What are your thoughts on how Jay Wright coached the game? I dont think this was his finest hour.
Down the stretch, they over-relied on the 3ball, when they could have tried to get an easy bucket off a Reynolds drive and dish.
Too much Nardi taking bad shots.
Thought Jay would have dialed up some higher percentage offensive sets at that juncture of the game.
Bill Packer -- like him or not -- nailed it when he said "they still dont have a third scorer"
I don't know. I think a lot of credit is due to Kentucky's defense, which did a great job of blocking the lane and not letting 'Nova have all that many easy passes. I also think that Reynolds had to restrain himself a bit from driving because of his foul trouble. That was the one thing Villanova really had to avoid, even more so than bad shots.
As for the drive and dish, I think that happened on the three Nardi attempted after the Morris travel. Except he missed it. Wasn't a bad shot at all, though I bet at full health there's a better chance it goes in. Given the reports yesterday morning, I thought at the start of the game that Nardi was really ready to go, but he wasn't.
I wanted to see more Shane Clark and Dante Cunningham on offense, but what I really wanted to see was more Curtis Sumpter. Reynolds is a fearless driver in the lane, but Sumpter is the one guy who can really force the question against big men, and there's usually a pretty good chance that question gets answered in his favor. Nothing wrong with trying to draw a foul inside. But better a forward do it than Reynolds or another guard, because it seems to me that a guard driving is more likely to get called for a charge than a forward going up.
Stuff to read this morning, by the way...
Recaps from Shannon Ryan and Dana Pennett O'Neil
Columns from Phil Sheridan on Scottie Reynolds and Dick Jerardi on the differences between Kentucky's and Villanova's offenses. Sometimes you just can't do anything about a big guy inside.
The Lexington Herald-Leader gives props to Randolph Morris, one columnist says the Wildcats won because they made their biggest mistake before tip-off, and another gives props to the Wildcats' strong defense. So do I.
Why the weather kept a lot of Villanova and Niagara fans out of Chicago.
In Columbus, Sam Donnellon watches Penn Charter grad Sean Singletary's big day for Virginia against Albany.
Today in Lexington, Texas A&M faces Louisville's fans, while Mike Jensen takes the temperature of the state's blue half, which watched Rick Pitino coach (and win a game) on their floor Thursday.
Louisville forward Terence Williams says the game will be "like an Ali-Frazier fight." I guess that makes A&M Frazier, given that Ali's from Louisville?
The other game today in Lexington is Xavier-Ohio State. The Musketeers fans despise the Buckeyes enough already (maybe the only thing they have in common with Cincinnati fans), and now they have to watch their former coach on the opposite bench.
And the women's tournament starts today. Mel Greenberg offers a preview.
By the way, if you notice something a little different about Philly.com today, you're right. We moved to a new content management system (i.e., everything on the back side that publishes stories and arranges them on pages) at 2 a.m. this morning.
Since my actual job is running the home page, I've been working real hard these last few weeks on building page layouts and making sure the transition is as seamless as possible. It's also why I'm still in Philadelphia instead of Lexington or Chicago, but hopefully next year I'll be able to travel. The home page stuff and site buildout is much more my actual job than this blog is.
If you didn't notice anything until I told you, that's the best news I could get.
