Pitino puts on free coaching clinic for Jay Wright

Louisville 69
Villanova 55
(box score)

#5 Louisville: 27-5 (18-2 BE)
#10 Villanova: 26-7 (14-6 BE)


Sometimes, it's just nice to watch a master at work -- even if the master is carving up your favorite basketball team like a sushi chef working on some rapidly spoiling fish.

On Friday night, Rick Pitino was that master, and he made Jay Wright his unwilling apprentice. Once again, Pitino showed why he was one of the top coaches in basketball history, official Big East awards hardware be damned.

Trailing by eight at the half, Pitino calmly gave a brief halftime interview to ESPN, then went inside the locker room to make the crucial adjustments. Jay Wright is very good at the media-friendly first part; experience is showing he may have to work on the latter issue a bit.

For the second game in as many days, Villanova collapsed epically in the second half. Just when you thought that it could not get any worse after Villanova surrendered a 16-point lead in the final 20 minutes of the Marquette game, the Wildcats allowed a similar 15-point swing against Louisville -- in under five minutes.

Villanova went from up eight to down seven in the first five minutes of the second period. In a game sandwiched at Madison Square Garden between two Herculean efforts from the Syracuse Orange spanning four halves and seven overtimes, Villanova quickly accepted its fate and folded before even thirty minutes of playing time had elapsed.

As an eternal optimist when it comes to Villanova basketball, I usually save the "game over" comments and text messages for when the game is truly out of reach, a tipping point that had to be re-calibrated after the Wildcats made up 15 points in two minutes against LSU last year.

Not tonight. It was clear that as soon as Louisville made its run, and then prematurely extinguished the Wildcats' response, that Villanova was done. Game over.

Some other fans quickly attributed the team's failure to "exhaustion," an argument that usually smacks of absurdity, but seems especially ridiculous considering Syracuse played the equivalent of three basketball games in 26 hours on the same court -- and won, too.

No, the reason Villanova was beaten so soundly and so thoroughly tonight had less to do with exertion than with preparation. The Wildcats were not ready to take the floor. Whatever plan Wright and his staff cooked up was totally obsolete by the time the halftime clock expired.

Villanova played right into Louisville's hands. First, the 'Cats had no effective plan to deal with -- surprise! -- Rick Pitino's world-famous press. Indeed, Villanova was forced to burn a timeout on its very first possession when Shane Clark was unable to inbound the ball after the game's first basket. That, in a word, is embarrassing.

It's not like Louisville's press worked to perfection on that first play: several Wildcats just stood around on the inbound. Were they not expecting Rick Pitino to press? That's like being surprised to learn that bears shit in the woods.

Second, Villanova left home on the defensive perimeter, time and time again, allowing Louisville to rotate the ball for open shots.

Despite the early signs of poor preparation, Villanova managed to eke out an eight-point lead in the first 20 minutes, largely because the Cardinals could not connect on their perimeter looks.

In the second half, two things happened that quickly turned the game. One, Louisville finally started making its open looks. Two, Villanova completed its complete devolution into a team that cannot handle the ball under pressure -- under any circumstances.

Villanova turned the ball over 23 times, often when the ball was not even being defended. A few times just the threat of pressure caused this ill-prepared Villanova team to throw the ball away.

Even when Villanova didn't turn it over, the offense was often rushed and pathetic. The Wildcats offered up a few "air-ball turnovers," or shots that have so little chance to go in they should just be counted as official turnovers.

You'd think after suffering from the full-court pressure in Villanova's home loss to Louisville earlier this season, Wright and his staff would concoct a few tricks to ease the pressure.

Well, if they did, it did not show tonight. Villanova absolutely withered under the Cardinal pressure, and put up little resistance on the defensive end, too.

Note to Wright and co.: Pitino does not hold a monopoly on the press. It is fully legal, even advisable, to respond to pressure with pressure of your own -- at least if your team is conditioned well enough to perform it.

Another perhaps faulty assumption the astute observer might make is that after seeing how frustrated the Cards became on offense when they weren't able to get open perimeter looks off the second pass, the Villanova staff would emphasize staying at home on the perimeter in the second period.

Pitino himself even admitted it at the half and after the game. He said his team suffers when forced to go one-on-one, and thrives when it can make the extra pass on the outside for a better look.

So why did Villanova's wing players collapse nearly every time in the second half, allowing jumper after jumper to swish through the net, erasing any hopes for the first Villanova Big East championship of this millennium?

The fact is that Louisville was better coached, better conditioned, and better prepared than the Wildcats, and that let the Cardinals turn an 8-point deficit into a 14-point win rather easily in a single half.

After the game, Wright praised Pitino's style. "We knew this was going to be tough when you're playing the Big East champions," Wright said. "I love how they play. "

I love how they play, too, Jay. My only hope is that maybe you were taking notes.

Congratulations to reader "Pretty Toney" for most closely predicting the final score.

Villanova now awaits its seed and first-weekend location, to be determined on Sunday night by the all-powerful NCAA selection committee.

My guess is that Villanova will be a #3 seed slated to play at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, which would mean its next game will be on Thursday against a #14 seed automatic-bid winner from a small conference.

Hopefully, Villanova will use the intervening week to get its act together enough to make a nice tournament run.

On to the player grades. "READ MORE" below for player performance grades and analysis.

• Scottie Reynolds (S, 38 min)

  Just an awful night for Reynolds. He could not find the bottom of the net (1-6) and missed all 3 of his three-point attempts. He committed a whopping 6 turnovers. The only things saving Reynolds from the dreaded "F" are his 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals. Reynolds was hounded on Friday by Louisville's pressure defense, but he will have to pick it up if the Wildcats want to play beyond next weekend.
  Grade: D-




• Reggie Redding (S, 32 min)

  Despite Thursday's clutch finish, I've noticed that Redding has the tendency to either choke or disappear in big moments. He did a little bit of both Friday night, emerging from second-half obscurity to miss two key free throws that would have brought the 'Cats within 5 and completed a 5-0 Villanova run. Redding was 1-3 from the field, and an inexcusable 1-4 from the foul line. At least he didn't have any turnovers. Redding added 6 rebounds but just 1 assist -- so much for Jay Wright's designation of Redding as the team's "best playmaker."
  Grade: D




• Dwayne Anderson (S, 29 min)

  Anderson shot relatively well while his teammates struggled. He often benefited from an off-balance Cardinals defense -- at least when the Wildcats managed to get the ball across halfcourt. Anderson was able to connect on some nice jumpers while shooting 5-8 overall, including 2-4 from the three. He added 5 rebounds and 2 assists. His decent shooting night was sullied, however, by his 4 turnovers.
  Grade: C+





• Corey Fisher (26 min)

  Fisher shot well on Friday but simply could not take care of the ball. Seven turnovers...ugh. Here is where I can't blame the loss entirely on the coaching. While it's true that Fisher had an uphill battle to break the Cardinal pressure without (seemingly) much help from the sidelines, there still is no excuse for him to throw the ball away so many times. Fisher shot 4-8 from the field, including a good 3-5 from the three. He was a perfect 3-3 from the line, as well. He dished out 3 assists, grabbed 2 rebounds, picked up 2 steals, and scored 14 points. Very decent numbers, except for the 7 turnovers.
  Grade: D+
  
  

• Dante Cunningham (S, 24 min)

  Cunningham had a very nice first half, but then disappeared in the second, mired by foul trouble. I don't know why he sat for so long in the second half -- what was the worst that could happen, Jay? We were already getting crushed; so what if Dante fouls out? In his 24 minutes, Cunningham played well. He shot 5-11 from the field, and was a perfect 4-4 from the foul line. He pulled in 9 boards and committed just 1 turnover. The foul trouble, however, was killer, because Cunningham was such a big part of the team's offense.
  Grade: B




• Corey Stokes (23 min)

  Stokes couldn't find the stroke from the three (1-5) or from the field in general (1-9) tonight. He did pull in 6 boards, but he committed 2 turnovers, and did not collect any steals, assists, or blocks.
  Grade: D
  
  

• Shane Clark (S, 21 min)

  Just a dreadful night for Clark. Airballs (plural.) Two big, memorable turnovers. Just 2 rebounds in 21 minutes. Clueless ball handling. Bad inbounding. Clark shot 0-6 from the field, but was a decent 5-6 from the foul line. Not enough to move the grade up from the floor, though.
  Grade: F
  
  

• Antonio Pena (6 min)

  Pena missed his only shot and collected just 1 rebound in 6 minutes. He didn't get much of an opportunity tonight, but he did very little in the brief time he was out there.
  Grade: D





• Incomplete grades: Russell Wooten (1 min).



• Did not play: Frank Tchuisi (CD), Jason Colenda (CD), Maurice Sutton (RS).

Villanova faces Louisville in Big East semifinal

#10 Villanova (26-6) vs. #5 Marquette (26-5)
7 p.m., 13 March 2009 at Madison Square Garden

TV: ESPN

Line: Louisville -4.5

Villanova survived its scare with Marquette on Thursday to advance to the Big East tournament semifinal, where it will face the top-seeded Louisville Cardinals.

While the Wildcats needed a buzzer-beating Dwayne Anderson layup on a broken play to get past Marquette, Louisville had a much easier time with the Providence Friars in Thursday's early game.

With Oklahoma losing on Thursday, Louisville will have that much more motivation to advance to the BET finals and earn a one-seed in the NCAA tournament. Pitt and UConn are both out, so Louisville has a chance to argue that it finished ahead of both of those likely one-seeds in the regular season and the championship tournament.

Villanova needs to keep winning for a shot at a 2-seed, though the Wildcats are most likely now assured of a 3-line and the Philadelphia date that will probably accompany it.

Take a look at the other five 'Nova blogs linked at right for their previews, and then come back into our comment section to predict the final score.

Nova, Wright somehow find way to lose to UL

Louisville 61
Villanova 60
(box score)

#23 Louisville: 11-3 (2-0 BE)
#18 Villanova: 13-3 (1-2 BE)

Next game: vs. St. John's, 18 Jan. at the Pavilion.

A dangerous but inconsistent Louisville team came into the Wachovia Center Saturday and shot colder than the swirling snow and sleet blanketing Philadelphia outside. The Cardinals were an astounding 24 for 62 from the field, and it was almost as bad from the foul line, where Louisville managed to make just 10 of 17 attempts, or 58.8 percent. But it gets better. The Cards shot an absurd 3 of 25 from the three-point line -- 12 percent! This includes making a magnificently awful 1-of-11 threes in the second half.

With numbers like that, it's safe to assume Villanova won by 20, right?

Wrong. No matter how easy the task, no matter how clear his path, no matter the inherent advantage of facing a team shooting NINE PERCENT from the three in the second period, Jay Wright and his stubborn, petty, ham-handed, and reactionary brand of coaching will find a way not to win.

Not that Villanova's one-point loss was an unfortunate turn of events, its late-game collapse an undeserving denouement of a masterly duel between two Hall of Fame coaches. Many -- most -- of Louisville's missed shots were open looks. Had Pitino's Cardinals shot even a reasonably below-average percentage from the three or field, Villanova would have lost by double digits.

What may be forgotten in the aftermath of the Wildcats' blown endgame chances was how many times Louisville could have put Villanova away for good. Had Wright and Villanova not been bailed out continually throughout the game by the herculean efforts of Scottie Reynolds and Dante Cunningham, Louisville wouldn't have ever had a chance to lose, even with its once-in-a-decade bad shooting performance.

Where did it go wrong? After all, it takes a special effort to lose to a team that misses 22 three-point shots. First things first. In what can only be attributed to ill preparation, Villanova once again quickly fell behind at the start of the game. To say this is a trend is an understatement; against any reasonable opposition, Villanova's slow starts out of the locker room in the Wright era are more like iron-clad scientific law.

At the start of this game, Louisville jumped out to a 6-0 margin, and eventually led by 11 in the first 10 minutes of the game. How did that happen, considering the Cards shot less than 39 percent in the half?

Villanova managed to turn the ball over 4 times in the game's first 5 minutes, as the Wildcats instantly withered under the stress of Louisville's press. When the 'Cats didn't turn the ball over, they took rushed, pressured shots, unable to get into play what few offensive sets they prepared.

But could anyone have predicted that the Cards would have pressed to begin the game? It's not as if Rick Pitino is world-famous for his full-court pressure defense, his very name synonymous with the press. Give Wright a pass on this one; it would have blindsided anyone.

OK, so Pitino shocked the world and opened with the press. Surely, after calling a timeout when down 0-6, Wright would make the proper adjustments and focus on improved ballhandling to break the Cards' press.

Wright, of course, had other plans, benching Dwayne Anderson and the point guard Corey Fisher for Reggie Redding and Shane Clark, whose respective ballhandling skills can only be described as worse and worser. Before long, the 'Cats were down by double-digits.

Let's make a quick jump ahead to the game's closing minutes. Amidst a furious Villanova comeback, Wright played a game of chicken with the clock, holding an exhausted and limping Scottie Reynolds on the bench for as long as prudently possible -- actually, far longer -- in a move that befuddled even the game's television announcers. Why would Reynolds, a highly conditioned athlete coming off several days' rest to play this home game, need to catch his breath in a crucial moment like this?

Maybe it's because Jay Wright thought it would be a good idea to leave Reynolds out there for much of the first half as the sole Wildcat ballhander against a Louisville press that is annually regarded as among the most intense in the nation. Reynolds's exhaustion was the direct result of having to break Louisville's press often with no help whatsoever in the backcourt.

It's almost like bizzaro basketball. A team jumps out to a quick lead thanks to its smothering press, and the opposing coach reacts by subbing out his best ballhandler (Fisher) for a human turnover machine (Clark), leaving just one guard against five pressers. This would not play in CYO basketball.

Wright's substitutions were pretty much the exact opposite of the proper coaching move, and while that has a certain appealing irony considering Wright's seven-figure coaching income, it won't be of much consolation to a team now facing an uphill battle to .500 in conference play and an NCAA tournament berth.

The rest of the game was filled with other coaching atrocities, not the least of which the continual reactionary yanking of Corey Fisher if the sophomore so much as looked at Wright wrong. After witnessing Fisher's emergence, which was precisely caused by Corey's increased confidence, Wright was forced to insert Fisher into the starting lineup.

Fisher, you may remember, was Villanova's top recruit two years ago, and started several games last season. So all of a sudden, according to Wright, Fisher was not good enough to start at the beginning of this season, until he was. Brilliant.

After Fisher scored 20-plus points in consecutive games, even Wright could not justify keeping him on the bench at the opening tip. It's like player-evaluation by random lot; like choosing your bet on the craps table by which number came up last.

But even starting Fisher hasn't stopped Wright from yanking him from the game almost arbitrarily. Fisher played just 18 minutes Saturday against a Louisville team that places the aerobic harassment of opposing guards at the core of its basketball philosophy. Jumping at the chance to bench Fisher at first opportunity, Wright used Fisher's cold shooting start against Seton Hall as his apparent justification for playing him just 16 minutes in that game.

The mistake of leaving Fisher on the bench for most of the Louisville game, causing Scottie Reynolds to literally limp from exhaustion and the Cardinal press, was alone enough to cost Villanova the game.

Another decision that left many Villanovans screaming at their television sets, and sending angry text messages to this Web site, was Wright's reliance on Shane Clark and Dwayne Anderson for a combined 34 minutes. During that time, Clark and Anderson collectively shot 1-7 from the field, and combined for just 1 assist, even though both were playing on the wing.

A crucial part of breaking a strong press like Louisville's is exploiting it via the center court and getting easy buckets as a result. These are areas where, typically, a team's shooting guard or wing will excel, and it should go without saying that Clark and Anderson have never fit that description.

How about a ridiculous 24 minutes for big guard Reggie Redding, while Corey Fisher languished on the bench? (And Malcolm Grant sunned himself on South Beach, and Bilal Benn enjoyed breathtaking views of Niagara Falls.) Redding was held scoreless, shooting 0-3 from the field and missing a huge front-end of a 1-and-1 at the foul line. Redding did manage to turn the ball over 3 times, but, hey, he does bring "size" over smaller, better players like Fisher.

How about just 21 minutes for Corey Stokes, fewer than Redding and equal to Anderson. Stokes is not known for his dribbling, but can handle the ball well, and did handle the ball competently against the Cardinal press, notching 2 assists and 0 turnovers. And it's no coincidence that Villanova's slow comeback at the end of the second half came when Wright finally subbed in Stokes.

How about the simple observation that every move made by Wright seems to be reactionary, slow-witted, and wrong? How about in the modern power-conference milieu, an ever-escalating arms race of preparation, Wright's team show almost zero signs of any prophylactic strategy?

How about the idea that even Pena's legendary choke job at the foul line, and Reggie Redding's inability to put in an open follow-up, were both rendered meaningless by Wright's terrible coaching the 39 minutes prior?

Or perhaps that's wrong. Maybe Pena's free-throw woes and the two missed layups at game's end were infused with meaning solely because Wright could not out-coach a team shooting 12 percent from the three. Had the game gone at all reasonably before the last minute, Pena's missed free throws might not have meant anything at all.

And don't even get me started about leaving in for the game's closing possessions a player who'd missed 3 of his last 4 free throws, 6 of 12 overall at that point.

I could make more points and belabor this issue all day, but this post is already longer than I'd planned. The bottom line is that Wright is by all descriptions a very nice man, and a good recruiter. But he is tremendously bad in the trenches of a close game.

And it's not even one thing. His overarching strategy and philosophy are bad. ("Take-'em offense," anyone?) His preparation is lacking. His ability to react and adjust in real-time is nonexistent. Perhaps most frustrating, though, are the substitution patterns, which at best are baffling, and at worst cost the team wins.

Wright cost his team this game, managing to get outcoached by Rick Pitino even when Pitino's players couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

And make no mistake: Wright will cost the team more games before the season ends, an ending that is increasingly likely to be in the NIT.

Congratulations to an anonymous reader for most closely predicting the game's final score.

The Wildcats have a weeklong layoff until a home game with St. John's on Saturday.

On to the player grades. "READ MORE" below for player performance grades and analysis.

• Dante Cunningham (S, 36 min)

  Cunningham needs to stop taking outside jumpers, period. He can't shoot from there, and it's costing the team possessions, whether he was open or not. Against the Cards, Cunningham shot 9-19 to lead the team with 21 points. He had 5 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 0 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal. He made some very nice athletic plays in transition, but his 10 missed shots were excessive for a player who made his name via efficiency.
  Grade: B-




• Antonio Pena (S, 34 min)

  Some might think a "failing grade" for this game is too harsh, considering the positive contributions Pena brought to the court before his epic free-throw collapse. Since we are already using an academic metaphor to assign grades, let me take it one step further. Sometimes, if you fail a final exam badly enough, you can fail a course even if you were a solid student most of the year. That's kind of how it was for Pena on Saturday. He played all right for much of the contest, scoring 14 points on 4-8 shooting. He led the team in rebounding, with 8. He made some very nice passes, but was only credited with 1 assist. He did commit 4 turnovers, which is inexcusable for a forward. But the real problem, obviously, was at the foul line. Shooting 6 for 14 from the free-throw line is not acceptable at the 8th-grade varsity level, never mind the Big East. That goes double when the game is on the line, and even more so when the game is against a ranked opponent and your team is looking for its first quality win of a year that's already half over. Sometimes the ball bounces strangely; sometimes players can't hit clutch free throws. But to be a 70-percent career free throw shooter and miss two shots to tie the game is beyond acceptable random variation or late-game jitters. Pena's foul-line fiasco began before the last two misses; in the last 5 minutes of the game, Pena missed 5 of his 6 free throws. When a player misses 3 out of 4 free throws in a close game's waning minutes, that player probably should not be on the court to miss the next (and last) 2 foul shots. That's Jay Wright's fault. No one has been a bigger fan of Pena the past two years than me, and I am not calling for his benching. I am only saying that if Wright keeps Pena in at the end of a close game, Wright is the one who deserves to be benched and sent back to coaching small-time ball at Hofstra whence he came.
  Grade: F




• Scottie Reynolds (S, 33 min)

  Reynolds certainly left it all out on the court Saturday; his exhaustion and its causes are themselves exhaustively detailed above. He shot 3-6 from the field, scoring 11, including perfect 5-5 foul shooting. He missed both of his three-point attempts; but ideally Reynolds would be taking more long-range shots.
  Grade: B+




• Reggie Redding (24 min)

  The only positive was that he grabbed 6 rebounds, including 3 offensive boards. The bad news is that one of those offensive rebounds was a missed put-back as the game's final shot. Aside from the glass, Redding was not effective. He was 0-3 from the field and 0-1 from the foul line, though it's more like 0-2 because the miss was the front end of a big 1-and-1. He committed 3 turnovers to go with his 3 assists and single steal. I've always been a fan of Redding's tenacious play, and it's not Redding's fault Wright played him so long, so he (barely) avoids the failing grade here.
  Grade: D-
  
  

• Dwayne Anderson (S, 21 min)

  At least Anderson stopped shooting so much after going 0-2 from beyond the arc early. And he didn't have any turnovers. He finished with 0 points, shooting the unfortunate cycle of 0-3 from the field, 0-2 from the three, and 0-1 from the line.
  Grade: D-




• Corey Stokes (21 min)

  Stokes played well in his limited minutes, and it's time to get him back in the starting lineup. Corey shot 2-6 from the field to score 5 points. More important was his competent ball handling; Stokes had 2 assists, 1 steal, and no turnovers. He needs to be more aggressive coming off screens and moving without the ball, in order to get more looks and trips to the line.
  Grade: B




• Corey Fisher (S, 18 min)

  Fisher didn't get a chance to do much in the game, stymied by frequent benchings as described above. He shot 1-4 from the field to score 7 points, perfect from both the three (1-1) and the foul line. His assist-to-turnover ratio was a good 3-to-1, especially considering the Cardinal pressure. He really needs to get more minutes, not only to develop confidence, but simply because he is Villanova's second-best player.
  Grade: B-
  
  

• Shane Clark (13 min)

  Five rebounds in 13 minutes is a positive. Otherwise, it wasn't pretty. If Clark were an underclassman right now and played with the exact same skills, physically and mentally, my guess is that he would be relegated to the end of the bench, somewhere adjacent to Frank Tchuisi and the walks ons. But because he is a senior, and because Jay Wright is stubborn, Clark continues to see significant time, often with disastrous results.
  Grade: D-
  
  
  

• Incomplete grades: None.
  
  
  
• Did not play: Frank Tchuisi (CD), Jason Colenda (CD), Maurice Sutton (CD - RS?), Russell Wooten (CD).

'Cats, Cards set for high noon snowstorm showdown

#18 Villanova (13-2) vs. #23 Louisville (10-3)
12 p.m. 10 January 2009 at the Wachovia Center.

TV: ESPN

Line: Villanova -2

As the Blizzard/White-Out/Light Freezing Rain storm of the century bears down on South Philadelphia, Villanova gears up for its latest test against a good team.

The Wildcats now boast a 13-0 record against likely non-tournament participants, but are 0-2 against Texas and Marquette. Villanova needs this game to finally beat a good team and to avoid falling below .500 in the crucial Big East standings.

Rick Pitino brings his Louisville Cardinals to the Wachovia Center with something to prove, as well. The Cards are 9-3, but have lost to UNLV, Minnesota, and WKU. Louisville has decent wins against Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Ohio under its belt. Pitino will have his team ready to play, as always.

We could be in for a winter classic. KenPom predicts a 1-point Villanova win, while oddsmakers set the 'Cats as 2-point favorites after moving the line 1 point in Villanova's favor.

The game will probably come down to how Villanova's scorers are shooting; if Reynolds can get hot like he did against Seton Hall, Villanova should need just one more scorer (Fisher, Stokes, or Cunningham) to get it going as well. The Wildcats will probably need at least two players to turn up big to neutralize the substantial coaching advantage Louisville brings to the Wach.

All four of the other Villanova blogs linked in the right sidebar run previews of the game. I swear I did not read the headline at Nova News before I wrote mine; this is not the first time our minds have thought alike with regard to headlines, either. Bravo, Nova News.

Congratulations to Pope of the Hardwoods for making it two in a row with his closest guess of the final score last time. Take your shot to dethrone him in the comment thread below with your guess.

Live blog for Louisville today

The Wildcats play arguably the biggest game of the season as they look to move up the NCAA bubble against the Louisville Cardinals.

Join Let's Go Nova at 4 p.m. today for a live blog of the game.

Sorry about the lack of a pre-game post; NovaFan09 is on spring break, and I have been away from the computer for a few days.

You can use this thread to predict the game's final score until the live blog begins.

The game will air at 4 p.m. live on CBS nationwide except in some markets (like Los Angeles).

'Nova saves season with win over Louisville

Villanova 57
Louisville 53
(box score)

Louisville: 15-7 (16-7, 6-3 BE)
Villanova: 14-7 (15-7, 4-5 BE, 3-0 B5)

Next game: vs. St. Joseph's, 02/06 @ The Pavilion.

Villanova was victorious in its must-win game yesterday against the Louisville Cardinals at the Wachovia Center, winning 57-53. With the W, the Wildcats improve to 4-5 in conference play and now are on the inside track to an NCAA bid.

It was close the entire game, but the 'Cats defense earned them the victory. Villanova held Louisville to 34.5 percent shooting from the field. This excellent defense helped to counteract the Cardinals' 2-to-1 advantage in turnovers forced (16-8).

Villanova also dominated on the glass, winning the battle of the boards 42-27.

Aside from the generally sloppy play that caused too many turnovers and poor shots, the Wildcats played with high levels of energy and purpose. This may have been aided by Jay Wright's implementation of a deeper, more balanced rotation against the speedy Cardinals, as compared to the previous few games.

Villanova went a legitimate 8 deep yesterday, and all 8 players saw at least 10 minutes of floor time. This playing-time spread probably allowed the 'Cats fresher legs at the end when they pulled away for the win.

Onto the player grades. As always, click "READ MORE" below for player performance grades and analysis.

• Scottie Reynolds (S, 35 min)

  The story is out about Scottie Reynolds. The coaching fraternity in the Big East is now fully aware that Reynolds is the absolute key to the team's success. Rick Pitino said as much in the post game press conference:
  

  Their record is tremendous when [Reynolds] has great scoring nights. When Sumpter scores a lot of points, they lose. When [Reynolds] scores a lot of points, they win. We were not going to let Scottie Reynolds beat us.

  
  Scottie, consequently, had to overcome his position as the focus of the Louisville defense. It was not unusual to see two Cardinal defenders jump out to double-team Scottie as soon as he caught the ball anywhere within 30 feet of the basket. With all this defensive attention, Reynolds was unable to post the kind of gaudy scoring tally we have become accustomed to of late.
  
  Another factor working against Scottie in conference play is the lack of respect given to him by the referees. Several times against Louisville, Reynolds took the ball to the rim and was hacked by one of Louisville's big men, but no foul was called. If Scottie were not a freshman, the officials would likely give him the benefit of the doubt in these situations. Coach Wright confirmed my suspicions in his post-game remarks:
  
  

  He doesn’t really get calls right now. When he takes it up against the big guys sometimes, and he gets hit and we don’t get the call, I don’t care. If he makes a big guy commit, we have a chance for an offensive rebound. Good things happen when he drives the ball.

  
  
  Despite all these hindrances, and the lingering effects of the flu, Reynolds actually played a good game of basketball. His shot was a little off, as reflected by his 2-11 shooting from the field and 9 points overall, but Reynolds was good from the free-throw line, shooting 4-5. Where he truly shined, however, was in ball distribution: Reynolds dished out 10 assists, his career high, and is now leading the team in dimes with 97 for the season. Reynolds also led the team in steals against the Cardinals, with 2. He was a tad sloppy with the ball, losing 4 turnovers, but he did handle the ball for 35 minutes against the suffocating Cardinals' pressure defense.
  
  My one concern is that Reynolds's low scoring output in the past two games (17 points total) will cause him to revert to his early-season pass-first mentality. While his passing is fantastic, this team needs Reynolds to score in order to win. I know it, you know it, and coaches Wright and Pitino know it. Let's just hope Scottie knows it.
  Grade: B



• Mike Nardi (S, 32 min)

  Nardi started the game hot, scoring 7 of the team's first 8 points. He shot well from inside the arc at 5-6, but poorly from the three (1-4), scoring 11 overall. He did not reach the foul line. Nardi played turnover-free basketball, but only had 1 assist, and did not make any steals. He looked solid on defense. Nardi plays best when he plays opportunistically, taking what the defense gives him and not trying to force anything. He did that fairly well against Louisville.
  Grade: B-




• Curtis Sumpter (S, 32 min)

  Curt was decent on offense, scoring 10 points on 3-8 shooting, and hitting a huge three to stop a Louisville run. He also co-led the team in rebounds with 6, and was perfect from the free-throw line. He still seems a little tentative on the floor following his bruised leg injury, which may have caused his poor defense against the Cardinals. Coach Wright resorted to subbing him out on all defensive possessions down the stretch. Sumpter was good on the offensive end, but needs to improve the defensive effort.
  Grade: C




• Reggie Redding (30 min)

  Redding earned his way from a little-used bench player to de facto starting status in just a few games. Redding notched 30 minutes against the Cardinals, and his silky smooth game was evident once again. I am quickly becoming a Reggie Redding fan because he does so many things when he is on the court. Redding is a natural passer, and while he earned no official assists in the scorebook against Louisville, he had several passes that immediately led to assists -- these would be scored as full assists in hockey. Alas, this is basketball, where such stats are not yet inked. Redding did co-lead the team in rebounds with 6, and scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting. He did lead the team in turnovers, with 5, but at least 1 of those was not his fault -- a 5-second violation where no one came back to the inbounder against the press except Reynolds, who was double-covered. It was a nice game overall by Redding, who should see his minutes continue to increase. The team is simply better when he is out there.
  Grade: B-




• Dante Cunningham (S, 23 min)

  Cunningham had a quiet but effective game. He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting, and grabbed 5 rebounds. He had one assist, turnover, and steal. His free-throw shooting is of major concern lately, as it seems to have regressed to last-year's form, after an excellent start this season from the foul line.
  Grade: C+




• Shane Clark (21 min)

  Clark really bailed the team out on offense. He led the team in scoring with 12 on an excellent 4-5 from the field, including 3-3 from the three. More important, there were a few possessions where Shane looked like the only Wildcat willing to actually put up a shot. Clark's aggression offensively is a major asset when he uses it judiciously, as he did against the Cardinals. Clark also added 3 boards, 2 assists, a block, and a steal. His handle still looks terrible, and he did have 2 turnovers, but overall this was one of the best efforts from Clark all season.
  Grade: B+
  
  
  

• Will Sheridan (S, 17 min)

  Sheridan once again had no impact whatsoever on the offense. He was 0-1 with 0 points in 17 minutes. He had 2 rebounds, fewer than any Wildcat who saw the floor Saturday, which is really unacceptable since Sheridan as the jumpball tapper is nominally the team's starting center. He did have an assist and a steal, and his defense was decent, but I just do not see how Sheridan is earning his minutes out there. To be fair, this was a major reduction in playing time from his average, but you would expect some sort of impact from Will while he is on the floor
  Grade: D-




• Bilal Benn (10 min)

  Benn earned some minutes for the first time in several games, and he did not disappoint. He provided solid relief in giving some rest to Scottie and Nardi, and was aggressive on the offensive end. He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting, and moved the ball well in the offensive sets. He also managed to grab 3 rebounds in his limited run. His defense was good.
  Grade: B-




• Incomplete grades:
  None.



• Did not play:
  Dwayne Anderson (CD), Casiem Drummond (CD), Frank Tchuisi (CD), Ross Condon (CD), Andrew Ott (RS), Antonio Pena (RS)