Nova Report
Sweet Sixteen matchup: Baylor-7.5 vs Villanova (141.5) at 5:15 pm eastern in Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Baylor is an NBA team in college uniforms. They have two guards who are first round NBA draft picks (Butler and Mitchell) with their third guard (Teague) a lock to be drafted too. They shoot 43% from 3 and have lock down defenders. This exact team beat Nova by 9 in early 2019. The Cats leading scorers in that game were Colin Gillespie (not playing) and Sadiq Bey (in the NBA) who combined scored 43 of Nova?s 78 points.
The VU Hoops site has resorted to streaming the Herb Brooks (played by Kurt Russell) motivational speech to the Miracle on Ice USA Olympic Hockey Team before playing Russia. It goes like this: Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that?s what you have here tonight, boys. That?s what you?ve earned tonight. One game; if we played them 10 times they probably would win 9. But not this game; not tonight.
I prefer a more obscure scene from the movie called The Little Giants. ?The Cowboys may be better than us. We could play them 100 times and they?d win 99. But...that leaves ONE TIME?.
Yes, Nova Nation thinks it would take a miracle to beat Baylor. Probably, 90% of the Cappers are laying the 7.5 with most projecting a double digit Baylor victory.
So, what will happen. Jay Wright will draw up a great gameplan as he?s had a week to do it. My guess is he will change up their offensive attack. Sometimes Nova will push the ball up quickly; sometimes they will go to a half court offense. Defensively, they have no choice but to play man to man. For some reason, Brandon Slater, their best defender, has been in the doghouse. He really needs him to step up. Arcidiacono needs to take care of the ball. Samuels and JRE need to attack the rim. Their 3 point shooters need to shoot 50%. If they do all that, they still may lose but it should be close.
I can?t see Baylor doing anything differently than what they did vs. Wisconsin. Harass the guards, force turnovers and press the pace. Offensively, take the open 3?s, if not open, dump the ball inside.
Nova goes from the hunted to the hunter. Pressure is all on Baylor. Nova will scratch and claw for 40 minutes.
Ultimately, the inexperienced Cats will succumb to the Bears. It hurts, but my pick is Baylor-7.5.
My Nova Pick Record: 15-9