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05 April 2009


UNC outclasses Villanova

posted by Pete @ LetsGoNova.com
4/05/2009 01:34:00 AM
North Carolina was simply the better team tonight.

The Tarheels won easily, putting away the Wildcats by a score of 83-69

Villanova, which trailed by nine at the half, was able to cut the lead down to five early in the second period. Carolina, however, responded instantly, with a quick 5-0 mini-run to put the lead back to double digits.

After that, the Tarheels never looked back.

If North Carolina is able to defeat Michigan St. on Monday -- and UNC is the tremendous favorite to do so -- Villanova will have lost to the eventual national champion in four out of the last five tournaments:
  • 2005: North Carolina
  • 2006: Florida
  • 2008: Kansas
  • 2009: North Carolina (possible champion)
Let's Go Nova's full recap and game grades will be available later.



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29 Comments:

At 7:41 AM, April 05, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Nova for a GREAT season...I am proud to be an ALUM...GO TO NOVA Nation.......

 
At 11:59 AM, April 05, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

peter -

what a great season, thanks for blogging this year. i'm sure you will miss the anonymous comments until next year. keep us updated during the offseason, i'll click on a few ads on my way out.

 
At 12:18 PM, April 05, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why are you hating on Wright?

j/k.

Interesting that if we had made as many 3P shots as they did (and we had several more attempts), and everything else stayed the same, it would have been a one point Nova win. If you look at the seasonal 3P% numbers, NCs has a small edge, but nowhere near as dramatic as it was. And that was far and away the biggest reason why it wasn't even close.

 
At 12:22 PM, April 05, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess another way to look at it is that, despite the common and perhaps somewhat true perception that Nova didn't play "their" game, really they did most of what they needed to do, aside from making their own 3s and keeping the NC from making 3s. But they were so bad in those two aspects of the game that they got blown out.

 
At 3:34 PM, April 05, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see what our young team does next year. If Cheek is the second coming of Kerry Kittles, and Wayns the second coming of Chris Paul then we might be sucessful. I know this is ridiculous but someone on the recruiting trail told me that Yarou reminds them of a young Hakeem Olajuwan, and said that Armwood is a little behind due to injuries but he was once considered the next Rudy Gay. Take it for what it's worth. If stokes adds some more skill and fisher reaches his full potential I will say we will make the S16 again as no less than 7 seed.

 
At 5:06 PM, April 05, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

S16 is certainly a reasonable goal. Maybe even more. But I don't think it is going to depend so much on the Freshmen. Keys to next season:

(1) Need to find an answer at the 4. Whether that is King or Pena or some combination, someone needs to step up.
(2) Okay, I partly lied. Yarou doesn't need to be the next Hakeem Olajuwan, but he does need to be a decent presence in the middle.
(3) Obviously continued improvement from Stokes/Fisher/Redding, or significant contributions from Mayns/Cheek would help, and maybe even be the difference between S16 and E8 or even a return to the Final four, but they aren't going anywhere without 1 and 2 above.

 
At 3:11 PM, April 06, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

was at the game Saturday. IMHO, we had a good showing in reference to the number of fans inb Detroit (Way more than UCONN, less than UNC and MSU) Inside of the 1st five minutes it was easy to see in person that we were "overwhelmed" with the atmosphere. UNC was playin in just "another game". I was proud to be there as a Nova Fan and Alum and savored the every last moment of the game even with the outcome.

 
At 4:09 PM, April 06, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To #6

I absolutely agree with the need to find an answer at the 4. If its one player that absolutely needs to step it up and follow Dante Cunningham's blue print of off-season training, its Antonio Pena. This kid needs to get bigger, faster, smarter, and more importantly, more confident as a player. I haven't watched too much of Taylor so I can't come to any conclusions about expectations I have for him, but I see more room to grow for Pena. Theres also Maurice Sutton who could provide some depth along with Yarou, put it would be nice to have a reliable experienced player at the position to minimize growing pains of new players.

I have high expectations for Reynolds/Redding/Fisher/Stokes next year since they got first hand experience to see what it take to get that deep in the tournament and hope that they're hungry than ever to get back and prove that this program is the best.

 
At 4:35 PM, April 06, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How many teams will have 5 McD's AA next year? I know UNC has 4 coming in from this class alone, but I can't imagine too many programs have 5 MCD's guys...anyone know for sure?

 
At 8:27 AM, April 08, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pete---I hope you didn't mean it but one interpretation of this headline is insulting to a team that exceeded all expectations at the beginning of the season. If class had anything to do with it, NOVA would be the NCCAA Men's Basketball Champion. Why couldn't you have used a different heading such as UNC Outplays NOVA? Alot less mean spirited and much more accurate.

I attended the game in Detroit and I did not feel down after the game. Instead I was proud of my team and hopeful for the new, fresh talent we have coming in.

Advice:Over the summer, please try to to find a way to get across your strong points without unnecessarily tearing down this fine team.

 
At 12:03 PM, April 08, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hahaha @ #10, picking at straws, seriously..i hope pete doesnt respond to you

 
At 2:14 PM, April 08, 2009, Anonymous Jay's Navy Blues said...

It's actually a really good point. I think we're one of the classiest teams and have one of the classiest coaches in the country, so would agree you shouldn't take away from that. As for Pete he'll say whatever he wants to say anyhow, but there's no doubting this team exceeded all expectations and made a lot of fans happy. Just too bad they ran into a UNC squad that was playing at a whole other level during the tournament.

 
At 12:02 AM, April 09, 2009, Anonymous Anon said...

Jay's Navy Blues -

Please stop disrespecting Villanova by saying UNC played on a "whole other level." We are on their level, please don't tear down this fine team.

 
At 8:10 AM, April 09, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agree with you #13. Pete, please change this post. IBBW has had at least 10 new postings since Saturday night.

 
At 12:18 PM, April 09, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

change the post! wah wah wah...my feelings are hurt b/c pete said UNC outclassed us..LOSERS!

 
At 12:34 PM, April 09, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can't you guys tell the difference between sincere critics of Pete (of which I am often one), however harsh, and people who are trolling and/or mocking the anti-Pete posters?

 
At 11:19 PM, April 09, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

#17

No. I wonder why. Maybe because all of you post anonymously. Use a handle and that would solve this issue. You could also differentiate yourself from the other anons by not being extremely ridiculous.

 
At 9:44 AM, April 11, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anyone here anything about Scottie staying or leaving? Haven't seen much.

 
At 12:28 PM, April 11, 2009, Anonymous Gregg said...

There is a 9 out of 10 chance that he stays.

 
At 2:10 PM, April 12, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wildcats!

Easy with the verbal broadsides! We just got hammered by UNC and they were obviously better. However, did anyone think we would make it to the Final Four? C'mon, there is no shame in our season. Think of all of the great high school juniors and sophomores that saw our run and the quality and class of our players. Somebody out there that was only considering Duke or Georgetown or UNC or Louisville just decided to look at us! Let's be happy for how far we got this year and watch in a positive way as more recruits start including Villanova in their top 5 of schools to visit! Let's Go Wildcats!

Storcker, '85

 
At 11:58 PM, April 12, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon 18 - interesting point about anons. Indeed we should use a handle, just like you ... oh.

I think Pete has a monopoly on "extremely ridiculous" around here. Not that us anons don't at times give him a run for his money, but more often than not I think it's intentional ridiculousness.

Not that he said anything objectionable this time - but see my comment 17.

And tou know what else? I do sense that Pete is starting to come around on Wright, at least a little.

 
At 1:40 PM, April 13, 2009, Anonymous Gregg said...

Starters for 2009-2010

Fisher - PG
Reynolds - SG
Redding - SF
Pena - PF
Yarou - C

Reserves:
Stokes: 6th man
King: 7th man
Wayans: 8th man
Cheek: 9th man
Armwood: 10th man
Suton: 11th man

We may actually go 11 deep...what are your thoughts? I think that the starting lineup is up for grabs.

 
At 3:34 PM, April 13, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow an actual basketball related post. Shocking to find on the comment board for this blog.

I like the lineup listed, although I could see King starting in place of Pena unless significant off-season progress is made by Antonio. That is an awesome amount of depth though. If the freshmen can live up to half the hype, they will all be very solid "6th man" level contributors if not starting caliber by the end of the season. A Sweet 16 is definitely my expectation for next year, but we won't know until late January what this team is made of. Jay's teams always seem to wait until the end of the season to play their best, so who knows what they could end up doing.

 
At 3:58 PM, April 14, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's fun to speculate about next year's lineup, but honestly at this point many key variables are unknown, the most important of which is how quickly the newer players learn & buy into Wright's system. That said, I would say the following:

(1) The starting 5 proposed by #23 is as good a guess as any. However, I still wouldn't be sure that Fisher starts, though his minutes should go up regardless. I also agree with #24 that King may supplant Pena at the 4.

(2) I don't see Wright going 11 or even 10 deep, which means someone is probably going to be mighty unhappy. My best guess is Armwood redshirts and Sutton sits, but that's just a guess and would leave a smallish rotation.

(3) As much as I like Stokes, of the returning 5 he is IMO the one most likely to lose playing time. I just see him getting squeezed between King, who can do the same thngs he can do, but better, and a few more things on top of that, and Cheek, who is more talented. I'm not saying he'll sit, but I could see his minutes going to to 20 per game or even a little lower.

 
At 7:17 PM, April 15, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cheek isnt coming here to be a 9th man. However, I agree that it is an interesting debate as to who the starting 5 should be. Before I guess at my starters (let's agree that the start of Big East play next year will be the determining point) let me propose this: Nova better off if Scottie leaves? Definitely adds a lot in leadership and confidence, but hard to argue that he hasnt progressed nearly as muched as we had hoped after his frosh season. With him out it clears up Jay to be a lot more flexible the with rotation. That being said, assuming Scottie stays:

PG: Fisher - While still makes boneheaded decisions sometimes has progressed incredibly since last year
SG: Scottie
SF: Cheek - Good defense and size plus huge offensive advantage over Redding makes him a good play here.
PF: Pena / Sutton - Tough call here. I think they split equal minutes next year unless one makes huge strides in off season.
C: Yarou - Id love this guy to be legit.

 
At 1:28 PM, April 16, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

26 - Cheek's stock has dropped quite a bit as of late. I certainly don't see him being ready to start coming in, espcially given Wright's complex defensive schemes and the presence of the Redding and other returnees. I have a tough time seeing a scenario where he gets much more than 10 minutes a game, barring injuries to others or the extremely unlikely chance of Reynolds going pro.

If Cheek thought he was a one and done type of player (he isn't) he wouldn't be going to Nova in the first place. He clearly realizes he needs to polish his game (not to mention hit the weight room) and knows he can do that at Nova. He is also presumably smart enough to look at the returning & incoming players and see that minutes will be scarce in his freshman year. Again, if he wasn't willing to accept that he wouldn't be coming to Nova.

That said, I do think that #23's proposed starting lineup could be a little short on offensive punch, depending upon the development of Redding, Pena and Armwood.

 
At 7:23 PM, April 16, 2009, Anonymous athletic department insider said...

Pete -

Haven't heard from you in awhile. Rumor has it you might replace Patrick Chambers? You and Jay would be a devastating force....

 
At 7:58 PM, April 16, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

27 - I agree with you that Jay clearly does not like starting frosh on defense, but at the same time I think 23's proposal of players is both very reasonable and very detrimental, if that makes sense. Take Scottie out and you rotate Cheek, Stokes and Redding at SG and play a matchup game for 40 minutes and we are a great team. Scottie stays and who knows what happens. God forbid Fisher's minutes don't increase from this year and Pete flips out and shuts down this blog.

 
At 2:15 PM, April 21, 2009, Blogger Pete @ LetsGoNova.com said...

Sorry for the lack up updates the past two weeks. Had to take a break from blogging... ""exhaustion," just like Lindsay Lohan. Site is updated now with Reynolds news.

 

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