phrustrated philly phan

• Villanova beat St. Joes to win their second consecutive Big 5 championship along with their eleventh straight Big 5 win. Not a pretty game.
• Both the Flyers and Sixers are in action tonight
• It is good to hear that Brett Myers is down to 218 pounds and says he will stay committed to staying shape during the season

Labels: Big Five, Phillies

• Villanova lost by two at Notre Dame last night. Curtis Sumpter had a three point shot as time expired but it rimmed out. Villanova split the season series with the #21 ranked Fighting Irish.
• Temple fell to Duquense last night. Fran Dunphy has had a tough year with the Owls. Currently, Temple is on the outside looking in for a bid to the A-10 tournament.
• Drexel minus top-scorer, Frank Elegar, fell to the top team in the Colonial Athletic Association, Virginia Commonwealth who is undefeated in CAA play. The Dragons are 15-5 overall and 7-3 in CAA play.
• St. Joes beat Penn last night at the Palestra, 84-74. Penn finishes the City Series at .500 (2-2). St. Joes moves to 2-0 in the Big Five.
• The Sixers claimed their fourth win in six games last night beatin the Atlanta Hawks, 104-89. If not for the meltdown against the Cavaliers it would have been the Sixers fourth straight win. Samuel Dalembert poured in 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and blocked 7 shots.
• The other winter sports team (thats the Flyers if you don't know) lost their ninth straight game despite a strong performance overall and a good effort from Robert Eshe in goal. The Flyers also have not won at home since November.
• In Today's Inquirer, Ed Snider owns up to the failures of the Sixers and Flyers.
• Barbaro suffered another setback in his recovery from his broken leg. Barbaro can no longer put weight on his hind leg that he broke in the Preakness causing his doctors to try riskier procedures to save him.

Labels: Big Five, Flyers, Sixers

• Kevin Durant lead his #21 ranked Texas Longhorns into Philly yesterday and lost to a Villanova team that is coming together. This is the second ranked team the Wildcats have defeated in the past week. Villanova sensation freshman, Scott Reynolds, outplayed Kevin Durant. Reynolds outscored Durant, 26-12 and even helped defend Durant even though he gave up six inches. Sophomore Dante Cunningham also helped shut down Durant. If Durant is a future Sixer, he got off to a rough start in the Wachovia Center.
• The Flyers gave one of their best complete efforts of the year but could not upend the New Jersey Devils. The Flyers never trailed all game, but gave up the lead with just 20 seconds remaining the third period and then lost in a shoot-out. Antero Nittymaki played well in goal and Simon Gagne reconnected with Peter Forsberg to score an early goals. The other goals were scored by Kyle Calder and Ryan Potulny.
• In today's Inquirer Steven A. Smith takes Ed Snider to the woodshed.
• And hot off the presses: The Phillies sign Chase Utley to a seven year/85 million dollar extension as reported by ESPN.com. I will have more on this later.

Labels: Big Five, Flyers, Phillies

• The Flyers continue to lose and last night a bad call may be to blame. Read the Daily News for the full story. The Flyers are not only bad this year but seem to not care at all. That is a great way to lose a fan base.
• Dick Jeradi is reporting that there are plans for a in-season tournament to be held at the Palestra. The tournament would likely include at least one Philly team and Jerardi feels that team will be Penn next year.
• Tomorrow afternoon a potential future Sixer, Kevin Durant, will be playing for Texas against Villanova at the Wachovia Center. Should be exciting.
• In a rare high scoring Big 5 game, Penn outscored LaSalle 93-92. The game included 15 lead changes and LaSalle's Darnell Harris lead all scorers with 32 points.
• Sixer's coach, Mo Cheeks, has hinted that line-up changes could be coming. The most likely is Steven Hunter replacing Joe Smith. Not like it will matter much
• Check out this mornings Inquirer for a way to get through the cold winter without a good sports team.

Labels: Big Five, Flyers, Sixers

• The Sixers came through in the clutch last night and got blown out by the Memphis Grizzlies to establish themselves as the worst team in the league. They are now just percentage points behind the Grizzlies now. With the Grizz playing better of late, the Sixers looked to have a great chance at the number one pick.
• The Villanova Wildcats beat their first top-25 opponent this year by defeating Notre Dame last night. The Wildcats have struggled in the Big East so far but this win could go a long way as they build their tournament resume. Freshman star, Scott Reynolds, scored 27 points.
• Staying on Villanova they host the Texas Longhorns this Saturday at the Wachovia Center. This could be a good chance to see a future Sixer playing.
• The Temple Owls broke their 5-game losing streak last night. Fran Dunphy is having a rough first year in North Philly.
• I wrote an entire post praising Drexel and they haven't been the same since. They have struggled in the CAA and will probably have to win their conferance tournament to make the Big Dance.
• The Flyers' lone bright spot, Simon Gagne, was selected to play in the NHL All-Star game in Dallas. Congrats to Simon but other than that there is not much to look forward too. Paul Holmgren is already out scouting the top prospects in North America.
• Coming Up: A Phillies Report. I haven't commented on them lately an with Spring Training merely 27 days away it is time to look at their recent additions and start a player-by-player breakdown.

Labels: Big Five, Flyers, Sixers

As the Big 5 teams near their midpoint of the season and have either started or are getting ready to start their conferance games, I figured now would be a good time to look at each five teams individually.

Villanova - Coach Jay Wright's squad lost key players Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, and Allan Ray who are all performing in the NBA now. Currently they are 10-4 overall but 0-2 in the Big East. They started off the season with a win over Rollie Massimino's Northwood University squad. The Wildcats are 3-0 in Big 5 play with wins over Penn (99-89), LaSalle (64-51), and Temple (83-65). They also have a nonconferance win at Oklahoma but lost to Philly team, Drexel (81-76). Fifth year senior, Curtis Sumpter, leads Villanova with 19.4 points per game and is also pulling down 6.8 rebounds per game. Guard Mike Nardi is also performing well with a 14.4 average. Heralded freshman, Scott Reynolds, is third on the team in scoring averaging 9.2 ppg. Upcoming games include: 1/20 vs. Texas at the Wachovia Center, 2/6 vs. St Joes (for the Big 5 championship), 3/3 vs. Syracuse (Big East finale).

Temple - First year coach, Fran Dunphy, has endured some struggles in North Philly. They stand at 6-7 overall but 0-1 in Atlantic 10 play. They are currently on a three game losing streak including a 83-65 loss to Villanova and a 73-55 loss to Coach K and Duke. They have also lost to Drexel 69-54 but have beaten Big East school, Rutgers, 77-54. Dionte Christmas leads the Owls in scoring with a 19.8 average with Dustin Salisbury playing second fiddle with a 16.7 average and pulling down 5.3 boards per game. Salisbury played in the neighboring school district where I graduated. Quite a high school player. They have some upcoming tests against Big 5 teams. They include 1/10 vs. St. Joes, 1/24 vs. Penn, 2/4 vs. LaSalle, 2/14 vs. LaSalle, and finally 2/22 vs. St. Joes. They have a lot of winning to do if they want to make the Big Dance in March. It will probably require winning the Atlantic 10 championship.

St. Joes- Phil Martelli's team is 8-5 overall with a perfect 1-0 record in Atlantic 10 play. They have been lead by do it all sophomore forward, Ahmad Nivins. Check out I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake. It is posted under Philly Sports on Dec. 30. He is currently averaging 15.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. They had a big nonconferance win against Big Dance cinderella team, Bucknell (63-53). They have also lost to Drexel (72-56) and Big East competitor, Louisville (74-64). They have upcoming tests against Big 5 opponents including 1/10 vs. Temple, 1/27 vs. Penn, 2/6 vs. Villanova, 2/10 vs. LaSalle, and 2/22 vs. Temple.

Penn - First year coach, Glen Miller, leads this perenial Ivy League contender. They have yet to start conferance play but stand at 7-6 overall. Miller comes from seven years at Brown University where he turned around a terrible basketball program. He does not have nearly that tough of a job at Penn where all he has to do is keep the winning going. This is the only Big 5 team to beat Drexel doing so by a 68-49 margin. They have lost to Big East teams, Syracuse and Villanova, as well at North Carolina. The Quakers are led by two seniors. Forward Mark Zoller is averaging 19.2 points and 8 rebounds per game. Guard Ibrahim Jaaber is averaging 16 ppg. Upcoming games include 1/18 vs. LaSalle, 1/24 vs. Temple, and 1/27 vs. St. Joes.

LaSalle - This is a very young team being led by a freshman and a junior. They have struggled early going 6-8 overall and 0-2 in the Atlantic 10. They have a loss to Villanova and one to UMASS. Junior guard, Darnell Harris is averaging 14.2 ppg while sidekick freshman guard, Rodney Green, is averaging 13.1 ppg. They have four more games against Big 5 opponents including 3 games in 10 days. The games are 1/18 vs. Penn, 2/10 vs. St. Joes, and 2/14 vs. Temple.

Labels: Big Five

• Finally, the Sixers officially announced the return of Larry Brown as executive vice president. A nice fancy title for Brown but as we all know a title doesn't stop Brown for overstepping his boundaries. Refer to my December 22 post (filed under Sixers) for my opinion of Brown returning. No matter what Mo Cheeks says, know that his seating has begun heating up immensely. It is only a matter of time until Brown has the itch to coach again.
• The Sixers lost again Friday night to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Randy Foye. Foye really began to come into his own in December even winning the Rookie of the Month. Last night he scored 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 11 assists. He played 30 minutes coming off the bench. On the year, Foye is averaging 8.5 points per game in only 18 minutes.
• The Sixers released La Salle product Steve Smith. This move reduced their roster size to only 14. The Sixers also avoided having to pay Smith his entire contract. I was sad to see him go because I was hoping Smith could make it with the hometown Sixers.
• The rumors are swirling regarding a buyout of Chris Webber's contract. Webber is making 20 million this year and 22 next year. I would love to see him go. He has missed 9 out of the past 12 games and is three years past being a productive player. He only slows down this offense and provides very little defense.
• If nothing else, Pat Gillick is adding quantity to the bullpen. The Phillies added Anderson Garcia from the Orioles' organization. He was added to the 40-man roster but is a long shot to make the team out of Spring Training. He will likely begin the year in Ottawa.
• To add to my December 27 post about Ed Snider (posted under Flyers), the Columbus Blue Jackets are an impressive 11-8-2 since Ken Hitchcock took over after being well below .500 before.

Labels: Big Five, Phillies, Sixers