On this edition of Holy Nova, we discuss the latest summer storylines around Villanova Basketball:
🏀 Eric Dixon Injury Update — What does Villanova’s all-time leading scorer’s setback mean for his future with the Los Angeles Lakers?
🏀 Big 5 Pod Shuffle — How Nova’s new Big 5 Pod partners will reshape the Wildcats’ non-conference schedule.
🏀 Top 5 One-on-One Legends — Our picks for who would win a 1-on-1 Tournament of Villanova greats.
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Eric Dixon has suffered an injury serious enough
to keep him out of the entire NBA summer league. How big a setback is this for Nova’s all-time
leading scorer? Speaking of Villanova legends, we’re going to figure out who would win a
one-on-one tournament amongst all Villanova players in the entire Big East era. See if
you agree with our list next on Holy Nova. And hi, everybody. Welcome to Holy Nova,
part of the Big East Energy Network. I’m Matt Janice with David White. David, a fun show
today for sure. We’re going to debate who would be in the top five players in a one-on-one
tournament. But before we get to the fun, we have to deal with some less than fun news. Eric
Dixon, though it was an all-time leading scorer, went undrafted. Obviously, we talked about
that being a little bit of a surprise. And now you find out that he has an injury that’s serious
enough that he’s going to be sidelined the entire NBA Summer League. He has been spotted going
around Las Vegas in a boot on a scooter. That doesn’t sound good. It is an apparent foot injury.
never what you want to hear when talking about a big man. I guess there are two questions when you
think about this with Eric Dixon and this injury. A, does it impact his ability to make the Lakers?
And B, if he makes the Lakers, does the injury really limit his ability to find a big role as a
first of all, we have to figure out how serious the injury is. Walking around in a boot and on
a scooter never bodes well. That usually can be an Achilles or it could be something as simple
as a severe ankle sprain. So whatever that is, we need to find out. But obviously not playing
in the summer league is really going to hurt his prospects with the Lakers for this year. I think
that if the Lakers really were invested in them, they would have used a draft pick on him. Going
undrafted makes it seem like he’s definitely fighting for a roster spot. I mean, I will say
that the Lakers seem to be in a little bit of a upheaval if LeBron is actually going to leave.
There could be spots opening for different role players coming up and Who knows? That’s the big
thing. But I think it definitely doesn’t help. LeBron putting an organization in up people? I’ve
never heard of that before. That can’t possibly be a thing. He’s such a team player. He’s never
done that to any organization I’ve ever heard of. It is just amazing as the world turn seems to
follow LeBron wherever he goes. But from Dickson’s perspective, you know, my initial thought was
perhaps the injury, maybe teams had heard about it and shied away from drafting him as a result.
Because if you looked at almost every draft board mock draft going into that June selection, I think
universally it was expected he would go somewhere. But then the athletic reports that the Lakers have
not actually signed the deal yet with Eric because he was supposed to sign a two-way contract. And
it makes you think that perhaps either this was unknown or this crept up late in the process.
There’s a lot more questions than there is answers at this point, which is never a position
that you want to be in. Obviously, it leads people like us speculating and the spotlight even
grows larger because it’s the Los Angeles Lakers. Everybody talking about L.A. as Randy Newman
once said, I love L.A. and so does the rest of the world. But it just is very interesting. And
it’s a shame because this is a guy that we talked about it when we discussed about did the NBA get
it wrong? It a real chance to prove people wrong. but you got to be out there. Availability is the
most important ability and doesn’t look like he’s going to have it at least for a little bit. No,
I think that the Lakers are probably holding that two-way contract. Probably to answer the question
that we first came on with is how severe is this injury? Is this just, he can’t compete in summer
league and A month from now, he’s going to be fine working out in practice, doing everything,
or is this a longer-term injury that could keep him out for potentially months into the season?
So I think that’s the first thing the Lakers are going to do. I think if it’s the former and it’s
just, hey, I’m going to be out for summer league, but I’ll be back by August – end of August,
beginning of September, the Lakers probably still signed that two way contract, he probably
still has a good shot at making a roster. But not knowing what exactly the injury is, is really
putting a damper on what could be for Eric Dixon. It’s so funny because it felt like such a good fit
and real opportunity for them. We’ll see how it plays out as the news not ideal, although we don’t
know the full news. That’s the weirdest part, it feels like to me. There’s no shortage of Lakers
reporters. There’s no shortage of Lakers info out there. Heck, they reported the fact that they
saw them going around on a scooter in a boot in Las Vegas. So people are clearly looking for the
story, but they don’t have any more information than that, seems strange. And it’s just kind of
coming out in bits and pieces. One thing that came out completely was the news this week from
the Big Five. We knew that the pods were going to switch up. We just didn’t know officially what
it would look like. Remember, a couple years ago, they reworked the Big Five. It’s no longer around,
Robin. You play two regular season games against the six teams that are in the Big Five. College
sports now, numbers don’t matter anymore when it comes to names. They never quite line up with
Drexel becoming a full-time member of the Big Five. So Villanova had been in a pod with St.
Joe’s and Penn, meaning they had played them each of the last two regular seasons. Now they will be
in a pod with LaSalle and Temple. So that means they’ll play LaSalle and Temple. How those results
go will dictate where they finish, and then they will play a third game at whatever they’re calling
the Wells Fargo Center when basketball season comes around, the Sixers Arena down in South
Philadelphia. And… It will be against, depending if they are in first, second, or third place in
their respective situation. But the point remains, no Holy War this year. And, of course, the St.
Joe’s fans are upset about that. And Patrick Madden had a really good article, our friend, and
our colleague here on the Big East Energy Network on his Big Big East blog about the changing nature
of the Big Five and some of the reactions to the new schedule and the new matchups. David, does
this really matter? It doesn’t feel like Villanova fans are all that upset about it, but I guess also
Villanova fans are kind of getting used to being blamed for everything that happens in the Big
Five that people don’t like. Well, I think that Villanova fans, especially younger fans, don’t
have the same endearment to the big five and what it used to mean to the city of Philadelphia. As an
outsider, I’ll be the wet blanket that says, okay, you play. Nova is clearly in the best league.
They’re clearly been the best team over the last decade plus. Honestly, playing a round robin
against all of those teams probably hurts your net ranking. hurts your ability to go to the NCAA
tournament. So for Nova fans, I understand not really being that overly concerned about the big
five. feel for the other fan bases out there who obviously have a novo on the schedule would be
a huge gift for them or let me hop in for a sec just to again defend somebody that has been around
and heard this a time or two don’t buy into the propaganda this was not just villanova that wanted
to get out of the round robin temple was involved in that as well Schedule flexibility in this day
and age. You mentioned the three-letter word, net. You have to be able to schedule games that are
going to put you in the best situation net-wise possible. Certainly for Villanova, the ability
to schedule Michigan, to schedule Wisconsin, and to schedule that game against BYU to start the
season is why they were looking for a different scenario. But I think Temple was as well. And
you didn’t get a big… real argument from st joe’s pan lasalle and then drexel’s just happy
to be along for the ride and one other thing that is important to remember I love the big
five I grew up going to the big five I don’t go all the way back to when every game was played
of the palestra But some of my favorite childhood memories were going to Holy Wars in the Palestra
or going to Villanova Temple games. They didn’t play many of those in the Palestra, but either
at the Apollo back when it opened or McGonagall Hall or the Spectrum. They had a few games there.
Loved the Big Five. Big proponent of the Big Five. But the last year they played the round robin,
they played three games at the Palestra and like twenty three hundred people showed up. So
it wasn’t just Villanova fans that weren’t all in on it anymore. It wasn’t the draw it had
been. And you’re locking these teams into these schedules. I think everybody understood something
had to change. The big thing now that you’re kind of looking at is the revisionist history from the
St. Joe’s fans to the And suddenly, now that the Holy War isn’t happening every year, lay this
all at Villanova’s feet. I think it was always an understanding that they would reevaluate this
thing every couple of years. And as you alluded to, the other fan bases want a shot at Villanova.
We had Ray Dunn on our Temple Insider during the Zion Stanford episode a couple weeks ago. And if
you haven’t seen that, I recommend you go back and check it out. But he was very clear. Temple fans
were very disappointed to not have a chance to play Villanova. at Leah Cora’s center. They want
that game. That game means something to them. And for it to not be there for a couple of years, they
were very adamant that something had to change. And I think that’s why they made the switches that
they did. And let me clarify my point. I am not placing all the blame at Villanova’s feet. And I
think it’s completely normal for a rival to say, it’s your fault that things are not the same as
they’ve always been. My point is, I don’t care whose fault it is. I don’t care if it was Nova’s,
Temple’s, St. Joe’s, LaSalle’s. I don’t care. I think it works out better for Nova in the long run
than it does for any of the other big five schools because Nova is the ticket. Obviously, if you’re
in the Nova pod, it’s great for you. You get a chance at a high quality win that would boost any
tournament resume. maybe every I mean I don’t want to ruffle any feathers with uh temple and st joe’s
fans but no ruffle away especially ruffle away but I mean the likelihood of that being a great
win or a quad one victory just it’s not as high as it is if you have nova on the schedule so
it works out better for nova to be able to go schedule Two other even high mid-major teams that
would be a quad two win, maybe a quad one win, depending on where you play it. That’s just
a better scenario for Nova if they’re looking at getting an at-large win. I think the biggest
disappointment, I did like the old quad better. I will acknowledge that. I think Temple right
now, it’s an argument between Temple St. Joe’s, the second best program in the city, but there
is that Holy War nostalgia and the two schools being so close. And, you know, both Catholic
institutions, but of different derivants. I just think that game matters. You’d like to see that
happen. And then Pan being on the schedule means you get to go play the Palestra every other year.
And I will miss Villanova having no chance to play because LaSalle just redid Gola. So that game is
going to be at Gola when they play at LaSalle. And then Temple never plays at the Palestra. So
to me, that’s the downside of the new pod. But I understand spreading it around makes complete
sense. And, you know, change, unfortunately, is inevitable. And as we talked about during the
last episode, look, for Villanova fans, it feels like it matters much more to not lose the Big Five
games than it does to win. I mean, you want to win every game, but in the Big Five, you’re just not
getting the quality of opponents that right now. Maybe that will change, but right now you’re not
getting the quality of opponents that you would like to out of it. If somebody does end up being
good and if Villanova gets back to where they think they’re going to be under Kevin Willard,
they’ll end up playing at the Wells Fargo Center anyway. And that will be a ton of fun. The Holy
War. Two great teams or two good teams or whatever it might end up being. But being for the Big Five
City Championship, I think people would be into that for sure. Speaking of championships. Sorry,
I was going to say the exact same thing. I mean, you lose out on that St. Joe’s rivalry during
the pod play, but you have the chance of a Big Five Championship game at Wells Fargo between the
two. The other thing is you’re exactly right with Villanova fans not wanting to lose because losing
one of those games ultimately hurts you more than winning helps you, I think. Like if that math’s in
everybody’s head. I mean, unfortunately, the way the networks, it does seem like that matters more
than anything else. Who you play, where you play, the road games carry so much weight. The whole
thing is a mess. Didn’t mean to cut you off there. I was so proud of my mediocre transition
that I was about to try to do. But speaking of championships, we’re creating our own mythical
championship. We were putting together the best… one-on-one teams in the history of the Big East.
And each show was trying to put together their list. Ours got delayed a little bit because we’ve
had guests the last couple weeks. Then we had some NBA news that we had to get to with former
Villanova players. But finally, we want to get to ours. Let’s unveil. So what this is, it In the
prime of their Villanova careers, we were trying to rank the top five players if we were going
to have a one-on-one tournament. Not one-on-one within a five-man game, but like Bird versus MJ,
the old video game, a one-on-one showdown. Who would come out on top? We put together our list of
top five, and let’s take a look at that right now, and then we’ll come back and discuss it. Fun
topic this week, the Big East Energy Network has charged us with putting together a list of
the top one-on-one players in the history of the Big East. So without further ado, here’s Holy
Nova’s nominations for the Wildcats. First of all, if this was an all-time list, Howard Porter would
be on it, but he predates the Big East era. Our honorable mention, you got to have somebody from
Raleigh’s era, right? So we chose to go with Doug West, although he did not make the top five. Our
fifth choice might be a little bit of a surprise. Corey Fisher didn’t have the career that many
hoped for with the Wildcats, but he’s a New York City playground legend. So he’s on the top
five for the Wildcats. Number four is Randy Foy. Here’s a guy who once played basically one-on-five
in a Sweet Sixteen game offensively off the bounce and won the game against Boston College to get
Villanova to the regional final. I think I like his chances in a one-on-one situation. Number
three, Kerry Kittles. He’s the GOAT, but he was a little bit better coming off the ball, moving
without the ball. Still, his electricity near the rim. And the fact that he was once drafted ahead
of Kobe Bryant. Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen, ahead of Kobe Bryant gives you an idea
just how good he is. He has to be on the list. Number two might be a little bit controversial.
Jalen Brunson, one of the best players in the NBA right now, and certainly seems like he can get his
shot off against the best in the world at any time he wants. But if you’re going to play one-on-one,
you also have to play a little bit of defense. And I would wonder how long the game might last with
Jalen, even with his back-to-the-basket skills and his creativity. I have to have him behind. Number
one on our list, Kyle Lowry. Pure electricity. As athletic, as shifty, as fast as they come.
And a guy that is so strong, so physical, so tough-minded, and also a pretty good on-ball
defender. He’ll pick your pocket a few times. I like Lowry’s electricity. He goes to the top. a
list for me. What do you think about the top five all time at Villanova? All right, so that was the
video we put together, and we do want to hear what you think. Go ahead and rip our list to shreds in
the comment section below. Would love to have your impact. I know there were a couple names that I
controversially left off. One thing that I have heard a lot of from people when we talk about
that list is the fact that there are too many guards. There And size is kind of a thing that I
ignore too much when it comes to the one-on-one game. How’s a six-one guy going to go up against
a six-seven, six-eight guy? There’s some truth to that, I understand. But two things in my defense.
A, don’t always guard you, man. I mean, come on. What do you think that it’s going to be? There’s
not exactly a lot of Kevin Durant. in the history of this program over the course of the Big East
era. So I’m going to stick with the guards when the opportunities are there. And, B, you know, you
talked – I talked to a lot of people about this inside the sport in terms of their thoughts,
guards versus bigs in a one-on-one matchup. The consensus seemed to be you would think bigs
because they could shoot over you, but long-term – quickness and their ability to stick with it and
kind of extend the game and use their athleticism, it’s going to be a huge asset that it’s going to
be hard for the bigs to really match up against. What do you think, Dave? I mean, I am in your
boat right now in terms of guards versus bigs. Right now, let’s just stick with that. We don’t
have to keep talking. You take centers off the board. That’s ridiculous. I’ve I’d love to see
Shaq out there trying to dribble the ball around. I do want some size, though, in my wing players.
I think that the best one-on-one guy is probably a guy who’s somewhere from six, four to six,
ten, who can guard somebody taller than them, but also has the scoring ability to get to the
basket, get easy buckets. Given the parameters… It’s a one-on-one game. We’re not playing
five-on-five and we’re just talking about the guy who can just break down a primary defender.
Just one-on-one straight up based on their time at Villanova. I don’t know how Tim Thomas is
not on the list. He was a bucket getter. He was a bucket getter. He was a guy, look, there might
be a little bit of personal bias on that as well. Tim Thomas was the most infuriating Villanova
player, arguably of my lifetime. Loved the guy, loved what he became in the NBA. And I think
that he had a ton of skills, but There was some lapses in concentration over the course
of the game. And to me, in a one-on-one game, when you don’t have anybody that can help you, if
you have a couple of lapses, boom, you lose the game. You go head-to-head with Jalen Brunson or
Kyle Lowry in a one-on-one game and you kind of zone out for a little bit. they’re going to get
you and they’re going to beat you. Yeah. Maybe that’s a little bit of a miss on my part. The,
the Corey Fisher one, here’s the thing. You had to have a Raleigh representative and I still think
I’d go Doug West head to head against Tim Thomas, Tim Thomas, better basketball player. I would
take Doug West in a one-on-one game against him, but we’d have to see. Um, the Corey Fisher one was
anytime you build the reputation that Corey Fisher did on the playgrounds of New York city. And the
guy had a, he was Fisher. Nice. I mean, that was his nickname. It was Fisher price because he would
play, play with guys, uh, out in, in New York city. I think your game’s going to translate to
the one-on-one thing and you saw him do things off the bounce. I just don’t know how Tim Thomas would
have ever stayed in front of him. And all it takes is a couple steals and, boom, game over. So I’m
sticking with Corey Fisher. I think I might be the only one. So I would just say that in a one-on-one
game, inevitably, you’re going to get somebody who’s just going to take a shot and they’re going
to miss. And if Tim Thomas gets a rebound and it’s make it, take it, I don’t know that he’s missing.
All right. All right. I’ll give you that. Another one that I had some buyers remember were two of
the national championship era guys. And that would have gotten me the size that I did not put in my
list. Dante DiVincenzo and Josh Hart. You stole Josh Hart from me. I was bringing him up. The
thing about Josh Hart is, again… There are so many things that Josh Hart does well. Josh Hart is
a streak shooter and misses a lot. I think that, as you just said, in a one-on-one game, there’s
only going to be so many misses. Josh Hart’s ability to get a stop, I don’t question. But I
just think if you’re putting Josh Hart toe-to-toe against a Lowry or a Brunson, I mean, I would love
to hear them debate this on their podcast right now. Who would win a one-on-one game between
Brunson and Hart? Mm-hmm. So my problem with Kyle Lowry is just six foot. I understand he’s
tenacious. I understand he’s strong. My problem is that if Josh Hart just decides, I’m just
going to back you down, what’s Lowry going to do? He’s either going to body up and Hart’s
going to spin off and have a layup every time, or he’s going to be put under the basket. I
just, I don’t see a six foot guard being able to consistently stop a six five plus wing player,
except for, I see again. And I, I took some grief for this guard. You, I understand, but Kyle Lowry
made a living off of that in the NBA. I mean, guys tried to body him up inside, take him to the
post and Kyle Lowry as, as Kyle Lowry was the guy that invented the Villanova wall. Let’s be honest.
Jay Wright was the one that taught it, but it was Kyle Lowry’s ability to do it. at six feet tall
and defend inside and keep you from moving on him that I just feel like he would be able to hold
his own and again you’re looking for two or three stops plus nobody’s gonna have quicker hands than
kyle lowry and if he gets real frustrated you just do like you did in the kansas game he’ll punch
you in the gonads and move off you gotta always look out for that too in a one-on-one game yeah my
problem is that yes Definitely. In the NBA, he’s become the guy who walls up. He can get steals off
of guards. The problem in a one-on-one game is the ball handler is not worried about any help coming.
They’re not worried about anybody digging down. All they have to do is worry about Kyle Lowry.
Are they going to allow him to just come around and steal it from them? I don’t think so. Well,
okay, here’s my thing. If there is a shot clock, that is the one specification of the rule. If Josh
Hart has fifty seconds to shoot the basketball, yes, eventually he will score every single time.
But in a one-on-one game, you would think it’s, you know, a fifteen to twenty-five second
deal where you gotta get a shot off. Yeah, I think Lowry could wall him up, and I don’t think
Josh Hart’s fadeaway is consistent enough. It’s the same reason why I didn’t pick DiVincenzo.
I think eventually there’d be a couple misses, and then I think Lowry would just beat him off
the bounce over and over and over I don’t think you’re getting the ball back from kyle lowry
oh I would definitely have kyle lowry in the top five I I would probably have jalen brunson one
just because he gives you a little more size but I mean I don’t fault you for taking kyle lowry
considering his tenacity considering everything he does defensively his speed and quickness with
the ball I i We’re pulling, we’re splitting hairs right now trying to find arguments for just really
great basketball players. Look, I was really proud of myself that I put Kerry Kittles third. Again,
my email address has a thirty in it. I love Kerry Kittles that much. But you gotta admit, as much
as it is impressive that John Calipari Now, he, in retrospect, will tell you he wanted to draft
Kobe all along, and it was the front office that overruled him. I don’t remember ever reading about
that back in the day. I’m pretty sure Cal fell in love with Kerry Kittles as well and decided to
draft Kittles over Kobe Bryant. But nevertheless, the fact remains that an NBA front office was
looking at shooting guard in that draft, and they said, we want Kittles’ skills over Bryant. I think
Kittles is one of the more underrated players of the last twenty five, thirty years. He went toe to
toe gosh, we’re old. It’s actually a lot. I mean, man, Gary Kittles played twenty nine years ago at
this point. I almost didn’t give it enough room back to how long ago Kittles was at Villanova. But
yeah, in the last three decades, I’d argue that I mean, he went toe to toe with Iverson. He went
toe to toe with Ray Allen. And you could argue he was the best player in the league over the course
of his career during that time. Allen and Iverson Iverson obviously went on to better NBA careers,
but Kittles was a more productive college player. And I think he was good off the bounce and he
could create his own and nobody finished at the rim as well as Kerry Kittles did. And he
has that size that you’re looking for at six, five. So if you’re telling me that size is the end
all be all, then maybe Kittles should have been one on the list. But Kerry Kittle’s special sauce
was his movement without the basketball. I mean, my goodness, the man became famous because
Dick Vitale would go on three-minute aureas about his movement without the basketball. You’d
go four or five possessions the other way back and forth before Dick Vitale stopped giving
his speeches about Kerry Kittle’s movement without the basketball. He was that special and
obviously that’s useless in a one-on-one game. Yeah. And I mean, another factor that comes
into play considering the parameters of their time at Villanova is how much weight do you put
on NCAA success? I mean, you have Jalen Brunson, who obviously won a national championship. Josh
Hart was huge on that twenty eighteen national championship team. Dante DiVincenzo was he was the
M.I.P. of the final four that year, right? Yeah, the thirty one points against Michigan. Uh
huh. So. It’s how important is that success too? Because while Kittles and Lowry, they were
all great, they did not have that NCAA success that’s Hey, listen. Newer guys did. If Curtis
Sumter does not tear his ACL, Kyle Lowry gets to at least one Final Four, maybe two. I just want
that on the record. Kyle Lowry also, by the way, special credit to Kyle Lowry because he tore his
ACL the summer before his freshman year and was back playing by the middle of the season I still
don’t understand how that happened. Is he a bionic man? Whatever it was. But there was, again, a
toughness to Kyle Lowry that I just think matters in a one-on-one game. And that’s why I went with
him. And the other thing is, with Jalen Brunson, who’s calling the fouls? One-on-one game, you
got to call it yourself, right? Is Brunson really going to call as many fouls as he gets in the NBA
these days? Does he have the courage to get that many whistles? That’s true. What whistle are we
playing by today’s NBA where if you breathe on a guy the wrong way, it’s a foul? Or are we playing
back in the nineties when Kittles was around and you could just clothesline a guy and that was a
common foul. I agree though. Toughness definitely would come into it because there’s no way you
can call fifteen fouls in a one-on-one game on your opponent. So, on this topic, you look at
it, you know, the bigs versus guards. We did it at a bunch of different schools in the Big East on
the Big East Energy Network. You know, a perfect example is probably Georgetown. I mean, would
you put Allen Iverson number one at Georgetown? Who’s beaten AI in a one-on-one game? I mean, it
would have to be Iverson. He’s six feet tall. That went right in the face of your own argument.
You’re killing me for Kyle Lowry because he’s six feet tall. The next greatest Georgetown
player is probably Patrick Ewing. And I don’t trust Patrick Ewing dribbling the ball on the
perimeter. Or Mutombo. Are we going to put Mutombo at the three-point line against a guard? Alonzo
Mourning. How about Ruben Boomchay Boomchay? The, you know, Reggie Wingate. There’s a lot of options
that you could have at Georgetown. But I mean, I’m not arguing against Allen Iverson. The answer
is Allen Iverson is the answer. I’m just saying I just wanted to lawyer the lawyer a little bit
there. I wanted to walk into that one. False equivalency. A.I. is A.I. I love Kyle Lowry. He’s
not quite AI. Yeah, you’re right. You know what it is? Kyle Lowry plays defense. AI is allergic to
defense. How’s he ever going to get a stop? He’s just going to take the ball. He’s going to win by
just having the ball. Oh, yeah, with that forty percent field goal percentage that he had over the
course of his NBA career. It is. These are the fun conversations that you get to have in summer. It
would be fun to watch. You know, they play these alum tournaments. Now the players tournament,
they all have different names. And it is fun to see these guys come back together and, and play,
you know, under a made-up banner under the name of these schools. But to imagine them at their
prime doing this, I think is the most fun part. The thing that is interesting to me about it is
when Mark was first explaining to me the concept, I thought he meant one-on-one in the parameters
of the five-on-five game. To me, for Villanova, that’s the more interesting conversation, David.
That’s a very different conversation. Exactly. And that’s where my list, sadly, would probably
look pretty similar. I would move Brunson ahead of Lowry, Lowry down one, Brunson on top. And
probably I’d move Randy Foy into the two spot and then Lowry number three. But it is… Kind of
interesting in that I don’t know how Villanova’s guys would match up in the one-on-one fictitious
tournament that we’ve created here. But in terms of one-on-one guys in the frame of the team game,
I think they do really, really well. That would be a much different look. Oh, I agree. Five-on-five
is just such a different game than just straight one-on-one. But I think that the Villanova guys,
I think Josh Hart, is a great one-on-one player in the concept of the offense. I just do. I think
he can break down a defender, get to the rim. Maybe I am higher on Josh Hart than most. I agree
with that. Any Knicks fans listening right now probably would not agree with that. Josh does run
hot and cold. That’s the biggest thing with Hart, right? Without a doubt. I mean, that’s basketball.
All of these guys, I mean, Brunson doesn’t run as hot and cold, but he’s going to have his games
where he’s just off. And if it’s the day that you’re off, I don’t know what you want them to do
at that point. It is kind of funny. The two guys that we’re just kind of comparing in terms of, I
guess I was maybe talking a little bit more Lowry, but you could make an argument that in terms of
that one-on-one in the the realm of the team game, five-on-five, that of the last thirty years,
Novo and Georgetown, it could be AI and Brunson and then Kemba, right? That would probably be the
list for your three guys in the last thirty years, one-on-one, in a five-man game? Yeah, I’m trying
to think of it. I mean, yeah. Maybe Rip? Rip? I mean, Rip could take over a game when he wanted
to. I mean, UConn’s got a long list, obviously. They were pretty darn good in a lot of different
ways. But to me, I mean, look at what – Jalen Brunson won two national championships. He was
a bit player the first time, but he was the guy, the national player of the year on arguably the
best team in the last quarter century. And then he – has gone to the NBA and far exceeded what
anyone thought. And I think what maybe we thought was a plucky underdog story, it’s kind of one
of the reasons why if I’m Jay Wright, I’m not going to the NBA. We’ve talked about that a little
bit in the past. But everybody thinks Jay Wright created something on his own, and he did. But he
had better players than I think a lot of people give those Villanova teams credit for. They’re
starting to finally get that respect a little bit different. But Jalen Wright’s retired now, so his
legacy’s kind of cemented. But if he comes to the NBA and it didn’t work out, he’s still going to
be a Hall of Famer and a legend, but he might not be viewed as one of the two or three best coaches
of the last twenty years anymore because he might kind of be, hey, he won two and three with a
freakishly talented team. Yeah, and I think that… I can’t believe I just said something
that isn’t complimentary about Jay Wright. That goes against everything I believe in as a human
being, by the way. I take it back. I think that it can be a compliment to Jay Wright, too, just
because those guys were overlooked because of the offense that Jay ran, which was team-centered. It
wasn’t any one guy just going to get his shot. It wasn’t… We’re running on ball. We’re running
an NBA offense. We’re just going to on ball and go downhill and hope you can score. We’re going
to pass it around. We’re going to run an offense. We’re going to get the best shot. Whoever gets
that best shot, it doesn’t matter to the team. We’re going to play team basketball. And now those
guys are in a system in the NBA where it’s easier to shine as a one-on-one player because that is
the NBA philosophy outside of maybe Golden State. And we’ll see what the Knicks do with Brown now
that he’s coming in. And maybe Pop when he was in San Antonio. But other than that, you’re talking
what? twenty nine teams that run basically the same version of the same offense. who says
lawyers can’t do math. That’s pretty good. We can’t see your fingers, though, in the shot. I
know you were adding it up there underneath. Hey, you know what I just realized? As it’s British
Open week, as we tape this and we’ll put it out, it’s a little embarrassing. I guess
I’m a one-trick pony. I, in this video, wore two different Ryder Cup shirts. Is that sad
on my part? Is that… I mean… got this one I’m I’m ready though brady show but you gotta pick
the open championship as they call it these days I have not watched a full round of golf since
tigers prime I’ve I’ve I’m a bad golf fan I mean I don’t know what to say about it. You were
a Tiger fan. You weren’t a golf fan. I’ve seen you play golf. It makes sense. I wouldn’t like golf
too much if I had a swing like you either. Listen, I’m just saying if they plant a tree in the
middle of the green, I would hit it every time. But they refused to put a tree there. Not if
you were aiming at that tree in the middle of the green. You wouldn’t hit it every time. That’s the
fundamental thing. If you aim forty yards right, you might hit the tree in the center of the green.
Well, they have to tell me the hole is over there, but the tree is actually on the green. So I think
that I’m hitting it towards the hole. Well, just for the record, you know, I was so good at picking
the one-on-one team, got ripped to shreds by those of us on this video and maybe some others in the
Big East Energy Network. But I am going to make a winning pick. John Rahm is going to win this week.
Mark it down. Take it to the proverbial window, even though we’re not supposed to do that.
John Rahm, winner this week. All right. Well, I’m writing it down right now. It’s ten sixteen
written. Hey, look, we promised some lists. There was our first list. We’re going to have more
of those. We’ll look back at some of the past stuff from Villanova and kind of take it apart.
Twenty-five years of this century, we’re going to look back at some of the most impactful players.
I think we’ve got that coming up. And we’re also – you’re a guy that, you know, you’ve been following
Villanova here pretty closely the last – half decade or so, started to do the show and even
closer, but he did not grow up amongst it. And so we’re going to go back and look at maybe some
games of the past that you’ve never seen before. I’m going to give you some homework assignments.
You’re going to go watch them for the first time, and we’re going to kind of talk about them and see
how it is. We are not going to do the ridiculous Alan Ray travel game. From the North Carolina
graduate, keeps telling me that he wants to do the one, two, three Bill Raftery game, and we’re
not going to do it. One, two, three. I’m making Bill. He knows his math. Except we still never saw
the three. That was the only problem. He said one, two, three. We just didn’t see it. It was the
lighting and camera angles. That was the problem. Bill saw it live. That was Kyle Lowry’s coming
out party to the national world. That was when they realized how he almost single-handedly beat
that North Carolina team that went on to win a national championship. Yeah. No, I sweated to that
game. We can talk about that part of the game. We’re just not going to go to the counting part.
Love rap, but that was bad. Even Vern Lundquist couldn’t go with him on that. He goes, I don’t
know about that, Bill. All right, good show, David. Appreciate it. Have fun. All right. That’ll
do it for this edition of Holy Nova. We’ll be back next week with much more. Make sure to follow
along on Twitter at Holy Nova Podcast. Make sure you like and subscribe the videos. My kids keep
telling me that’s very important on the YouTube scene. Like them, smash that subscribe button,
whatever the lingo is that they will make. Hey, hey, you don’t even know, but that’ll do
it for us. We will talk to you very soon.
