Villanova vs Rutgers Thoughts: - No Evans or Hodge for Nova, No Francis, Buca, Sydnor for Rutgers - Gurdak is effecting the game in every way possible. Solid solid pick up for Rutgers in their biggest area of need. Impressive that he is getting these good looks with Suigo. Underrated bag. - Perkins is so smooth, steady and consistent, like a pro. No reason he shouldn’t be All Big East. - Impressed with Darin Smith’s ability to consistently hit tough shots. Dude is a high motor player on both ends. Good job passing out of doubles, seems pretty selfless, good team guy. Going to be a nice asset to Rutgers - Suigo is a load. Not getting the stats, but he was effecting pretty much every drive early. Things stats can’t count. I do think he needs to adjust to the physicality of college hoops but the rim deterrence is there. You can see his handle is extremely nice for his size, vision is good, got some nifty tricks in his offensive bag. Real question is how many minutes can he play in a game. I think they are obviously a lot better when he is in. - Liked Buchannan’s aggressiveness. He is slashing at every opportunity and putting pressure on the rim, those will go down against worse defenders than Suigo. His quickness/explosive combo is a big strength that Rutgers should lean on, when they are up against a big defender send an extra guy to crash the offensive glass. - Royal has great touch, can get you a bucket when you need one. Does a lot of his work without the ball, crashes glass to get some good freebies, gets good position in the post. Will benefit even more when Evans/Hodge are back. - Mark continues to demonstrate he’s a solid PG. Good balance, knows when to attack, and when to distribute. - Davis is a mixed bag, can give you some good things, he’s small and prone to turnovers but he also can get you some buckets off the bench. Francis will start over him obviously when season starts. - One of the weaker spots on the team for Nova is PG. They may be forced to play Perkins there to get the best 5 on the floor. But obviously you want him more as a scorer than an organizer. Crawford is the better defender between him and Simmons, but doesn’t look comfortable on O + was very passive. Simmons is the opposite, looks like he can give Nova a spark on O but his size is a liability on the defensive end. - Fiegen hit 5-11 for 3 and we know he can shoot it, If you’ve followed me at all during last season, you will know my disdain for Ivy League players translating at the P5 level. I just don’t think it’s worth sacrificing on defense and basically every other category besides shooting to get him on the floor. Also I don't think he gets these shots against top end defenses. Just my opinion - I’d like to see more of what Fisk can do. - Jones looked like he could get to the paint, get his own shot. He would pass on his shot for someone else which I wish he would take more bc I think he has one of the nicer strokes for Rutgers. Very willing passer. He has promise. Just needs some time to adjust to this level. - Oumiddoch has got to work on the defense if he wants to stay on the floor. Buchanan was blowing by him a lot early, and Willard didn’t play him as much. - Miteo is huge, thick legs. Needs to get softer hands, but man once he learns how to use his body to get position, good luck moving him. - Ware is serviceable, looks improved, definitely can crack rotation as a back up big, and defend and be a glue guy if Buca or Sydnor don’t pan out. Saw a lot of questioning on Twitter: Does Villanova stink or is Rutgers good? My general thoughts: Like that Rutgers kept all their guards and cleaned house on a lot of the forwards and bigs. Gurdak and Smith are going to be a solid duo. Was already higher on this group than most of the national media bc of the continuity + I like the additions in the areas of need. I think they are Bubbly, Bubbleicious. Think their outcome is right on the cut line, vs most media who has them in the cellar of the Big Ten. Willard runs a tighter lineup than most coaches. Suigo is gonna only keep getting better. Evans and Hodge give them some versatility. Perkins and Royal are very consistent. I still think this group is good enough for 3rd-5th in the Big East. If they hit the low end, PG and depth will be the issue. Big East is pretty crowded in the middle though so the margins are slim.