BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: Villanova @ Georgetown

January 8, 2007


The 2007 edition of ESPN's Big Monday debuts tonight when the Villanova Wildcats travel to the nation's Capitol to meet the Georgetown Hoyas. In the first week of conference player, the Wildcats did not fare too well, dropping both of their contests, losing on the road to West Virginia and at home to DePaul. While Villanova struggled, Georgetown looked mighty good in dismantling Notre Dame at home.

Here are the pre-game stories and previews from around the internet:


Villanova: Don't Count us Out Yet (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Road is Looking Rough for 'Nova (DelCo Times)
Thanks to a Jolt from Ewing, No Energy Shortage for Hoyas (Washington Post)

Click below for our brief preview and prediction on this game and don't forget to leave your prediction in the comments section.

READ REST OF PREVIEW...CLICK "Read More" BELOW


In the preseason, Villanova fans probably envisioned a 2-0 conference start when looking at the schedule for their Wildcats in Big East play. Once the games began, Villanova finds themselves at 0-2 with a pair of road games on tap this week agaianst Georgetown and Syracuse as they try to dig out of their hole. It is not going to be easy, especially tonight when they have to face Georgetown's intimidating frontline and defensive presence that throttled the high scoring Notre Dame Irish this past weekend.

All around, this looks to be a bad match-up for Villanova. Georgetown likes to make the defense play for a full 30 sceonds on one end and excels at slowing the opposition's attack on the other end with a confusing match-up zone or a man to man that features great size and length in the frontcourt. Against DePaul, Villanova struggled as they always seemed to be playing too fast and first and foremost, they are still in love with the 3-pt shot, although they do not have their four-guard line-up this year.

Georgetown had some questions entering Big East play, but they put many of them to rest as they completely drubbed Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon. The Hoyas raced out to an 18-2 lead before the Irish knew what hit them and they just sucked the life out of them to complete the victory. The Hoyas have the ability to defend, rebound and run with the best of them and when they are at their best, you feel like you have to score on every possession just to stay in the game. Not a good match-up for Villanova.

The Hoyas can go inside and outside, but their 3-pt shooting is one the keys to their attack as they spread out the floor. Sometimes, they seem to fall in love too much with the perimeter shot, but they should dedicate themselves to going insode to Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green and hit the boards. The Wildcat frontline is not bad, just under utilized, especially offensively. Villanova is led by Mike Nardi and Curtis Sumpter, if the pair of seniors are on, then the 'cats will stick with anyone in the league. Georgetown's defense will key on them and see if anyone else can beat them on the road, in this instance, that is unlikely.

As a 5-pt favorite and a 7-pt predicted winner by Pomeroy, we look for the Hoyas to make it two in a row to start league play and sending Villanova a little deeper in the hole.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Georgetown 69 Villanova 61