This will have to be somewhat short, only providing the simplest of profiles on each player.
G Scottie Reynolds :: He is the star of the team, the straw that stirs the drink. He leads the Wildcats in minutes, points, assists, points per shot and steals. Without him, they are a meddling Big East team filled with promise for next year, a possible sleeper team to emerge next season. With Reynolds, they are here in the Sweet 16. He is also their second best three-point shooter, and is the primary focus of their offense. Brandon will likely draw his assignment, with Scottie being 6'2" 190 (at least) and all, with Russell and Mario also seeing spot assignments against #1 on Nova.
G/F Dante Cunningham :: He is the tallest player that sees significant minutes for Villanova, along with 6'7" Shane Clark and 6'8" Antonio Pena, but is still listed as a guard. Ok. Still, he leads the team in rebounds with 6.4, and is their second leading scorer with 10.4. He will be a key guy to watch, as I'm really not sure how we are going to defend him. We will likely stick Darrell on him when he is in the game, but Dante could really hurt us if we try and guard him with either Darnell or Sasha for long stretches at a time.
F Shane Clark :: Clark is more of a traditional low post presence, who is an abnormally good free throw shooter. 84%, despite being as bruising as it gets on this free-wheeling Villanova team. He is third on the team in scoring and minutes, so he will be getting the ball plenty. Darnell or Sasha, whoever is in the game, will most likely draw this assignment.
G Corey Fisher :: One of two true freshmen Corey's, Fisher is the one in the starting lineup and the one receiving more minutes. He is more of a three-point shooter, shooting 34% from the arc which is good enough for third on the team behind little-used Malcolm Grant and Scottie Reynolds. He is also the point guard in waiting, and as soon as Mr. Reynolds takes his game to the NBA, Corey will take over.
G Corey Stokes :: Stokes is a bigger guard, at 6'5", and not nearly the shooter that Fisher is. That being said, he is a better player closer to the basket, and is a phenomenal free throw shooter at 90%. He gets about 20 minutes game on average during the season, but played 34 minutes in their last game, in the second round against the Siena Saints. With how deep the Nova bench is, who knows how much he will play, but he is definitely somebody to watch out for.
That actually isn't their standard Starting 5, Stokes doesn't start, Dwayne Anderson does, but I think those will be the five most important players to Nova tonight.
That was a pretty crude analysis, but just some stuff to expect from those five players.
Open Thread up in a bit.
ROCK CHALK!