Bleacher Report - Articles by Joe Spetrini

Villanova-North Carolina: Slugfest Brewing

Joe Spetrini — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:12:03 -0400

This Saturday's NCAA semifinal between North Carolina and Villanova will be a hard fought contest.

The last time 47-year-old Jay Wright and his Wildcats faced 58-year-old Roy Williams and the Tarheels, was in the 2005 Sweet 16—UNC won that game by one point, 67-66.

North Carolina (32-4) is a lightening quick basketball team and has size and strength. UNC had to rely on all these attributes to perform well in a brutal ACC regular season, the ACC post-season tournament, and their four NCAA tournament bouts.

Villanova (30-7) with its' in-your-face defense is also quick, and it is a physically tough team. They performed increasingly better through a bruising Big East season, the Big East conference tournament, and four challenging NCAA games.

These two teams are streaking.

Many writers have noted that Villanova has no trees. True, but they are a big and very physical basketball team.

Does Pittsburgh meet your definition of big? How about Syracuse? Villanova is 4-0 against those two teams this year.

Ken Pomeroy's Web site lists Villanova's average height as 77.1 inches, and North Carolina's as 77.2 inches.

It is true that Villanova has no trees, but when the ball bounces off the rim, a crowd of Villanova players leap—guards and forwards.

These are two excellent rebounding teams. North Carolina out rebounded its' opponents 42.1 to 35.1, while Villanova out rebounded its opponents, 37.2 to 32.8.

Both North Carolina and Villanova are deep. North Carolina uses pretty much an eight man rotation, playing four guards and four forwards (counting 6'6" Danny Green as more of a forward). Villanova plays four guards and four forwards (also counting 6'6" Duane Anderson as more of a forward).

Villanova's physicality and aggressiveness are two great assets, and some times liabilities. Both North Carolina and Villanova have four excellent guards, and both teams take very good care of the ball, more so North Carolina.

Acoording to Ken Pomeroy's site, North Carolina has a 16.7 percent turnover percentage. (The Division 1 average is 20.4 percent.) Villanova's percentage is 18.9 and has improved over this season as Villanova's two sophomore guards now have another 37 games under their belt.

The biggest challenge for Villanova in this game will be staying out of foul trouble. Villanova averages 19.1 fouls per game, while North Carolina averages 15.8.

North Carolina only has three players who average more than two fouls per games. As you would expect, they are three of the big men, Hansbrough (6'9"), Thompson (6'8"), and Green (6'6").

Villanova has seven men in their rotation who average over two fouls per game, led by Dante Cunningham (6'9").

Villanova is very physical, and deep. However, if leading scorer, rebounder, and team leader, Cunningham fouls out, the rest of the team will continue to bang, but it would be a steep uphill climb.

The last 10 games played by these two games include the cut-throat end of the conference season, their respective conference tournaments, and four NCAA tournament games.

These contests reflect two superb basketball teams who are playing at their peak. Both teams are 8-2 over this punishing stretch.

These 10 games also yield a rough indication of what we can expect.

If we average North Carolina's 10-game offense (85.8 ppg), with Villanova's 10-game defense (67.8), the result is 76.8 points.

Averaging Villanova's 10-game offense (75.7), with North Carolina's 10-game defense (72.5), the result is 74.1.

That edge goes to UNC, but when the first whistle blows and the ball is tossed we will see one of the best offenses in the country come out hot and and run directly into a very physical and tough defense.

It will be a slugfest.

Villanova In The NCAAs: Strengths and Pitfalls

Joe Spetrini — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:37:19 -0400

On the eve of their first Big East tournament game, Villanova is 25-6 overall and 13-5 in the Big East. The latter is good enough for a No. 4 seed in the Big East tournament, which yields them a double bye in the Madison Square Garden tournament of all 16 Big East teams.

This week, Villanova ranks No. 13 in the USAToday/ESPN Coaches' Poll and No. 10 in the AP Writers' Poll. Their current RPI is 14, which is very good for any resume. Let's take a closer look at their assets and their Big East season.

Villanova is a bigger than average Division I club, especially in the backcourt. Up front, they start three seniors, 6'8" Dante Cunningham, a much improved player this year, 6'6" swingman Duane Anderson, and 6'7" Shane Clark. A 6'6", 235-pound sophomore enforcer Antonio Pena provides the three frontcourt starters individual rest while he softens up opposing big men for them.

Coach Jay Wright rotates four talented guards through his backcourt. He starts two juniors, McDonald's All-American 6'2" Scottie Reynolds and 6'5" ball protector Reggie Reynolds. They are backed up by two immensely talented sophomore guards, 6'1" Corey Fisher and 6'5" Corey Stokes, a catch and shoot three-point specialist.

Villanova's pre-conference play was against a group of undistinguished teams, except for one. As examples, their seventh and eighth games of the season were wins over Philly's University of Pennsylvania, now 259 in the RPI, and Houston Baptist, now 312 in the RPI.

Their next game was a tough 68-58 loss to Texas (current RPI 35) on a technically neutral Madison Square Garden.

I was at the game, and it was very much a Villanova crowd. New Yorkers aren't all sure where Texas is, but they think of it as far away. Also, there were quite a few folks from Philly in the Garden that night.

The game was a reality check for Villanova which had been gobbling up inferior teams until that night. My view is that Villanova's talented sophomores were still only a few games into their sophomore year back in early December. Now with 31 games under their belts, they are sophomores going on juniors. What a difference a year makes.

This entire team has gelled. Please bear with an explanation.

Villanova and their Big East rivals played 18 league games this year. During the first six of those games, the first third of the league season, Villanova's record was 3-3, and their average scoring margin was a positive 3.0 points. They averaged 75.0 points on offense and 72.0 points on defense.

The Big East opener was an inauspicious but not terrible 72-79 loss to Marquette in Milwaukee. During those first six conference games, Villanova also lost to Louisville by one point at home and to Connecticut by nine on the road. These were not bad games, but 3-3 is not 13-5.

During the next third of the Big East season, Villanova's offense gelled. Their record for the second six league games was 5-1. Their average scoring margin was a positive 8.0 points. They averaged 84.7 points on offense and 76.7 points on defense.

The last third of the Big East season also yielded a 5-1 record, giving them a 10-2 record in the Big East for their last dozen games. Their scoring margin for the last six games was about the same as the second six league games, a positive 7.83 points per game.

However, the key to the last six games was that they averaged a cool 78.8 points per game on offense and held their defense of Big East teams to 71.0 points per game.

So, Villanova is going into the Big East tournament with all eight pistons firing. They have stabilized Jay Wright's game plan. They would have little excuse were they to lose to Marquette in the Garden tomorrow, especially with Domenic James out.

However, let's go back to the matter of team size raised at the outset. They are a slightly larger than average sized Division one club, with a smallish frontcourt and a large and physical backcourt.

Villanova is peaking, but up front Dante Cunningham and Antonio Pena have been foul-prone. I worry when they play really big teams. A few numbers to consider:

Villanova's average height is 77.1 inches. Connecticut's is 78.2 inches, a big club. Florida State averages 78.9 inches. Memphis is 78.7 inches. Wake Forest is 78.3 inches and West Virginia is 78.5 inches. Villanova lost to West Virginia by 11 points, albeit on the road.

These are all pretty much Eastern teams, and I am hopeful that Villanova will be about a three seed and remain in the Eastern region. I worry about big frontcourts but am very optimistic that 'Nova's seniors, juniors, and sophomores have all gelled into a very effective machine. Jay Wright keeps doing that.

Loyola, MD Wins Sixth Straight, 75-61 at Rider

Joe Spetrini — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:17:23 -0500

Loyola, MD's two leading scorers, guards Jamal Barney and Brett Harvey (photo) combined for 46 points in a 75-61 road win over Rider on Friday night. Barney, the MAAC's leading scorer, averaging 19.2 points per game, scored 28 points. Harvey scored 18 points.

Loyola out rebounded Rider 40-32. Loyola Junior forward Jawaan Wright pulled down 11 rebounds for Loyola and scored four points.

Loyola is now 11-12 and 6-5 in the MAAC. Rider is 11-9 and 6-4 in the conference. Loyola is tied for fourth in the MAAC with Fairfield, which is Loyola's next opponent this Sunday at 2:00pm on MASN. The game is at Fairfield. Loyola is 4-2 on the road in conference games.

Rider's Ryan Thompson is the second leading scorer in the MAAC at 16.7 points per game, and he led his team with 13 points against Loyola. At 6-4, Rider is now third in the conference and hosts Canisius next at 1:00pm on Sunday. Siena is first in the MAAC at 11-0 and Niagara is second at 6-3.

This win was Loyola's sixth in a row. Loyola seems to be peaking at the right time, during conference play. They have excellent shooters in guards Jamal Barney, Brett Harvey, and Marquis Sullivan. Loyola leads the MAAC in free-throw percentage at 92.1 percent. Their weakness this year has been rebounding. That situation seems to be improving.

The conference tournament aside, Loyola seems to be trending toward an overall and conference record of .500 or so. The conference tournament is Mar. 5-9 in Albany, NY.

Villanova Defeats Pittsburgh By 10 As Wildcats Look to Make Run to End Season

Joe Spetrini — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:45:12 -0500

Villanova broke out of the middle of the Big East pack last night by defeating Pittsburgh 67-57. The game was the last college basketball game played at the storied Philadelphia Spectrum. It was a memorable game in which No. 21-ranked Villanova defeated another tough Pennsylvania school, No. 3-ranked Pittsburgh.

Coming into the game, Villanova was 3-3 in the Big East. They were in the middle of the Big East pack. The Big East coaches picked Villanova to come in number five in the conference in the preseason poll. Villanova has had many of the pundits scratching their heads while they played a soft pre-conference schedule and turned in a mediocre 3-3 record in their first six Big East games.

Wednesday night, they were outrebounded 38-32 but outshot Pitt 44.7 percent to 40.7 percent from the field. They outshot them 40.0 percent to 18.8 percent from three-point range and 67.9 percent to 58.8 percent from the free throw line. Shooting well is what Villanova needs to do to improve in the Big East.

Without a tree (disgruntled 6'10" Caseim Drummond has transferred), Dante Cunningham and Antonio Pena are up against it in the brutal Big East frontcourts. Cunningham is holding his own, but Pena is still a work in progress.

For that matter, Villanova is a work in progress. They feature two young, star quality guards in 6'1" point guard Corey Fisher and 6'5" shooting guard Corey Stokes. Fisher and Stokes both average 9.9 points per game but will surpass that substantially as they continue to grow. The question is: How much will they grow by March 2009?

The remainder of the eight-man rotation is pretty well developed, although foul-prone 6'8" strongman Antonio Pena is still rough. With the other six players in the rotation pretty much cooked, whether Villanova is a powerhouse in March or a bubble team depends on the development of Pena and "The Coreys."

Corey Stokes is doing pretty much what he was recruited to do. He is shooting 45 percent (44/98) from three-point range. He also shoots 84 percent from the free throw line.

Corey Fisher is a greatly talented point guard. He is an excellent shooter, penetrator, and he dishes the ball well. Sometimes he is out of control and throws it away. He will get there, but he is not there yet. His near-term development is key to this Villanova team.

At 4-3 in the Big East, Villanova is tied with West Virginia for sixth place. Before last night's game, I was seeing 'Nova as a 10-8 Big East Team. Today, they are looking 11-7. If they shore up some of their key areas, they could finish the conference regular season at 12-6 or better.

If 'Nova peaks going into the Big East conference championships, the combination of a long Big East season and a deep run into Big East post season play could earn them a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament. However, there are several "ifs."

Loyola, MD Wins Third Straight, Defeats Marist 83-73

Joe Spetrini — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:07:40 -0500

This afternoon, Loyola, MD hosted Marist College and won their third consecutive game. Loyola is now 8-12 and is 3-5 in the MAAC. Marist dropped to 7-13 and they too are 3-5 in the conference.

With yet another change in the starting lineup, five Loyola players scored in double figures, as the team shot the ball 65 times from the field, making 27 for 41.5 percent. They made 21 of 23 (91 percent) from the foul line. Loyola has had a different starting lineup for each of the past four games. According to box scores on the Loyola web site, coach Jimmy Patsos has used eight different starters in the four most recent games.

Sophomore guard Jamal Barney once again led Loyola. He scored 22 points and had six rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Junior guard Marquis Sullivan, starting for only his fourth time this season, made 5-10 three pointers and scored 17 points.

Marist threw the ball up 54 times, making 25. They were led by Ryan Schneider and Lawrence Williams, each with 15 points. The two teams shot the ball a combined 119 times, meaning one team or the other threw one up about every 20 seconds of the game. Who needs a shot clock?

Loyola coach, Jimmy Patsos, again played musical chairs with his starting five. Patsos has started 11 different players in the first 20 games of this year. That is 11 different starters, not eleven different men in the rotation. There is no such thing as job security on a Jimmy Patsos team.

Sure, coaches sometimes experiment with different combinations of players to see where the chemistry might lie, or to give a younger player a chance to fit in more.

Coaches also sometimes make adjustments depending upon the nature of the team they are playing. However, starting eleven different men with this much of the season remaining makes me wonder what Patsos is doing?

Niagara-Loyola: Purple Eagles Win at Home Over Greyhounds, 82-70

Joe Spetrini — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:42:49 -0500

Niagara improved its record to 12-3 in an 82-70 win over Loyola College Monday night in Buffalo. Loyola led 39-36 at the half, and the lead changed six times during the game. Coach Joe Mihalich must have 'splained some things to the Niagara team during halftime, and Niagara outscored Loyola 46-31 during the second half.

Loyola's Jamal Barney, a 6'3" sophomore guard, led all scorers with 20 points. He also pulled in seven rebounds. Five of Loyola's guards accounted for 62 of the team's 70 points. The frontcourt was ineffective, and Loyola was outrebounded 46-33.

Bilal Benn, a 6'5" junior transfer from Villanova, scored 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and handed out six assists for Niagara.

Niagara is beginning to look like the class of the MAAC. They are 3-0 in league play. Siena is 10-4 overall and 4-0 in league play but have not so far lived up to preseason expectations after their good play in last year's NCAA tournament and their return of all five starters.

This will be an interesting year in the MAAC with these two teams playing at Siena on Jan. 24 and at Niagara on Feb. 27. I'm seeing a couple of close games and a home and away split. Then there is the MAAC tournament March 5-9 in Albany.

Loyola is slowly improving—at least the guards are. They lost to a very strong Niagara team at home by 16 points on Dec. 7 and were never out of it during yesterday's game at Niagara. They led at the half and were within three (56-59) at the 12:26 mark.

Loyola next plays Fairfield (8-6) at home on Jan. 9. Let's see if Loyola's play continues to inch forward. This should be a very close game, and Loyola has a better than 50 percent chance of pulling out a win.

Loyola-Canisius: Loyola Has Breakout Game, Wins 86-62 at Canisius

Joe Spetrini — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:38:33 -0500

Loyola College of Maryland finally cut loose on 47.5 percent of its field goals and defeated Canisius by 24 points on the road. Jamal Barney, a sophomore transfer guard from Providence, made 15 of 19 field goals en route to a 41-point scoring spree.

Junior guard, Brett Harvey, added another 22 points. The third starting guard, sophomore Brian Rudolph added seven points and seven assists. Loyola's starting back court scored 70 points.

Isaac Reid, a sophomore forward, scored five points and pulled down 10 rebounds, as Loyola out rebounded Canisius, 43-26.

Julius Coles scored 15 points for Canisius and Frank Turner scored 10.

This was a welcome road win for the Greyhounds after they took a 41-point drubbing at Duke on New Year's Eve. Loyola is now 5-9. They are 1-2 in the MAAC. Canisius fell to 5-8 and are 0-3 in the MAAC.

Loyola next plays on Monday night at Niagara. Niagara is 11-3 overall and 2-0 in the MAAC.

Loyola (MD)-NC State: Greyhounds Lose By Just Two at Wolfpack

Joe Spetrini — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:34:53 -0500

Led by 21 points from senior guard Marquis Sullivan and 20 points from sophomore guard Jamal Barney, Loyola made a serious bid to upend North Carolina State in Raleigh, NC on Monday.

Loyola was down 16 points with 8:26 remaining in the game, but sharp shooting, including four three-pointers by Marquis Sullivan, brought them to within one point with 51.3 seconds remaining.

The game was decided in the last five seconds of the second half. Loyola's Jamal Barney missed a short jumper that would have given Loyola the lead. After the miss, NC State's Courtney Fells made one of two free throws with 0.3 seconds left, giving State the two-point victory margin, 62-60.

Loyola's three starting guards contributed 75 percent of their 60 points. Once again, Loyola was outrebounded, this time by a margin of 38 to 30. State had seven blocks, Loyola one.

Loyola outscored NC State from the field, 52-44. However, NC State shot 28 free throws, making 18 of them. Those foul shots included a technical on Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos. Loyola was 6 of 8 from the stripe.

NC State's 6'9" senior, Ben McCauley, had 16 points and nine rebounds. Brandon Costner, a 6'9" junior, scored 11 points and had nine rebounds. NC State is now 8-2. Their next game is another home game against a Baltimore school, Towson University at 2:00 on New Year's Eve.

Loyola (4-8) next plays at Duke at 4:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Loyola MD-UC Davis Basketball: Greyhounds Snag Road Win over Aggies

Joe Spetrini — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:41:57 -0500

Loyola MD earned a road win on Sunday at UC Davis, 95-89, and improved its record to 4-7. While Loyola was outrebounded again (41-34), they outshot UC Davis 48.2 percent to 40.6 percent.

Four Loyola players scored in double digits. Sophomore guard Jamal Barney scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior guard Marquis Sullivan scored 20 points. Promising sophomore forward Isaac Reid scored 17 point and pulled down 14 rebounds. Junior guard Brett Harvey scored 12 points and made seven assists.

Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos continues to adjust his starting line up. He started two freshmen, 6'7" forward Anthony Winbush and 6'9" forward/center Josh Weigand. Winbush fouled out after playing 22 minutes. He scored seven points and had two rebounds. Weigand only played two minutes. He failed to score or rebound and was called for two fouls.

The UC Davis Aggies were led by Joe Harden, a 6'8" sophomore, with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Their record fell to 4-8.

Loyola has two more road games this month. On Dec. 29, they play at North Carolina State, and on New Year's Eve they play at Duke. At least they snagged yesterday's road win. Merry Christmas, Loyola.

Clemson and North Florida: Best and Worst in RPI Play

Joe Spetrini — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:43:14 -0500

The season is far enough along that the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is beginning to take shape, but it still reflects some oddities.

A quick check on the web site www.realtimerpi.com yesterday showed a very good Clemson team at 10-0 ranked number one and North Florida at 0-7 ranked dead last.

Those two schools played yesterday at Clemson. I wondered how bad the bloodbath would be between last ranked playing at first ranked.

Clemson won 76 to 36, a 40-point margin. The margin was greater than North Florida's score.

So, what was the effect on the RPI of another win for Clemson (11-0) and a loss for North Florida (0-8)?

After their 40-point win, Clemson fell from first to seventh and North Florida rose 13 places.

While still undefeated, Clemson's strength of schedule fell because they had just played the lowest ranked team in the RPI. While still winless, North Florida's strength of schedule increased because they had just played the top ranked team.

While it is still early in the season and other rankings—such as power rankings—currently are more reflective of team strength, the RPI continues to evolve as we obtain more data points.

By the end of the season, the RPI becomes much more informative than it is this early in the season.

Clemson was led by Trevor Booker, who had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocked shots. Booker is Clemson's leading scorer overall, averaging 15.1 points per game. Raymond Sykes and Terrence Oglesby each scored 10 points. North Florida's Kyle Grothius scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Clemson faces a tougher test on Sunday when they visit the University of Miami (7-2). Another data point for the RPI.

NIT Season Tip-Off: BC Wins East Crown, Loyola College Loses Consolation

Joe Spetrini — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:59:58 -0500

On Tuesday night in the NIT Season Tip-Off, host Boston College (3-0) defeated St. John's (2-1), 82-70. BC senior guard Tyrese Rice scored 28 points and had nine assists and five rebounds. Sophomore forward Joe Tripani had 19 points and four rebounds.

Boston College is now the East champ and will play the winner of the North region, Purdue, in Madison Square Garden next Wednesday, Nov. 26. Purdue, ranked 10 and 11 in the national polls, won the North bracket by defeating Loyola of Chicago last night, 78-46.

Boston College is unranked. In the ACC preseason media poll, BC was picked to finish number 11 in the ACC this year, ahead of last place Virginia. BC next plays at Saint Louis on Saturday before heading to New York for the semifinal against Purdue.

In a consolation game played at BC yesterday, Loyola College of Maryland (1-3) lost to a competitive Cornell club, 82-72. Playing for the third consecutive day, a tired Loyola team only made 36.6 percent of its field goals (26/71) versus 48.0 percent (25/62) for Cornell (1-1).

Cornell's junior forward, 6'6" Ryan Whittman, led all scorers with 24 points. Seven-foot senior center Jeff Foote scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Loyola was led by sophomore guard Tony Lewis with 23 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Brett Harvey tossed in 18 points. Once again, Loyola was outrebounded (50-36).

Boston College and Purdue (3-0) will be joined in the semifinals by South champ Oklahoma (3-0). The Sooners are ranked 14 and 12 in the coaches' and writers' polls. Last night, they narrowly defeated Davidson (1-1), ranked 21 in both polls, 82-78.

Oklahoma won despite 44 points from Davidson's 6'3" junior guard, Stephen Curry. Oklahoma's 6'9" sophomore forward Blake Griffin scored 25 points and pulled in 21 rebounds. This was an eventful game.

Oklahoma's opponent in the semifinal will be the University of Alabama at Birmingham. UAB (3-0) defeated Arizona last night by one point, 72-71. Senior guard Paul Delaney III made a free throw with 0.8 seconds left to clinch the game.

The championship game will be played the day after Thanksgiving at Madison Square Garden. The semifinals and the final will be broadcast on ESPN2.

NIT Results: BC Defeats Loyola, St. John's Defeats Cornell

Joe Spetrini — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:18:51 -0500

Loyola College suffered a 90-57 loss at Boston College on Monday in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Loyola was out rebounded by a margin of 46-30 and was outplayed in every statistical category by a very young BC team. BC starts one senior, star guard Tyrese Rice and four sophomores.

Loyola was led in scoring by sophomore guard Jamal Barney, a Providence transfer, who scored 18 points in 23 minutes and grabbed four rebounds. Junior guard Brett Harvey scored 12 points and sophomore guard Brian Rudolph scored 11 points. Loyola will need more points and rebounds from its forwards to compete at this level.

Boston College was led by Sophomore forward Joe Trapani, who scored 20 points while grabbing four rebounds. Senior guard Tyrese Rice had six points and three rebounds. Sophomore forward Corey Raji had 14 points and nine rebounds.

In the second eastern bracket opener in the NIT, St. John's defeated Cornell 86-75 at St. John's. Next, Boston College will entertain St. John's at 7:30 tonight on ESPN2. The winner of that game will be the eastern champion and will move on to Madison Square Garden to play the winner of the North Region.

In the northern bracket, Purdue, ranked numbers 10 and 11 in this week's major polls, defeated Eastern Michigan, 87-58. Purdue will play Loyola (Il) which defeated Georgia, 74-53. The winner of that game will play the winner of tonight's game between Boston College and St. John's University.

Two nationally ranked teams advanced in the South Region—Oklahoma ranked number 14 and 12 and Davidson ranked 21 in both major polls. In the West, Arizona and UAB advanced. The NIT semi-finals will be held at Madison Square Garden November 26 and the final on November 28.

Free Throw Points: Duke 28, Rhode Island 11—Duke Wins by Three

Joe Spetrini — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:25:55 -0500

Rhode Island was edged out by Duke at Cameron today, 82-79.

Rhode Island led by one at half time, 34-33. During the second half, Rhode Island out-shot Duke from field goal range, 59.3 percent (16/27) to 58.6 percent 17/29). They out shot Duke from three-point range in the second half 77.8 percent (7/9) to 20.0 percent (2/10), and they also out shot them from the free throw line 100 percent (6/6) to 81.3 percent (13/16).

So, how could a team, ahead by one point at the half, that outperformed their host team in every shooting category during the second half and still lose? Easy, the refs handed the ball to Duke 16 times at the free throw line in the second half, and just six times to the visitors.

Rhode Island's senior guard, Jimmy Baron, made eight out of ten three-point attempts en route to a 24-point performance. URI's front court also performed well. Rhode Island out-rebounded Duke 31 to 29. Junior forward, Delroy James, had 21 points and eight rebounds.

Jon Scheyer led Duke with 23 points, 13 from the free throw line.

Loyola Bounces Back With Home Win Over Tennessee State

Joe Spetrini — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:17:56 -0500

Loyola bounced back from a hard fought home loss to Mount St. Mary's on Friday to win at home over Tennessee State in a Sunday afternoon game.

Loyola's 6'1" junior guard, Brett Harvey, scored 13 points in the first half in a very close game, which Loyola led at the half by just one point, 33-32.

Despite even more scoring from Harvey in the second half, the game was tied at 70 with only 28 seconds left. Loyola's last points came at the free throw line, including two free throws by Harvey with only four seconds left. The TSU Tigers missed a three-point attempt after that, and Loyola eeked out a 73-70 win. They are now 1-1.

Loyola received another good contribution from sophomore forward, Isaac Reid, who scored only four points, but pulled in 12 rebounds and made four steals.

Darius Cox, a 6'7" sophomore forward who had 20 points and nine rebounds led Tennessee State. Sophomore guard Gerald Robinson Jr., a preseason OVC all conference team selection, scored 15 points. Stephen Evans, a 6'8" senior forward had a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Tennessee State outrebounded Loyola and outshot them for field goal percentage and free throw percentages. Loyola outscored TSU from behind the arc. TSU only shot 25 percent (3/12), while Loyola shot 38 percent (8/22). Brett Harvey shot 6/9 from behind the three-point line, which means that the rest of the Loyola team made two of 13 three-point shots.

Tennessee State next plays at home Friday against Northern Illinois. Loyola plays it's first road game tomorrow. The Greyhounds play at Boston College in a Monday night NIT opening round game. They will need to advance their level of play to compete with an ACC team on the road. The game is at 7:00 and will be broadcasted on ESPNU.

Defining Games for the Villanova Wildcats

Joe Spetrini — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 12:45:52 -0500

The Villanova Wildcats easily won their season opener over the Albany Great Danes, 78-60.

However, they are not yet tested. Unfortunately, two key players are out, which cut Coach Jay Wright's blessed nine-man rotation seven, but seven is not bad.

Dwayne Anderson, a senior starter and defensive standout, is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his foot. Shane Clark, a slashing 6'7" senior forward is out four to six weeks after arthroscopic surgery on his knee.

The remaining seven in the rotation are not chopped liver. Many teams would love to have a back court rotation with 6'2" junior Scottie Reynolds, 6'1" sophomore Corey Fisher, and 6'5" junior Reggie Redding.

The same is true about their frontcourt, which is led by 6'8" senior Dante Cunningham, a powerful 6'8" junior banger Antonio Pena, and the very slick 6'5" McDonald's All American shooting G/F in sophomore Corey Stokes, plus another banger in the 6'10", 275 pound junior, Casiem Drummond.

I'd like to share a peek at ten defining games this season, three pre-conference games and seven brutal Big East contests.

This trial by fire begins with a game against the Texas Longhorns on December 9 at Madison Square Garden.

Texas is rated No. 8 nationally in the USA Today/ESPN preseason Coaches poll, and No. 7 in the AP writer's poll. Texas also returns four starters from their 31-7 team last season.

Texas' Rick Barnes is a great coach, and guard A.J. Abrams is the top returning scorer in the Big 12. Abrams is unstoppable, but expect Villanova to minimize Abram's production with a very defensive minded Scottie Reynolds.

Damion James is a great rebounder (10.3 per game) and reliable scorer (13.2 per game). With defensive expert Dwayne Anderson and quick Shane Clark out at that time, we shall see what Dante Cunningham and Antonio Pena can do to contain him. They will need to extend their own quickness to contain him. Big Game.

The other two pre-conference games which will be important are against two of the tougher Philadelphia Big Five contests. (Phear Philly.) On two days after the Texas game, 'Nova plays the Saint Josephs Hawks at Villanova.

Saint Joe's is one of the better teams in the misnamed Atlantic 10, which has 14 teams.

Dante Cunningham seems like the only player that can contain St, Joe's 6'9" 235 pound Senior forward Ahmad Nivens, who averaged 14.4 points and 5.8 rebounds as a Junior.

That established, Ahmad Nivens will have the unenviable task of guarding Dante Cunningham, who averaged 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds, and is a workman who improves much every year.

The last non-conference test of significance is a tough Philly Big Five game against the Temple Owls, picked by tha Atlantic 10 coaches to be second in the league behind the Xavier Musketeers. Temple is led by Dionte Christmas and three other starters returning from last year.

Christmas is a 6'5" senior guard/forward who may be the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year. Here too, Villanova needs Antonio Pena, Dante Cunningham, and perhaps by that time, Shane Clark to step up.

Christmas averaged 19.7 points and 5.9 rebounds as a junior.

'Nova visits the Marquette Golden Eagles on New Year's day. That is a bucket of cold water which should show us how much Villanova's two sophomore blue chip Corey's (Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes) have grown in the past year.

Then there are three brutal Big East challenges out of the 18 Big East games for VU.

They play the Louisville Cardinals at home on January 10. Louisville was ranked No. 3 nationally in both major preseason polls. During these games, everyone must step up—including the water boy.

Nova plays at the Connecticut Huskies, preseason ranked No. 2, on January 21.

On January 28, they host the Pittsburgh Panthers, ranked No. 6 and five in the two preseason major polls.

Last, note that on February 28 and March 2, respectively, they play a home game against the Georgetown Hoyas and a game at the Notre Dame Irish.

These games will affect the consciousness of the national basketball fans as well as the NCAA selection committee. How will Villanova perform?

Dante Cunningham is a mature, reliable senior. Scottie Reynolds is a talented, reliable junior. How much will Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes have matured by then? Will Shane Clark's knee be in full form by then? Will Dwayne Anderson's foot fracture be healed by then?

Loyola Maryland Drops Opener To Mount St. Mary's

Joe Spetrini — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:13:20 -0500

Among the spate of college basketball games played Saturday night, was the 163rd meeting of Loyola College in Baltimore and Mount St. Mary's of Emmitsburg, MD.

Mount St. Mary's played well on the road winning 84-76. While Mt. Mary's looked strong in both the frontcourt and the backcourt and led most of the game, the final score is not indicative of the hard fought contest. Mount St. Mary's opened very strong and Loyola fought back to a one-point deficit at half time, 33-34.

The Mount also opened the second half strong and jumped out to a 55-41 lead, but Loyola hung in there and scrapped to within three, 74-77, with 1:32 to play.

Then the Mount scored seven straight points. Junior guard Jeremy Goode totaled 25 points for the game. In only 17 minutes of play, junior forward Kelly Beidler tore up the court with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Loyola's scoring was very balanced with five players scoring in double figures led by Providence transfer guard Jamal Barney and sophomore forward Issac Reid, who each had 14 points. Barney also had five rebounds.

Loyola made 20 three-point attempts, but only converted on seven. Indeed sixth-man Marquis Sullivan, normally a sharp shooting spark plug was only one for six for two point attempts and one for five of three-pointers.

Mount St. Mary's defense deserves much of the credit for those weak numbers, but Loyola with need to sharpen their field goal shooting. A bright note was that Loyola out-shot the Mount at the free throw line 90.5 percent (19/21) to 69.0 percent (20/29).

Mount St Mary's will have a tougher opponent on the road at Virginia Tech on Monday. Loyola hosts Tennessee State at home on Sunday afternoon and plays at Boston College in an NIT game on Monday at 7:00 pm.