Calm Before the Storm

Villanova had a nice two game breather in-between Big 5 games and before the start of the Big East schedule. The opponents were Delaware and Monmouth, and Nova won the games by a combined 59 points. The final game of 2010 will be against Temple, then Nova opens the new year and Big East season against Rutgers.

• Fisher Price delivered some early Christmas presents. He had back-to-back games with at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.

• Maalik Wayns has gotten back on track from downtown, hitting 3 of 7 triples in his past two games, after shooting 0 for 11 in the previous four.

• Corey Stokes, on the other hand, has been on track from downtown all year long. Stokes drained five 3-pointers in a game for the third time this season against Monmouth, en route to 19 points.

• Following his recovery from injury, James Bell has had to play himself into game shape, and it looks like he is just about there. He scored 10 points against Delaware, then played a season-high 21 minutes against Monmouth. Now he just needs to hit a game-winning buzzer-beater so I can use the headline “Saved by the Bell”.

• Dallas Ouano recorded his first personal stat of his career; one steal against Monmouth. (We’ll ignore the turnover.)

• Monmouth’s individual scoring in the game against the Wildcats went as follows: 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. By that pattern, Monmouth would have needed just four more players to beat Villanova.

Jay Wright's 2009 Christmas Wishlist

Dear Santa,

Hey big guy, how's it going up there in the North Pole? You must be really busy. Everything is just fine down here on the Main Line. Villanova football are National Champions. We just beat Delaware 97-63, our 33rd consecutive win at the Pavilion. (You have an open invitation to any home game by the way. You can park your sled on top of the Jake Nevin Fieldhouse.) We're 11-1 and ranked #3 in the country... but there are still some things I'd like for Christmas this year.

1. Please let Scottie Reynolds continue to light it up from downtown like he did against Delaware. (6 of 8 for 22 points... and 6 assists)

2. A new $6,000 Italian-imported Kiton suit.

3. Please keep Reggie Redding, and the rest of the team for that matter, out of trouble. (Reggie has looked like a man on a mission since returning from suspension. The so-called defensive specialist is averaging 15.5 ppg.)

4. Please let the real Taylor King be the one we saw against Delaware (19 points and 12 rebounds), and not the one we saw the previous two games (11 points combined).

5. Conversely, please let the real Antonio Pena be the one we saw all season, and not the one we saw against Delaware (just 7 points and 6 rebounds).

6. A healthy team. (Mouph Yarou is still out with Hepatitis-B, and now Maurice Sutton is out with an upper respiratory disease.)

7. Please let Corey Fisher continue to have a 4/0 assist to turnover ratio, as he has for the past two games.

8. A Snuggie

9. Please help Corey Stokes discover his shot again. (Four straight games of single digit scoring and failing to make more than one 3-point shot.)

10. A National Championship (Thanks again for the Final Four last year, but I sure would love to go all the way...)

From,

Jerold

Merry Christmas!