Villanova Wildcats

The 2010/11 Villanova Wildcats are leaving their second round finish in the last season's second round NCAA Tournament behind them and are looking to this season for redemption.  The team has begun the year at 5-0 and is quick to point out their solid frontcourt of Mouphtaou Yarou and Antonio Pena and Isaiah Armwood and Maurice Sutton relieving them off the bench.  The team will have to play smarter ball now that Scottie Reynolds is no longer on the floor.

The Wildcats are one of the favorites to win the Big East and expect them to go far into the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament

A SHORT HISTORY

The Villanova Wildcats rank 20th in All Time Winning Percentage (.637) among all NCAA Division I and have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 29 times, placing them eighth in NCAA History. They have appeared in the NIT 17 times, winning it in 1994.

Back in 1920, Michael Saxe began the basketball program and coached for six seasons compiling a winning record of 64-30 but it wasn't until Alexander Severance signed on to coach the Wildcats in 1936 that the program rose to prominence. Severance posted a 413-201 record and he led them to their first ever NCAA Tournament game and Final Four. He would take them to three more NCAA Tournaments and two NIT Bids. One of the most famous players in Wildcat history was Paul Arizin, who is credited with inventing the Jump Shot and for scoring the most points in Villanova history (85).

The Wildcats have won the NCAA Tournament one time, (1985) and made it into the NCAA Final Four four times (1939, 1971, 1985 & 2009) and the Tournament Elite Eight twelve times. They have made the Sweet Sixteen eighteen times and have made the thirty times.
For 88 years, the Wildcats of Villanova University have fielded a men's basketball team in the NCAA and have come away with four Final Four appearances and one National Championship in 1985.

During the 2009/10 season,  Jay Wright, in his 7th year as Head Coach, has the respect of not only his team but his peers. Coming off last year's Final Four appearance plus the return of Senior Guards Redding and Reynolds (and Junior Corey Stokes), the Wildcats are now picked to finish number 1 in the Big East Conference in the most recent coaches poll.

The team finished out the year with an impressive 23-8 (13-4 in the Big East) record and received an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament as the 2nd seed in the South Region. In the opening round they faced a heady Robert Morris team that took the Wildcats to overtime. In the end, Villanova won 73-70. In the second round, the Wildcats met up against a game 10th seeded St. Mary's team and lost 68-75.