Jonathan Tannenwald has been compiling All-Decade teams at his blog, Soft Pretzel Logic. Today he released his teams for the St. Joseph's Hawks and the Villanova Wildcats. He chose 5 players from 2000-2010 for each school. Here are his choices for the Wildcats:
The only glaring omission I see here is Dwayne Anderson - but I'd include him as the 6th man as I think all of the guys listed below had more consistent careers. But I know we don't make the Final Four in 2009 with Dwayne.
Kyle Lowry was another popular player, but only playing 2 seasons limits him a bit on here as all of these other guys played 4 seasons for the Wildcats.
Allan Ray
Even though he never went to the Final Four, the Villanova squad on which Ray starred from 2003 to 2006 played some truly outstanding basketball. Ray was a great marksman, averaging 15.6 points per game and 36.7 percent shooting from three-point range. He won first-team All-Big 5 honors in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
Randy Foye
By the time Foye and Ray left the Main line, you couldn't say one's name without the other. Foye could shoot, create off the dribble and deliver a great pass. He averaged 15.6 points and 3.1 assists per game, and shot 39.9 percent from the field for his career. Foye also was a great defender, averaging 1.5 steals and only 2.7 fouls per game. Perhaps surprisingly, his only appearance on the All-Big 5 first team was as a senior in 2006.
Scottie Reynolds
His career points total was the second-highest in Villanova history, and his qualities as a leader on the floor were beyond quantifying. The Big 5 recognized that by naming him to the first team all four years of his career. Reynolds' dash to the basket for the game-winning layup in the 2009 East Regional Final ensured his place not only in Villanova's history books, but in those of college basketball as a whole.
Curtis Sumpter
Perhaps the ultimate player about whom we will always ask what could have been. Sumpter was among the most versatile players we saw in this decade, able to score just as well from inside as from outside. I know I'm not the only person who thinks Villanova would have made the Final Four at some point had he not suffered those two devastating knee injuries. He was all-Big 5 first team in 2005 and 2007
Dante Cunningham
Surrounded by superstar guards throughout his career, Cunningham was the player who did the dirty work inside. His importance to Jay Wright's squad became even more greater when his teammates were shooting with abandon from beyond the arc. It took a 12-point second half deficit against American in the 2009 NCAA Tournament for Cunningham's teammates to realize what they should have been doing all along: give him the ball and let him take it to the basket.
Did Tannenwald leave anyone out? Give us your thoughts.
