NC State Basketball
Who is #1 Seed Villanova?
Villanova secured a #1 seed by posting a record of 33-2 and enter the tournament on a 16 game win streak. It is like Coach Gottfried said in his post game comments, ” they are a number one seed for a reason.” The way Villanova has posted such a dominating season record is by shooting lights out from beyond the arc. An astonishing 43% of their shots on the season have been from distance, and even more impressive is their team 3 point field goal percentage which is 39.2%. The Wildcats have a balanced attack as they have 4 players averaging double figures. NC State must be prepared to run the Wildcats off of the three-point line if they are going to have any chance at moving on to the sweet sixteen. But let’s take a look at Villanova’s season and highlight how they have achieved a #1 seed.
Good Wins:
The Wildcats won an impressive 13 games versus teams with a top 50 RPI.
- VCU 77-53 November 24th
- Butler 67-55 December 31st; and 68-65 (February 14th)
- @ St. John’s 90-72 January 6th
- Xavier three times 88-75 (January 14th); 78-66 (February 28th); 69-52 (March 14th)
- @Providence 74-68
Bad Loss:
As impressive as their good wins were, their bad loss was equally astonishing. On the season they only lost once to a team with an RPI worst that 50.
- @ Seton Hall 66-61 (January 3rd.)
Recent Form:
In their last 12 games Villanova has gone 12-0. In their current win streak they have managed to not only win the Big East regular season crown but also the conference tournament as well. Villanova has shown no signs of slowing up as they handled their first game in the NCAA Tournament with ease winning by the score of 93-52.
Team Statistics:
- Points Per Game: 76.3 (23rd NCAA)
- Rebounds Per Game: 34.4 (174th NCAA)
- Assists Per Game: 15.9 (13th NCAA)
- Field Goal %: 47% (38th NCAA)
- Points Allowed: 60.6 (40th NCAA)
- Blocks Per Game: 4 (103rd NCAA)
- Steals Per Game (30th NCAA)
Individual Statistics:
- Darrun Hillard II #4 Sr. (6-6 215 lbs.) 13.9 PPG and 3.2 RPG
- Josh Hart #3 Soph. (6-5 205 lbs.) 10.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG
- Ryan Arcidiacono #15 Jr. (6-3 195 lbs.) 10.3 PPG and 3.6 APG
- Dylan Ennis #31 Jr. (6-2 192 lbs.) 10.0 PPG and 3.5 APG
- JayVaughn Pinkston #22 Sr. (6-7 235 lbs.) 9.6 PPG and 5.4 RPG
- Daniel Ochefu #23 Jr. (6-11 245 lbs.) 9.4 PPG and 8.4 RPG
Summary:
Few teams can match Villanova offensively as they have an extremely deadly attack from beyond the arc. Their team boasts a handful of sharp shooters that are more than capable of wrecking a team’s game plan once they make a couple of shots. Jay Wright has a great group of upper class-men that have stayed focused throughout the year. If there are a couple of weak points in Villanova’s arsenal it is in their lack of size and pedestrian rebounding. The Wildcats are an average rebounding team at best and could be an area where the Pack could use their size and strength to upend Villanova.
Gametime is scheduled for 7:10 PM and can be seen on TBS.
Villanova shot the lights out tonight. Good for us, there was no baskets in the vicinity. Not that’s what I call a real team victory. Go Pack.
packman70 You may stop anytime at your discretion.
ncsugolf208 I was just trying to be positive for our three seniors. If it was for Lee on Thursday, the team would probably be in Raleigh right now.
Thank you for saying something, this is getting ridiculous.
I may stop logging on to this site so as not to read your idiotic, negative comments anymore.
We need to start all seniors on Saturday before Villanova turns out our lights.
Were not the best at 3 point defense and I believe I read that Nova has 3 shooters that shoot 40% from 3. That should be very concerning. I think maybe we need to play a smaller lineup to defend the perimeter with Anya holding down the paint for any dribble penetration. If this team over-hedges or over-collapses on dribble penetration like they are prone to do we will get picked apart. We just need to trust that Anya and Abu will hold their own inside.