DePaul Prepares to take on the Number 1 ranked Villanova Wildcats
The Setup
DePaul plays the Villanova Wildcasts on Wednesday, 12/27 at 6:30pm Central at the Wintrust Arena in front of the smallest amount of blue seats, since the Notre Dame game. There should be more humans than empty blue seats. It will be carried on CBSSports Network (Channel 232 on Comcast) and on the Score (Radio 670).
Villanova comes into Wintrust unbeaten and untested with their closest game being 9 point victories over Tennessee in late November and LaSalle on December 10th. They killed 3 of their Philly Big 5 opponents (LaSalle was maimed). They look primed and ready to decimate the Demons.
Gambling Corner
Villanova is a road favorite of 15. Kenpom expects Nova to win by 14. We will see who is right, because DePaul rarely beats the Wildcats.
Recent History
DePaul almost pulled off the upset in the first meeting last year. Only losing by 3 in a game that DePaul came back late. In the second meeting, Nova won by 13. The Demons last beat the Wildcats on January 3rd, 2008. It’s been a while. Put it this way, my 9 year old 4th grader was not alive the last time DePaul beat Villanova. George W. Bush was President the last time that DePaul beat Villanova. Oliver Purnell was not coach yet, and he still hadn’t been fired. It was still Wainwright time.
Fun Facts
Villanova’s Last Losing Season
2011-2012 season, where they still finished ahead of DePaul. In 17 season, Jay Wright has had only 2 losing seasons. Kind of the exact opposite of DePaul (4 winning seasons in the same time frame).
They are Augustinian
From Villanova’s homepage: “All members are bonded together by a shared responsibility to uphold the ideals of Saint Augustine and let the principles of truth, unity and love guide their lives.” So if one of their fans is razzing you, remind them that they are not following Saint Augustine’s life guiding principles. I am sure this zinger will shock them to the core, and they will apologize profusely.
They play their games at Wells Fargo Center (would be like DePaul’s Campus being in Elk Grove Village and playing at the United Center)
For those DePaul fans who always said, “The reason that DePaul has sucked is because it is hard for the students to get to game,” Villanova is here to say, suck it. The commute to their home games from campus is 25 miles. It can take over an hour to get there. However, the Wildcats are a preeminent power, that won a national championship 2 years ago. If you build a program, your students will somehow make it to games. Please pass that fun fact onto Jeannie.
Coach Jay Wright
Endorses Evolve IP, a cloud computing service. Way to go Jay!
He is the 2nd highest paid Private College coach after Coach K.
His tailor, the Jay Wright dressor guy, has helped Jay be considered one of the best dressed, if not the best dressed coach for nearly a decade. Most of his suits go for $2,500 to $3,000. So I guess Wright needs to keep this high paying gig to keep his wardrobe functioning. Jay has 2 closets in his room, one for suits, and the other for shoes, shirts and slacks.
He uses Sports Spreaker 360 to book his speaking engagements. Evidently, Sports Speaker is not aware that he lead Villanova to the National Championship 2 years ago. According to the website, Jay was National Coach of the Year in 2006, and lead the Wildcats to the Final Four in 2009. Jay, if you are reading this, time to get a new speaking engagement lackey.
The Current Flavor of the Wildcats
Who Should Scare the Blue out of Us?
Best Player(s)
It’s a tie. Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson should scare the excrement out of all DePaul fans and all Big East Fans. Ken Pomeroy current has both players in his top 5 for player of the year.
Bridges is 6’7 210 pound Junior who has ‘has extremely LONG arms’ , and has as been described as a Pterodactyl. He is considered the 3rd best player in college basketball. His offensive rating is around 129.
His mommy made him do push-ups when he missed free-throws in high school.
Brunson is a local guy, Lincolnshire, IL, who wisely turned down offers from any Illinois school and went on to win a National Championship with Villanova.
Lefty. He has the 2nd best offensive rating in college basketball (145.5). He is crazy efficient, and he shoots 53% from 3 point land. He will kill us.
To put it in perspective, DePaul’s best offensive rated player who has played all games is Max Strus. His rating is a nice 111.1. Marin Maric, who has missed several games, has a higher rating of 123, which puts him at 183 in the country.
Quick Note
These guys are going to murder us.
Well Rounded, totally awesome team
Villanova is the 2nd best offense and 8th best defense in college basketball. One of the only, truly well-rounded team. A bunch of Renaissance men. The team that they are most like is Michigan St., a team that DePaul tied for 20 minutes (even though MSU was missing their best player).
Awesome at Defending Free Throws (hoodoo alert)
Like Miami of Ohio, Nova has also put a hoodoo on opponent free throw percentage, ranking 7th in the country. My guess is that their opponents excrement their pants, which makes playing basketball less fun. I have not found any evidence that Ron Tammen every went to Villanova.
DePaul’s Status
DePaul finished the non-conference schedule with a 7-5 record. Let’s go to the tail of the tape.
Offense
Villanova has 2 of the top 100 players in DI basketball and their top 6 players all have an offensive rating above 100 (the gold standard.) The Demons have 3 guys who generally have a plus 100 rating. Advantage Villanova
Defense
DePaul has been awful at preventing 3 pointers this year. Villanova is the BEST 3rd pointing team that DePaul has seen this year with a 41.6%. This is 13th best in the nation, not good. The Demons are 288th at preventing 3 pointers. Not good. Advantage Villanova
The Demons are not efficient, and Villanova is great at making teams suck. Advantage Villanova
Other Things
Villanova does not turn the ball over, nor are the excellent at forcing opponents to turn they ball over. DePaul, creates turnovers and does not lose the ball. Slight Advantage DePaul
In Conclusion
Villanova will win. If the Demons lose by less than 10 this would qualify as a moral victory.
