Yardbarker: Villanova Wildcats

Villanova's Weakside Corner 3-pointer Against George Mason

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:59:00 -0500

Trying to catch as many games as possible these days. From a couple of nights ago, the Villanova Wildcats won a thriller over the always tough George Mason Patriots. The game went down to the wire, with Nova hitting some clutch 3-pointers. A coach emailed me the other day asking for a quick hitter for a 3-pointer and I responded with a dribble drive to the weakside corner 3-pointer. I love that play because the weakside corner 3-pointer is probably the most difficult to guard in basketball. Take a look at how Nova executed it out of their 4-out 1-in offense:

Weakside Corner 3-pointer:

Here's the thing. How many teams prepare defensively on how they will take away the weakside corner 3-pointer?? Most teams focus on ball pressure, stopping penetration, and closing out. With proper spacing on offense, it is impossible for the defense to do all those 3 things. That's what the weakside corner does, it stretches out the defense and makes it really hard for a sound defense to cover all the bases.

The play is quite simple, the Wildcats are in their 4-out 1-in motion offense. After a few handoff exchanges, the forward comes up from the block to the top of the key to set a screen for one of the guards on the opposite side. The guard with the ball here decides not to use the screen and drives the wing towards the hoop,

O1 is able to blow by his defender, and X5. X3 is too worried about O3 to help. That leaves X2 to drop down from the weakside. Well, its a decision really, to help or not to help. As coaches, we always teach to stop the ball first so help is always the first option. O2, shuffles down to the weakside corner and O1 finds him for the open 3-pointer,

I think this play would work even if you didn't have a break your ankles point guard. Because with O5 setting the screen, O1 really should be able to penetrate the lane. Now if the defense decides to hedge hard, then you can run screen-roll and have O2 still shuffle to the corner as X2 will probably still drop down to cover the rolling forward.

Now, the only other assumption here is that you have good shooters. But if you're designing a play for the 3-pointer, you better be sure you have a player that is a knockdown shooter.

For more quick hitters out of 4-out 1-in motion, check out Jay Wright's DVD on 15 Great 4-Out 1-In Motion Offense Plays. Jaw Wright is in his 8th season as head coach of the Villanova Wildcats.

The 10 best NCAA basketball games of the decade

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:35:13 -0500

As the decade winds down, The Dagger will celebrate the past 10 years of college basketball with various top 10 lists. Today, we at look at the 10 best games of the 2000s: 10. Villanova 78, Pittsburgh 76 -- Regional Final, 2009 NCAA tournamentThe Big East battle featured six lead changes in the final six minutes, game-tying free throws with 5.3 seconds on the clock and the memorable Scottie Reynolds near-buzzer beater that catapulted Villanova to its first Final Four since 1985.9. Duke 98, Ma...

Dante Cunningham Earned a Promotion

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:06:03 -0500

Last Friday, I wrote... I'm not sure how much longer the Juwan Howard era can continue before his play becomes a Nate McMillan problem and not a Juwan Howard problem. There are few situations where Howard's number gets called and your first reaction isn't "Oh dear, here we go." Just play Cunningham. Let's see him play worse than Howard before Howard gets extended minutes again. Monday night against the Chicago Bulls, it was a...

ESPN/USA Today men's basketball poll: Kansas Jayhawks No. 1, Villanova Wildcats to No. 4

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:51:28 -0500

North Carolina, which lost to Syracuse in the 2K Sports Classic Championship last weekend, dropped sharply in the latest ESPN/USA Today men's college basketball top 25 poll, slipping from No. 4 to No. 12.

Eagles, Nova Duel For My Attention on Sunday Night

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:58:03 -0500

Of course, the first televised Villanova game of the year comes at the same exact time as the Eagles critical prime time game against the Bears. And, I can't DVR the Nova game because I'm DVR'ing Dexter, Family Guy and Curb Your Enthusiasm already. I know, tough life. Anyway, the result is that I did a lot of flipping back and forth between the games and caught a good deal of both of them. Here are my thoughts and observations of the two games... Villanova 79, Ole Miss 67 I ...

Villanova stops Ole Miss, wins Puerto Rico title

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:13:00 -0500

Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points, Corey Stokes added 18 and No. 5 Villanova beat Mississippi 79-67 on Sunday to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

No. 5 Villanova takes care of Ole Miss

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:09:32 -0500

Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points, Corey Stokes added 18 and No. 5 Villanova beat Mississippi 79-67 on Sunday to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

No. 6 Nova beats Ole Miss for Puerto Rico title

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:02:39 -0500

Scottie Reynolds scored 21 points, Corey Stokes added 18 and Villanova (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) beat Mississippi 79-67 on Sunday to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Steady Fisher ushers No. 6 Villanova by Dayton

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:14:50 -0500

Corey Fisher scored 18 points to lead Villanova past Dayton 71-65 on Friday in the second round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Nova Forgets How To Shoot, Espaces George Mason

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:39:04 -0500

Unless you don't have a job, and have ESPNU, you probably didn't watch the Nova game today. Dannie and I "watched" on separate GameCasts at work, and saw a very strange game unfold. It ended with Villanova winning 69-68, but here's how they got there.... Corey Fisher goes 1-14 from the field. And scores 17 points. This is both horrible and good at the same time. Scottie Reynolds commits 10 turnovers, 4 less than the entire Mason squad. The game winning 3-pt shot was hit ...

Source: Mouphtaou Yarou of Villanova Wildcats leaves Puerto Rico Tip-Off with illness

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:50:46 -0500

Villanova will be without freshman Mouphtaou Yarou for the Puerto Rico Tip-Off because of a viral infection, a source said.

Scottie Reynolds Gets Sports Illustrated Cover Treatment

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:17:30 -0500

Villanova's star guard Scottie Reynolds just assured he'll twist his ankle in the next week or so. I'd guess this is a regional cover, but it's clear that Villanova is one of the top programs in college hoops these days.Incidentally, ESPN is airing 24 straight hours of college basketball right now. Temple is off a torid start against Georgetown putting in a whopping 13 points in the first half. Color me in Phillies red, but I haven't caught the NCAA Hoops buzz yet this se...

Nova Shows Balanced Attack in First Two Wins

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:18:35 -0500

There is no news in the fact that #5 Villanova trounced their first 2 cupcake opponents, Farleigh Dickinson and Penn, but we are getting our first look at what the new guys are made of and what kind of minutes they are going to be getting, among other things. Here's what I take away from the first two games... This is a dangerous, and deep, offensive team Here are the total points leaders through 2 games... Corey Stokes, 34 Corey Fisher, 26 Taylor King, 23 Scottie Reynolds, 22 Ma...

Balanced attack leads fifth-ranked Villanova to rout

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:03:00 -0500

Maalik Wayns scored 16 points, Corey Stokes, Scottie Reynolds and Taylor King each added 14 and No. 5 Villanova had no trouble in a 103-65 rout against city rival Pennsylvania on Monday night.

Video - Villanova Wildcats 21 - Richmond Spiders 20 - Announcer - 1 F-Bomb

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:59:00 -0500

Nov 7, Villanova Wildcats 21 - Richmond Spiders 20 Announcer or tech person for Comcast as the kicker misses a FG attempt, "What a bum. Come on, end this ******* game!" Return to Bob's Blitz... Full story: http://www.bobsblitz.com Best Amazon prices for Blitz Subscribers: http://got.to/BlitzBestDeals

2009-10 Kansas State Wildcats Basketball Schedule

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:27:50 -0500

2009 Kansas State Wildcats Basketball Schedule Sun, Nov 08 Pittsburg State (Exh.) Manhattan 3 p.m. Fri, Nov 13 Loyola Chicago Manhattan 7 p.m. Sun, Nov 15 Western Illinois Manhattan 3 p.m. O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff Thu, Nov 19 Boston University at San Juan, Puerto Rico 6:30 p.m. Fri, Nov 20 Indiana/Ole Miss at San Juan, Puerto Rico 5/7:30 [...]Post from: College Hoops Video2009-10 Kansas State Wildcats Basketball Schedule Related posts:2009-10 Villanova Wildcats Basketball ...

Reggie Redding Got Caught

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:46:01 -0500

If you've ever attended a university that plays in top level athletics, you've likely seen some of the school's best athletes partaking in illegal activity. Perhaps you even have one of those "I smoked with the starting quarterback!" tales. The fact of the matter is, college kids do stupid things all the time. Reggie Redding got caught.Just because college kids do stupid things though doesn't make it okay. Especially if you're one of the key players on one of the...

Nova Can't Be over Looked Anymore

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:51:33 -0500

Villanova was that overlooked Big East team. The one that barely snuck into the Big Dance last season and was fortunate to advance to the Sweet 16. The Wildcats weren't given much consideration this time around, either.