College basketball is back and so is Fastbreak Friday. CSN anchor/reporter Amy Fadool and producer Sean Kane get you set for all the games involving city teams each weekend. We'll also make predictions for each game and keep track of our prediction records as the season progresses. Look for this column every Friday during the college basketball season.
No. 4 Villanova vs. Lafayette, Friday 6:30 p.m.
SK: Villanova sets out to do something no city team has attempted to do in 31 years - defend a national championship. But Jay Wright and his players are quick to point out they're not defending anything. They've wiped the slate clean from last spring's magical run that concluded with Kris Jenkins' buzzer-beater to beat North Carolina in the title game. It's the right mentality to have and the Wildcats intend to prove themselves all over again. But there's no denying Villanova enters the season with a bullseye on its back - in the Big 5, the Big East, and around the country. The Wildcats check in at No. 4 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.
Wright has plenty of talent at his disposal to make another run deep into March and possibly April. Josh Hart is a preseason first team All-American and Jenkins is a first-team Big East preseason selection. Jalen Brunson takes over the reigns as the Wildcats' lead guard while Phil Booth, Darryl Reynolds and Mikal Bridges will all have more prominent roles this season. Wright's biggest challenge will be replacing the production and more importantly the leadership of Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu. From all accounts, Villanova's senior class of Hart, Jenkins and Reynolds has acclimated itself well to increased leadership roles. That's important given the amount of attention and expectations that will surround the Wildcats all season.
It looks like Wright will go with an eight-man rotation once again this season with Bridges, Eric Paschall and Donte DiVincenzo coming off the bench. Paschall is key for the Wildcats. He sat out last season after transferring from Fordham, where he won Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year honors two years ago. He's a big, physical player who will provide inside scoring and rebounding but also has the ability to step out and knock down the three-point shot. The addition of Paschall took on added importance after the NCAA deemed Villanova's top incoming freshman Omari Spellman academically ineligible for the 2016-17 season.
After an offseason of unprecedented excitement, the new season starts Friday night with the Wildcats hosting Lafayette. There shouldn't be much intrigue at the Pavilion with Villanova being a 32 point favorite, but this is an important tune-up with a visit to No. 15 Purdue looming on Monday. Expect Hart and Jenkins to set the tone early, enabling Wright to get his starters out of the game and rested for Monday's Top 25 showdown.
Villanova 88, Lafayette 60
La Salle at Temple, Friday 7:00 p.m.
AF: How about kicking off the basketball season in style with a Big 5 matchup right out of the gates?
The Owls are the defending American Athletic Conference regular season champions. Coincidentally, they were picked to finish sixth in last year's preseason poll, just as they are is year. It would be a pretty impressive feat if Fran Dunphy could pull off back-to-back title seasons with a team this young (7 of the 14 players on Temple's roster are freshmen or sophomores.)
The Owls are especially young at the guard position. That's a rarity for Dunphy, whose teams are traditionally paced by seniors at the floor general spot.
Senior point guard Josh Brown is still recovering from a torn Achilles - that's a blow to the veteran nature of this team and to its consistency as well. The Owls will also be without Trey Lowe. The sophomore is redshirting while recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident last winter. Lowe was turning into quite the scorer for Temple, posting 21 points - mostly from long range - against Villanova last season.
The veteran bright spot for the Owls will be power forward Obi Enechionyia who returns for his junior season. At 11 ppg last season, the 6-foot-10 Enechionyia is Temple's top returning scorer.
La Salle on the other hand has become Transfer U. The Explorers boast three new transfers this season, two from large division-1 basketball programs (sorry South Carolina). Pookie Powell (Memphis), B.J. Johnson (Syracuse) and Demetrius Henry (South Carolina) are all expected to make immediate impacts. No one was probably more relieved to see their arrival than returning star senior guard Jordan Price.
Price is the engine that makes the Explorers go. He was seventh in the nation in minutes played at nearly 38 per game last season and was one of the nation's leading scorers at just over 19 ppg. So to say that he was looking for someone to help him carry the load is an understatement.
The good news is that the three new transfers were with the team last season while they all sat out their requisite year, so chemistry shouldn't be too big of an issue. But of course, they have yet to all play in a game together.
Speaking of last year, Dr. John Giannini would rather not. He called last season "the worst year of my coaching career." There is only one way for the Explorers to go in his mind, and that is up.
Tough test with a Big 5 rivalry game on opening night. I think the fire power of Price and the new transfer additions will be too much for a young Temple squad that is without two of its expected starters.
La Salle 71, Temple 66
St. Joseph's vs. Toledo, Saturday 7:00 p.m.
SK: It's a new era on Hawk Hill. Phil Martelli lost his three top scorers from last year's team that won 28 games, a second Atlantic 10 Tournament title in three years, and came within a whisker of upsetting top-seeded Oregon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The departure of 2016 A-10 and Big 5 Player of the Year DeAndre' Bembry will sting the most. Bembry did it all for the Hawks the last three seasons before deciding to declare for the NBA Draft, where he was a first round selection of the Atlanta Hawks. Players like Bembry don't come around too often and replacing his production is a tall order. Last year's leading scorer Isaiah Miles and third-leading scorer Aaron Brown also must be replaced. Bembry, Miles and Brown accounted for 60 percent of the Hawks' offense a year ago.
But those veteran departures bring about opportunity - there are plenty of minutes available in Martelli's rotation. A number of players stand to benefit from an increase in playing time, none more so than point guard Lamarr Kimble. Kimble takes the reigns to the offense as a sophomore after playing 18 minutes per game last season. He was voted a team captain, becoming just the third sophomore in school history to serve in that role. He's a classic 'Philly guard' - a tough, hard-nosed player able to create his own shot and set up scoring opportunities for his teammates.
Kimble was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team last season following a terrific high school career at Neumann-Goretti. The spotlight will be shining bright on Kimble now and I'm betting he responds with a big year.
St. Joseph's was picked to finish ninth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, which seems about right. Martelli's 22nd season at St. Joe's will be a challenging one. He'll need time to mold this group with so many unproven parts playing key roles. It's starts Friday night against a Toledo team that won 17 games last season and returns a terrific guard in Jonathan Williams, who averaged 17.6 ppg last season as a junior.
This game will come down to the wire, with the experience of Toledo ultimately being the difference in the final minutes.
Toledo 71, St. Joseph's 67
Penn at Robert Morris, Friday 7:00 p.m.
SK: I'm of the opinion that it's only a matter of time before Steve Donahue leads Penn back into Ivy League contention. We saw signs of that in Donahue's first season leading the Quakers. As Donahue starts to integrate his own recruiting classes into the Penn program it will be interesting to see the progress the Quakers make. Donahue has already proven he knows how to win in the Ivy League from his time at Cornell. Now he's trying to replicate that success at Penn.
Donahue lost several key pieces from last year's group, but he does have a number of versatile returners and promising newcomers at his disposal. Senior guard Matt Howard will lead the way for the Quakers this season. Howard is Penn's most versatile player. A 6-4 guard, he is also able to play inside when called upon. Howard averaged 12 points and just under 6 rebounds last year and that production will need to increase if the Quakers are going to make some noise in the Ivy League.
The arrival of freshman big man A.J. Brodeur figures to breathe life into the Quakers offense. Brodeur was a highly-recruited high school prospect, spurning offers from Notre Dame and Boston College to come to Penn. He's a very skilled post player, able to knock down the perimeter jumper with regularity.
I expect the Quakers to make significant strides in Donahue's second season. But I don't see Penn starting the season with a win. Robert Morris won just 10 games last season but returns four starters eager to return the program to the level it became accustomed to over the past decade. The Quakers and Colonials are evenly matched, but homecourt advantage should be the deciding factor for RMU.
Robert Morris 68, Penn 65
Drexel at Monmouth, Friday 7:00 p.m.
AF: The Dragons start the year with a new face at the helm for the first time in nearly two decades. Head coach Zach Spiker comes to Drexel after seven seasons at Army. At West Point, Spiker had the Black Knights near or above .500 in his last four years. That's an impressive feat. If you don't believe me, consider how hard it is to coach, recruit and manage a team at a United States service academy. It's a special player who decides that in addition to playing basketball, they will also perform all the duties of a West Point cadet, no small commitment, and of course serve in our military after graduation.
So it's no ordinary coaching situation. Spiker's team last year won 19 games. That's the most Army has won since...wait for it...19 games during the 1977-78 season with little known coach at the time, Mike Krzyzewski. No, Spiker isn't Coach K, but West Point had 19 seasons in between those two seasons with single digit win totals, so that can give you some perspective.
Drexel boasts a notable transfer of its own, coincidentally he has La Salle connections. Miles Overton, son of Explorers great Doug Overton, comes to Drexel from Wake Forest. Overton only played one season under Demon Deacons coach Danny Manning, having been recruited to Wake by Jeff Bzdelik. Overton played in 29 of the Deacons' 33 games two years ago in Winston-Salem, averaging 2.9 ppg over 8.8 minutes. He shot 35 percent from the floor and 33 percent from 3-point range.
The Dragons could really use some of Overton's shooting, especially from long range. This team averaged 63 points last season while shooting just over 39 percent from the floor and only posted six wins on the year.
Drexel opens up with Monmouth, a team that some thought should've made the NCAA tournament last year. I'm not sure about that, but I certainly enjoyed their bench mob's scene all season long. Not sure what to expect from this Drexel team, but it's not easy to open with Monmouth.
Monmouth 72, Drexel 70
Prediction Records
Amy Fadool: 0-0
Sean Kane: 0-0