Villanova's Season Begins in Special Way

Tonight, Villanova will play host to a former coach, in an arena being remembered in it's final year of existence. Tonight is the first of two games the Wildcats will play at the Spectrum as they host former coach, Rollie Massimino and his Northwood University Seahawks.

Villanova will open the season ranked #25 in the AP poll. The coaches felt we were a little better and ranked us at #23. Nova will return not only all of their starters, but every player except for Malcolm Grant who transferred to Miami. The Wildcats are coming off a surprise season in which they made the Sweet 16, only to lose to eventual champion Kansas.

Seniors Dante Cunningham and Shane Clark will likely lead the Wildcats up front and junior Scottie Reynolds will lead a plethora of Villanova guards. Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes are a year older and they should both be much improved off their already impressive freshman seasons. The only other senior, Dwanye Anderson, who saw his production and playing time increase last season should provide good minutes off the bench.

Rollie Massimino's Seahawks are coming off an elite 8 finish in their NAIA Division II tournament. Northwood has been picked to win their Florida Sun Conference and they're ranked #4 in all of NAIA Division II.

This game is special to me because I am a Northwood University alum. I graduated from the school in 2006 and their basketball program began the following fall. In their 2 years, Northwood has won the regular season conference title twice and reached the tournament in both years. Massimino has done a great job down there and they will compete again for the national title.

With that being said, Villanova should roll over Northwood in tonight's exhibition game.