NCAA: ‘Nova is for Real

Posted on | February 11, 2009 | 1 Comment

Over the weekend when the Villanova Wildcats hung over 100 on the Syracuse Orange and beat the Orange comfortably, the warning signs were all around for the Orange. It was the second time they have 100 hung on them. It was another road blowout for the Orange. There is still a lot of trouble in the land of SU. But things might not be as bad as everyone once thought. That’s because the Wildcats are one of the hottest teams in the Nation right now. In fact, they might be THE hottest team.

Last night Villanova did Marquette just like they did the Orange. They hung 100 on them (actually 102) and they ran away with the game. In fact, the Orange actually threatened the Wildcats more than Marquette did.

It’s unbelievable just how great ‘Nova has played on offense. Not only do they protect the ball pretty well and move well on offense and play well as a team, they shoot the ball unbelievably well. They are well over 50% from the floor. Sure, you can attribute some of that to getting easy looks against the Orange but not so much against Marquette. And making this stat even better is the fact that ‘Nova is able to get turnovers and create easy baskets off the turnovers.

The Wildcats are also getting it done from beyond the arc. They hit 13 three pointers last night on only 24 attempts. Can they keep that up? Probably not every night. But when they’re winning by 18 points, there is some room to shoot a lower percentage. And the way ‘Nova crashed the boards, you gotta believe some misses would be converted to two points.

Now Villanova’s schedule gets a little easier. They will have to go to Syracuse and they also have Providence and Georgetown coming up. But in the killer Big East, that’s not too bad of a schedule.

For a team that’s playing the way ‘Nova is right now, it really doesn’t matter where they play or who they play. These guys are good, and these guys are for real.

Related posts:

1. NCAA: Games to Watch on Sunday
2. NCAA: The First Half of the Sweet 16
3. March Madness: 3 Big Three Teams
4. NCAA: Duke Gets Blasted
5. NCAA: The New Top 25

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