Don't forget about Villanova

And our Jeff Goodman's conversation with student-athletes on life in quarantine

December 07, 2020

So we didn’t get Gonzaga-Baylor and it really was a damn shame. I’d been looking forward to that game all weekend, just as I figure most college basketball fans were.

But as our Rob Dauster wrote yesterday, that game getting called off just a few hours before tip was exactly what was supposed to happen.

That meant that Sunday’s matchup down in Austin between Villanova and Texas became the weekend’s marquee game, and boy, did the Nos. 3 and 4 teams in KenPom deliver. After the Longhorns led 27-20 late in the first half, the Wildcats got it going, outscoring Texas 31-16 over the next 17 minutes and never relinquishing their advantage.

It’s certainly not to diminish the Longhorns, a team that I proclaimed to be “back” last week in this very space. In fact, this game shows that Texas is right there with one of the best teams in the nation. But after the two teams that didn’t get to play this weekend — Gonzaga and Baylor — I find it hard to argue for a better No. 3 team than Villanova.

I know, I know. You’re probably saying, Mitchell, what about that loss against Virginia Tech?

I’m going to put it aside. This season is just plain weird and we’re going to look back at some early-season games come March and think how the hell did that happen? 

We know what Jay Wright has: a deep, veteran-laden team with multiple guys who won a national title three years ago along with a potential All-American sophomore in Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, among others. It’s early, but JRE is in the top 10 in KenPom’s player of the year standings and he put up 19 points with eight boards today.

The dude is a dude, and he’s a major reason why I’m expecting a lot out of the Wildcats this season.

As an update, we’ll be bringing this newsletter to you twice — not thrice — a week, typically on Monday and Thursday mornings. And if you really want to be on top of things, make sure you give us a follow over on our Twitter feed as well as our YouTube page, where you can watch full episodes in addition some of the best moments from all the shows across the Field of 68.

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WATCHING THE FILM

By far, the most fascinating episode this week was a bonus episode of the Goodman and Hummel Basketball Podcast as our Jeff Goodman chatted with a trio of current student-athletes. St. Joe’s Ryan Daly, Ole Miss’ Jarkel Joiner and NJIT’s Souleymane Diakite have each spent time in quarantine this season — it’s a situation that plenty of teams will, unfortunately, have to go through as we try to play basketball in the midst of a raging pandemic.

You might easily forget, but these are 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids that are used to spending the majority of their time around teammates, either on the court, in the weight room or just hanging out. Complete isolation is hard for anyone, but especially for college students.

Don’t take it from me, though. Here’s what Diakite had to say:

“It’s not easy — it’s really not easy not being able to do anything at all, not being able to compete, which is the hardest part. We’ve been going at it, and in a normal year, I’d have played 5-7 games already. And not being able to practice or play games, it’s just hard.

Me, for example, during the summer, the NBA was on and European basketball too and there were a few games, so you could watch that, but right now, the college game is on so that takes up a lot of my time, and right now, I have school too — finals are coming up, so that helps me get through this.

But during the summer when I had nothing to do, it was bad. I had days when I didn’t know what to do. And every day is the same. There was no Monday — every day was a Sunday. I tried to make the most out of it. I tried to read a lot of books, tried to watch a lot of documentaries and learn about new cultures.

You can watch the full episode with Jeff here, but it’s really important to remember that when these games are getting canceled and teams end up pausing activities, there are players who are truly impacted:

It would be nice if the rest of the season could go off without a hitch. But at this point, we know better than that.

So while I don’t want to beat a dead horse, wear your damn mask because I want as much basketball as possible.

THE MIXTAPE

Here’s a look at some of the other highlights from last week on The Field of 68:

Who’s going to replace Roy Williams at North Carolina whenever the legendary coach retires? Brendan Haywood had some ideas and he shared them with our Shammond Williams on The Carolina Conversation:

One of, if not the best, stories in all of college sports this year is Tiana Mangakahia, the Syracuse women’s basketball star who has beaten breast cancer and after missing all of last season is now back on the court for the Orange. She told our Eric Devendorf what she remembers about learning of her diagnosis on The Scorer’s Table:

And what was it like to recruit Kawhi Leonard? Just ask Brian Dutcher. Or better yet, leave that up to Tim Miles on his show, Inside The Mind of Miles:

WHO GOT NEXT?

So what’s on tap for The Field of 68 in the next few days? Well, here’s a taste:

Keep checking this space, keep spreading the word about our shows and definitely subscribe if you haven’t already. Enjoy the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and we’ll talk to you in a few!

Mitchell is a freelance sports journalist and a producer for The Field of 68 Media Network. He’s previously written for The Dallas Morning News, Sports Illustrated and The Philadelphia Inquirer. You can follow him on Twitter at @mpgladstone13 or reach him via email at [email protected].