November 8, 2043
Coach
Graham Sims will guide this group of players in his 18th season as Villanova's head men's basketball coach:
Code:
#2 VILLANOVA General
Player # Pos Yr Ht Wt Sch Acd Status Hometown
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Joel Campbell 0 SF Fr* 6-6 210 Yes 70 OK Royersford, PA
Scott McMasters 1 PG So* 6-4 192 Yes 80 OK Wallingford, PA
Israel Moody 3 SF Sr 6-5 218 Yes 82 OK Joppa, MD
Asaad Richardson 4 SG Jr 6-4 210 Yes 80 OK Pennsburg, PA
Tyson Lien 11 SG Jr 6-3 207 Yes 79 OK West Windsor, NJ
Weston Wagner 12 SF Jr 6-9 235 Yes 96 OK Hillside, IL
Roman Holloway 14 C So 7-0 263 Yes 82 OK Glen Mills, PA
Matthew Washington 21 SG Fr 6-3 177 Yes 43 OK Olney, MD
Earnest Crowder 23 PG Fr 6-1 190 Yes 89 OK Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Canada
Immanuel Bahr 32 PF Jr 6-8 269 Yes 43 OK Munich, Germany
Brian Cioffi 33 PF Sr 6-7 205 No 52 Unhappy Greenbelt, MD
James Largent 34 C Jr* 6-8 237 Yes 74 OK Petaluma, CA
Anthony DiStefano 40 SG Fr 6-3 186 Yes 86 Redshirt New Rochelle, NY
Mark Ferree 45 SG So 6-3 190 No 21 OK Wexford, PA
Braeden Manning 50 C Fr 6-7 225 No 72 OK Richland Center, WI
Here's how they did in fall training:
Code:
#2 VILLANOVA Training Results
Player Ins Jps Fts 3ps Hnd Pas Orb Drb Psd Prd Stl Blk Qkn Str Jmp Sta
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Joel Campbell 1 3 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 4 2 1 0 4 1 7
Scott McMasters 2 3 1 4 6 6 1 2 2 5 3 1 0 2 1 4
Israel Moody 3 1 6 4 2 0 4 4 2 4 16 5 0 3 1 13
Asaad Richardson 1 3 3 11 1 5 5 3 3 7 7 1 1 4 1 6
Tyson Lien 1 9 0 2 7 7 3 3 2 5 5 1 1 1 1 3
Weston Wagner 4 5 0 5 2 2 3 3 4 3 3 3 0 3 1 4
Roman Holloway 9 3 5 1 2 4 9 9 8 2 1 8 0 5 1 4
Matthew Washington 6 6 4 6 4 6 2 2 2 6 2 2 0 4 2 28
Earnest Crowder 4 6 6 5 0 6 2 2 2 8 4 2 4 6 2 28
Immanuel Bahr 7 3 5 0 2 1 2 7 5 2 1 7 1 3 1 6
Brian Cioffi 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 11
James Largent 4 2 1 0 1 1 4 5 6 1 1 6 0 3 0 8
Anthony DiStefano 6 4 6 4 4 6 4 4 2 8 8 4 1 4 2 12
Mark Ferree 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 3 0 1 1 0 9
Braeden Manning 1 0 2 0 2 2 4 4 8 2 2 6 4 8 3 18
Coach
Graham Sims returns two starters from last year's team, which lost its bid for a fourth consecutive national championship to West Virginia in double overtime. Those losses are significant.
Dan O'Halloran was the first player chosen in the pro draft.
Forrest Curl was drafted early in the second round.
Kai Smith was twice the Big East Player of the Year. We've seen mighty programs brought down--at least temporarily--by losses such as these.
This Villanova team might be an exception. One of the remaining starters is
Israel Moody, a first team All-American who averaged over 19 PPG last season. Like Smith last year, Moody is returning for his senior season, a decision that's been very popular on the Main Line. Israel is far from a one-dimensional scorer; he's proud of his defensive efforts, and in camp he was stealing everything that wasn't nailed down.
Israel does most of his work close to the basket. The other returning starter, junior
Asaad Richardson, is a long-distance threat. Asaad was the team's second-leading scorer, averaging just over 15 PPG. He shot 40 percent from behind the three-point arc, and he still spent quite a bit of time working on his shot this fall.
As good a shooter as he is, Asaad names a teammate when he's asked to identify the team's best marksman. "It's Tyson, hands down."
Tyson Lien will have the first opportunity to join his classmate Asaad in the backcourt. Tyson's slash line was an arcade game-like .594/.495/.949 last season, produced in 17 minutes per game as the team's sixth man. He is not a natural point guard, but his handle and passing ability are decent. He's also not a liability on defense.
Seven-foot sophomore
Roman Holloway inherits O'Halloran's spot in the pivot. His playing style is similar to Dan's; he's a traditional big with enough court vision and skill to find open teammates when he's double-teamed. Roman will not be asked to be more than the team's third or fourth option offensively, and he's certainly skilled enough for that role.
The fifth starter will be either of two juniors:
Immanuel Bahr or
Weston Wagner. Bahr provides a more rugged interior presence, Wagner offers floor-stretching shooting, Both will play quite a bit.
So will
Scott McMasters, a redshirt sophomore who would give the team a more traditional, pass-first point guard. Three freshmen--guard
Earnest Crowder and wings
Matthew Washington and
Joel Campbell--and junior big man
James Largent round out the ranks of active scholarship players. Another youngster, wing
Anthony DiStefano, is redshirting this season. They are all promising--especially Washington--but they'll all need to be patient while their more fully developed teammates carry the load. Washington and Crowder were especially dedicated to conditioning in fall camp.
We open the season ranked #1 nationally, just ahead of a powerful Tennessee team that features big man
Wayne Bradhold and point guard
Aaron Scott. This Villanova team has the potential to deliver what its fans expect: a Big East championship and a deep run in the NCAA tournament.