Ritterbusch's Take: Villanova Wildcats Pre-Conference Snapshot

Jim Ritterbusch is a Villanova graduate and Wildcat basketball fan. This is his take on the Wildcats as they head into conference play ranked #3 in the country, a ranking that is bound to improve when next week's ratings come out since the group of thugs coached by Jim Calhoun lost to Marquette without Dwyane Wade this week. My reactions and comments can be found at the end of Jim's commentary.....
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Hello All,

Unlike Jeffrey I watched the game very intently and therefore feel qualified to offer an overabundance of over-analysis. Before getting into the game itself, I will say that I do agree with Ice’s comments about the level of play in NCAA hoops being down. It really has been down for quite some time; this is obviously due to best players going early entry into the NBA. The level will never be what is once was (pre-1996 when Marbury, Kobe, Garnett etc started with the playing one year and/or bypassing college entirely). As far as the Louisville squad, I believe they are most likely rated a bit too high at the present time. However, Dean’s foul troubles did not allow us to see them at their best last night. It is a long season and much remains to unfold over the coming months.

Overall Game/Team Observations:
On the whole, I liked what I saw. I think this was a good test for us and proved to be a very nice road win against a well coached team. On the defensive side of the ball our tenacity is terrific. The guards doggedly press up and “ball-hawk” opposing guards. This style of play is extremely effective at flustering the opposition as evidenced by the slew of steals created for the off-side guards. Further, all of our guards possess strong, quick hands and as such they are very successful at ripping the ball, particularly from opposing big men who tend to bring the occasional rebound and/or errant pass to their waist level or lower (most notably Lowry who seems to emerge as the winner in every scrum he encounters)

I continue to be impressed with the rebounding abilities of our guards, specifically Foye and Lowry. Villanova dissenters continually predict doom on account of our lack of size. It is hard to explain our ability to compete on the boards against bigger teams to somebody who does not watch this team regularly. They just find a way to get the rebounds as needed. Foye is a tremendous athlete who uses his leaping ability and linebacker-esque build to wedge himself between players and snare rebounds. Additionally, Dante Cunningham looks like he is earning himself quite a bit more time in the rotation.

Offensively, the Foye/Ray duo is one of the best tandems in college basketball. Yes, the team can look disjointed and a bit ugly at times. Any team that lives by the jumper is going to generally face one or two cold streaks per game (exception being last year’s Kansas game when we were hot for all 40). The key is to remain poised and not get rattled by the misses and persist with the defensive intensity that leads to easy baskets and therefore prevents the extremely long droughts. The hundred plus games of quality NCAA experience should pay-off for this team.

At this point I have made a turnabout on my commentary from last year regarding more offensive sets. Sumpter’s absence forces us to do things in a non-conventional manner. The four-guard offense dictates that other teams will always have match-up problems with us. Even with only three guards in the game we still generally exploit at least one match-up that allows us to break down a defense for a quick floater in the paint, or a kick-out to an open shooter for a good look at a three. It is obviously not the text-book basketball that an old school basketball purist might hope to see, but it has proven to be very effective and it is the right style of play for this combination of players. This being said, I have to admit that Jay Wright is rising in my eyes. I always liked his charisma, enthusiasm, recruiting skills, and leadership. At this juncture of the season I am very pleased with the way he is steering the ship.

A few observations on some individual players:

Randy Foye – this guy seems to have a little bit of Allen Iverson in him with the jab-step/step-back cross-over move that leads to a) the open jumper if the defender remains on his heels, or, b) a burst into the paint finished by a floater or hard drive if the defender bites on the step-back move. The international experience with the top collegiate players definitely instilled the confidence that he can get his shots off against anybody he faces. Most importantly for a go-to shooter, he wants the ball and does not seem to get intimidated by any one or any circumstance. Big stones.

Allan Ray – I am a bit worried that Ray might be having a hard time adjusting to Foye’s emergence. He forced several very poor shots in the second half. I am hoping he is not experiencing some jealousy towards Foye that is leading him to try to score more and compete with Foye for alpha dog status. He did hit some very big threes, but I think this is a situation that bears some watching.

Dante Cunningham – very pleasant surprise last night. It was a pleasure seeing a big man with some mobility and burst. As Freak noted, we are unsure if Fraser can touch the rim anymore, so it is nice to see that one of our forwards can show some rise and jam the ball. Two very sweet right-side dunks off the fast break.

Kyle Lowry – he is perhaps my favorite player on the team. The guy has a nose for the ball and a nose for the basket. He wills things to happen. He is like one of those at-first-unnoticed guys that gets on the court at a pick-up game and proceeds to stay on the court for five straight hours. You watch him and think, “he is not a particularly good shooter, not jaw-droppingly quick, he seems a bit undersized”, etc. But, there his is, holding the court for five hours while you play every other game and lose.

Some big games coming up over the coming weeks. It should be a very entertaining Big East season for us. It will be quite interesting to see how the whole Sumpter saga unfolds. I can understand his desire to see if he can rejoin his classmate and try to reach the goal they set as freshman. On the other side of the coin, if he red-shirts this year he and Lowry could really shine next year as well.
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Dils' reaction: This Villanova basketball team is very good and very dangerous to play against. They play unconventionally, with four smalls often on the court at the same time. They force pace and are difficult to guard because they have so many players who can light it up on the perimeter. They are difficult to match up against. The match-up that I am really looking forward to is when they go up against the thugs from UConn. It will be interesting to watch two teams, one so perimeter-based and the other with a good mix of talent, including some forces in the paint, try to impose their will on one another. As a Philly guy who has followed Villanova since the Massamino days, you know I will be pulling hard for the 'Cats against the criminals masquerading as a bastball team from Storrs. I think the type of team that will give Villanova a tough time is one that can match them on the perimeter but has two talented bigs that can present match-up difficulties for Villanova on the defensive end, especially if one of those bigs has the ball handling skills and agility to play effectively in space. With that in mind, I do think my Dukies would be a team that would be a tough match up for 'Nova if Sumpter does not come back. (And yes, I am planning a column on the Duke phenomenon over the past 20 years at some point....). Randy Foye has been incredible early in the season. I think a very underrated player that does not get much pub, even here from Ritterbusch, is Mike Nardi. Just a solid player that holds the club together. Villanova could definitely make a final 4 run this year, and I will be rooting for them all the way....until they match up against the Devils. Thanks to Jim for the solid effort. We will welcome more posts from him on the Dils Blog....