Jay Wright, Scottie Reynolds and the rest of the Villanova Wildcats are looking to return to the Final Four this year.
First thing first -- the No. 2 Wildcats must claw their way past the No. 15-seeded Robert Morris Colonials in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Nova enters the game against the Northeast conference champs as an 18-point favorite.
When the Cats take the court in Providence at 12:30 Thursday afternoon they will be looking to prove doubters wrong -- that these Cats deserved the No. 2 ranking they received despite losing five of their last seven entering the tourney.
It’s hard to see anyway Nova would lose to RMU but crazier things have happened. Wright and Reynolds know what it takes to not look past an opponent. Last season in their opener, American hung with Nova for most of the game until the Wildcats finally pulled away towards the end.
Expect Nova, 24-7, to try and dictate play early -- knock off the cobwebs of a week hiatus after getting knocked out of the Big East Tourney in the quarterfinals.
Nova should try to run up and down the court using their offensive advantage (82.5 points per game compared to 68.5 PPG). Expect some quick shots from senior guard Reynolds; and the Coreys, Fisher and Stokes.
Sports
In partnership with NBC Sports Philadelphia
RMU will likely try slow things down and to allow top-scorer, freshman guard Karon Abraham, to get his feet wet. They could then likely spread the ball around to seniors Mezie Nwigwe and Rob Robinson.
Expect this one to be over early and don’t be surprised if Nova covers that 18-point spread. But, this is the tourney, a place where predictions are sure to go wrong.
