Villanova pregame thoughts

Well, the calendar has turned to March and it is now officially March Madness time!

One more regular season game to go for this up and down Orange season.

If Syracuse wins then they have a shot at the 4 seed in the BE tourney...Lets got Scarlet Knights! Even with a loss, Syracuse is guaranteed the 5 seed. It will be awfully hard to three-peat playing 4 days in a row. This is not a must-win game by any standards but a loss tomorrow and a loss in the first round of the BE tourney and Orange fans may have to sweat it out come next Sunday.

I'm wondering what happens if Syracuse beats Villanova tomorrow. My bet is that all the "experts" put Villanova in as like a 7 seed and the Orange in as a 9 seed. Seems like the more wins the Orange get, the more people say Villanova is in. This whole RPI system just boggles my mind. I agree with Jay Bilas in how the NCAA needs a new formula as this current system is just plain awful in today's game.

Back to the game at hand! Syracuse comes in riding a nice 5 game winning streak and Villanova comes in off from their win at UConn. (Or should I say Scottie Reynolds comes in after a win at UConn). Reynolds dropped 40 points on UConn and he fouled out with under 2 minutes to play! If this kid isn't rookie of the year in the Big East then something is wrong. Villanova owes Kelvin Sampson all the love they can give because had he not bolted for Indiana, Reynolds would be playing at OU.

It is going to be interesting to see how Boeheim uses everyone in this game. Roberts is hurt so do you give him limited minutes in hopes he can get a little more healthy for the Big East Tourney? Or do you continue to play him because this would be a huge win? What about Josh Wright? If he is healthy do you play him or does he continue to ride the pine and watch the team play better without him? Is he going to keep the same 6 1/2 man rotation going or give Wright and Gorman more minutes? (The 6 being...Devo, Rautins, DNic, Roberts, Watkins, and Harris) Should be very interesting on how the game is managed.

Another interesting side note is this: Will this be the last home game coached for Jay Wright? Rumors continue to speculate that he will be the next coach of the 76ers. If they make the NCAA tournament then are we witnessing the end of Wright at 'Nova?

Contain Reynolds and make someone else beat you, is my motto for this game! Nardi has always shot the ball well against the Orange so they need to contain him, but Reynolds is capable of 25-30 points every night. When he penetrates, make sure someone helps out...Something UConn failed to do the other night.

All in all my prediction is 'Cuse 74 Nova 69...Game will be close until the final 3 minutes when the Orange go on a run to put it away and then Nova hits some meaningless shots at the end.

GO 'CUSE!!