressuring Nardi and getting the ball out of his hands.  Reynolds accounted for 7 of the 16 TOs.  Make him control the ball.  Also keep Sumpter out of game.  Both will be a hard task.  With that said we need to prevent that one guy from having the game of his life against us.  That has happened so many times.  See Bama in the first round.

[DoubleMU0609]

It was great to hear the announcers bash the athletic department for the promo the entire time they were cleaning it up.  My girlfriend even called me to make sure I was watching how stupid the promo was.

I was only half watching the game last night.  Nova doesn't scare me that much but from what I saw we might have problems with Sumpter (I saw him go around Grey quite a few times last night).  We've proven we can handle big gorillas down low, but I can't think of any very athletic bigs that we've shut down.

[WashDCWarrior]

Last year we played Nova very tough.  I know this year's Nova team is very different, but I don't think they're as good as last years.  Plus this year is at home, whereas last year we played them in their campus gym which is small and loud.  We ended up losing the game primarily due to inexperience.  Turnovers in late game situations, etc.

This year I don't see us making the same mistakes.  Also with us coming so close to knocking them off last year (when they were ranked #4) means our players will have that memory fresh.

I don't see a let down game, plus the extra year of experience and home court advantage makes me pretty confident.  I don't think It'll be a blowout, but coming down the stretch, I definately give us the edge.