A Review of the Wildcats

[Novachap]

Well, crap.... Cam Whitmore to have thumb surgery, to be re evaluated in early November. Nova practices are notoriously physical with most injuries happening there. So, Moore out until Dec/Jan, Whitmore out until mid to late November. Daniels got a broken nose in practice, but he'll be back soon. Hausen was out (back now) with a concussion (I think) and Paterson out as well. MASH unit right now. I guess it's good to see Kyle is not letting up on the toughness factor.

[xukeith]

Seems like the initial writeups on Nova focus success on Cam Whitmore playing a ton. Lot of weight behind a frosh.

[GumbyDamnit!]

Seems like the initial writeups on Nova focus success on Cam Whitmore playing a ton. Lot of weight behind a frosh.

I think we would be pretty strong this year with or without Cam TBH. Top 20 for sure IMO. After seeing him compete at the McD's AA game (he looked like one of the top 2-3 players on the floor) and internationally for Team USA (where he was the top player without question and absolutely dominated every facet of the game) most Nova fans like me started to think "what if." As in what if he is this good? What if he is one of the top Frosh in the country and can impact a game like some of the Frosh did last year (Banchero, AJ Griffin or Jabari Smith)? What if he is the undisputed best player on the team (including Moore)? I think many pundits probably started to ponder the same thing.

The counter argument is: a) those All-star games can be tricky for sure--Cam is ultra athletic and dunks everything within 5 feet of the rim and that won't happen in the BE; and b). Nova plays a very disciplined style; Nova players are often referred to as Jay-bots and will all that athleticism be muted by the system?

I guess we'll see. I just hope he gets better b/c he's a highlight machine. He treats a rim like it owes him money and insulted his Momma.

[Xudash]

The overriding story line in the Big East this season is COACHING TRANSITIONS.

Nova is at the top of that news item. On the one hand, you have in Nova an extraordinary operation and culture that has been carefully built over the years through continuity with Jay Wright and obviously very deep administrative support. Villanova knows what is best for Villanova, when it comes to all the "development" and "front porch" stuff. Now the keys are being handed over to a trusted, former assistant who is regarded as having the coaching chops necessary to maintain Villanova's basketball program at a high level. In my mind, and this is no great revelation, it is completely in the hands of Kyle Neptune and how he approaches EVERY DETAIL of the job.

I'm contrasting this situation against that of Xavier's and the most recent episode involving Travis Steele taking over for Chris Mack. I thought we had found our long-term guy when Travis was hired. A guy who may not have played the game at the highest collegiate level, but nonetheless a guy who ate and slept basketball virtually his entire life. A guy who sat on Xavier's bench in some capacity for NINE YEARS. You would think that one could absorb a lot of valuable coaching direction from that vantage point over that period of time. Hell, a guy who was married to the bombshell daughter of a member of Xavier's BoT - he was probably going to stick around for a long time, enjoying life living in Hyde Park and coaching on Victory Parkway. From Staak to Gillen to Prosser to Matta to Miller to Mack and then to Travis. Xavier had the "culture thing" going for it, too. Then the bottom fell out. Whether his system was broken or he wasn't enough of a "tough love" type or whatever, he would shoot these guys out of the gate with strong OOC success, only to whither in BE play.

Maybe there is one key difference here: Jay Wright retired, he didn't move on like Chris Mack did when he took the money at UL and then fizzled out in spectacular fashion. Maybe Jay will be available to Kyle on the quiet batphone whenever he needs him.

The talent is certainly there. The culture didn't get up and leave Radnor when Jay left. It's in Kyle Neptune's hands now as the head general. He will now dictate how the Wildcats perform moving forward. At least he has a lot going for him as he steps into the job.

Overall, look at the coaching line up in this conference now. Damn. This is going to be fun to watch for the foreseeable future.

[robbo1010]

kind of game over for the wildcats if the top 2 picks are not even going to college.