(BET) (POST GAME) Villanova, Thur., Mar. 10, 7p, FS-1

[dee]

Painful loss but honestly wasn't as bad for me as some prior (such as Pitt). Those losses made it so we needed to win 4 games in 4 days, and I highly doubt we would've beaten UConn and then PC or Creighton. Those were teams we were 0-6 against, and also they'd all be playing one fewer game than us. The Big East was a lot weaker last year for Georgetown.

We had our chances, not just last night but at least a dozen times this season. We failed nearly every time. It sucks, but that's the reality of the situation.

Make the NIT, finish a couple big games, keep most of the team together, and don't schedule scared next year. 

When you lose game after game by just a few points and especially when you blow a big lead it's the coach
Although the refs played a big part too with their favoritism of jay wright
 

 

[ADORAZ]

dee- I agree it's on the coach, just wasn't as brutal a loss for me as some previous this year. This type of loss is the expectation for this team. We probably only would've had 20% odds of winning both of the next 2 given we'd be underdogs (if both were total toss ups then we'd have 25% odds of winning both).

Our problems didn't come down to one play or one ref, they stemmed from an entire season of this. 

 

[paultzman]

Not short nor sweet;

Obviously a gut punch loss, feel for the players, fans and squandered opportunity for some positive national attention. After bad night’s sleep I just can’t readily accept notion losing to solid Nova is nothing to get bothered about. Not seizing opportunity is where my head is at and will remain so. Proud of kids effort and fight nonetheless.

Posh’s ability to impact a game is clearer than ever and hope his desire to play close to his family trumps temptation to seek a program more likely to dance while offering max minutes he gets here.

Mike is here and no sense being too negative or optimistic about him. It seems fair to have doubts that he is guy to get program on track to consistently succeed in Big East however. This is critical off season to demonstrate he can attract solid transfers to at least keep the program competent and worth watching. No matter the exercise about hanging your hat on the remaining core being able to better this group, it is clear SJ needs several very good players to complement those guys or risk treading water.

Next month or so is critical. Mike has to retain the obvious players, Posh as noted being far and away most critical. From a public perception and recruiting image, losing him would devastating.

 

[MJDinkins]

Not short nor sweet;

Obviously a gut punch loss, feel for the players, fans and squandered opportunity for some positive national attention. After bad night’s sleep I just can’t readily accept notion losing to solid Nova is nothing to get bothered about. Not seizing opportunity is where my head is at and will remain so. Proud of kids effort and fight nonetheless.

Posh’s ability to impact a game is clearer than ever and hope his desire to play close to his family trumps temptation to seek a program more likely to dance while offering max minutes he gets here.

Mike is here and no sense being too negative or optimistic about him. It seems fair to have doubts that he is guy to get program on track to consistently succeed in Big East however. This is critical off season to demonstrate he can attract solid transfers to at least keep the program competent and worth watching. No matter the exercise about hanging your hat on the remaining core being able to better this group, it is clear SJ needs several very good players to complement those guys or risk treading water.

Next month or so is critical. Mike has to retain the obvious players, Posh as noted being far and away most critical. From a public perception and recruiting image, losing him would devastating. 

Agree with your entire post, Paultz. By the way, I too can't just say "it's Villanova" and be fine with it. Last night's game was for the taking and, like throughout the entire season, we came up short.

 

[NCJohnnie]

As disappointing as season was, I loved watching these guys play and was very proud of them last night despite the final result. Feel for all of them particularly Champ & Posh who were clearly crushed by the result. Also agree that it's fair to have doubts about CMA being the guy to get consistent top half of league finishes. Personally, I'm not there yet, willing to give him one more year before I come to that conclusion given how close we came to beating teams like UCONN (twice), Nova & PC.  But as Paultzman said, it is critical CMA retain the core guys who are eligible to return, especially Posh, Wusu, Wheeler, Soriano, Nyiwe & Pinzon. Also need to add a difference maker to replace Champ, (I'd love someone with the skills of a Ryan Hawkins who's used to winning) and a wing type who can really shoot it. We'll see in the next 3 or 4 months whether we can have realistic hope for improvement. One thing for sure is recruiting needs to get better. Four years without dancing would be unacceptable imho. 

 

[beast of the east]

Not short nor sweet;

Obviously a gut punch loss, feel for the players, fans and squandered opportunity for some positive national attention. After bad night’s sleep I just can’t readily accept notion losing to solid Nova is nothing to get bothered about. Not seizing opportunity is where my head is at and will remain so. Proud of kids effort and fight nonetheless.

Posh’s ability to impact a game is clearer than ever and hope his desire to play close to his family trumps temptation to seek a program more likely to dance while offering max minutes he gets here.

Mike is here and no sense being too negative or optimistic about him. It seems fair to have doubts that he is guy to get program on track to consistently succeed in Big East however. This is critical off season to demonstrate he can attract solid transfers to at least keep the program competent and worth watching. No matter the exercise about hanging your hat on the remaining core being able to better this group, it is clear SJ needs several very good players to complement those guys or risk treading water.

Next month or so is critical. Mike has to retain the obvious players, Posh as noted being far and away most critical. From a public perception and recruiting image, losing him would devastating.

very good post, nice job.

 

[beast of the east]

As disappointing as season was, I loved watching these guys play and was very proud of them last night despite the final result. Feel for all of them particularly Champ & Posh who were clearly crushed by the result. Also agree that it's fair to have doubts about CMA being the guy to get consistent top half of league finishes. Personally, I'm not there yet, willing to give him one more year before I come to that conclusion given how close we came to beating teams like UCONN (twice), Nova & PC.  But as Paultzman said, it is critical CMA retain the core guys who are eligible to return, especially Posh, Wusu, Wheeler, Soriano, Nyiwe & Pinzon. Also need to add a difference maker to replace Champ, (I'd love someone with the skills of a Ryan Hawkins who's used to winning) and a wing type who can really shoot it. We'll see in the next 3 or 4 months whether we can have realistic hope for improvement. One thing for sure is recruiting needs to get better. Four years without dancing would be unacceptable imho. 

i agree 1000% as i typically do   another great post and i feel the same,

 

[SLYFOXX1968]

Just a word or more about the BE Refs and CMA .   Wright , Cooley , Willard  all seem chatty and palsy with the Refs during games and they are successful working then to advantage on close calls .  CMA is still a BE outsider and isn’t  particularly engaged in meaningful dialogue with the Refs .  It’s not his nature but, it is something to consider .  He’s not likely to change his personality .  Hurley is often a raving lunatic but , he’s got that Hurley Pedigree that gets him some slack , mostly because of his Dad’e rep .   Plus , it’s not far fetched to think theCoaches  and Refs are often attending the same social events  . It’s all a big Fraternity of the BB Circle .  

 

[stjohnnie75]

When you lose by one point you can go back to so many plays and say what if! Here are a few that stuck out to me:

- Posh blocking foul. Should have been a charge and our ball. We could have added to our lead to end the half. Instead Nova gets the ball back and hits one free throw.
- Posh’s 4th foul. Came off an attempt to grab an offensive rebound. Instead Nova gets and hits two FTs
- Smith’s wild layup attempt. Missed shot and then fouls going for rebound. Nova gets and hits two FTs
- Wusu attempts a hard foul but Nova player still hits the layup and adds a FT
- Nova player misses a FT, SJU called for a lane violation. Nova player makes extra attempt. Camera was focused on the shooter, so you never saw the actual lane violation but Wheeler did go back to the line as if he knew. I did rewind the play 10 times but can’t confirm or deny the call
- Wheeler makes a nice defensive play to block a shot. Goes directly to another Nova player for game winning FTs. If that block goes out of bounds or any other direction game probably would have been over

 

[paultzman]

I thought lane violations went away with dinosaurs like three second calls. Gillespie btw gets about 7 seconds in lane with his quadruple pumps, elbowing for space.

 

[ras]

And yeah this was such a rough season for Champagnie. Great player, fantastic kid whose career I will closely follow but that airball…man. We literally got a wide open shot to most likely ice the game and it’s in the hands of the guy we want taking the shot and he just choked. I hope that comes across as just a sad observation of what we just watched rather than an unfair, mean critique of a college athlete. I agree that for all of his wonderful qualities, closing & showing up in big games were not his thing. Great representative for the program. One of the best reps maybe. Unfortunate ending to his college career.



 

I think it's a fair observation, I'm a big fan of Julian and think he'll be a contributor in the NBA, he has the size and shooting ability to be a good role player, but there's been too many games this year where he didn't show up offensively or just didn't make plays to close the game when the team put the ball in his hands.

It's March and your season is on the line, you can't airball a wide open 3 to win the game, you gotta step up and shoot that with confidence and make it.  Then to make it worse he fouled on the game winning free throws, he has to know the situation. If he doesn't get the rebound, just put both hands straight up in the air if you see the guy shooting, there's no reason to lean your arm down on that shot, the angle the Villanova player was shooting from was a tough angle, it was almost no way he was going to make that shot.  Reminded me of Paul Scruggs on Xavier last night just having a brain fart and fouling and giving up the game.  You gotta know the situation at all times.
———
. Nova is a well oiled, well coached machine. They make their free throws ,play smart bb. and keep mistakes to a minimum . That was one of the differences in the game.

 

 

[beast of the east]

In a razor thin margin, there are lots of things to rehash in terms of bad calls, poor decisions, and failure to execute when it mattered most.

This game definitely goes into my memory box as one of the most painful losses of the past 50 years.   Seeing our kids openly sobbing at the end of the game tells you all you need to know about how much they emptied themselves to deliver a win.

To me, though, the shock of losing with two seconds on the clock to a foul brought to mind the Syracuse loss at Alumni Hall where Rencher missed the front end of a 1 and 1, and Marty Head to Louis Orr resulted in a buzzer beating layup.   We were stunned then, and stunned last night.

However, waking up this morning, it felt a whole lot more like the iconic loss to undefeated eventual NCAA champ Indiana at the Garden in the 75 Holiday Festival.    It was a different era and a different fanbase, and fans had a chance to compose themselves and rise up and salute our guys in the closing moments with an ovation that shook the Garden.

In the end, our kids played as hard as they possibly could, played extremely well but not perfectly, and showed they are nearly every bit as good as a Villanova team that will likely be a 3 or 4 seed in the dance.   In the Nova lockerroom I seriously doubt that Nova kids felt they were far superior to our guys.  I'm pretty sure they felt a relief in escaping with a victory to a team very nearly as good as they are.

Yes, if we started this season over today where we are today, I'd expect we would punch a dance ticket, but in no way does that make our kids failures.   I enjoyed watching them improve, never give up, and give every team in conference a run for their money all year long.   

A big what if game, in a big what if season.   In the end I'm proud of them and would take every single roster player back if we could. 

 

[SJU61982]

I thought lane violations went away with dinosaurs like three second calls. Gillespie btw gets about 7 seconds in lane with his quadruple pumps, elbowing for space.

The whistle came very late, and only after two of our guys went for the rebound, while no Villanova players did.  Usually, there's some banging for a rebound off a missed free throw, and when there wasn't here, and we got the board clean, I think the refs made an assumption (a wrong one, IMO) that we had to have jumped in early.  In the end, I think we got penalized for playing hard that time.


 

 

[lawmanfan]

1.  Phantom lane violation
2.  Outrageous block call on Posh.
3.  Julian missing the shot he has to make to win the game
4.  Nova got the game at the pace it wanted
5.  Notwithstanding that SJU executed well throughout, with the exception of the Nova run with Posh on the bench
6.  Bonus point for the Gillespie haters (me):  If Gillespie was actually the All-American superstar that the Nova fans make him out to be then he would have been handling the ball last night.  Instead Jay decided to hide/protect him from Posh by having Moore bring the ball up.  Great coaching by Jay, but tells you all you need to know about Gillespie IMHO.
7.  Screw Nova.

 

[GardenCity62]

I’m hoping they play in the NIT because I don’t want the season to end on last nights game. I think it hurt more because of the MSG atmosphere and the slim chance of maybe winning the tournament. Totally sick of these endings.

 

[mjmaherjr]

1.  Phantom lane violation
2.  Outrageous block call on Posh.
3.  Julian missing the shot he has to make to win the game
4.  Nova got the game at the pace it wanted
5.  Notwithstanding that SJU executed well throughout, with the exception of the Nova run with Posh on the bench
6.  Bonus point for the Gillespie haters (me):  If Gillespie was actually the All-American superstar that the Nova fans make him out to be then he would have been handling the ball last night.  Instead Jay decided to hide/protect him from Posh by having Moore bring the ball up.  Great coaching by Jay, but tells you all you need to know about Gillespie IMHO.
7.  Screw Nova.

Personally I'd go with F Nova but they that's just me

 

[usguard]

No it’s not just one shot it’s his ability to carry a team and produce in clutch situations.Do definitely  that is a criteria that comes into their thinking. Not saying he is not a good player and could find a team on the bench which he could help
but a high pick for his sake hope I am wrong,just do not see it
Think there will be mixed opinions on this topic

 

[lawmanfan]

1.  Phantom lane violation
2.  Outrageous block call on Posh.
3.  Julian missing the shot he has to make to win the game
4.  Nova got the game at the pace it wanted
5.  Notwithstanding that SJU executed well throughout, with the exception of the Nova run with Posh on the bench
6.  Bonus point for the Gillespie haters (me):  If Gillespie was actually the All-American superstar that the Nova fans make him out to be then he would have been handling the ball last night.  Instead Jay decided to hide/protect him from Posh by having Moore bring the ball up.  Great coaching by Jay, but tells you all you need to know about Gillespie IMHO.
7.  Screw Nova.

Personally I'd go with F Nova but they that's just me
 

As a moderator I have to maintain a certain level of decorum with which you are not troubled.  /media/kunena/emoticons/silly.png

 

[usguard]

No it’s not just one shot it’s his ability to carry a team and produce in clutch situations.Do definitely  that is a criteria that comes into their thinking. Not saying he is not a good player and could find a team on the bench which he could help
but a high pick for his sake hope I am wrong,just do not see it
Think there will be mixed opinions on this topic

 

[Porgyman]

No it’s not just one shot it’s his ability to carry a team and produce in clutch situations.Do definitely  that is a criteria that comes into their thinking. Not saying he is not a good player and could find a team on the bench which he could help
but a high pick for his sake hope I am wrong,just do not see it
Think there will be mixed opinions on this topic

Agreed. There are enough holes in his game (discussed ad naseum here), that will keep him from being a top pick. Just based on those that are coming out, this draft is stronger than last year. Personally, I’d be surprised if he went before the middle of Round 2. And it’s possible that he won’t be selected at all.