Villanova Game Thread

[Eye of the Jay]

Game was lost when it was 41 to 30-35. Cannot let them creep back with lazy defense and unimaginative offense. Crowd was also on nyquill at that point. Still could’ve had it and didn’t execute at all down the stretch

[REALITY]

The offense is just stagnant and clunky this year. Trey is being asked to do too much.

Certainly so right now. To me we're seeing the usual issue for Mac's teams - an inability to consistently score at the rim. Taking a look at who is consistently taking those shots right now:
- We know Kalk is capable scorer, but, he's also not always assertive and can be taken away by opponents.
- Baylor is so much better there this year, so major props to him.
- Trey, on the other hand, does not seem to be scoring as well there this year. Not sure why this is the case, but he seems to have taken a major step back.
- King just fills Kalk's minutes and we don't play to what to me seem to be his strengths (back to the basket post)

That's basically it. Last year we had Kalk, Trey, King, R2, and Kaluma all capable of attacking the basket (3 of which could drive to the basket), so we have fewer options this season and I think you can see that in each possessions as we have a lot of motion around the perimeter but only a couple of guys are going to get inside looks.

[REALITY]

I again must bring up. Mac needs to develop Jason green . Every time he’s on the floor he brings a grit that will help in games like this. Yea he may not hit shots yet. But I feel he will bring something to the 3 and 4 that will help in these big East games.

No thank you. Unless he can drive to the basket, he should not be leaving the bench. Especially not in place of Miller, Traudt, or Baylor. I'd much rather give Dotzler a chance and take minutes from Ashworth and Bello

[Jaybird]

My new guiding principle in life: Whenever we retire a jersey in a pre-game ceremony from now on, I'm taking the points.

[Jaybacker '98]

100% on Mac. Once Neptune realized no matter how many times his guys scored 1v1 in the paint that Mac wouldn't double the game was over. Worst display of coaching Ive seen in a long long time.

[HinkyDinky]

And again, we have no bench

In a funny twist of events based on last season...we'd be absolutely fucked if we didn't have Farabello. We literally can't play Ashworth down the stretch because he's such a defensive liability, has severe limitations due to his size and lack of athleticism, and can't create his own shot. At least Farabello doesn't hurt you. That's where we are at.

Farabello doesn’t hurt you? Missed 2 FT’s at 54-52, followed by his guy blowing by him for a layup and then the horrific turnover when we could
of taken the lead.

[chairclanger]

Weird game. Very unenjoyable to watch. But in the end, if we just hit free throws we walk away with a close win. This is a flawed team. Our best teams have always had good/great point guards. We have point guards who wouldn't start for any other team in the Big East, including DePaul. Fatal flaw.

[bluejayfan00]

I think it's about time we start having an honest conversation about things. If I see Creighton fan accounts compare this year to last year one more time I will lose my shit.
1.) Last years team was head and shoulders more talented than this one.
2.) Last years team went through a slump because 1.) Kalk was sick 2.) our schedule was brutal
3.) It's fair to ask if we caught lightning in a bottle in March. Yes, I know that's half the battle in the tournament. But we did't have the hardest path either.

This is as inexcusable of a loss as there is, for many reasons already posted. We were up what, 14? Conference opener, Doug's jersey retirement, and the crowd was terrible for being reportedly sold out and full. This team is not constructed well at all. If we aren't shooting well from 3, we won't win a lot of games in this conference. We don't have the athletes, or the skilled scorers to consistently get ourselves good looks against good defense and good opposing athletes. Kyle Neptune is not well liked by his own fans, and you could argue he outcoached Mac tonight.

- For all their flaws and weaknesses, we lost our two best athletes and iso scorers/creators. We willingly replaced them with one dimensional, one-way three point shooters.
-Ashworth was a massive miss. He's a good stand still shooter, but he isn't better than point guards we had in the Valley. He can't create his own shot, he can't create for others, and he cannot guard a scarecrow.
- We took Lawson, why? There wasn't someone else out there?
- Miller and Traudt have been shooting the piss out of the ball, but they are limited in what they can do offensively, and it's not all their fault. They'd each be way better and get way more looks if we had guys who could get downhill and make the defense collapse.
- I don't care what anyone else says in hindsight after a game to try and make other people look stupid or like they're bad fans. Ryan Kalkbrenner is a good player. He's a huge reason for our success while he's been here. He's a really good help defender and is REALLY good at contesting without fouling. He is NOT a good 1v1 defender in the post against anyone with a pulse. Dixon owned him, and it wasn't all at the 3 point line either, which isn't Kalks fault out there, not much he can do. I know for Mac, you can't take EVERYTHING away. But try SOMETHING, ANYTHING different against a guy who has had his way with us multiple times now. He's a good player, but we seem to make him play like Karl Anthony-Towns whenever he plays us.
- I'm going to try and enjoy this years team and whatever they are able to accomplish, because next year as of now looks bleak unless we make some massive portal additions.
- UCONN and Marquette losing may make some feel better about this loss, but it shouldn't. If we had been able to be up a game in the standings, that would have been huge.

[OKBluejay]

There were some defensive breakdowns in the second half, but it's not like Nova was scorching the nets. The Jays should not be losing home games when the opponent scores 58 in regulation. The offense basically folded again under defensive pressure, which is not something that Villanova is particularly known for. The lack of a true point guard really hurts in games like this.

Trey is down to 28% on the season from 3, and Baylor is down to 34%. Ashworth is down to 38%, and is 33% from 3 since the first game. The guards need to play tougher against defensive pressure, but they also need to start living up to their reputations as shooters, or else there will be many more games like this.

[wildjays]

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