Sports Poets Society

GEORGETOWN Georgetown hasn't lost 3 games to one opponent in a single season in 10 years, and Xavier may have to stop D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera to end that run. A day after almost single-handedly putting the NO. 23 Hoyas in the Big East semifinals , Smith-Rivera looks to lead them to their first conference title game in five years Friday night against the Musketeers at Madison Square Garden. Second-seeded Georgetown (21-9; BE 12-6) has lost 3 of 3 against Xavier (20-12) since they became conference rivals last season.   The Hoyas dropped both meetings this season by an average of 15.0 points while shooting 37.8%, including 22.9 from 3-point range. The last team to beat them 3 times in a season was Connecticut in 2004-05 . Smith-Rivera will likely play a large role in avoiding such a dubious feat. The junior guard is averaging 20.7 points while hitting 46.5 percent of his 3s over the last 6 games and was particularly outstanding in Thursday's 60-55 win ...

VILLANOVA Villanova used another hot shooting performance from the perimeter to advance and pull closer to some historic achievements. The fourth-ranked Wildcats can establish their longest-ever winning streak and set a single-season school record for victories Friday night against Providence in a Big East Tournament semifinal at Madison Square Garden. Villanova (30-2) opened postseason play with an 84-49 (+35) blowout of Marquette in Thursday's quarterfinal, its biggest Big East Tournament victory ever . Its 30 wins match the school record set by the 2008-09 Final Four team , while the 13-game winning streak is the squad's second this season. The Wildcats are trying to buck a trend of disappointing conference tournament performances . Villanova hasn't won 2 such games since 2004 when it defeated Providence to reach the semifinals , where it lost to Connecticut . In 2009, the Wildcats won 1 game before bowing out early and the 2006 squad that reach...

Thursday, March 12, 2015 By Dana O'Neil - ESPN.com VILLANOVA, Pa. -- If successful college basketball teams were built like rivets or tinker toys, pieced together in a factory or constructed with the aid of detailed instructions, the pieces needed for assembly would include at least one of the following: • One-and-done player • Future NBA draft pick • All-American or player of the year candidate In other words, Villanova would be a reject . Because the Wildcats are everything that college basketball teams are not supposed to be . They are old. They have 2 seniors who actually play , and not just as convenient replacement players for an otherwise void senior day. They do not have a one-and-done candidate on their roster . Or a two-and-done. Or a three-and-done. There's not one player through which the team runs . Their top 6 scorers average within 5 points of one another. Nobody's name appears on a single player of the year list , All-A...

LaDontae Henton, Kris Dunn Hilliard, Henton and Dunn Named Unanimously To All-BIG EAST First Team March 8, 2015 NEW YORK - Villanova guard Darrun Hilliard and Providence forward LaDontae Henton and guard Kris Dunn were named unanimously to the 2014-15 All-BIG EAST First Team , the league announced. The conference's head coaches choose the all-conference teams. The coaches are not permitted to vote for their own players. The league announced the All-BIG EAST First and Second Teams, Honorable Mention and the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team. The BIG EAST Player of the Year will come from the All-BIG EAST First Team. The conference will announce Player of the Year, BIG EAST Coach of the Year, BIG EAST Rookie of the Year and the BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, March 11. The announcement will be made on the first day of the BIG EAST Championship Presented by New York Life at Madison Square Garden at 4:30 p.m. ET. The other league individual awards will be announced...

There was plenty of mourning before last season began over the supposed demise of the “old” Big East, but by the time the conference ended its annual March marquee party at Madison Square Garden, one school could not have enjoyed the new Big East any better . Providence was one of those programs that never recovered when expansion bloated the Big East to a 16-team monster in 2005 . That lineup paraded Top 25 teams into the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on a weekly basis, and the Friars never could gain much traction. The new, streamlined, football-be-damned conference could work quite well for Ed Cooley’s Friars , however. Providence emerged as the first Big East tournament champ of the old/new league after an upset of Doug McDermott and Creighton in the title game . Scoring point guard Bryce Cotton then dropped 36 points and 8 assists on a stunned North Carolina team before the Tar Heels found a way to escape with a 79-77 second-round NCAA tournament victory. The Big East title was ...

di CHRISTIAN GIORDANO, SKY SPORT 24 Ajax, Bayern Monaco e Barcellona (I): mai era successo a Louis van Gaal di non portare a casa almeno un trofeo al primo anno in un grande club. Gli succederà al Manchester United, appena eliminato nei quarti di FA Cup dall'Arsenal e già fuori da tutto: senza coppe europee, mai entrato nella corsa al titolo in Premier, uscito con un clamoroso 4-0 al secondo turno di Coppa di Lega contro l'MK Dons, club di League One, la terza serie inglese. Dovesse mancare anche il quarto posto che vale il pass alla prossima Champions, sarebbe un disastro senza precedenti, specie in rapporto ai 150 milioni di sterline spesi nella sua gestione. Se c'è una gara che vale ciò che resta di questa tormentata stagione dello United, è quella con il Tottenham all'Old Trafford; il Teatro dei Sogni diventato tale per Swansea City e Southampton in campionato e, nello scorso Monday Night, dall'Arsenal in Coppa d'Inghilterra. Se c'è un ...