The Guru Report: Villanova and Rider Take Exhibitions Wins Ahead of Monday’s NCAA Hoops Season Opening Day on Monday

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Though many men’s and women’s collegiate basketball teams in recent weeks have played in so-called NCAA secret scrimmages, events in which fans and media are barred and no official information goes out from the participating schools, there have been a fair share of public exhibitions to simulate the total ambience and usually there’s no charge for admission.

Such was the case here at the Wildcats’ Finneran Pavilion Wednesday night and up the road in Lawrenceville, N.J., in Rider’s Alumni Gym with both host teams posting wins over nearby Division II and Division III squads.

For Villanova, a new sheriff but experienced veteran is now in town in junior Lucy Olsen, who with Wildcats teammate Christina Dalce were part of a USA gold-medal 3-x-3 team this past summer.

The Wildcats still have their share of players named Maddie, but neither spells their name with a y, though the one that does and raised the program to a stratospheric level last season will be around this winter in a newly-created civilian role in the athletic department as Special Assistant to the SWA (Senior Women’s Administrator) being a promotional Swiss Army Knife to help build the support system that helped lead to two national titles on the men’s side.

That would be Maddy Siegrist, the overall No. 3 pick on the WNBA Dallas Wings, who finished fourth before falling to eventual back-to-back champion Las Vegas in the semifinals.

The Siegrist effect, off an effort begun prior to this season, has sales of over a thousand season tickets, according to a recent report on the Wildcats’ website.

Olsen had 22 points in the 69-42 win over D-II Jefferson from the East Falls section on Henry Avenue. 

Though Dalce missed a bunch of makable shots going 4-for-13 from the field, by the time the game ended there was another double double on a night’s work scoring 13 points and grabbing ten rebounds.

While the game-day Siegrist scoring explosion era has ended, Villanova is not expected to crumble, being picked fourth in the Big East or a below-UConn traffic jam behind Creighton and Marquette.

Still, at the moment reigning Big East coach of the year Denise Dillon has been busy developing the chemistry between a bunch of newcomers with the veterans in advance of a Northwest opening trip next Friday and Sunday with stops at Portland, the No. 2 coaches pick in the West Coast Conference, and Oregon State, one of two Pac-12 squads left homeless when the conference likely becomes past tense next June.

“A lot of the starting lineup is going to be off matchups and who we’re facing,” Dillon said. “We’re small so a lot of small ball.

“Rotation-wise, we’re trying to get our freshmen as much early experience as we can so they can give us some significant minutes throughout the season.”

The newest Maddie, freshman Maddie Webber, a McDonald’s All-American nominee out of the Pittsburgh area across the state impressed with 10 points and and six rebounds, including 3-of-5 beyond the arc, in 19 minutes and 15 seconds of action sprinkled across all four quarters.

“I feel like everyone on the team has a good bond, so no matter who the starting five are, we’re going to trust each other,” Olsen said. “I think we’re playing well together, but we still have to pick it up and learn some things about each other.”

Despite the final outcome which would lead to classify the effort over Jefferson as a cruise, Villanova did hit some rough waters against one of the better small college teams in the nation, a group that also has been one of the dominant ones offseason in the Philadelphia/Suburban Women’s Summer League, playing as Team Black.

The Wildcats bolted to an 18-2 first-quarter rout, then, ahead 28-4 early in the second, went blank during a 15-0 surge by Tom Shirley’s bunch, before regaining control outscoring Jefferson 36-21 across the second half.

“As soon as we start missing shots, we let up on defense,” Dillon said of the drought. “Another lesson that this team has to learn quickly is we can’t break from what we’re doing.”

But she also noted, “In a real game, I would have taken a timeout, but this team has to figure out things on their own.”

Villanova won’t be making its home opener until Nov. 19 when Temple visits for a Big Five contest.

In last year’s game down on North Broad Street, Siegrist was a one-woman wrecking crew against the Owls, but Temple figures to be much improved this season.

Sam Yencha had a double double for Jefferson with 10 points and 10 rebounds, the only player on the Rams in double digits.

Shirley has historically played tough Division I opponents along the seaboard to prepare for his squad’s competition in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC).

Several years ago he took Jefferson north to meet one of the more powerful UConn squads in the storied history of the program, giving his players something to tell their grandkids.

Meanwhile, up in Central New Jersey, Rider bested nearby DIII The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), winning 63-50 to stay perfect at 7-0 in their annual preseason tilt.

New blood had an impact, freshman Kaylan Deveney out of Life Center Academy and Medford (N.J.) had 17 points while Spaniard Mariona Cos-Morales, an incoming transfer, poured down 14.

The game was close, Rider holding a 52-48 lead with under four minutes left in regulation until the Broncs then ran an 11-0 stampede forged by five different players to secure the triumph.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction,” said veteran Rider coach Lynn Milligan. “I think all the pieces are there, it’s just putting them together.

“We have got to be healthy, we have a couple of kids that are going to play some extended minutes for us that weren’t out there today,” she said. “I’m glad that we were challenged. TCNJ does as great job, they always do and that’s why we play them. We know they’re going to run stuff that’s going to cause us problems. When we get stops, we’re going to be able to get some good looks.”

Jamia Blake, a transfer from UNC Asheville, out of Rock Hill, S.C., also scored in double figures for Rider with 12 points, while veteran Makayla Firebaugh had three of the Broncs’ nine steals on a Broncs defense that forced 17 turnovers.

Rider will be Saint Joseph’s opponent next Tuesday when both teams open their season on Hawk Hill at Hagan Arena.

On Monday, La Salle visits Coppin State down in Baltimore, Temple hosts Delaware State at 4 p.m. in the Liacouras Center, Ivy favorite Princeton hosts Duquesne at 7 in Jadwin Gym, while at the same time Rutgers hosts Monmouth at 7 p.m. in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., and Lehigh hosts East Stroudsburg at 5 p.m. in Bethlehem at its Stabler Arena.

Nationally, No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 6 South Carolina meet at 1 p.m. in Paris, France, the host site for next summer’s Olympics. The game airs live on ESPN. 

On Tuesday, other locally involved teams have Penn State hosting Bucknell at 7 in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, while Lafayette visits Syracuse at 7 p.m.

Locally Notable: WNBA Minnesota Lynx coach and front office executive  Cheryl Reeve, a La Salle grad out of South Jersey, Temple coach Dianne Richardson, St. Joe grad and Broomall native Tasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics out of Broomall and Saint Joseph’s were among speakers Wednesday at the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative panel special live at the Loew’s Hotel; while Thurday,  retired Villanova men’s basketball coach Jay Wright, and former Kentucky and ABL Women’s Hoops star Val Still from South Jersey will be among the inductees at the annual Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame celebration, held at Live! Casino in South Philadelphia.

We’ll be back on the weekend to set the season table.