This isn’t going to be long, because that game (and watching my alma mater Notre Dame lose) took a lot out of me.
Let’s get one thing straight: Robert Morris deserved to win that game, and Nova deserved to lose.
They wanted it more, they were more prepared, they played with passion. Meanwhile, Nova had 2 starters benched for not bothering with the scouting report and then had those 2 starters go out there and put up a 4-19 from the field. They played like they were on ice skates and their hands were made of concrete.
They played so poorly that despite having 12 less personal fouls, less turnovers, and more rebounds than the other team, they needed overtime, and some good luck, to avoid becoming just the 5th 2nd seed ever to lose in the first round. Dannie and I went home for lunch to watch it, and we left to come back with 5 minutes left because we just couldn’t watch it anymore, win or lose.
Now – the good news.
Mouph Yarou was a serious bright spot, with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks. He also could teach Corey Fisher, Reggie Redding and Corey Stokes a little about clutch FT shooting, hitting a perfect 7-7 from the line. I think you could argue he was the only Nova player to play a good game.
The other bright spot is that every year it seems, there is a high seed who survives a scare in the first round and then goes on a run. It was Nova last year, and hopefully this wakes them and it’s Nova again this year.
That’s all I got, feel free to discuss the game here…
Absolutely undeserved win.
I didn’t like that Jay was bringing in Sutton for defense over Mouph. Mouph had 4 fouls but he stood up Dallas Green on the first possession of OT. Sutton couldn’t grab a board and RMU got 2 offensive boards in OT at his expense when he didn’t check out.
I think the American game was different than this one. American was shooting the lights out and Nova still calmly collected themselves for a fairly easy win. There’s no Cunningham/Clark/Anderson leadership this year. Scottie has it, but that’s really it.
Absolutely undeserved win.I didn’t like that Jay was bringing in Sutton for defense over Mouph. Mouph had 4 fouls but he stood up Dallas Green on the first possession of OT. Sutton couldn’t grab a board and RMU got 2 offensive boards in OT at his expense when he didn’t check out. I think the American game was different than this one. American was shooting the lights out and Nova still calmly collected themselves for a fairly easy win. There’s no Cunningham/Clark/Anderson leadership this year. Scottie has it, but that’s really it.
Not a hater at all Dannie… a truth-teller… but I respect your post because it was dead on. with one exception… this wasnt like the American game at all.. American played better then Robert Morris.. and Nova played worse today then they did last year.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/With-help-of-officials-Villanova-avoids-histori?urn=ncaab,228833
Did Antonio Pena play?
I didn’t like Jay’s line-ups. I haven’t liked his handling of the roster all year. It’s okay to play a bunch of guys. But you still need to solidify your core guys and they need to spend time on the court together.
This team doesn’t have any rhythm or chemistry because of that. They don’t play off each other well at all. Just one-on-one and catch and shoot. No good ball movement or player movement.
As much as I love Jay I think he has over coached and over complicated things this year the way he’s handled the roster.
Just because you have a lot of equal talent up and down the roster doesn’t mean everyone needs to play.
Chuck – I actually don’t think Nova played as bad as many think. I think they were ice cold and missed a ton of open shots. There is a difference between playing horrible and simply missing shots in my opinion. So while I do think Nova played below average, that wasn’t why the game was close. It was because they couldn’t make an open shot all game.
Most of Reynolds shots, particularly the 8 threes were good, mildly contested to wide open shots.
Nova missed, and missed and missed.
During the game they showed the difference between Nova’s hot start of the season and their fizzle at the end. The major difference was offensive. They simply have not been scoring the ball as well as they did the first 2/3rds of the season. Defensively they were only giving up like 3 more points per game but scoring themselves 8-9 less and getting less shot attempts.
Robert Morris only shot 40% from the field and had 20 turnovers. So they didn’t play very well. Nova simply couldn’t make a shot all game long (35% from the field and 6-22 from three). They won the game at the line.
You missed the point about last year’s game against American. It wasn’t about how they played, it was about how they were push and put to the test most of the game and how they responded to finish that game and go on their Final Four run. That is what we are hoping for this year. That they found a way to win a game that shouldn’t have been close and use that to spur another Final Four run.
Even with what happened today I mean it is the tournament.. anything can happen. Did anyone else see Baylor? They were mediocre at best.. anything can happen and thats why this is the best weekend in sports period
Agreed
St. Mary’s looked good, which is exactly what you want to see from a Nova fan. They almost looked too good and Nova looked bad. Remember the UCLA game last year off the heels of the American game?
I think if Mouph/Pena do a good job on Samhan, this is a very winnable game. St. Mary’s has no other offensive rebounders, which is what hurts Nova. They are similar in that they shoot a lot of threes, but they don’t have the penetrating guards Nova has. Keep Samhan fairly in check, and stop penetration.
Baylor turns the ball over like a high school team does(dead last in big12 in the t.o. catagory), they dont scare me(nova). I was a little suprised that saint mary’s won ( didnt see the game had practice). alot of analysts had richmond not only winning that game but also, some of them beating nova. if nova can some how gather themselves together the next two games against SMU and baylor then they have a good shot against Duke if they can hit there shots.
I hope they can find there shot soon. Taylor King also should notsee the foor alot. he can get hot, but he plays absolutly not defense. i mean this team is going to need D to get to the final four and he simply is not the answer to that. it dosent help his cause that hes on a cold streak. i actually like him, i remember him from his Duke days when he was a freshman, always liked im cause he reminded me of JJ, but his lack of D and lack of putting the ball in the net is a problem
Nova plays little sisters of the poor first half of year, oughta shoot well then. The most overrated program around. Maybe primper Wright needs to change his cologne if they’re gonna make a run with his wide array of strongly-recruited little people. Scottie Reynolds? Just another player given license to fire away. Anytime Nova goes down, I’m up.
@jjg – Don’t hate on Nova, they are a philly team. you always got to have there back.
@Al, I’ll stay quiet from here on out. Had to state my position first. My Philly college teams are LaSalle, Penn, Temple (in that order). I avoid Rt. 30/Lancaster Ave. if I can. Afraid I’ll be swept up into that suburban North Jersey & Connecticut tide. V’s for Villanova are fairly commonplace but uninspiring. A slightly rigged game from my perspective. Good luck and enjoy though as you root.
JJG is right that Nova isn’t really a “Philly” team proper; and although I will root for Nova, Temple is my college team.
Good to know, Morty. Glad to have you with us. I’m a Temple alumnus (class of ’90).
Looking for 2 wins, then we’ll see what happens against UK in the Sweet 16.
Can’t wait to get home from work tomorrow to watch them (on DVR).
bski: I’m not am alumnus, just was always a John Chaney fan, and have loved the great teams and players they had over the years.
Hopefully Temple’s game today is a lot more fun to watch than Nova.
Cornell will be tough though.
Somewhat secondary point that it may be, as tangibles are more significant than psychology, I draw from the quote that has survived time from Duane Charles “Bill” Parcells…
“You are what your record says you are”
In other words, the Cats won, they deserved to win. Scottie Reynolds goes 1-14, but in crunch time, nails the one shot that counts the most. The Cats fell behind early, but scored more points when it mattered most.
More accurate to say they’ve played better games, particularly early in the season, but a win is a win. This, as I’m sure their game will be for Vanderbilt, would have been a tough, tough drag through the summer. One possibility out of this is to relax now, and feel a little less pressure since that would have been catastrophic by sports values. That isn’t to say there aren’t 1000 things they need to do better next game (and hopefullyafter), but they stunk early on, but were poised enough to win, and I on that they deserved it. Scoreboard, baby.
You want a team that didn’t deserve to win, look at Florida. They had 2 final possessions against BYU and couldn’t put it away, and lost. They didn’t deserve to win.
Rich, I dont see how u can have a problem with Sutton playing minutes that could have went to Mouph. Sutton played a great game, maybe his best the whole yr. He even had an “and 1″ basket on top of blocking more shots then I’ve seen any Nova player do in a while.
Mouph played very well, but that doesnt mean Sutton cant get in the game when he had a clear height advantage.
As for the comparison to last yr, thats a legitimate point. If I recall, last yr in the 1st rd Nova’s “bigs” were able to be main cogs, and thus prepare themselves to try to fend of teams with better “bigs”.