New Feature on FOVS: Mock Drafts

In the spirit of sports blog favorite Kissing Suzy Kolber the contributors here will be hosting a series of inane Villanova/College Sports related mock drafts.
Examples include:
Which Dining Services staff member would you sleep with first?
What Big East thug would you take on your team?
What sorority's bitches would you most like to put in your harem?

If you come up with any ideas, i'd be glad to take some suggestions

Degenerate's Guide to Enjoying The Georgetown Game

Alright, Nova Nation--The Voice here giving you an honest look at some of the compelling story lines in the game today. First of all, there are some serious lines that Vegas may have neglected (side note: Villanova is favored by 6 points) and for a Villanova blog that prides itself on covering Villanova sports and dick jokes, it is time to build that reputation already. So to kill two birds with one stone, here is your gambler's guide to the game:

ODDS

2:1 Blue Man being on the Jumbotron or TV

5:2 Dante is the leading scorer

7:1 Shane Clark Scores at least 12

9:2 Georgetown Win

150:1 Dante wins the Oscar Roberston award

OFF Ridiculously inane foul call on Corey Stokes to decide game

OVER/UNDER

4 - References to 1985 Championship Game by announcers

7 - Times Fact will say "Who wants to sex Mutumbo" during the game to himself

0 - Actual in game references to Mutumbo

5 - Times Fact will promise to write an article comparing the '06 Cats to this year's team after reading this article.

0 - Articles Fact (or anyone else on this blog) will actually write concerning that aforementioned premise

75 - Number of Villanova students who stayed on campus a day into their break vowing to their parents they would go to the game but in drinking too much for celebration of the end of midterms will sleep through the start.

200 - Number of Georgetown students who bought tickets to this game earlier in the year to come and see Georgetown beat us in our house.

75 - Number of Georgetown students who will actually come now that their team is destined for the NIT.

2 - People who actually follow my twitter updates for the game tomorrow

4 - Comments on this article.

3 - Comment on this article by Fact (under that name or one of the many pseudonyms he has assumed in the comments section of other Villanova blogs to promote this one).

 

Calm Your Hormones People

Yes, the team did play poorly last night, but we have to realize that this team isn't gonna blow any teams out if they shoot poorly at any section of the game. The three point defense was also an area of concern because it seems that every shot the Demons were throwing up was going in. I'm gonna say it right now, Antonio Pena is shell shocked every time he's on the floor. Tone has an incredible amount of potential, but at this point thats all it is. At this point, all I can say is that his basketball IQ is in the retarded range. Good job Stokes, Scottie, Fish and Dante.. you saved the game last night. One other thing though, be happy because the 'Cats within a half a game of Pitt for the final spot in the top 4 to get the double-bye in the BET plus we own the tiebreaker.

WOW THAT WAS PITIFUL

That game last night was one of the worst performances I have ever seen. I actually almost killed myself. Jesus Christ. Basically we are unable to do anything but play to the level of our opponents, this is a good thing when we're playing top teams like Pitt and UCONN as it gives us the chance to beat them. On the other hand, it also means we play down to lesser teams like Rutgers and DePaul which makes the possibility of suffering a horrible loss even greater. I'm worried about this trend because when we're playing shittier teams in the first rounds of the Big East and NCAA tournaments, we will open ourselves up for upsets. Hopefully we can correct this and make deep runs in the tournaments beating the lesser teams in a way more befitting of our skill.

DePaul

Ok so we play DePaul tonight in Chi-town. I'm just going to say this, DePaul sucks... like really sucks. They are 0 and however many Big East games they have played which means they have lost to Rutgers and Seton Hall who aren't that great themselves. Basically, if we lose this game, I will actually kill myself by jumping out of my window... which may not be a bad idea considering I have 2 problem sets and a 5 page English paper due tomorrow and i have done no work on any of those assignments.

In other news, Chelsea won the first leg of their round of 16 Champions League tie against Juventus at Stamford Bridge. This makes me very happy because it gives them an advantage going into the second leg and because I fucking hate Juve.

Soapbox #2: Trim the Fat

Well folks, it's gotten to that point.. The Big East is getting too large for it's own good. As much as it would have pained me to say this in the past; it's time to trim the fat. I for one don't understand the purpose of DePaul being in the Big East. They do not bring anything to the table from a competition standpoint and traveling to and from Chicago can be a nightmare, especially in the the winter months. Yes, you could make the same argument about Marquette, but they bring something to the table competition wise that DePaul hasn't yet, and probably will never. There is no excuse for going through the entire Big East season without a win, which is a very real possibility for the Blue Demons at this point. It should also be noted that DePaul does not have a Football program, which makes it much easier for the Big East to sever ties. I'm hoping that Mike Tranghese's successor as commish takes a long, hard look at the viability of keeping schools like DePaul in the Big East when they offer nothing but a hassle to the other teams in terms of travel.

Come have a drink with Blue Man

Stop by Maloney's tonight and grab a drink. I'll be guest bar tending from 9 till somewhere around 11 or 12.

Polls

Monday brings with it some new polls which see Villanova moving up again after some slippage last week.
Here are Nova's rankings:
ESPN/USA TODAY: 12 - up from 14 last week
AP: 10 - up from 12 last week
These rankings seem fine to me as we struggled with an awful Rutgers team and then squeaked one out against a top 25 Syracuse team at the Carrier State Corrections Facility Dome.

I do have some problems with Memphis being ranked 4th in the ESPN poll and 5th in the AP. People talk about how they're so hot right now and they're on an awesome winning streak. That's because they play in the abortion of a conference known as C-USA. People forget the fact that they lost to both Cuse and Georgetown and their best win is against Gonzaga (another vastly overrated team). It looks like Memphis will again get another undeserved high seed and then use that easier road to make a deep run in the tournament. Put Memphis at a 5 or 6 seed and then I'd love to see how they do in the Tourney.

'Cats own the Dome

Yesterday's 89-86 win over Syracuse Correctional Center at the Carrier Dome gave Villanova a season sweep of the Orange Suits and marked it's second win in a row up in the Dome. Dwayne Anderson scored a career high 22 to lead 'Nova past Jim Boeheim's group of thugs. While this was a good win, it wasn't pretty at the end, with the 'Cats missing free throws and turning the ball over several times. Shane Clark again proved me right by scoring 15 points and grabbing 8 boards. When Villanova gets double figure scoring out of Shane, I'm convinced that they're a top five team. Villanova cannot always count on a rebounding onslaught or a lot of points off of turnovers; they must get force teams to make tougher shots than they do now because the gaudy shooting stats other teams are putting up is simply unacceptable. Negative thoughts aside, you can't be too unhappy with a team that's won 8 of its last 9 including 4 in a row against ranked competition.

Villanova takes care of Rutgers on Senior Night

Last night was Senior Night at the Pavillion. That meant Blue Man and his friends had some trouble getting tickets. I had a ticket transferred to me, but Blue Man still had no one to go with. So I decided to take the night off and get hammered in my room and enjoy the game from the couch. As the second half got going I started to get a little worried. At the 11 minute mark, Rutgers was up 54-52. Around that same time I discovered that another friend had a ticket, that's when we decided something needed to be done. Villanova has never lost a game that Blue Man has attended, so to make sure we locked down the win my friend and I sprinted from West to the Pavillion and got there with 7:56 left in the game. At that time we were up by 6 and Blue Man had arrived, there was no way we were going to lose this game. Sure enough, Villanova never looked back and cruised to a 82-72 win. Scottie had 21, Corey stokes had 17, and the Pavillion gave the Seniors a great send off, ending the game with chants of "Thank You Seniors".

Villanova travels to Syracuse on Sunday, and while Blue Man won't be making the trip, I have a good feeling about this one after dropping over 100 on them last time. Let's hope we can pull of a huge road win and move up in the rankings.

The Voice

Alright Nova Nation, the voice of Villanova here joining the already stellar blogging crew and we have a great promotion for you today. The name of the game is the bracket challenge and the rules are simple. You go to this address Nova Facts Bracket Challenge and join the group. Then you wait for the selection ceremony to pick your winners and submit your bracket. We're not done there Wildcat Fans, because the winner of the challenge will have their name published on the blog in bold and also win a 2008-2009 Villanova Men's Basketball Media Guide! So join the group, invite your friends and keep checking in on the blog, because I will now be posting in-game twitter updates on game days of all the action and my own commentary--directly from your Voice of Villanova.

Cheek and Wayns Named McDonald's All-Americans

The rosters for the 2009 McDonald's High School All-American game came out today and two Villanova players were named to the team. 6'6" Shooting Guard and 5 start recruit Dominic Cheek out of St. Anthony H.S. in New Jersey and 6'0" PG and 4 star recruit Maalik Wayns from Philly will be representing Villanova's 2009 recruiting class at the game. This is a class that also features PFs Mouphtaou Yarou and Isaiah Armwood, both 4 star recruits along with Wayns and Cheek. Overall it is looking to be one of the better classes in Villanova history and is recognized at a top three class in the country. The game will take place at 8 p.m April 1 in Miami and will be aired nationally on ESPN.

Why Syracuse Sucks

I know we have a few more days to go and another game but.. Syracuse sucks ladies and gentlemen. Not only because it is an inferior school to Villanova academically (don't brag about your communications school, that's like saying you went to a better rehab facility), but because of the swine that they allow onto their basketball team. For every Gerry McNamara they have, there are three Eric Devendorfs. How can you justify keeping a player on your team after he hit a WOMAN. The Syracuse disciplinary board recommended that he be suspended for the remainder of the year since he was already on probation but Boeheim cried foul (of course). The only reason that Eric Devendorf is still a student at Syracuse is because Jim Boeheim has no problems running his own work release facility/basketball team. You don't have to look far to find another ass on the Syracuse roster. Paul Harris, arguably the most talented player on the orange has a pretty decent rap sheet himself which includes intent to sell crack cocaine and a domestic violence charge that he got from throwing a toaster at his girlfriend. Whats on the menu for next year's recruits Jimmy B? I'm predicting a rapist or maybe a guy who bargained a murder rap down to voluntary manslaughter.

Blue Man = Sox Fan

Wow i did not want that to rhyme... whatever. So if you couldn't tell from the post below, Blue Man happens to be from that sorry group of people known to the world as Red Sox Fans. I feel that this will provide an interesting opportunity for argument and mocking posts between him and myself, a Yankees fan. As for now, yeah i guess a-rod fucked up but that was while he was on the Rangers so whatever. Also, i would like to know who the 103 other player were who were named on that list because i have a strong feeling that at least one of the Sox would be on there. As for now, don't be mad that we stole Texiera from under your noses Blue Man and have fun with Varitek.
See you in the summer... Oh and just for the record, while i support A-rod, i don't really like the guy and i agree that he does have a blowout and orange skin but thats just cause he a mexican, not a guido.

A-Roid

So I just watched about two minutes of the A-Rod press conference before I had to go to Second Storey for a fat sandwich and some Mountain Blast POWERade. A-Rod was coming up with some real bullshit. For the two minutes I watched that guido with his orange ass skin and his blowout, not only did he claim that he didn't know what he was taking when he took it but he claimed that he doesn't even think he was doing it right, so it probably had no effect on him, and that is the reason he claimed he never did steroids. Are you kidding me? Why were you taking it if you didn't know what it was and if you didn't think you were doing it right. Also if you tested positive, you were clearly doing it right and it clearly worked. Good job A-Rod instead of apologizing you basically just tried to bullshit your way out of it and pretty much insulted anyone listening to you by thinking that they would fall for that weak ass excuse.

The Blue Man Cometh

Well I don't really know how to start this, but here it goes. I saw that Fact had a new blog, mentioned on the facebook page that I would like to be a contributor, and Fact happily obliged, so here we are. I'll be checking in with my thoughts on some Villanova sports, mostly basketball and the Rugby team, some pro sports and probably some posts about the crazy shit some announcers said about me on TV. So thanks for having me, I'll do my best to keep you entertained.

Polls, Brackets, Etc.

The new ESPN/USA Today Men's Basketball poll came out today and Villanova has dropped from 13 to 14 following a week that saw us destroy #12 Marquette and then shit the bed at unranked West Virginia. Somehow, Marquette moved up a spot from 12 to 11 which seems odd considering we beat them by 18 on Tuesday night. Basically, that's bullshit.
In the AP poll we moved up one spot from 13 to 12
Joe Lunardi (an asshole) came out with his newest bracketology which sees us move down from a 3 seed to a 4 seed in the South with a first round match-up against potential CAA champ Northeastern. This drop is to be expected after our horrible loss to WVU but that doesn't mean that Lunardi is any less of a douche

Men's Lax Wins At Rutgers

On Saturday the Villanova men's lacrosse team triumphed over the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers in Piscataway NJ. Senior attackman Tim Driscoll paced the Cats with 3 goals while senior middie Matt Fritts netted two. The Cats used a strong fourth quarter to take down the Knights, a team that has, in the past, had some very decent years making a few tourney appearences. The Cats will travel to Lafayette on saturday with a 1 p.m start looking for their second win of the season.

P.S.
My namesake, Matsuflex, survived elemination last night on Tool Academy despite being a HUGE tool

Future home of Blue Man?

As we speak, details are being worked out for the beer drinking, bondage suit wearing Villanova fan who calls himself "Blue Man" to become a featured columnist on this blog. Although we are new to the blogging community, we are committed to providing the best possible product for our readers. I'm all for having several viewpoints that are not my own, so if you would like to be a contributor to the blog just let me know and i'll try to work something out.

Soapbox #1: Women's Basketball

In the category of you may not know and possibly don't care, did you know that the Villanova Women's Basketball team is on a 7 game Winning streak after today's win against Depaul in a near empty Pavillion. This is my plea to students to support the Lady Cats because honestly.. they're quite good this year. So before the next home game against Louisville on saturday the 21st.. get wasted, round up 10 or 15 of your wasted friends, and cheer on the team in a possibly obnoxious way. This is a perfectly legitimate reason to be trashed a 2 PM on a Saturday, I hope you jump at the opportunity. But seriously, if we get 100 to 150 raucous (not drunk) fans, it would feel less like an 8 year old girl's birthday party and more like a college basketball game.

Streak is Snapped

Well, no streak is gonna last forever and frankly last night's game was utterly unwatchable. No one played well last night but this may be the loss that the team needs to keep them humble. Last night's goat was definitely Shane Clark who did absolutely nothing the entire game. Dante getting in foul trouble early didn't help, but all of the dumb turnovers and offensive fouls drove me nuts. Hopefully this team doesn't forget the way they played last night.

FACT IS WRONG

It seems Fact's "highly placed source" was completely wrong about D-Wayne seeing as how not only is the lad playing, he started the game. Good job Fact

Yet another Update on the Dwayne Anderson

As of last night at 10 PM, a source i have high up in the Villanova Basketball program, Dwayne Anderson is most likely going to miss tonight's game at West Virginia.

Dwayne Anderson Update

The Philadelphia Inquirer Confirms that Dwayne Anderson has a bone bruise in his knee and is listed as "day to day." Coach Wright is saying that he'll evaluate Dwayne on Friday and see if he's able to go. If he's not, that's a big hit for the 'Cats.

Anderson Update

According to my very reliable inside source, forward Dwayne Anderson has a bone bruise in his knee and he is questionable for the West Virginia game. This is good news for our team depth and for Chocolate Dwayne who was looking as if he was beginning another late season hot streak

Football Signings and early 2009 outlook

Villanova's Football team came off an impressive showing last season finishing 10-3 and making it to the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs before losing to Colonial Athletic Association rival James Madison. It was a great season for the Wildcats who made the playoffs for the first time since losing in the semifinal to McNeese St. in 2002. Even with the success the team had this year, they still return 17 starters Including the starting Quarterback, Tailback, two Wide Receivers and four of the five offensive linemen from last campaign. With the team set for another good season in the first place, the key to this current recruiting class was addressing needs. That is exactly what Head Coach Andy Talley and his staff did, plug holes and building depth, so with that the staff signed 12 players to national letters of intent. This class includes three players who were selected to the prestigious Big 33 All-Star game played annually in Hershey, PA.

Included in this class was:

Ronnie Akins, DB, 5-11, 185, Lansdale/North Penn
Devon Bridges, LB, 6-1, 215, Upper Marlboro, Md./Douglass
Josh Bucci, OL, 6-6, 315, Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area
Rakim Cox, DE, 6-4, 240, San Diego/San Diego
Brennan Erbeznik, TE, 6-6, 240, Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica
Mike Giresi, DB, 5-11, 185, Westerville, Ohio/ Central
Patrick Haggerty, LB, 6-0, 215, Shillington, Pa./Gov. Mifflin
Eric Loper, DB, 6-0, 190, Sicklerville, N.J./Timber Creek
Kenny Miles, WR, 6-1, 190, Buena, N.J./Buena Regional
Joe Price, WR, 6-3, 185, Havertown/Malvern Prep
Daniel Shirey, OL, 6-2, 280, Feasterville/Neshaminy
Tamai Young, DL, 6-3, 260, Ewing, N.J./Peddie School

Don't expect to see too many of these guys on the field due to the talent already in the program at most of these positions. I would only expect to see Tight End Brennan Erbeznik, Defensive End Tamai Young and Potentially Cornerback Eric Loper playing significant minutes due to the Depth on the team at the other positions especially the Offensive Line. With the talent they have amassed over the past several seasons, The 'Cats seem set to be a dangerous football team when they open the season on September 3rd against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field. The Philadelphia Daily News Article regarding with regards to the signings can be found here.

Well Hello There

You people really didn't think I would left Fact have a blog all by his lonesome did you? I come here to basically destroy any sort of credibility this blog would ever garner. While Fact is focused on Nova sports alone, I will be talking on issues around the sports world that usually don't have much to do with our fine institution of higher learning. I will also talk about our hoops team and occasional our lacrosse team (yes we have a lacrosse team).

So let's get into it.

First of all I want to address something that deeply disturbed me during last night's game. The Spider-Man kid. It is my belief that ESPN was trying to mock our fine student body by putting this epic assclown on TV and allowing him to speak on behalf of the "Nova Nation." I will not be putting a picture of this child up because looking at such a picture may cause me to destroy my computer. Not only was his face paint absurd and his comments ridiculous, but to top it all of he was wearing a headband. Who the fuck does that?!?! I hope to God that child is banned from all future games.

On to some good news. Chelsea FC (a soccer team in London) confirmed today that former PSV and team Australia manager and current team Russia manager Gus Hiddik will be taking the reigns at CFC for the remainder of the season. He replaces the retarded Portugeese coach Luiz Philip Scolari who was shitcanned earlier this week. This is a good thing because Scolari sucked ass and couldn't coach shit.

That's all for now

The Rundown 2/11

Just about every other day or so i'll try to post some relevant news stories to the team or the Big East/ Big 5. Obviously today is after a huge win, so the media's buzzing over the 'Cats, but other days it may just be one article.

• The Bulletin has an article on how this team has matured even during the course of the year.
• Dick "Hoops" Weiss of The New York Daily News has a comprehensive recap of the game as well as some praise for the 'Cats.
• Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer's Recap which deals mostly with our fast pace and explosive scoring of late.
• In the a little outdated category, Athlon Sports is heaping praise on Dante Cunningham, and the Delco Times examines the decision to insert Shane Clark into the starting lineup

Six in a row! Marquette Thoughts

Last Night's 102-84 win against Marquette shows why the Wildcats are a dangerous basketball team. They have enough shooters to simply beat you into submission. The key to this team i'm sure you all know though is the emergence of Dante Cunningham as a dominant force in the middle. In the 13 years I have been following Villanova basketball; he may be the player who has improved more the most over the course of his college career. His performance this season has been nothing short of heroic. As good as Cunningham was last night with 15 points, Scottie Reynolds stole the show by scoring 27 points on 5-11 shooting beyond the three point arc. Scottie seems to show up in big situations and is simply unflappable. No matter how well or how poorly he is doing, there is always the same expression on his face.. yes Scottie is perpetually in the zone. Scottie is by no means the most talented guard on the team, but he uses his skills as well as his tremendous mind for the game to maximize his output. Another story that has emerged of late is Shane Clark's sudden emergence as an offensive threat for the 'Cats. When Shane Clark scores, Villanova wins it's very simple. Getting Clark involved with the offense in recent games has taken a lot of pressure off of Cunningham and Reynolds because now he's a player that the opposing defense needs to account for as opposed to a guy who a team can play half assed defense on in order to focus more attention on one of the stars. The emergence of Corey Fisher in the past month and a half has been a huge factor in the success of this basketball team. With Fisher and Reynolds on the floor at the same time, Scottie is able to move around off the ball and look for open shots not to mention the fact that Fish is a fearless penetrater and makes some ridiculous off balance layups that look like they should be happening in Rucker Park as opposed to The Pavilion.

One item that should concern 'Nova fans after the game is the apparent knee injury to Dwayne Anderson in the second half last night. Dwayne has been arguably the team's most consistent player since he was inserted into the starting lineup in the middle of last season. All we can hope is that he's ok.

image courtesy of philly.com

In other news.. all 4 of Villanova's incoming freshmen, Dominic Cheek, Mouph Yarou, Isaiah Armwood, and Maalik Wayns were nominated to play in the McDonald's All American Game on April 1st the 24th anniversary of the greatest moment in school history. This news is virtually meaningless because hundreds of players are nominated each year.

Thanks to VuHoops for the list.

A little about me

First of all, I'm Andrew, better known as "Fact" or "Factoid" because of my extensive knowledge of seemingly useless facts about Villanova sports in general. I decided to create this blog because there are many other blogs about Villanova basketball on the web, but very few that are willing to cover other sports. I will still dedicate most of the attention on basketball, but you probably will hear me get on my soapbox to talk about the football team and why students should pay more attention to the team, and I may even spend some time talking about the other sports such as track, soccer, baseball.. basically whatever is going on at the time i'm writing. This is a completely open forum and you are more than welcome to post as you please. Keep everything civilized, but feel free to criticize me openly.