“Few teams can match the depth and talent that Villanova has in the backcourt. Even before star guard Scottie Reynolds pulled out of the draft, they had three productive guards returning—with McDonald’s All-Americans Dominic Cheeks and Maalik Wayans slated to come off the bench.
Reynolds, Corey Fisher, Reggie Redding and Corey Stokes all played major roles in reaching the Final Four, and they’re back to do it again. The one concern that the Wildcats have is their interior play. Last year, Dante Cunningham played a huge role in the success, giving them a solid option inside to balance their perimeter attack.
However, I think there is enough talent on the roster that they’ll overcome that flaw. ‘Nova adds Duke transfer Tyler King to the front court, as well as highly rated recruits Mouphtaou Yarou and Isaiah Armwood.
If they can simply hold their own against opposing bigs, Villanova will likely thrive with their drive-and-kick attack.”

Cunningham, the 33rd pick by the Portland Trailblazers scored 21 points and had 9 rebounds in 31 minutes in an 87-92 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Anderson was undrafted but is currently on the Washington Wizards’ Summer Squad, they will have their first game today against Cleveland.

Kennedy & Gilchrist

Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer mentions Villanova recruits Michael Gilcrist (’11) and Markus Kennedy (’10) in his article, “Less than All-Star Turn for Reebok Camp.” The article reports how top recruits, including Gilchrist and Kennedy, are passing on the Reebok camp in favor of the Nike LeBron James Skills Academy, which features the top 80 high school players in the country and is hosted by “King” James. Mr. Pompey goes on to make some interesting remarks on Messrs. Gilchrist and Kennedy.

Mr. Pompey says, “Delaware County’s Markus Kennedy, didn’t show up [at the Reebok Camp] after committing. Kennedy, who is a Team Final teammate of Gilchrist’s on Team Final, Delaware County’s AAU team, is regarded as a top 100 player in the class by most recruiting analysts. Kennedy, who opted to go to the LeBron James event instead, was listed in the Reebok media guide and said he notified Reebok of his decision weeks ago. “It’s nothing against Reebok or anything,” said Kennedy, who plans to attend Winchendon School (Mass.) in the fall. “It’s just that Nike brought in the better players. I went where I knew I would get better and play against the best.” Kennedy said that playing for a Nike AAU team and having committed to Villanova, which is a Nike school, did not factor into his decision to attend the Nike camp.

Mr. Pompey goes on to say that Michael Gilchrist, who plays for Delaware County’s Team Final, also chose to attend Nike’s LeBron camp. Gilchrist is regarded as the nation’s top college prospect, regardless of class.

Corey Fisher & Da’Sean Butler (WV)

USA Basketball.com reports that Team USA (6-1) rebounded from its semifinal loss at the 2009 USA Men’s World University Games and defeated Israel (6-2) 91-80 to collect the bronze medal . Host Serbia (6-1) won the gold with a 73-51 victory over Russia (6-2). Corey Fisher, who started the game, had 5 points on 2-9 shooting (1-6 from beyond the arc) in 23 minutes. He also had 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 turnovers. By the way, if you were wondering, the International 3-Point line is 3 inches closer than the college 3-point line.

Over the course of the two tournaments held over the past three weeks — The Serbia International Invitational Tournament and The Men’s World University Games, USA, Serbia and Russia played one another two times. Serbia was the better team, followed by the USA and Russia, respectively. However, the USA was good enough to split with Serbia in their head-to-head matches (see Read More for USA, Serbia, and Russia’s records and the total point differentials in their head-to-head matches).

Corey Fisher made Nova fans proud, starting 8 of 10 games and averaging 10 PPG. Despite playing against some of the world’s best college players, his stats were very close to his season stats from last year (Minutes: 21 vs. 24; PPG 10.0 vs. 10.8; FG% 43% vs. 43%; 3PT% 24% vs. 35%; FT% 77% vs. 78%; RPG: 2.3 vs. 2.3; Assists: 1.5 vs. 2.8; TO 2.1 vs. 2.0; Steals 1.7 vs. 1.2). How do you see his performance translating to the 2009-10 Nova season, and who do you think should start at point for Nova next year?

Corey Fisher Stats Over 10 Games:

Minutes                 21

PPG                         10.0

FG Attempts          8.2

FG %                         43%

3PT Attempts       3.8

3PT %                       24%

FT Attempts          2.6

FT %                         77%

Rebounds               2.3

Assists                     1.5

Turnovers              2.1

TO:Assists              1.4

Steals                        1.7

Villanova's Shannon Doyle

Although not a story about Villanova basketball, we just could not pass up sharing news about a Villanova graduate who has hit the big time.   We are assuming that none of you will object! 

Shannon Doyle, a 2007 summa cum laude Villanova graduate with a B.S. in biology and now a a medical student at Jefferson Medical College, won the Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Pageant Saturday night in Pittsburgh. Ms. Doyle will represent Pennsylvania (and Villanova) in the Miss America Pageant on Jan. 30 in Las Vegas and broadcast on TLC. Hopefully  the Cat’s won’t have a game scheduled at that time!

Michael Gilchrist from SNY.tv

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a nice article on Villanova Class of 2011 recruiting target Michael Gilchrist.

After recent performances on the AAU and Camp Circuit, Gilchrist, a rising Junior at St. Patrick’s in Newark, NJ,  is long considered to be the best High School basketball player right now- for any class.

The Somerdale, NJ notes…

The 15-year-old even elevated his arms, motioning that Kentucky and Villanova are neck and neck.

“Michael loves Villanova,” said Cindy Richardson, Gilchrist’s mother. “It’s Kentucky, Villanova. Villanova, Kentucky.”

As a note, rising Junior, Corey Fisher and Mike Nardi (’07) are recent St. Pat’s alumns to play for Jay Wright.