Can You Say, "Me-slav Bro-zoy-ah from Downtown on the Assist from Arch-ee-dee-a-co-no"?… As reported here last night, Jay Wright officially added Croatian guard Mislav Brzoja to his basketball roster. Brzoja averaged 15.0 points, 1.9 assists, and 2.3 steals as Captain of Croatia’s Under-18 team, which recently won the European Championship. Brzoja shot 41.2% from the field, 34.0 percent from three-point range. Fifty of his 102 field goal attempts came from beyond the arc. His 2.3 steals per game ranked fourth in the tournament. Jay Wright said in a statement. "Mislav is an outstanding student and tough competitor who will add to the perimeter depth of our team." He joins fellow freshmen Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu and sophomore transfer Tony Chennault and Dylan Ennis. Ennis who will sit out this season under NCAA rules. [Editor’s Note: Apologies to Marv Albert for stealing his trademark call, and credit to Brian for providing us with the pronunciation of Mislav’s name.]

Chillious Hiring Puts Martin Affair Behinds Us … As reported here on Monday , Villanova Jay Wright announced that Raphael Chillious has been hired as an assistant basketball coach. Chillious, comes to ‘Nova from the University of Washington , where he was an assistant coach for three seasons under Lorenzo Romar. Chillious played for a great Villanovan, Fran O'Hanlon, at Lafayette , graduating in 1996. Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes, "Chillious’ first coaching job came in 1997 as an assistant at the University of Victoria in British Columbia . He later held head coaching jobs at West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Md., and South Kent (Conn. ) School. Chillious has important ties to the grassroots basketball scene, having worked with Nike as its business manager for the EYBL circuit. After more than a year at Nike, Chillious took the Washington job." The Philadelphia Daily News reports, "While at Lafayette , Chillious was known as Ralph Carter. Earlier this month, Villanova announced that newly hired assistant coach Doug Martin had resigned because of inaccuracies in his resume."

Can’t Top A Flash Mob … Ari Kramer of Rant Sports writes, "Jay Wright’s, whose community involvement has been well documented, tweeted on Thursday, "Can’t wait to meet members of the Villanova class of 2016 this afternoon!" We’ll see what Wright has up his sleeve this year, but topping his participation in a "welcome back week" flash mob last year won’t be easy. Fostering a sense of loyalty and equality with the student body can only be beneficial. Villanova is coming off a disappointing 13-19 season. Community involvement will help ensure that students fill up seats this year as Villanova tries to ascend past mediocrity."

Big East Intrigue … Brett McMurphy of ESPN reports, "Top officials from the NFL, the Texas Rangers, Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball were among the final candidates to become the Big East's commissioner. Among the executives interviewed for the post were Ray Anderson (NFL), Tim Brosnan (MLB), Dennis Robinson, (Formula One Grand Prix COO) and Arlen Kantarian (USTA). As of Aug. 6, only Rick George (Texas Rangers), and Mark Abbott (MLS), were "finalist candidates." It was at that point, the Big East was notified that ESPN had made public records requests to the universities of Cincinnati and South Florida and their respective presidents, Greg Williams and Judy Genshaft, who were on the search committee, seeking information regarding the Big East's search. Russell Reynolds Associates, which was conducting the search for the Big East, threatened to file a lawsuit against USF to keep the university from providing the documents to ESPN. The Big East felt the search would be compromised if the names got out beforehand, and moved up the timetable to name the commissioner. Mike Aresco wasn't even considered a serious candidate until days before he was hired on August 13. . ~Assist to Brian Ewart

Swan Song For the Cup … Phil Anastasia of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that both Temple Coach Steve Addazio and Villanova Coach Andy Tally would like to see the Mayor’s Cup game continue, after the initial four-year contract ends after next Friday’s 7PM game at Lincoln Financial Field. "Talley said he "would love to play Temple every year," but he noted that Villanova is scheduled to play Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Connecticut in the next three years. As a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) program, Villanova usually plays one Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) opponent every season. Temple holds a 2-1 edge in the Mayor's Cup series, with the first two games decided in the final moments. The Owls won, 42-7, last season."

Mystery Solved … With thanks from a grateful ‘NovaNation, I am pleased to announce that emeritus VUH reader, Bill ’62, did not rest until he correctly identified every former Villanova player in the photo tweeted by Coach Jay Wright last week. Bill enlisted the help of former player, Jim McMonagle ’63, who was one of the players pictured.

From Left to Right (and thanks to VUH reader Bill ’62 and former player Jim McMonagle ’63): Pete Coleman, Bernie Schaffer, Bill Melchionni, Hubie White, Jim McMonagle, Wali Jones, Joe Turk, and Eric Erickson

Fifty Years Ago … That picture reminded me of an interview given by Hubie White to Tom Mahon of the Philadelphia Daily News some years back. In it, Hubie White reminisced about the 1962 Villanova team that reached the Elite Eight fifty years ago. As senior captain, White led the Wildcats to a 21-7 record under Coach Jack Kraft with a strong supporting cast that included Wali Jones, Jim McMonagle, Jim O'Brien and George Leftwich. Only 25 teams were invited to the NCAA Tournament back then and 'Nova was among them. Mahaon wrote, "White had 28 points and 10 rebounds in a first-round win over West Virginia and 31 points in a second-round victory over New York University . The very next day, Villanova lost to Wake Forest in the East Regional Final. White had 14 points and, while not making excuses, said the Wildcats may have fared a bit better if there were several days between games as there are today. "We just ran out of gas," White said. "If we had a break, that would have helped us." Against NYU, we played against two of the best players in the region, Happy Hairston and Barry Kramer, both legitimate All-Americans. But Wake won, and they were just too much for us. They had guys 6-7, 6-8 and 6-9. Our biggest guys were 6-5 - O'Brien and McMonagle - and I was 6-3. After a while they just wore us down. "I played good defense and I could rebound," White said. "I left the ball handling to Wali."

We’re Number 83! The Radnor Patch reports, " When it comes to Forbes, Villanova University makes the cut for the America's Top Colleges list. Although Villanova comes in at number 83 overall, Forbes lists it as number 73 on the private colleges list. According to Forbes, the SAT composite range is 1210, 44 percent of applicants are admitted and there's a student to faculty ratio of 11:01. Forbes also says Villanova has 10, 661 students and costs $54,520 to attend annually. Other area colleges ranking above Villanova are: Swarthmore College at 10, University of Pennsylvania at 17, Haverford College at 27 and Bryn Mawr college at 52."