Week in Review (June 25)

Like the girl at the high school prom who waits all night in vain to be asked to dance, Villanova’s Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes never heard their names called on NBA draft night. That really comes as no surprise, as Corey Stokes has a game considered by scouts as one dimensional, and Corey Fisher is viewed as lacking size, basketball IQ, and ability to make players around him better. However the Corey’s were not the only players disappointed on draft night. Despite the dominance of the Big East in college basketball last year, only three Big East players were selected in the draft. One of every five selected was an international player, squeezing out college stars who might have been drafted in other years. Here’s the list of notable Big East and Big Five Players who heard their name called those who did not.

Big East / Big Five Players Drafted

Notable Players Not Drafted

As reported first by Mike of VUHoops, Villanova rising sophomore, James Bell, was one of twelve players selected to represent the USA in the U19 World Championships in July. Nova Notebook wrote a feature on James, which included these quotes from our favorite rising sophomore: "We haven't talked about roles or anything like that," noted Bell. "I'm just trying to follow the advice coach (Jay) Wright gave me before I came out here. He told me to concentrate on playing hard. That is something I can control. I'm just focused on learning from our coaches here and doing all I can to help us win the gold medal. We've talked a little bit about what it will be like and the one word you keep hearing is how physical things are," I think coming from the BIG EAST will help me with that. Jeremy Lamb is here from Connecticut and we may be a little bit more used to that (style) because of the conference we play in. It means the world to me to represent the USA."

Villanova’s Sheila Reid was among the three finalists announced this week for the 2011 Honda-Broderick Cup, which is awarded to the collegiate woman athlete of the year. The other finalists are Blair Brown, Penn State University (volleyball), Maya Moore, University of Connecticut (basketball). The winner will be revealed at a special press conference on June 27th at Columbia University in New York. The three finalists were chosen from previously announced Honda Sports Award winners in 12 different NCAA sanctioned sports, by a vote from among more than 1,000 NCAA-member institutions. The press release announcing the finalists said this about Sheila: "Sheila Reid capped a great year when she was crowned the NCAA Outdoor Champion in the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter races - the first woman in history to win both events in the same year. She was also the Indoor National Champion in the distance medley. She was selected All-American in the 3,000-meter. She finished her season as the Big East Indoor champion in the 1,000-meter, 4x800-meter relay, distance medley relay and outdoor titlist in the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter. The indoor and outdoor Mid-Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year is a12-time Big East Champion, a nine-time All-American selection and NCAA individual cross country titlist. Like many Honda Sports Award winners, Reid is an academic standout in addition to her excellence in athletics. The four-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star was selected to the Academic All-District first team and holds a GPA of 3.408 with a major in English."

With a hat-tip to Barney Rubble, the Peoria Chiefs announced that their centerfielder and former Villanova star, Matt Szczur, "has been named to the roster for the 2011 XM Satellite Radio All-Star Futures Game. The contest which pits Team USA against The World, will take place on Sunday, July 10 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona to kick off the MLB All-Star festivities. The contest will be televised live on ESPN2 and MLB.com at 5:00 Central Time on July 10. In the Chiefs first half of the season, Szczur hit .327 with 16 stolen bases, five homers, 12 doubles, 24 RBI and 46 runs scored in 51 games. Sczur is second in the Midwest League in batting average, third in runs scored and top 10 in on-base percentage and stolen bases. Szczur does not have an outfield error and he started at right field the Midwest League All-Star game where he went 2-0-0-0."

Former Villanova and Boston College assistant, Joe Jones, has been hired by Boston University to be its men's basketball coach, replacing Pat Chambers, who left early this month after two years to become head coach at Penn State.

Former ‘Nova assistant coach and new Penn State basketball coach, Patrick Chambers, is building a coaching staff with a decidedly Villanova pedigree. This week, Penn State announced the hiring of two ‘Nova alumni to Chambers’ staff -- Keith Urgo as Assistant Coach and former ‘Nova player, Ross Condon, as director of basketball operations..

Slamonline published its list of the 25 players who stood out at last week's National Basketball Players Association Top 100 Camp at the University of the Virginia, which included Villanova signee, Ryan Arcidacono, and Villanova target, Amile Jefferson. Here’s what they had to say about each.

Ryan Arcidacono, 6-3 rising senior combo guard, often plays with the mentality of a point, but he’s also a combo in the truest sense of the definition. Villanova’s future floor general is tough, cerebral, and unselfish and has a great feel for the game. He’s also strong, if not flashy handle, with the ability to attack the rim and finish, use his height against smaller guards and shoot proficiently with range in addition to being able to guard both backcourt positions. Amile Jefferson, 6-8 rising senior combo forward, was the camp’s scholar-athlete award winner. He seemingly hasn’t improved much since his younger days, but as time wore on, the long Philly native continually and consistently got the job done by sticking to this bread and butter – solid post moves, quick drives, rebounding on both ends and versatile defense that includes shot-blocking and the ability to guard perimeter players – as well as ball skills that enabled him to play on the perimeter when necessary."

Philly.com had this report on the Philly area players’ performance in the NBPA Top 100 Camp. "Amile Jefferson had the best showing of the seven area athletes at the elite. Despite playing with injured fingers, the 6-foot-8 forward averaged 20.8 points over six games to win the camp's scoring title. He was energetic and enthusiastic the whole camp. Using his length and long strides, he dominated each game scoring in transition, facing the basket, posting up, and hitting the defensive glass. He led the camp in scoring with a double-figure production every game he played. Savon Goodman was the Energizer bunny using his size and strength to compete. He attacked the rim, made good second and third efforts on the glass, and played solid defense. Ryan Archidiacono made his teammates better. He was solid with the ball, made good decisions and passes, and was selective in his shooting. Daniel Ochefu played two of the camp's three days. As usual, he passed well out of the post, rebounded, and scored in the post."

BusinessOfCollegeSports.com reported the profitability of college athletics programs during the 2009-2010 school year. The table below lists the Top 10 schools and the relative rank of the Big East schools. Villanova basketball came in at 117 with a profit of $1.5 million.