Villanova Basketball’s Phil Booth named as a finalist for the Jerry West Award

Happy Game Day Nova Nation! Our boy Phil Booth has finally gotten the post-season award recognition he deserves. Yesterday Villanova’s senior leader was named as a Top 10 Finalist for the Jerry West Award.

The award is given annually to the best shooting guard in college basketball, and Booth has some big time names he’ll have to beat out to win it. Duke’s RJ Barrett, Syracuse’s Tyler Battle, Virginia’s Kyle Guy, and Hofstra’s Justin Wright-Foreman are a few of the more notable guards to make the final cut.

The award will be handed out at the end of the season, so Booth still has some time to position himself as the nation’s top shooting guard. But even if he doesn’t walk away with that trophy, he’s still got two National Championships to hang his hat on.

Before we get to the avalanche of links below (some days there’s just too much Nova news), it’s time for our Game Day poll. I figured we’d switch things up a little this week and throw everyone into the mix:

In other news, Marquette got swept by St. John’s, Jay Wright and Nick Foles are besties, and HOLY CRAP THERE ARE SOOOO MANY LINKS!!! Enjoy!

Villanova vs Creighton

Villanova ready for rematch against Creighton | The Inquirer
The Wildcats come in on a 10-game winning streak against a Bluejays team that they defeated last month in Omaha.

Players to watch, keys to victory for Creighton vs. Villanova basketball | omaha.com
The Jays will begin a three-game road trip Wednesday, and the first test will be the toughest. Creighton is traveling to face reigning national champion Villanova.

Men's Basketball Visits League-Leading Villanova on Wednesday | Go Creighton
Villanova leads the all-time series with Creighton, 12-3, including a 7-1 record in games played in Pennsylvania.

Villanova Basketball

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Narrows Watch List for 2019 Jerry West Award | Hoop Hall
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today the 10 candidates for the 2019 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award.

Villanova, Georgetown Men's Basketball On Schedule, Just Different Ones | Forbes
Even as both the Villanova and Georgetown men's basketball teams took the floor Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center, it was possible to see that they were playing two different games within the contest won by the Wildcats, 77-65.

KenPom: Nobody’s perfect — even national champions have their flaws | The Athletic
We tend to think of national champions as perfect teams, or at least nearly so. After all, they all...

These are 5 college basketball teams you absolutely don't want to face right now | NCAA.com
Remember that 6-5 start for Purdue? Old news. Here is a look at the Boilermakers and four more teams playing their best basketball of the season right now.

Villanova Basketball Adjacent

Nick Foles apparently hanging out with Jay Wright this offseason | 247 Sports
While Nick Foles is still awaiting his fate with the Philadelphia Eagles, he apparently is spending a lot of time with Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright since the Eagles season ended. Whether Foles is staying with Wright, lives by him, or just comes over to hang out...winners hang with winners.

The forgotten history of Puma basketball | The Undefeated
Isiah Thomas still has some old pairs tucked away at his house. The retired Detroit Pistons Hall of Famer hasn’t laced up the sneakers in what seems like foreve…

What is the lowest seed to make the Final Four? | NCAA.com
In the 34 years since the NCAA tournament expanded to its modern 64-team format, 136 teams have made the Final Four, but only five of those have been double-digit seeds.

Class of 2019

Ranney's Antoine to make history with Shore scoring mark within reach | APP
Ranney's Bryan Antoine needs just 20 points on Wednesday against Mater Dei Prep to eclipse Norm Caldwell's all-time Shore scoring record.

Tuesday’s Southeastern Pa. roundup: Jalen Gaffney propels Westtown into Friends School League final | The Inquirer
Eric Dixon had 17 as Abington clinched at least a share of their conference title.

Villanova vs Marquette

Shamorie Ponds carries St. John's to biggest win of season | New York Post
Three days after his Duke dud, Shamorie Ponds responded like a star should. He led the St. John's Red Storm to a stunning 70-69 upset at No. 10 Marquette at Fiserv Forum, arguably the biggest win of the Chris Mullin era, a victory that will travel on Selection Sunday.

Hype builds around Marquette’s biggest holiday | Marquette Wire
Holidays call for a time of celebration, some more than others, especially when the purposes of Memorial Day and Labor Day are regularly confused, and Columbus Day sparks an annual political debate over the praise of the North American discoverer. However, there is one holiday everyone on Marquette’s campus seems to be able to get behind: National Marquette Day.

College Basketball

March Madness: What to know about college basketball for diehard football fans | SBNation.com
So you’ve been too distracted by football to pay attention to college basketball. That’s fine. There’s still time to catch up before March Madness arrives.

College Basketball Primer: Early Cinderellas, Sleepers and March Madness Busts | The Action Network
The Action Network ran 10,000 simulations of the most recent Bracketology to find Cinderellas, sleepers and busts for the NCAA tournament.

Here's What You Need to Know Before College Basketball's Top 16 Teams Are Revealed Saturday | Stadium
The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee will reveal its top 16 teams Saturday on the third annual Bracket Preview Show on CBS. The show will give college basketball fans their first glimpse at how the committee uses the NET in the first season of the metric’s implementation after it replaced the RPI last offseason.

Bracketology and Bubble Watch

College Basketball Bracketology Seed List For Tuesday, February 5, 2019 | Blogging the Bracket
Despite losing at Iowa on Friday night, Michigan returns to the top line, replacing in-state rival Sparty. And Villanova is a 4-seed.

College Basketball Bracketology 2019: Michigan returns to the top line despite Friday loss | SBNation.com
The Wolverines’ road loss at Iowa was just a bit less costly than Michigan State’s home defeat to Indiana. Meanwhile, down at the bottom of the at-large pool, a couple of surprising new names have entered the bubble picture.

Bracketology 2019: Ohio State, Gonzaga rise in updated projected field | Busting Brackets
This past weekend yielded many shifts in my bracketology projected field. The bubble is shrinking but the teams are certainly tighter.

Bracketology: NCAA tournament projection as of February 5, 2019 | Inside the Hall
With less than six weeks until Selection Sunday, it's a good time to take stock of the teams from outside of the major conferences who have a chance to find themselves in the at-large discussion should they come up short in their conference tournaments.

Bracketology | ESPN
Joey Brackets has Nova as a 4 seed in the East Region with #1 Duke.

Bubble Watch: February is here, and the bubble is about to get real | The Athletic
Teams don't have much time left to get positioned

NCAA tournament Bubble Watch: Welcome to the start of the Madness | ESPN
Here's your updated source for all the latest on the NCAA tournament bubble.