March 14, 2041
Code:
2040 Big East Conference Standings
TEAM CW CL Pct W L Pct RPI Prestige
--------------------------------------------------------------
#2 Georgetown 15 1 .938 30 1 .968 3 98
#3 Pittsburgh 13 3 .813 27 3 .900 2 89
#1 Villanova 13 3 .813 27 3 .900 1 100
#20 St. John's 8 8 .500 23 8 .742 6 67
Syracuse 7 9 .438 16 14 .533 21 75
Boston College 6 10 .375 16 14 .533 40 100
Providence 4 12 .250 16 14 .533 52 68
Connecticut 4 12 .250 15 15 .500 49 77
Seton Hall 2 14 .125 10 21 .323 96 53
The polls still believe we're the best team in the nation, but the Big East standings say we're the third best team in our conference. We'll face sixth-seeded Boston College in the first round proper.
March 15, 2041
Big East Tournament, First Round
(1) #1 Villanova 96, (6) Boston College 62
We advance to the semifinal with an easy win over the Eagles, but the big story from today's game is a serious injury suffered by dynamic freshman
Israel Moody.
His ruptured Achilles tendon will keep him out of action for at least nine months. We'll hopefully have him back in time for the start of Big East play next season.
Dan O'Halloran leads us in scoring with 19 points, winning tonight's battle of the nation's top freshman centers with BC's
Jon LaFramboise. Reserves
John Cannon and
Jordi Ballester score 16 and 14 respectively; fellow bench guy
Zak Marshall produces a pair of nines (9p/9r).
John Cannon will have the first opportunity to fill Israel's spot in the starting lineup. If we want more size, we'll use
Zak Marshall instead.
Providence upsets second-seeded Pitt, so we'll face the Friars next. And top seed Georgetown is knocked out by 8-seed UConn.
Record: 28-3.
March 16, 2041
Big East Tournament Semifinal
Code:
(1) #1 Villanova 100, (7) Providence 48
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Villanova (29-3, 13-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Dan O'Halloran C 28 4-8 6-8 2 9 4 2 14
Chris Wilson PF 28 5-7 9-12 2 6 0 2 19
John Cannon SF 28 5-10 3-3 0 4 1 3 14
DeAndre Brown SG 28 4-10 0-0 1 1 1 2 9
Kai Smith PG 22 3-7 4-4 0 1 8 3 10
Nick Spencer SG 23 5-8 1-2 1 3 6 0 12
Zak Marshall PF 21 6-13 2-2 5 11 0 0 14
Jordi Ballester PF 10 0-3 1-2 2 4 0 0 1
Forrest Curl C 5 0-0 0-0 1 2 2 0 0
Nick O'Brien PG 7 3-3 0-0 1 1 0 0 7
Turnovers: 8 (D.O'Halloran 3, D.Brown 1, K.Smith 3,
N.O'Brien 1)
Blocked Shots: 5 (D.O'Halloran 1, C.Wilson 1, J.Cannon
1, D.Brown 1, Z.Marshall 1)
Steals: 17 (D.O'Halloran 1, C.Wilson 2, J.Cannon 2,
D.Brown 3, K.Smith 4, N.Spencer 3, Z.Marshall 1,
F.Curl 1)
3P FGs: 4-16 (J.Cannon 1-6, D.Brown 1-3, K.Smith 0-2,
N.Spencer 1-1, Z.Marshall 0-3, N.O'Brien 1-1)
Providence (17-15, 4-12):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Johann Grillmaier C 20 1-5 0-0 1 6 0 2 2
Jimmmy Sewell PF 14 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 4 0
Kevin Wilmot SF 27 3-12 2-2 1 2 1 3 8
Keenan Ober SG 16 5-7 1-1 0 0 1 4 11
Jonas Trainor PG 18 1-3 0-0 0 1 3 0 2
Charles Carmona PG 27 4-8 2-3 2 7 5 2 11
Saul Gerber PF 17 1-3 0-0 1 4 1 3 2
Matthew Peloquin C 15 1-5 0-0 1 3 0 4 2
Roger Turnbull SG 14 2-5 0-0 0 0 0 2 5
Rein Firsch SG 10 2-3 0-0 2 2 1 2 5
Harold Willett SF 7 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Jaime Gonsalez PF 12 0-2 0-0 1 4 1 0 0
Günter Eichelman PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 28 (J.Sewell 1, K.Wilmot 5, K.Ober 4,
J.Trainor 3, S.Gerber 1, M.Peloquin 2, R.Turnbull 6,
R.Firsch 3, H.Willett 1, J.Gonsalez 2)
Blocked Shots: 7 (J.Grillmaier 1, J.Sewell 1, K.Ober 1,
S.Gerber 2, J.Gonsalez 1, G.Eichelman 1)
Steals: 4 (J.Grillmaier 1, K.Ober 1, C.Carmona 1,
R.Firsch 1)
3P FGs: 3-9 (K.Wilmot 0-1, C.Carmona 1-2, R.Turnbull
1-3, R.Firsch 1-2, H.Willett 0-1)
Player of Game: PF Chris Wilson (VLNV)
Saddened and motivated by the injury of their teammate, the Wildcats eliminate the Friars in a magisterial performance.
We don't shoot well from distance, but we do almost everything else superbly: preventing turnovers, drawing fouls and making free throws, shooting two-point field goals, and harassing Providence ballhandlers.
One more bucket from
DeAndre Brown, and we'd have had seven men in double figures.
Fun fact: Providence's roster contains three Germans, an Aussie, an Alaskan, and a dude who spells "Jimmmy" with three Ms. I include the Alaskan here because he's playing a lot farther from home than his German teammates are.
Record: 29-3.
March 17, 2041
Big East Tournament Championship
Code:
(1) #1 Villanova 91, (5) Syracuse 69
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Villanova (30-3, 13-3):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Dan O'Halloran C 26 5-8 2-2 1 6 4 2 12
Chris Wilson PF 26 5-10 2-3 0 3 1 1 12
John Cannon SF 29 5-8 1-4 0 3 4 0 15
DeAndre Brown SG 18 7-9 0-0 0 2 2 3 16
Kai Smith PG 22 7-8 2-2 0 0 6 1 17
Nick Spencer SG 25 3-5 0-2 1 5 6 2 7
Zak Marshall PF 22 2-5 2-2 0 4 2 1 6
Jordi Ballester PF 13 0-3 0-0 0 2 0 3 0
Forrest Curl C 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0
Nick O'Brien PG 14 2-3 1-2 1 2 1 0 6
Turnovers: 12 (C.Wilson 3, J.Cannon 2, D.Brown 2,
K.Smith 1, Z.Marshall 1, N.O'Brien 3)
Blocked Shots: 11 (C.Wilson 3, Z.Marshall 6,
J.Ballester 2)
Steals: 11 (C.Wilson 1, J.Cannon 3, D.Brown 2, K.Smith
2, N.Spencer 2, Z.Marshall 1)
3P FGs: 9-14 (J.Cannon 4-5, D.Brown 2-4, K.Smith 1-2,
N.Spencer 1-1, Z.Marshall 0-1, N.O'Brien 1-1)
Syracuse (18-15, 7-9):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Jeffrey Ott PF 32 3-10 1-2 2 9 5 2 7
Guy Hubbard PF 31 3-9 0-0 2 4 1 1 6
Raymon Rodman SF 32 8-13 0-1 3 7 0 2 21
Martin Red SG 13 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 4 5
Rene Gonzalez PG 27 5-9 0-0 1 3 1 2 13
Napoleon Luis SG 18 1-3 0-0 1 4 3 4 3
Dallas Lapoint PG 11 2-4 0-0 0 1 1 1 5
Emmerich Becker C 12 1-4 0-0 0 0 2 1 2
Alec Pedigo C 4 0-0 0-0 1 3 0 0 0
David Pell SG 16 2-4 0-0 1 2 0 2 4
Elroy Bradshaw SG 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Chris Ellis SF 1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 3
Turnovers: 24 (R.Rodman 3, M.Red 6, R.Gonzalez 5,
N.Luis 2, D.Lapoint 3, A.Pedigo 1, D.Pell 4)
Blocked Shots: 5 (G.Hubbard 2, R.Rodman 1, E.Becker 2)
Steals: 7 (J.Ott 1, G.Hubbard 1, R.Rodman 2, R.Gonzalez
1, N.Luis 1, E.Becker 1)
3P FGs: 12-23 (J.Ott 0-1, R.Rodman 5-9, M.Red 1-1,
R.Gonzalez 3-4, N.Luis 1-3, D.Lapoint 1-2, D.Pell 0-1,
E.Bradshaw 0-1, C.Ellis 1-1)
Player of Game: PG Kai Smith (VLNV)
We defeat the Orange, and
Graham Sims and his players cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden for the ninth time. It's our fourth consecutive Big East tournament victory.
It's a good example of what Coach Sims calls "Villanova basketball." We We feature balanced scoring. We shoot the ball well (with the exception of a so-so day at the free throw line). We take care of the ball. We record 27 assists on 36 made baskets. We block 11 shots and make 11 steals.
Now it's time to see if we can defend our NCAA tournament championship, too.
Record: 30-3.