Villanova Wildcats
Big East (22-10, 9-7)
Seed: #9
West Region
RPI: 19
Big Wins:
1/8 at Georgetown (56-52), 1/17 Notre Dame (102-87), 1/20 Texas (76-69)
Bad Losses:
1/3 at West Virginia (56-67), 1/6 DePaul (65-73), 1/13 at Syracuse
(64-75)
Last NCAA
Appearance: 2006, Elite Eight loss to Florida
Coach:
Jay Wright (5-4 in 4 NCAA appearances)
Probable
Starters:
Mike Nardi,
Senior, Guard, 12.0 ppg, 3.9 apg
Scottie
Reynolds, Freshman, Guard, 14.5 ppg, 4.1 apg
Curtis Sumpter,
Senior, Forward, 17.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg
Dante
Cunningham, Sophomore, Forward, 8.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg
Will Sheridan,
Senior, Forward, 5.3 ppg, 52. rpg, 1.0 bpg
Key
Roleplayers:
Reggie Redding,
Freshman, Guard, 2.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg
Dwayne
Anderson, Sophomore, Guard, 3.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg
Shane Clark,
Sophomore, Forward, 7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg
Why They Can
Surprise:
A trio of
seniors will lead the way for the Wildcats. Mike Nardi is a quality ball
handler and dangerous long range shooter. However, a left ankle injury
seriously limited his minutes in the Big East Tournament and he will likely
not be 100% for the opening of the NCAA Tournament. Curtis Sumpter is a
nightmare to defend and will post up and hit the outside jumper with
consistency. Will Sheridan will not put up huge numbers, but is an
experienced forward who does the dirty work.
Nothing spells
success in March like free-throws and rebounding. The six players who make
up the bulk of the rotation all shoot over 70% from the line and the team
ranks third in the nation, shooting 78.1% from the stripe. Villanova
outrebounds their opponents by an average of 4.9 per game. Sumpter, Sheridan
and sophomores Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham will grab a majority of the
boards, but the guards are not opposed to getting on the glass a little as
well.
Why They Can
Disappoint:
This team looks
a lot different than the team that ran a four guard offense last year. The
starting backcourt of Nardi and super freshman Scottie Reynolds combine for
8.0 assists per game. Yet, nobody else on the team averages more than
one assist per game. The forwards are not the greatest passers around
and the team ends up committing more turnovers than they have assists.
Who To
Watch:
Reynolds came
on strong in January, averaging 21.0 points and 4.7 assists over a seven
game stretch. Against DePaul, he shot 7-11 from behind the arc, against
Texas he did most of his damage by getting to the charity stripe and in a 20
point effort in Providence, Reynolds proceeded to score without hitting many
three’s or free-throws. He played a lot of minutes during that span and the
freshman’s production suffered in early February. However, Reynolds is on
another hot streak and Nova fans hope he has enough gas in the tank to keep
it up for the tournament.
Joel’s
Bracket Says: First Round loss to Kentucky
