Villanova officially (well, kind of) kicks off its season today against the University of The District of Columbia. It's only an exhibition game, and the regular season doesn't start for another 10 days, but it will be good to see the Wildcats back in action.
The game will be played at The Well, with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
The game is available exclusively on 'Nova-Nation All-Access, but I wouldn't be shocked if some techie somewhere figures out how to hack into the game and throw it on either Justin.TV or Channelsurfing.
As a new tradition, we're going to get some thoughts before every game from our panel of idiots writers.
Pulled directly from UoD's Athletic Site:
He (Coach Ruland) summarized his season’s expectations for this year stating, "We’re hoping to be a little bit better than last year. We hope to stay healthy….shooting for .500… anything above that would be an unbelievable accomplishment."
That's tough.
On a serious note, former Virginia Tech Hokies transfer Nigel Munson seems to be their savior for this season. Complementing him will be freshman Ziad Ashmawy, a 6'5", 205 lb. G/F from Egypt.I never knew this college existed.
-Poster
The pregame coverage continues after The Jump.
Although it's only the District of Columbia, many Villanova faithful want to see what type of identity this group of Wildcats will take on. I think it's important for the defensive tone to be set tonight; in other words, opponents should expect the Cats to play 40 minutes of tough, scrappy defense night in and night out and that starts with tonight's exhibition. The faster everyone buys into this notion, the better the team will be come opening night at the Pavilion.
-Pops
Looking to see some assertiveness out of Pinkston in his first bit of run, Cheek put up 8+ shots, somebody to begin stepping up as a vocal leader and Mouph to dominate inside against a team that simply cannot match up with him.-Trask
Exhibition so I'm looking for just pure domination. I don't want to see any of the upper classmen making foolish mistakes. I want to see Mouph dominate the paint, and for some of the new guys to get a little taste of hardwood - and by little i mean a lot. Hopefully one of the young guns comes out and shows some serious frosh potential.-Ulep