While I noticed that Villanova had an issue with fouling opponents last season, I never really ran the numbers to see where the team and certain players fell in comparison with the rest of the nation. Well, Eamon Brennan of ESPN crunched some statistics recently, and he feels that the Wildcats need to clean up their act in terms of putting opponents on the free throw line. Otherwise, another Villanova team with a ton of talent, ala the 2009-2010 team, could disappoint again down the stretch.
I'm not too sure how Jay Wright would approach this problem, because all of the good Villanova teams I've watched over the years have been tenacious and aggressive on the defensive end, always applying pressure and forcing turnovers. As a result, there are likely to be more fouls with this style of play and I don't want to see the Cats sit back and play soft. There is definitely a fine line here, so it will be interesting to see how Jay addresses the increased rate of fouling. We will find out in a short few months
Added by Chris:
This is getting some hype as 'the worst article ever written' in the Villanova blogosphere, and I tend to agree. This is part of a series called Summer Buzz for ESPN. I have a hard time believing that our 'buzz' is that we're worried about fouling. There are so many other story lines, the biggest probably being that Scottie Reynolds is no longer here and Corey Fisher and Maalik Wayns are now in charge of this team.
But no, we foul too much and are doomed. Give me a break. Yeah we did foul a lot -- LAST YEAR.