Villanova

[Westbrook#36]

Relative to expectations, you mean like the 1st year of the NBE when Nova was expected to finish no better than 4th or 5th in the league and be a bubble team, only to finish 1st and get a #2 seed? I'd call that exceeding expectations. Look, we're Villanova we expect and are use to S16's and E8's and the occasional F4. The last 2 years early endings have been a difficult pill to swallow, but this narrative that we embarrassed or didn't do our part for the conference is asinine. The only "obligation" Jay and the players have is to the school, it's students, and alumni. The respect you all crave is going to take more than just one school doing it's part, now if we could only run into a #12, #14, or #15 seed in the 2nd round and coast into the S16 like some other schools.

[NovaBall]

Relative to expectations, nova has gone above and beyond the call.

To start 2014 season nova was unranked, coming off a bubble year and 20 loss season. They had fourteen votes in the ap poll and four in the coaches. The big east had zero ranked teams and a negative perception was developing. I would say that beating Kansas and other ranked teams and moving into the top five in the polls and five on the s curve is going beyond expectations.

Apologies if an unranked preseason team failing to make the sweet 16 is not fulfilling obligations. But let's not downplay the need to earn some credibility in January and February too. Without nova that yr the big east would have been much more heavily criticized.

Also, Villanova wasn't in the top ten to start last season. Yet they rose up to number two. Is that short of expectations? If so, apologies. But they did beat four early top 20 teams in Michigan, Illinois, VCU and Syracuse to eventually move into the top five. But again, they were ine game short f where their preseason ranking projected them, so they failed to meet expectations and let all the johnnies fans down. However, imagine if they didn't pull off the miracle last second wins against Michigan and Cuse? It would have been an ugly jan and February perception wise for the big east.

And if course I would prefer if they won it all the past two years. But I remember where we were four years ago and how far the kids have come, and they have far exceeded my expectations. But again, apologies if they have disappointed some johnnies fans or their six straight wins over Xavier don't impress you.

[RedStormHoops]

#BanNovaBall

[chopper]

The flaw with this entire silly thread is that everything is measured by how well you do in March. There is certainly a finality to how March defines each season, but it is not the end all be all of how to define a program or a conference. The Big 12 last year had a lackluster performance in March after a great regular season. But guess what? Nobody is talking about that. People see how good they are again this year. The Big East last year had a lackluster performance in March, and it is mostly blamed on Villanova. True or not it is what it is. However, it is not what everyone is talking about right now. All the talking heads are talking about how strong the Big East is this year, starting with Xavier and Villanova. While their past performance is mentioned, the conversation with regards to Nova right now is how much more balanced they are with regards to defense and inside scoring verses last year and earlier this year.

I will say this though about last year's commentary. Nobody talked about how Nova didn't deserve their seeding, but what they talked about was how Nova had nobody to challenge or prepare them in advance of the NCAA's. Xavier unarguably had the best performance in the Dance, but Nova murdered them 3 times. GTown had one good game and one horrible game against Nova. St. Johns? destroyed. If anything, Nova was unprepared for a difficult and physical/athletic game in March because it was so rare to see one last year in conference play.

If people want to see the Big East get better, the rest of the conference needs to get their !@#% together. Xavier hopefully can provide a proper challenge in their last game (or two) but so far the rest of the conference is still just mediocre or worse.

[Make Your Bones]

#BanNovaBall

Why? Because he disagrees with you? Or got defensive when someone said Nova "embarrassed" the league?

Nova has been outside the top 15 one time in the last two years. We've done our part and will keep doing it.

[RedStormHoops]

#BanNovaBall

Why? Because he disagrees with you? Or got defensive when someone said Nova "embarrassed" the league?

Nova has been outside the top 15 one time in the last two years. We've done our part and will keep doing it.

Yea

[Wheelhouse]

This is one of the worst threads of all-time.

[stever20]

#BanNovaBall

Why? Because he disagrees with you? Or got defensive when someone said Nova "embarrassed" the league?

Nova has been outside the top 15 one time in the last two years. We've done our part and will keep doing it.

Your part doesn't stop at the end of the regular season. Gotta love all the Nova folks who want to act like the postseason is meaningless. The postseason might not mean everything, but it sure as hell means quite a bit. Until Nova gets this monkey off their back, their tourney performance will be the 1st thing folks talk about come March 13(selection Sunday). And the money will grow every year until they get that monkey off their back...

really interesting point from chopper about the conference play not prepping Nova for the tourney. Looking at the remaining schedule- we may see that this year as well. Of the 13 games left- 8 games Nova is a 89% or greater favorite. Another 2 are at 85%. So only 3 games where their opponent has more than a 15% chance of winning. And 1 of those is tomorrow night. Just think- after tomorrow the 2 games they really have much of a chance of losing @ Providence and @ Xavier. I wonder if they have another quick exit this year if we see Nova try to schedule a tough OOC game for mid-late Feb. to remedy that to some degree.

[Hall2012]

Wow, how quickly did this thread get derailed? Let's get back on topic because it is a legitimate and interesting debate. Nova's unbeaten in the league so far. Who, if anyone, do you think will be the first to beat them and why?

[sarp]

Seton Hall will beat them tomorrow. Why? Because the stars are aligning. January 19th and 20th have been bad days for Villanova.
Last year they lost to Georgetown on January 19th
year before lost to Creighton on January 20th
Can Seton Hall put it together, I think they can.