BIG EAST GAME PREVIEW: VILLANOVA @ RUTGERS

January 23, 2008

Rutgers remains winless in the Big East but they did show some life in a road loss at DePaul over the weekend. Villanova got a cherished road win at Syracuse over the weekend and are positioning themselves favorably in the Big East race.

Here are a couple local media stories on tonight's game:

Rutgers Men's Basketball Readies for Villanova (Asbury Park Press)
Scouting Rutgers & Villanova (Courier News)


If the Big East was to hold form from what we have seen in the first three weeks, Rutgers would win this game. While, I can't really pull the trigger on the Scarlet Knights, they do have a similar make-up as a team to Villanova. However, their talent level is a notch below. for the Scarlet Knights to win, they will have to give their most inspired defensive effort of the season, come up big on the boards and not suffer one of their normal putrid offensive performances.

Villanova seemingly finds someone to step-up from game to game to lead them to victory. Whether it is Malcolm Grant, Antonio Pena, Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher or another player, Jay Wright has a deep team that gives him several different line-up options. He can go big, small or more of a traditional line-up. Quite a difference from his four-guard line-up out of necessity a few years ago.

Rutgers tends to play Villanova very tough at home from time to time. I think they will be fired up tonight and try to parlay some positives from the DePaul game into a more complete performance against the Wildcats. I do think Villanova has too much talent and once they find the right combination in this game, they will exert that talent to get the necessary stops on defense and get the points needed to win on offense. As a 9-pt favorite, Villanova wins, but it should be closer than expected.

NBE Blogger Prediction: Villanova 74 Rutgers 67