2008–09 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team

2008–09 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Final Four
Conference Big East Conference
2008–09 record 30–8 (13–5 Big East)
Head coach Jay Wright
Assistant coach Pat Chambers
Assistant coach Doug West
Assistant coach Jason Donnelly
Home arena The Pavilion
Seasons
« 2007–08 2009–10 »
2008–09 Big East men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
#1 Louisville† 16   2   .889     31   6   .838
#4 Pittsburgh 15   3   .833     31   5   .861
#5 Connecticut 15   3   .833     31   5   .861
#11 Villanova 13   5   .722     30   8   .789
#23 Marquette 12   6   .667     25   10   .714
#13 Syracuse 11   7   .611     28   10   .737
West Virginia 10   8   .556     23   12   .657
Providence 10   8   .556     19   14   .576
Notre Dame 8   10   .444     21   15   .583
Cincinnati 8   10   .444     18   14   .563
Seton Hall 7   11   .389     17   15   .531
Georgetown 7   11   .389     16   15   .516
St. John's 6   12   .333     16   18   .471
South Florida 4   14   .222     9   22   .290
Rutgers 2   16   .111     11   21   .344
DePaul 0   18   .000     9   24   .273
† 2009 Big East Tournament winner
As of April 4, 2009[1] • Rankings from AP Poll

The Villanova Wildcats had a 22–13 (9–9) record in the 2008 season. Their season resulted in a trip to the Final Four, with their last second win over the Pittsburgh Panthers in the Elite 8.For the 2008–09 season, Villanova returned all but one from their entire roster that made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. That squad with no seniors, lost 6 of 7 games during a 3-week span in the middle of the season, but came back to make the NCAA tournament.

The 2008–09 schedule includes playing Texas in the Jimmy V. Classic, 18 Big East contests, competing in the Philly Hoops Group Classic (against Niagara, Monmouth, Townson and either Penn State or Rhode Island), and games against a trip to Albany, Fordham, Houston Baptist, & Navy.

On December 1, 2008, Cassiem Drummond announced his intention to transfer out of the Villanova basketball team.[2]

Contents

Class of 2008

[3][4][5]

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Maurice Sutton
C		 Upper Marlboro, MD Largo HS 6 ft 10 in (208 cm) 190 lb (86 kg) May 21,
2008 
Scout:   Rivals:   ESPN grade: 87
Overall Recruiting Rankings:     Scout – NR     Rivals – NR [6]     ESPN – NR 

Roster

Villanova Basketball
2008–09 Roster
G/F 22 Dwayne Anderson SR Washington, DC (St. Thomas More)
F 20 Shane Clark SR Philadelphia, PA (Hargrave Military Academy)
G 4 Jason Colenda SO Fairfax, VA (Bishop O'Connell)
F 33 Dante Cunningham SR Silver Spring, MD (Potomac)
G 10 Corey Fisher SO Bronx, NY (St. Patrick's, NJ)
C 3 Maurice Sutton FR Upper Marlboro, MD (Largo HS, MD)
F 0 Antonio Pena SO Brooklyn, NY (St. Thomas More)
G 15 Reggie Redding JR Philadelphia, PA (St. Joseph's Prep)
G 1 Scottie Reynolds JR Herndon, VA (Herndon)
G 24 Corey Stokes SO Bayonne, NJ (St. Benedict's)
F 42 Frank Tchuisi SR Douala, Cameroon (St. Benedict's)
F 23 Russell Wooten JR Chula Vista, California (St. Augustine)

2008–2009 Season

Before the season began, on October 22, 2008, the Wildcats were selected to finish 5th among the 16 Big East Conference teams in the annual Preseason Coaches Poll at Madison Square Garden. Nova returned all five starters from a 22–13 squad that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.[7] As part of recent tradition, the 2008 Hoopsmania (an on-campus kickoff of the Villanova Basketball season), included a performance by hip-hop artist T-Pain. Previous artists have included 50 Cent, Tony Yayo and MIMS.[8]

The Villanova-Pitt game on January 28, 2009 was the last game to be held at the Wachovia Spectrum which drew a crowd of 17,449.[9]

The Wildcats finished perfect this year at the Pavilion. Villanova's 25 regular-season wins tied a school record. It had been done three times before, but not since 1950–51.

During the 2009 Big East Awards Ceremony, head coach Jay Wright was named the 2009 Big East Coach of the Year. He has won the award twice during the past 4 years. Villanova senior forward Dante Cunningham was named the Big East's Most Improved Player, and sophomore guard Corey Fisher won the Sixth Man Award. All-Big East. Cunningham, a senior forward, won second-team honors on the all-Big East team, while junior guard Scottie Reynolds took honorable mention.[10]

2009 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2009 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament, a part of the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, will take place in March 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This is the first Big East tournament to include all 16 of the conference's teams. Villanova was able to clinch the 4th spot in the Big East, thus earning the double-bye to the quarterfinals in the tournament.

Date Opponent Location Televised Time Result
Tournament Results
March 12 Marquette Madison Square Garden ESPN 2:30pm Win
March 13 Louisville Madison Square Garden ESPN 7:00pm Loss

2008–2009 NCAA College Basketball Rankings

Villanova's rank in the major college polls:[11]

Date AP Top 25 ESPN/USA Today
November 10, 2008 #23 #25
November 17, 2008 #23 #23
November 24, 2008 #20 #22
December 1, 2008 #17 #16
December 8, 2008 #15 #12
December 15, 2008 #18 #15
December 22, 2008 #18 #16
December 29, 2008 #15 #13
January 5, 2009 #18 #17
January 12, 2009 #23 #22
January 19, 2009 #20 #21
January 26, 2009 #21 #21
February 2, 2009 #17 #16
February 9, 2009 #13 #13
February 16, 2009 #12 #14
February 23, 2009 #10 #12
March 2, 2009 #11 #16
March 9, 2009 #10 #13

Coaching staff

Jay Wright – Head Coach

Patrick Chambers – Associate Head Coach

Doug West – Assistant Coach

Jason Donnelly – Assistant Coach

2008–09 Schedule and results

2009 NCAA Tournament
Date Opponent rank Location Televised Time Result Overall Conf.
Regular Season
November 6 Northwood (exhibition) 25 Wachovia Spectrum No W 75–37 0–0 0–0
November 14 Albany 25 Villanova, PA No W 78–60 1–0 0–0
November 17 Fordham 23 Villanova, PA No W 107–68 2–0 0–0
November 19 Niagara 23 Villanova, PA ESPNU W 77–62 3–0 0–0
November 25 Monmouth 22 Villanova, PA No W 71–48 4–0 0–0
November 28 Towson 22 Philadelphia, PA (Palestra) No W 64–47 5–0 0–0
November 29 Rhode Island 22 Philadelphia, PA (Palestra) No W 78–65 6–0 0–0
December 2 @ PENN 16 Philadelphia, PA (Palestra) No W 69–47 7–0 0–0
December 4 Houston Baptist 16 Villanova, PA No W 93–57 8–0 0–0
December 9 #6 Texas 12 New York, NY (Madison Square Garden) ESPN L 67–58 8–1 0–0
December 11 St. Joseph's 12 Villanova, PA ESPN2 W 59–56 9–1 0–0
December 14 @ LaSalle 12 Philadelphia, PA (Tom Gola Arena) ESPNU W 70–59 10–1 0–0
December 22 Navy 16 Villanova, PA No W 78–68 11–1 0–0
December 29 Temple 13 Villanova, PA ESPNU W 62–45 12–1 0–0
January 1 @ #13 Marquette 13 Milwaukee, WI ESPN L 79–72 12–2 0–1
January 6 @ Seton Hall 17 Newark, NJ WPHL/SNY W 89–85 (OT) 13–2 1–1
January 10 #21 Louisville 17 Philadelphia, PA (Wachovia Center) ESPN L 61–60 13–3 1–2
January 18 St. John's 22 Villanova, PA WPHL/SNY W 76- 57 14–3 2–2
January 21 @ #3 Connecticut 21 Hartford, CT ESPN L 89–83 14–4 2–3
January 24 @ USF 21 Tampa, FL WPHL W 70–61 15–4 3–3
January 28 #3 Pittsburgh 21 Philadelphia, PA (Wachovia Spectrum) ESPNU W 67–57 16–4 4–3
February 1 Cincinnati 21 Villanova, PA WPHL W 71–50 17–4 5–3
February 4 @ Providence 16 Providence, RI WPHL W 94–91 18–4 6–3
February 7 #20 Syracuse 16 Philadelphia, PA (Wachovia Center) ESPN W 102–85 19–4 7–3
February 10 #12 Marquette 13 Villanova, PA ESPN2 W 102–84 20–4 8–3
February 13 @ West Virginia 13 Morgantown, WV ESPN L 93–72 20–5 8–4
February 19 Rutgers 14 Villanova, PA ESPN2 W 82–72 21–5 9–4
February 22 @ #25 Syracuse 14 Syracuse, NY CBS W 89–86 22–5 10–4
February 25 @ DePaul 12 Chicago, IL WPHL W 74–72 23–5 11–4
February 28 Georgetown 12 Philadelphia, PA (Wachovia Center) ESPN L 56–54 23–6 11–5
March 2 @ Notre Dame 16 South Bend, IN ESPN W 77–60 24–6 12–5
March 5 Providence 16 Villanova, PA ESPN2 W 97–80 25–6 13–5
2009 Big East Tournament
March 12 #21 Marquette 13 New York, NY W 76–75 26–6 14–5
March 13 #5 Louisville 13 New York, NY L 63–82 26–7 14–6
March 19 (14) American University 12 (3) Philadelphia, PA W 80-67 27–7
March 21 #17 (6) UCLA 12 (3) Philadelphia, PA W 89-69 28–7
March 26 #5 (2) Duke 12 (3) Boston, MA W 77-54 29–7
March 28 #4 (1) Pittsburgh 12 (3) Boston, MA W 78-76 30–7
April 4 #3 (1) North Carolina 12 (3) Detroit, MI L 69-83 30–8
Big East regular-season games in bold. • Philadelphia Big Five games in italics. • * represent seedings in NCAA Tournament.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Big East Conference Standings - 2008-09." ESPN.com. Retrieved 03-23-10.
  2. ^ http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28002139/
  3. ^ Villanova Class of 2008 – Rivals
  4. ^ Villanova Class of 2008 – Scout
  5. ^ Villanova Class of 2008 – ESPN
  6. ^ 2008 Team Recruiting Rankings – Rivals
  7. ^ http://villanova.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/102208aab.html
  8. ^ Hoopsmania Kickoff
  9. ^ http://villanova.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/020109aaa.html
  10. ^ http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/homepage/20090310_Villanovas_Jay_Wright_named_Big_East_Coach_of_the_Year.html Jay Wright Big East Coach of the Year . Accessed 2009-03-12. Archived 2009-06-06.
  11. ^ 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings

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Bold connotes national championship, Italic connotes final four appearance, * means results were vacated