Update: Game Results: With the Cat’s 78-59 win over Delaware, we congratulate five VU Hoops readers who took medals in this game. Gold Medal: Joe scored the first bulls-eye of the season (78-59), earning 10 pts.; Silver Medals: Ed’08 (77-59) and Pat’12 (77-59), earning 3 pts; Bronze Medals: Stevie V. (80-59) and Beardog (79-60) earning 1 pt each.
LEADER BOARD AFTER 10 ROUNDS
| Reader | Points |
| Joe | 12.5 |
| Pat'12 | 10.5 |
| TC'87 | 10.5 |
| TK87 | 8.5 |
| Joey | 7.5 |
| mfc4293 | 6.0 |
| Steph | 4.5 |
| Beardog | 4.0 |
| novafan95 | 4.0 |
| Stevie V | 3.5 |
| Dj pizzle | 3.0 |
| Ed'08 | 3.0 |
| miles'88 | 3.0 |
| Colt | 2.5 |
| doctor feelgoodes | 2.5 |
| Hugh Jass | 2.5 |
| Palsgraf | 2.5 |
| super nova | 2.5 |
| David '06 | 2.0 |
| cdtoffers | 1.5 |
| CMM | 1.5 |
| DP5 | 1.5 |
| EG'77 | 1.5 |
| Esto | 1.5 |
| FLM'33 | 1.5 |
| Friar Fanatic'13 | 1.5 |
| Mark A | 1.5 |
| mprams | 1.5 |
| Pete (Aliti 13) | 1.5 |
| Andy'06 | 1.0 |
| Chicken Dinner | 1.0 |
| bgunn | 0.5 |
| Brendan '10 | 0.5 |
| Christopher Coggins | 0.5 |
| David | 0.5 |
| FishersTalent13 | 0.5 |
| jimmy | 0.5 |
| Kitlesfan95 | 0.5 |
| mattymo | 0.5 |
| Nervous Nelly | 0.5 |
Update: Saturday, December 18 (Game Time). A total of 82 VU Hoops readers posted predictions, with none picking Delaware. As a group, the readers see ‘Nova winning by a score of 82-64 (a margin of 18.0 points and implied over/under of 146). The Vegas odds makers are picking ‘Nova by 16.0 points with the over/under set at 138.5 (implying a final score of 77-61). BossHogHazzard predicts "Blowout City" with the Cats taking it 115-34.
SCATTER PLOT DEPICTING PREDICTED SCORES
Window Opening: Thursday, December 16 (8:00 am). The window is now open for readers to post their predicted final scores for ‘Nova’s game vs. Delaware on Saturday at 7:30 PM in our Closest to the Pin Contest. After nine rounds TC’87 sits alone atop the leader board with 10.5 points. Click here to see our full leader board.
The #10 Cats (8-1) have an RPI of 33, a SOS of 148 and are scoring an average of 76.7 PPG while giving up an average of 60.9 PPG. The Fightin’ Blue Hens (5-2) are not ranked, have an RPI of 90, a SOS of 178, and score an average of 64.9 PPG while allowing an average of 61.6 PPG. Villanova and Delaware have played one common opponent – Lafayette – with both winning (Cats by 45 points, Delaware by 3 points). Delaware’s other wins have come against Howard (+32), Old Dominion (+8), Hampton (+2) and Delaware State (+11). Their two losses have come against Ohio (-19) and Cornell (-14). More statistical information about Delaware is available at Statsheet.com.
Be sure to check out Brian’s game preview.
Special Note: When posting predictions, be sure to consider:
- List your predicted score for Villanova first, followed by the score for the opponent (e.g., Cats 100, Marist 75)
- December – March Games (except Rivalry Games): Points are awarded to winners as follows: Bulls-eye = 10 points; Gold (non-bulls-eye) =5 pts; Silver = 3pts; Bronze = 1pt.
- Rule change: given the extraordinary number of readers participating in the contest, we can no longer enforce our rule prohibiting duplicate score predictions. .
- 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.