Paultzman post=443491 said:
Amaseinyourface post=443480 said:
Paultzman post=443476 said:
FINAL: Purdue 80, Villanova 72
Damn that was a good game. Purdue might be the worst matchup in the country for nova, but it also might be a precursor for them struggling against the top teams in the BE. Uconn, Xavier, seton hall all have huge front lines. Don’t think anyone in the BE is gonna run away with the league this year.
Totally agree Mase, Nova big Dixon is ordinary. The overall depth of this Nova squad is limited and they desperately need Antoine to return healthy to make backcourt more capable so not to rely on Arcidiacono at all. The latter really imo is not a BE level player.
My report from watching the Mohegan Sun games in person this weekend is:
Purdue is really, really good. There's no way to prepare for or understand Edey until you actually see him. The good news is that you only have to worry about him for 15 minutes or so per game. The bad news is that when he goes out Williams comes in, and Williams is also a terrific player. Then you have to worry about Ivey who might be the fastest college player I've ever seen, Sfefanich who is basically Max Strus all over again, and a collection of guards and forwards that come in with no drop-off. And they're well coached.
North Carolina has a ton of talent and hit a ridiculous number of high-degree-of-difficulty shots and still couldn't get over the hump against them - their whole frontcourt fouled out.
Purdue was a terrible matchup for Nova - their path was to try to get their tempo, defend and rebound well enough to stay competitive, and hit 3s. They did that for 30 minutes but couldn't do it for 40.
However, this may be the best defensive Nova team we've seen. They are tough, physical, and of course well-coached. There's also a ton of experience on that team with Samuels (who in my opinion is the key player on that team, he can do literally everything and is asked to do some of it all the time), Moore, and Gillespie. Slater and Daniels are both very solid fits at both ends of the floor. Dixon is nothing special but he has size and does what he is asked to do.
The weakness is at the point behind Gillespie, Archediacono is trash. Wright gave him run on Saturday when Nova basically punched Tennessee in the mouth in the first 5 minutes and Tennessee quit because they couldn't deal with Nova's physicality, but on Sunday Jay couldn't put into a competitive game.
Bottom line is that Nova is going to win the Big East again. They aren't on the same level as Gonzaga and Purdue, but they should be a top-10 team all year. We match up well with them but Nova plays with focus and intensity for 40 minutes on both ends of the floor so we are going to have to avoid sloppy mistakes - if you make mistakes they will bludgeon you.
Did not stay for Tennessee v North Carolina but it looks to me as though that was a coaching issue - rookie HC Hubert Davis doesn't seem to have been able to get his team ready to play on Sunday after a hard game on Saturday. NC is definitely the more talented team than Tennessee, so it had to be a motivation / focus issue. Glad we don't have to see Dawson Garcia anymore. That kid is Julian plus 4 inches.
