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Who is most likely to be the worst team in the Big East this year? Villanova probably has a little more talent (Dixon, Poplar) but DePaul has the huge edge in coaching. I'm guessing DePaul remains the worst, but Nova may give them a real run for their money this year, Tonight Nova was humiliated at home, by Columbia. The Wildcats, a 17.5 point favorite against No 237 Kenpom Columbia, were totally outclassed in every facet of the game, while losing by double digits. Columbia scored 90, out hustled Nova at every turn, while Neptune looked like a deer caught in the headlights watching his team throw up brick after brick. Hard to believe Nova was playing in the Final Four, two and a half years ago. What a sad and pathetic state of affairs it is out on the Main Line.

Pull the plug on Neptune now and start the rebuild.

Omaha1 wrote:Pull the plug on Neptune now and start the rebuild.

I would have advocated letting him finish the season a few years ago. In today's environment?

Entering the season, I think it would have been a safe bet that Neptune would be let go if Nova failed to reach the NCAAs for the third consecutive year in a row. Losing to Columbia did nothing whatsoever to shake the lack of confidence that many had going into the year, unfortunately. Oddly, Neptune's Villanova teams have consistently lost non-conference games as heavy favorites:

2022
Temple
Portland

2023
Penn
St. Joseph
Drexel

2024
Columbia

It is an alarming pattern where the team does not play prepared and certainly does not execute, a clear antithesis to the play of Wright's Villanova teams. Did Neptune's teams immediately need to win a national championship to meet expectations? Certainly not. Did they need to play like a top-25 team, capable of playing deep into March? Absolutely - and that has not happened at all.

If Nova makes a change, it will be interesting to see the direction they go in. They don't have an AD right now (Jackson just got hired at Northwestern). Have to imagine Wright has some say (even though he practically named Neptune as his successor). I would still love for a BE team to hire Pikiell away from Rutgers; think he would be a very strong BE Coach. I doubt any BE program has the leash to hire a Wade, although St. John's did get to hire Pitino.

Might slot Butler into that list also unless we get our heads out of our butts and take care of the ball!

kmacker69 wrote:Might slot Butler into that list also unless we get our heads out of our butts and take care of the ball!

Seton Hall says hold my beer. Will they survive here?

Butler looked a bit better tonight, but got to rebound or going to get killed in the BE!

This is embarrassing. How did Nova get so bad?

GoldenWarrior11 wrote:Have to imagine Wright has some say (even though he practically named Neptune as his successor).

Most of us have no idea who Jay wanted, or if he even strongly pushed for one.