Wake Forest 70, Duke 68 Two things stand out about Wake Forest from this game. First, Dino Gaudio has done a tremendous job turning the Deacons into a team that can actually play defense (Holloman noted this a while back, actually), and second, can this Wake team close? I know they actually won, so that seems like a silly question, but after seeing the Virginia Tech debacle and then seeing them play down the stretch against Duke, it wouldn't be fair not to question their throat-stomping ability
It was the final college game at the Spectrum. It was the place where Bob Knight won two national championships at Indiana. It was the place where Christian Laettner hit the shot to knock off Kentucky and move Duke into the 1992 Final Four. So fittingly, in this finale, Villanova knocked off PItt 67-57.
This was an absolutely vital win for the Wildcats. They were on the verge of falling below .500 in the Big East. They lacked any high quality wins, and were barely staying in the Top 25. They got the big win by beating the third-ranked Panthers with the Wildcats' quickness able to get Pitt's inside players -- DeJuan Blair and Tyrell Biggs -- in foul trouble. It created the room for the guards to drive, dish and shoot.
With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series.
Today's look is the Big East Conference. Since the conference is a 16-team beast, this will be in 2 parts. Part 1 looked at the group of teams that missed the NCAA Tournament last season. Part 2 takes a look at the teams that made the NCAA Tournament.
The Big East sent half its teams to the NCAA Tournament. That was the good news. The bad news was that not a one made it to the Final Four, and even worse only three made it out of the opening weekend.
This year the Big East looks to be even better. The conference is actually deeper and has four teams being discussed as legitimate Final Four teams. There are a lot of strong teams behind them. Every team in this part made the NCAA last year, and are expected to do it again this year. The top four teams in the conference -- Pitt, UConn, Louisville and Notre Dame -- are all being projected in most preseason prognostications in the top ten, nationally. All four are fully capable of winning the Big East.
Well, this will cause some tremors in college sports over the next couple of years. Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese has announced that he will retire in June 2009.
"I am stepping down at this point because I believe it is the right time," added Tranghese. "The Conference is in great shape and it will give my successor the best opportunity to be successful."
Tranghese will have been the Big East Commissioner for 19 years when he steps down. He was the first employee of the Big East conference, the second Big East commissioner.
He was also the force that managed to keep the conference intact and a full member of the BCS after Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech left for the ACC. He prevented the conference from splitting into two conferences -- football schools and basketball schools -- by refusing to choose one over the other.
The football schools needed him because he had the connections and relationships with the other conferences and their commissioners to stay in the BCS. His expansion of the conference into 8 basketball schools (this includes Notre Dame) and 8 football schools. Has surprisingly worked to this point.
Usually a team has a player transfer out or transfer in. Rarely do you see one team do both.
In January, after freshman guard Malcolm Grant came off the bench and poured in 22 points to lead Villanova to a 64-63 win over Pitt, Coach Jay Wright called Grant, "the heart and soul of this team." By February, his minutes started to really dwindle as he could not get into the rotation behind Scottie Reynolds and Corey Stokes. In the final 14 games (including the postseason tournaments), Grant never even got to play a single minute. This, despite shooting 46.6% on 3s.
No surprise, that the talented but underutilized Grant, requested and received permission to transfer. He left the guard heavy Wildcats for the Miami Hurricanes.
This could not have worked out better for Villanova and Jay Wright. The Wildcats were crowded in their backcourt with Reynolds, Stokes and Fisher. King has to sit out a season as a transfer. Villanova has 3 forwards -- Shane Clark, Dante Cunningham and Dwayne Anderson -- who will all be seniors this season. When King becomes eligible he will be positioned to step right in as a starter
Villanova getting to the Sweet 16 after being one of the last at-large teams to make the NCAA Tournament was a surprise. Getting beaten soundly by Kansas, 72-57, really wasn't.
The Jayhawks took control of the game on both ends early and cruised to the easy win. Villanova was just overmatched. There was never even a threat of a comeback by the Wildcats.
Kansas shot over 50% from the field while holding Villanova to just over 36%. Villanova's quick, but smaller guards, could not get clean looks on the perimeter and Kansas had the athleticism to keep them from penetrating.
One week ago, the Villanova Wildcats were sitting around wondering whether they were going to make it into the NCAA Tournament. Depending on which bracketologist you trusted, they were either one of the last teams in or one of the last teams out.
As it turned out, they were the last team in, getting a 12 seed in the Midwest that made them the lowest-seeded of the at-large teams, earning the enmity of the teams they edged out, including Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Dayton and Illinois State.
But now the Wildcats have shown that they belong, beating 5 seed Clemson on Friday, beating 13 seed Siena today and advancing to the Sweet 16.
It might be an oversimplification to say that the mere fact that Villanova wins two games proves that Villanova was the right choice for the last spot: After all, we can't say for sure that Arizona State or Virginia Tech or Dayton or Illinois State wouldn't have won two games.
But for the Wildcats, the team that was cited in some quarters Monday morning as the example of the Selection Committee's biggest mistake, it feels like vindication.
Round 1 in Tampa was brutal for the higher seed teams. Epic, record-setting even. Two 4-13 games and two 5-12 games. In all four, the double digit seeds won. That has never happened before in the NCAA Tournament.
On Sunday, Tampa will have two 12-13 matchups. UConn, Drake, Vandy and Clemson all tumble to San Diego, Western Kentucky, Siena and Villanova. In fact, there hasn't been a 12-13 game in the second round since 2001 -- Indiana State-Gonzaga. Now there are two at one site.
It just screams statistical anomaly, but everyone is still waiting for that 1-16 upset.
If you have never seen a Clemson Tigers game over the last ... say ... three years, then you captured everything about them in this one game against Villanova.
The Tigers pressed and punched their way to a 36-18 lead with five minutes left in the first half. Then, as it always seems to happen for Clemson, it all fell apart. Nova went on a 46-21 run that spanned both halves and built up a seven point lead with under four minutes remaining.
Clemson helped facilitate this by making bad shot decisions, turning the ball over, not feeding the big dogs down low and playing poor defense. There was the fantastic fouling of a three point shooter as the shot clock expired (by the way, the shot banked in). There was James Mays and Trevor Booker shooting a combined five shots on the day ... and both fouling out. Terrence Oglesby, Cliff Hammonds and KC Rivers went a combined 4-of-25 from three point land.
Conference:Big East Record: 20-12, 9-9 in conference RPI: 51 How They Got In: At-large Seed/Bracket: 12 / Midwest
Mascot: Wildcats. There is no connection to the Philly area, as the Villanova Wildcat is a feral feline with an appearance based on a bobcat found in the Southwest US. 'Nova's anthropomorphic mascot is called Will D. Cat. The name was chosen by a campus-wide contest in 1926.
Big Wins: Pitt, UConn and West Virginia.
Notable Loss: Rutgers (ouch). Player You Should Know: The Villanova guards are the stars and the best athletes. The issue for Villanova is whether their forwards play well or just use up fouls. The main player inside is Dante Cunningham. The junior forward is their leading rebounder and has the highest field goal percentage -- if he can stay out of foul trouble,
Outlook: The Wildcats are best against other teams that like to play perimeter games. Against teams with strong frontcourts, they generally struggle. Villanova is likely one and done.
NCAA Basketball 
Onion Peels is a recap of last night's action and an unofficial Bill Raftery blog. 
It was the final college game at the Spectrum. It was the place where 
Well, this will cause some tremors in college sports over the next couple of years. Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese has announced that 
Usually a team has a player transfer out or transfer in. Rarely do you see one team do both. 
One week ago, the Villanova Wildcats were sitting around wondering whether they were going to make it into the NCAA Tournament. Depending on which bracketologist you trusted, they were either one of the last teams in or one of the last teams out.
Round 1 in Tampa was brutal for the higher seed teams. Epic, record-setting even. Two 4-13 games and two 5-12 games. In all four, the double digit seeds won. That has never happened before in the NCAA Tournament.
If you have never seen a Clemson Tigers game over the last ... say ... three years, then you captured everything about them in this one game against Villanova.
Conference: 
