Nova Shows Balanced Attack in First Two Wins

There is no news in the fact that #5 Villanova trounced their first 2 cupcake opponents, Farleigh Dickinson and Penn, but we are getting our first look at what the new guys are made of and what kind of minutes they are going to be getting, among other things.

Here’s what I take away from the first two games…

This is a dangerous, and deep, offensive team

Here are the total points leaders through 2 games…

1. Corey Stokes, 34
2. Corey Fisher, 26
3. Taylor King, 23
4. Scottie Reynolds, 22
5. Maalik Wayns, 22
6. Antonio Pena, 21
7. Dominic Cheek, 15
8. Maurice Sutton, 12
9. Mouph Yarou, 10

The top 7 on that list are capable of leading the team in scoring on any given day. Having that kind of depth is huge and means Nova will able to overcome a couple guys having “off” days.

Wayns and Cheek are ready to go, Yarou needs some time

Of Nova’s vaunted freshman class, it certainly seems that Maalik Wayns and Dom Cheek will be big time contributers from the get-go. The fact that Waayns can get 18 minutes a game so soon with both Reynolds and Fisher ahead of him, not to mention leading the team in scoring (16 points) against Penn, really says something about his talent. Cheek also played 18 minutes in each game, and showed his shooting touch, hitting 6 of 10 shots, but also showed he’s active on the glass, grabbing 3 boards per game at the guard spot.

Mouphtaou Yarou was the highest rated of the frosh class, but was also the most raw. He showed that in his first two games, scoring only 10 points and collecting 7 fouls. He was OK on the glass with 8 boards in 37 minutes in the first two games, and also collected 2 blocks. The early returns seem to be that the frosh impact will come in the back court, not the front.

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Not much you can say after only two games, but the fact that the frosh, and Taylor King are all playing big roles right away means that this incredibly talented Nova team are very deserving of their pre-season Big East favorite status.

November 16, 2009