Crossing Broad

Villanova Applied to Join ACC

Where do we go?

Whoa.

Lost in the craziness of the Phillies clinching the NL East and the Eagles dropping a deuce in Atlanta is the story about Pittsburgh and Syracuse making a money grab with the ACC (because when I think Atlantic Coast, I think Syracuse, New York).

The fallout is going to be enormous. As a Villanova alum, I’ve long been worried about the possibility of 1-A football schools leaving for greener pastures. Syracuse and Pitt (two of the top five basketball programs in the Big East) will join former Big East members, Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech, in the ACC. That leaves Villanova in a dying conference. One that they’re trying to get out of, according to the Orlando Sun Sentinel: [via The Nova Blog]

 ACC Commissioner John Swofford said during a teleconference Sunday the league received more than 10 applications from schools hoping to join the league. Orlando Sentinel sources confirmed multiple Big East members applied to join the league, including Villanova.

 

Ironically, Villanova’s foot-dragging in their flirtations with Big East football may now make it easier for them to leave the conference... or what’s left of it.

But there’s a problem: Where do they go?

Without a 1-A football team, it’s unlikely the ACC would have a use for a small catholic school that relied heavily on the power of its conference to recruit teenagers to play their home games in a 6,500-seat arena. 

The concept of a “Catholic League", with schools like Villanova, Georgetown, St. Johns, Seton Hall, Xavier, and Marquette, has long been discussed, but it would likely find itself on the level of the Atlantic 10 conference, not the Big East. That means Villanova’s recent success (and top ten rankings) would go away almost instantly.

Other options would likely be variations of the "Catholic League," in which schools with solid basketball programs and virtually non-existent or less-than-high-profile football programs banded together to form their own, soon-to-be-overlooked conference. 

- stomps foot -

Warning: I'm shooting boastful Temple and St. Joes commenters on sight.

Jay Wright is Now Tweeting

Gentleman, scholar

This has been an unrivaled week in Twitter signups. First Ilya Bryzgalov on the day of his visit to Philly, then Michael Stutes on a boss day (read: every day), and now Jay Wright  (@VUCoachJWright). 

The announcement comes as part of a larger PR push for Villanova- the school also unveiled its new basketball website today. It's got a lot of flash and rap music, which basketball players like.

Reals: If, last week, you would have asked me for three people that I'd like to see join Twitter, I would have said, without hesitation, a Russian goalie, a Boss, and Jeff Carter... but Jay Wright would have been a close fourth.

He could go one of two ways with his account: The Pat Summit I'm going to use this as a promotional tool to help strengthen women's lib route or the Pat Chambers I'm going to use this to actually give you some insight into what I do and continue being a kick-ass coach route. Either way, he really needs to end every Tweet with the \\// sign. I know how much you all love that.

His first Tweet was, of course, positive:

I'm telling you, this man could sell viscous liquid to Aunt Jemima. 

Perhaps now is the time to rant - in 140 characters or less - about last year's debacle to Wright... Nah, I'll wait. Welcome to the interwebs, Coach.

Invariably, this post will bring out two types of people: Villanova apologists or the unwashed masses* people who hate everything the school does.

*That was a joke! Not real. I don't think I can be more clear about that. I'm getting off stage. \\//

Thank God Will Sheridan's Latest Rap Video Dropped Before The Rapture

... and to save us from quite possibly the slowest sports news day of all-time.

Will Sheridan has come roaring out of the closet. First this, then a 3,000 word story on ESPN.com, now his latest single, 302, an homage to... Delaware. 

Actually... it's much better than his first one.

Former Villanova Basketball Player Will Sheridan Comes Out of the Closet

Today's cover story on ESPN.com tells us that Will Sheridan is gay. Hellllo, 2011. You can read the story here. It's a tremendous in-depth piece written by Dana O'Neill, who covered Villanova for the Daily News during Sheridan's time on the Main Line.

You probably could have deduced this for yourself if you watched this video, but all jokes aside, O’Neill wrote an excellent story, which includes Jay Wright's and Mike Nardi's reactions to finding out about "Bump":

That night that he told Nardi, his teammate didn't recoil or walk out of the room. He didn't ask for a new roommate.

He made a joke.

"I just said, 'Don't go putting a hit on me or sniffing my underwear or nothing,'" Nardi said. "I mean I was surprised because it was new to me. I had never really experienced anything like that, but it's not like it mattered. I don't know. I mean we were friends. Who cares?"

Evidence of the team's unity and comfort lies in one simple nugget: Jay Wright never knew his starting power forward was gay until after Sheridan graduated.

No one ever went to him with a complaint or a worry. No one even bothered to tell him.

"After I found out, I was like, 'Did you know?' And all the guys, they were like, 'Yeah, Coach, we knew,'" Wright said. "They just didn't care and I guess I was just oblivious."

Oblivious. That's exactly the word Sheridan used as well. He laughed when trying to explain his basketball-centric coach, making an itty-bitty telescope with his hands to show just how tunneled Wright's vision was.

 

Mike Nardi is equal parts funny and ridiculous.

Of course, this story runs just days before Sheridan's latest single, 302, an homage to Delaware, drops. Don't think this will stop us from lampooning his cocky lyrics.

Dante Cunningham Was Trucking Around Radnor With a Loaded BB Gun on Friday, Allegedly

And how was your weekend?

It's been really tough being a Villanova basketball fan this past year.

According to NBC Philadelphia, Dante Cunningham, who currently plays for the Bobcats, was arrested in Radnor on Friday. When he was pulled over for speeding and reckless driving, cops found marijuana, a pipe, and... a loaded BB gun in his car. What the hell?

First, um... this season(?), then the Will Sheridan rap video and the secret decoder ring from the Little Orphan Annie radio show, now this? Cruel. There's a A Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time joke in here somewhere, but I just can't seem to find it.

Someone should tell him that he'll shoot his eye out. There it is.

Former Villanovan Will Sheridan Releases One of the Oddest Music Videos You Will See

I had the pleasure of attending Villanova at the same time as Will Sheridan. He's most remembered for scoring the game-winning basket against Boston College in the 2006 Sweet 16. Well, he didn't actually score anything at all- BC got called for goaltending. But now we're just pickin' nit.

Sheridan was always an "artsy" type, and the fact that he has a music video comes as no surprise. Although, he doesn't always like attention, seeing as though he once chewed-out (not literally) a girl on a bus (leaving a formal), because she recognized him as being one of the 12 men on campus who routinely played a sport on national television. He didn't like that. His 6'8 frame just wanted to blend in. This was the same formal where I'm fairly certain I witnessed Mike Nardi receive a handy under a dinner table. Details. Too many details. Yeah, this video - like that visual - is frightening.

via Barstool

Your Bracket Challenge Winners!

Congrats to PSU Dancin' (Mike Kline) for winning two tickets to a Flyers playoff game. Mike, you have an email in your inbox from yours truly.

TWO 1st prizes: Profs (Andriy) and anthgal2 (Anthony Gallagher) both win a $50 gift card to Rock Bottom in King of Prussia. 

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Essentially, we had five people win four prizes. So instead of going to a tie-breaker, we decided to give out two Rock Bottom gift cards to the second and third place finishers. Fourth and fifth get the t-shirts.

If you won, you should receive an email from me shortly. Thanks for playing. Full results here. Tooting own horn- I came in 29th out of 500, which was good for the 95th percentile nationwide. Sports!

Villanova Blows It Again. You've Seen This Episode Before

 
At least this picture is hilarious...

I'm telling you, it's almost like they're planning it.

After four losses to Big East opponents to close out the regular season and a first round exit in their conference tournament shortly thereafter, the Villanova Wildcats continued their losing ways with a 61-57 loss to George Mason in the round of 64.

And they did it ever so creatively, allowing the Patriots to go on a 13-3 run in the closing minutes of the contest.  You can watch the last 87 seconds of the game below, when it was gridlocked at 54 after a 6-0 run by George Mason. Commentary by Gus Johnson, by the way... so... bonus. You can also read a recap of the closing minutes over at Philly Sports Daily.

And after the jump, you can catch the three tweet rant from our very own Kyle Scott following today's game. He wasn't laughing when he wrote them... clearly... but you will, and isn't that really what counts here, folks?

New SI Cover: Find the Two Villanova References, Temple and Penn State Players

Gus Johnson is Announcing the Villanova Game

So you have a lot of this to look forward to:

Villanova and Temple vs. Penn State Game Times

According to Philly.com, Temple and Penn State will play at 2:10 on Thursday on TNT and Villanova will play George Mason at 2:10 on Friday on TNT.

Gus Johnson will be doing the Villanova game. Buckets.

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