UPDATE — Game Results: With the Cat’s winning 81-71, we congratulate ten VUH readers who took medals. Gold Medals: Bri ‘13 (80-73) and wayneg (84-71), earning 5 points; Silver Medals: Old School (85-70), Pena Power (84-73), Andy ‘06 (84-69) and Steph ‘76 (85-72), earning 3 points each; Bronze Medals: pttam7yanks (87-71), jimmy (85-73), Chad (86-70) and Lou ‘06 (86-72) earning 1 point each. Select "read more" to see the names of the 58 readers now on our Leader Board after 17 rounds.
LEADER BOARD AFTER 17 ROUNDS
| Reader | Points |
| Andy ’06 | 20 |
| Pete | 15 |
| tommyboy | 14 |
| Old School | 13 |
| Ricky Williams | 11 |
| Barney Rubble '87 | 10 |
| Ed '77 | 10 |
| Jim K | 9 |
| Pena Power | 9 |
| Tom 87 | 9 |
| Bri '13 | 8 |
| Lou '06 | 8 |
| ramon usategui | 8 |
| jm | 7 |
| MIKE | 7 |
| Wallace | 7 |
| Alex '09 | 6 |
| Chad | 6 |
| Paul | 6 |
| supernova | 6 |
| Colt | 5 |
| Jim89 | 5 |
| Joe | 5 |
| Kait '08 | 5 |
| Ray '68 | 5 |
| wayneg | 5 |
| Steph '76 | 4 |
| B.Graves | 3 |
| Chillcat | 3 |
| chuck st.petersburg | 3 |
| CJ | 3 |
| imisskylelowry | 3 |
| Kmac | 3 |
| maalik lowry | 3 |
| mj | 3 |
| NJ Super’Nova | 3 |
| Schitzengigles | 3 |
| Squeaky 99 | 3 |
| Tony | 3 |
| Bill '77 | 2 |
| Brendan D. | 2 |
| cdtoffers | 2 |
| EDM '09 | 2 |
| Eli | 2 |
| jimmy | 2 |
| rise | 2 |
| Chris | 1 |
| dj | 1 |
| doctor feelgoode | 1 |
| EG'77 | 1 |
| Friar Fanatic '13 | 1 |
| HoyaSaxa | 1 |
| JROLL | 1 |
| mddcny | 1 |
| NovaCat94 | 1 |
| Paul '91 | 1 |
| pttam7yanks | 1 |
| Wayns World | 1 |
Update: Tuesday, February 2, 7:00PM (Gametime) A total of 68 VUH readers posted predictions (none predicting a Seton Hall victory). Collectively, the readers see Nova winning 90-77 (a margin of 13 points and implied over/under of 167). The Vegas odds-makers see it largely the same, favoring the Cats (-10.5) with the over- under set at 165, implying a final score of 88-77). Continue reading for our scatter graph depicting the VUH readers’ predictions as well as statistical information on Seton Hall.
Window Opening: Sunday, Jan. 31, 6:00 PM. The window is now open for readers to post their predicted final scores in Tuesday’s game vs. Seton Hall in our Closest to the Pin Contest. After sixteen rounds, our leader board has Andy ‘06 in first place with 17 points, Pete in second place with 15 points, and Tommyboy in third place with 14 points.
So far this season, Villanova (19-1, 8-0) has scored an average of 85.2 points while holding their opponents to 70.5. Seton Hall (12-7, 3-5) has scored an average of 82.8 points while giving up 73.6 points. The Pirates’ most notable wins have come @ Cornell (+10), vs. Cincinnati (+7), vs. Louisville (+3) and vs. Pittsburgh (+3). Their losses have come vs. Temple (-6), vs. West Virginia (-6), vs. Syracuse (-7), @ Virginia Tech (-9), @ Connecticut (-8), @ Georgetown (-12), and @ South Florida (-2). Villanova is ranked #3, has an RPI of 4 and an SOS of 45. Seton Hall is unranked, has an RPI of 56 and an SOS of 16.
Keep an eye out for our game preview tomorrow. We’ll post the Las Vegas spread / over-under on game day. Special Note: With VUHoops’ new commenting system, it is important for contestants to use a consistent handle / ID so that we can keep an accurate running leader board over the course of the season. Obviously, score predictions posted by anonymous readers cannot be accepted.