Villanova 2007 NCAA Tournament Capsule

Villanova Wildcats - Big East (22-10, 9-7)

Seed: #9 - West Region

Big Wins: 1/8 at Georgetown (56-52), 1/17 Notre Dame (102-87), 1/20 Texas (76-69)

Bad Losses: 1/3 at West Virginia (56-67), 1/6 DePaul (65-73), 1/13 at Syracuse (64-75)

Last NCAA Appearance: 2006, Elite Eight loss to Florida

Coach: Jay Wright (5-4 in 4 NCAA appearances)

Probable Villanova Starters:

• Mike Nardi, Senior, Guard, 12.0 ppg, 3.9 apg

• Scottie Reynolds, Freshman, Guard, 14.5 ppg, 4.1 apg

• Curtis Sumpter, Senior, Forward, 17.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg

• Dante Cunningham, Sophomore, Forward, 8.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg

• Will Sheridan, Senior, Forward, 5.3 ppg, 52. rpg, 1.0 bpg

Key Roleplayers for Villanova:

• Reggie Redding, Freshman, Guard, 2.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg

• Dwayne Anderson, Sophomore, Guard, 3.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg

• Shane Clark, Sophomore, Forward, 7.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg

Why They Can Surprise:
A trio of seniors will lead the way for the Wildcats. Mike Nardi is a quality ball handler and dangerous long range shooter. However, a left ankle injury seriously limited his minutes in the Big East Tournament and he will likely not be 100% for the opening of the NCAA Tournament. Curtis Sumpter is a nightmare to defend and will post up and hit the outside jumper with consistency. Will Sheridan will not put up huge numbers, but is an experienced forward who does the dirty work.

Nothing spells success in March like free-throws and rebounding. The six players who make up the bulk of the rotation all shoot over 70% from the line and the team ranks third in the nation, shooting 78.1% from the stripe. Villanova outrebounds their opponents by an average of 4.9 per game. Sumpter, Sheridan and sophomores Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham will grab a majority of the boards, but the guards are not opposed to getting on the glass a little as well.

Why Villanova Can Disappoint:
This team looks a lot different than the team that ran a four guard offense last year. The starting backcourt of Nardi and super freshman Scottie Reynolds combine for 8.0 assists per game. Yet, nobody else on the team averagesmore than one assist per game.The forwards are not the greatest passers around and the team ends up committing more turnovers than they have assists.

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Who To Watch:
Reynolds came on strong in January, averaging 21.0 points and 4.7 assists over a seven game stretch. Against DePaul, he shot 7-11 from behind the arc, against Texas he did most of his damage by getting to the charity stripe and in a 20 point effort in Providence, Reynolds proceeded to score without hitting many three’s or free-throws. He played a lot of minutes during that span and the freshman’s production suffered in early February. However, Reynolds is on another hot streak and Nova fans hope he has enough gas in the tank to keep it up for the tournament.

By the Numbers:

Scoring Offense: 72.9 (96th in nation, 5th in conference)

Scoring Defense: 64.5 (71, 7)

Field-Goal Percentage: 42.7 (227, 11)

Field-Goal Defense: 41.0 (51, 7)

Free-Throw Percentage: 78.1 (1, 1)

Rebound Margin: 4.9 (34, 4)

Assists Per Game: 12.8 (214, 13)

Turnovers Per Game: 13.8 (106, 10)

Joel’s Bracket Says: First Round loss to Kentucky

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