Recruiting: Isaiah Armwood Down to 4

It seems 'Nova leads against Syracuse, Ohio St. and Texas for the 6'7" Power Forward Isaiah Armwood of Montrose Christian.
[Previous Armwood article]

More info on The Boards

Taylor King Officially A Villanovan

VUhoops.com is guessing that Taylor King is finally behind the desk as a student-athlete at Villanova.

Two new articles have popped out from Campus today.

• Taylor King Transfers to Villanova
• Nova Notebook: King Acclimates Himself to New Home at Villanova

Recruiting: Vinson Visiting VU this Weekend

Terrell Vinson, #61 in the Class of '09 (#13 PF), a 6'7", 190lb Forward from Montrose Christian will be on the Villanova campus unofficially visiting on the 8th. Scout.com (subscription) is reporting that he is down to Villanova, Georgetown and Duke.

Vinson indicated that he speaks w/ Jay Wright the most.

Corey Stokes Article in Nova Notebook

Check out First Year Lessons Serve Stokes Well for an interesting read.

Iowa St.'s Wesley Johnson Granted Release for 'Nova

The Des Moines Register is reporting that Iowa State has granted sophmore Wesley Johnson a release to talk with 8 schools- Arkansas, UConn, Marquette, Ohio State, Pitt, Syracuse, Villanova and West Virginia.


The 6'7" forward from Corsicana, TX was on the Big 12 All-Rookie team in 2007. As a sophmore, he faced an injury to his ankle but still earned Honorable Mention All-Conference for averaging 12.4 pts, 4 rebs, & 1.4 assts. He scored double-digits in 19 of the 27 games he played this year for the Cyclones.

Recruiting: Armwood to Visit in June

Isaiah Armwood from Montrose Christian will be making an unofficial visit with Jay Wright on the Villanova campus in June.

The 5-Star, 6'7" Power Forward from Rockville, MD is the #6 Forward according to Scout.com and #7 by Rivals.com. He is ranked #23 in the Class of 2009.

Armwood will also be visiting Texas and Syracuse. He also has offers from Louisville and Maryland.

Videos of Maurice Sutton in Action

For a lot of Villanova Basketball fans, here is a first glance at seeing Maurice Sutton's game.

Recruiting: James Bell ('10)

James Bell a 6'4", 210 Shooting Guard from Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL is close to committing to Jay Wright and Villanova. Scout rates him as 4* and is ranked #40 by one service.

"I love Coach Wright," said Bell. "He's a down to earth guy and is a players' coach. The program has a family atmosphere, and I also have a lot of family in the area."

Bell was seen in attendance at the Villanova vs. South Florida game earlier this year.

Villanova Recruiting Targets

Want to know who Jay Wright and the Coaching Staff are recruiting?

VUhoops.com has spent some time and done some research to compile a list of some of the top Prep Stars in the country who have been noted as being recruited by Villanova.

The list is available on the VUhoops Google Group as well as for registered members of The Boards ('Nova Hoops > For Registered Members)

PDN Article on Mo Sutton

Has anyone ever seen a team's beat writer be so against the team he's covering? Well, the Philadelphia Daily News' Mike Kern is pretty good at it. Check out his article about Sutton's decision to attend 'Nova, Maryland prep star chooses Villanova.

It starts with the "great" lead-in:

Maurice Sutton could have gone to Indiana and probably gotten a chance to
contribute a lot sooner...

And this fantastic insight from the team's beat writer for the 2008 season:

...the Wildcats return nearly everyone from a team that made it to the Sweet
16 as a No. 12 seed and have no pressing needs...

The Newest Villanova Wildcat: Maurice Sutton

It's official, Maurice Sutton, the 6'11" center from Largo HS in Maryland will be playing for Villanova next year. He averaged 18pts, 12rebs, and 9blks as a senior.

The style of play and his ability to contribute with the current guards and forwards attracted him to the Main Line.

Recruiting: Mouphtaou Tarou '09

Mouphtaou Tarou 6'10"
Massanutten Military Academy (VA)
4*
#43 Class of 2009
#13 Power Forward
AAU- DC Blue Devils
Also being recruited by DePaul, Georgia, Kansas St., New Mexico State

From CAAinsider.com

Mouphtaou is a very talented big man. He's strong and athletic and a tough match up. He really works a ton on the glass. He rebounding machine can score facing up or with his back to the basket. He had a lay-in and a couple follow up baskets. Mouphtaou also used his strength to convert an old fashioned three point play. He draws a lot of fouls and is already an impressive foul shooter.

Recruiting: JayVaughn Pinkston ('10)

JayVaughn Pinkston
Class of 2010
6'6" 220
Power Forward
Bishop Loughlin (Brooklyn)
AAU- New Heights

Pinkston is #14 for the Class of 2010 by Rise Magazine

Adam Zagoria is reporting that the explosive rebounder, but undersized, power player is also being courted by Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John's, UConn and Florida along w/ Villanova (who has offered a scholarship).

Maurice Sutton Announcement Coming

After visiting the 'Nova campus last week, Mo Sutton is expected to announce his college decision by tomorrow. It appears to be down to Villanova and Indiana.

The 21st is the last day a National Letter of Intent can be signed for the 2008-09 academic year.

Jay Wright to Play in Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Tournament

Villanova Head Basketball Coach, Jay Wright, will be participating in the 2008 Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Invitational at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, OH. The June 1-2 event will showcase 24 Coaching Pairs.

Participants besides Jay will be Mark Gottfried (Alabama), Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, Gary Williams, Tubby Smith, Phil Martelli and Bobby Cremins. Football coaches include Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville, Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer and Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe.

2007-08 Attendance Figures

The NCAA released their statistics and national rankings of attendance for basketball games for this past academic year.

Villanova drew 147, 570 people for their 15 home games (9,838 avg.). This was 49th in the NCAA and 8th in the BIG EAST.

For all games, Villanova drew 433,286 people- which is 23rd in the NCAA and 6th in the BIG EAST.

Maurice Sutton Visits Campus on Thursday

We apologize for yesterday's post that Sutton was on campus on wednesday.

We mentioned last week that 6'11", 3* Center Maurice Sutton from Largo, MD was to visit Villanova. He was sighted around campus today with Jay Wright.

Sutton recently visited Indiana last weekend. Kentucky and Seton Hall are also on his final list.

SI Article About Taylor King's Early Committment

In the wake of Kentucky signing two junior high students this week, Andy Staples chats with Taylor King's dad about Taylor's pre-9th Grade committment to UCLA.

Villanova McDonald's All-Americans

Villanovans who are on the list of Alumni of the McDonald's All-American Game (pdf)

• Aaron Bain '89
• Barry Bekkedam '86
• Calvin Byrd '89
• Jason Fraser '02
• Ed Pickney '81
• Harold Pressley '82
• Scottie Reynolds '06
• Tim Thomas '96

The list only goes up to players in the 2006 game so Taylor King '07 and Corey Stokes '07 aren't on it.

Jay Wright- Keynote Speaker in DC

Jay Wright gave the keynote speech (video) at the DCSportsFan basketball banquet that honored the area's top 50 players.

Check it out. Jay is all class.