Dwayne Anderson

Ahmad Nivins of St. Joseph's has been named the Big Five player of the year by the Herb Good Basketball Club. Nivins will receive the Robert V. Geasey Trophy at the club's 64th annual banquet Monday at the Savoy in Pennsauken. Joining Nivins on the all-Big Five first team are Villanova's Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds, Temple's Dionte Christmas, and La Salle's Rodney Green. Temple's Lavoy Allen and Ryan Brooks, Villanova's Corey Fisher, Dwayne Anderson and Reggie Redding, and St. Joseph's Tasheed Carr were named to the second team.

Villanova loses four seniors from this Final Four team, but brings in a recruiting class considered among the nation's best and adds a transfer from Duke.   Going   Dwayne Anderson, 6-6 guard/forward, 9.1 points, 6.0 rebounds Shane Clark, 6-7 forward, 5.6 points, 3.8 rebounds Dante Cunningham, 6-8 forward, 16.2 points, 7.4 rebounds Frank Tchuisi, 6-8 forward, saw limited action   Coming   Taylor King, 6-6 sophomore forward, sat out this season at Villanova after transferring from Duke last April; 5.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in one season at Duke.

Villanova got an early start on its freshman basketball class of 2009 yesterday, receiving an oral commitment from Isaiah Armwood, a 6-foot-8 forward from Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Md., according to his high school coach. Armwood averaged about 13.5 points and more than 10 rebounds during his junior season, when Montrose Christian finished 22-4 and in the national top 25. "Isaiah is very athletic and can play inside and outside," Montrose Christian coach Stu Vetter said.

Bilal Benn, a talented former Cardinal Dougherty basketball player who is now at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia, has made an oral commitment to attend Villanova. Under NCAA rules, Wildcats coach Jay Wright cannot comment on potential recruits until they officially sign a letter of intent. Benn, a 6-foot-5 swingman, originally made an oral commitment to Siena. He could not be reached last night. He had disciplinary problems at Cardinal Dougherty that led to his transfer to Cherokee High in Burlington County, where he averaged 12 points a game after becoming eligible with four games remaining.

Villanova swingman Dwayne Anderson suffered a hyperextension of his left knee in addition to a bone bruise during Tuesday night's victory over Marquette and is listed as questionable for the Wildcats' next game tomorrow night at West Virginia. Anderson, a 6-foot-6 senior, underwent an MRI exam yesterday morning and later was examined by team orthopedic surgeon Rob Good, who said his status was day-to-day. "We're very fortunate that this is a bone bruise," Villanova coach Jay Wright said in a statement.

Taylor King, a 6-foot-6 forward who played in all 34 games for Duke during his freshman season, said last night he will transfer to Villanova. "It's just everything - the family atmosphere and the fact that Coach [Jay] Wright and his staff are great guys," King said. "I just feel like it's the perfect fit for me as a basketball player. " King was a 2007 McDonald's all-American during his senior year at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif. He averaged 5.9 points and 2.0 rebounds this season with the Blue Devils.

Villanova announced yesterday that former Cardinal Dougherty High basketball star Bilal Benn has signed a national letter of intent to suit up for the Wildcats next season. Benn, a 6-foot-5 swingman, was a teammate of current Wildcats guard Kyle Lowry at Dougherty before attending Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. He averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists for a team that went 28-1 last season. "Bilal is a classic Philadelphia Catholic League player," Villanova coach Jay Wright said in a statement.

THE LINES (TOMORROW AT DETROIT) Connecticut vs. Michigan State: Connecticut favored by 4; total: 133 North Carolina vs. Villanova: North Carolina favored by 7 1/2; total: 159. MONEY LINES Connecticut -$190; Michigan St. +$170 North Carolina -$360; Villanova +$300 CONNECTICUT DOUBLE RESULT UConn leads at half & wins: 1-1 Michigan State leads at half & wins: 5-2 Michigan State leads at half & UConn wins: 5-1...

After four days of continuous adulation from students, faculty and everyone else on campus, the Villanova men's basketball team left last night for the airport and its trip to Detroit to participate in the NCAA Final Four. Wildcats coach Jay Wright said the departure came at just the right time. "I think we're ready to go on the road," he said. "I think we've enjoyed all the home cooking and accolades, but it's getting a little crazy around here right now. "So I think the timing is perfect that we get on the road, and get to make this a little bit more of a business trip.

Last March, Villanova lost to eventual national champion Kansas by 15 in a Sweet 16 game at Detroit's Ford Field. The Wildcats probably would have lost had it been played at the Pavilion. Now they return to Ford Field, this time to play North Carolina in Saturday's national semifinals. The experience left its impressions. "It helps that we've been there, but we didn't shoot too well there," said assistant coach Doug West. "I know we did have a long walk from the locker room. That took some getting used to. And no one was used to playing on a [raised]

Antonio Pena isn't the No. 1 commodity on Villanova's ninth-ranked basketball team. The fifth-year forward probably isn't the runner-up, either. Or perhaps even third, at least statistically speaking. Yet he's arguably been the most consistent. And maybe the most indispensable. As coach Jay Wright puts it, he's a rock. A Villanova senior. And the way he runs his program, there's really no higher calling. "I don't know where we'd be without him," said Wright, whose Wildcats (19-4, 7-3 Big East)

Just think if Villanova had Penn junior point guard Zack Rosen in its stable of backcourt players. It could have happened. "We recruited him, and he's no surprise to us," Wildcats coach Jay Wright said after watching Rosen go for 20 points and five assists, with only two turnovers, in Penn's 65-53 loss to Villanova last month at the Palestra. "We love him. He comes to play with our guys in the summer, and our guys always come out of there saying he's a helluva player. " The 6-foot-1 Rosen, who played with 'Nova's Corey Stokes for one season at St. Benedict's in North Jersey, spent an extra year at the prep school after suffering a broken elbow during his first season there.

Jay Wright believes the amount of talent you have on the floor and on the bench doesn't matter as much as the senior leaders you have showing teammates the Villanova way. The Wildcats have made the NCAA tournament in the last six seasons behind players - Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Mike Nardi, Curtis Sumpter, Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson, Shane Clark, Scottie Reynolds, Reggie Redding - who have contributed as much with leadership as with their...

National observers took one look at Villanova's roster in the preseason, with five holdovers from the Final Four team and one of the best incoming freshman classes in the country, and felt the Wildcats were a top-five group that could return to the NCAA semifinals. Jay Wright, however, looked at his roster, found three missing names that posed a significant loss of leadership - those of Dante Cunningham, Dwayne Anderson, and Shane Clark - and saw the inexperience of five freshmen and a transfer.

Mississippi's offense could not be stopped in its first four basketball games. The Rebels averaged 89.2 points in their undefeated start. However, against No. 5 Villanova, that offensive firepower was quickly extinguished as the Wildcats defeated the Rebels, 79-67, to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off last night. "We have a chance to be a pretty good defensive team," coach Jay Wright after Villanova improved to 5-0. "You can talk about it all you want, but you have to step up and do it. " The Wildcats stifled a Rebels offense that entered the game shooting 51 percent from the field.

Ahmad Nivins of St. Joseph's has been named the Big Five player of the year by the Herb Good Basketball Club. Nivins will receive the Robert V. Geasey Trophy at the club's 64th annual banquet Monday at the Savoy in Pennsauken. Joining Nivins on the all-Big Five first team are Villanova's Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds, Temple's Dionte Christmas, and La Salle's Rodney Green. Temple's Lavoy Allen and Ryan Brooks, Villanova's Corey Fisher, Dwayne Anderson and Reggie Redding, and St. Joseph's Tasheed Carr were named to the second team.

The faces of the Villanova players - the tears, sadness and bewilderment - represent the final snapshots of the Wildcats' 2008-09 season. But it would not be right to linger on their elimination from the NCAA tournament by North Carolina as the lasting memory and not remember the wonderful pictures the Wildcats provided over the last month. How about Dwayne Anderson sinking a game-winning layup in the Big East tournament quarterfinal against Marquette? Or, in the NCAAs, Dante Cunningham exerting his toughness before a roaring Wachovia Center crowd in a second-round victory over UCLA, and the team's dominating defense in a 23-point blowout of Duke?

Villanova loses four seniors from this Final Four team, but brings in a recruiting class considered among the nation's best and adds a transfer from Duke.   Going   Dwayne Anderson, 6-6 guard/forward, 9.1 points, 6.0 rebounds Shane Clark, 6-7 forward, 5.6 points, 3.8 rebounds Dante Cunningham, 6-8 forward, 16.2 points, 7.4 rebounds Frank Tchuisi, 6-8 forward, saw limited action   Coming   Taylor King, 6-6 sophomore forward, sat out this season at Villanova after transferring from Duke last April; 5.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in one season at Duke.

THIS IS MY 23rd season covering Big 5 basketball. In that time, I have certainly seen more talented city teams than Villanova 2009. Villanova 2006, Saint Joseph's 2004 and Temple 2000 come to mind in this decade. But I have never seen a team come closer to its maximum capability than this Villanova team. That the Wildcats lost 83-69 to North Carolina Saturday night at Ford Field in the national semifinals is part of NCAA history now. What this team did, however, will live on longer than one game.

At one point in the first half, as Scottie Reynolds retreated downcourt following another three-point miss, the Villanova junior gazed down at his right hand for an instant. It was as if the 6-foot-2 guard couldn't understand why it kept betraying him - and on no less a stage than a nationally televised Final Four semifinal last night. Reynolds, who shot 3 for 11 from beyond the three-point line, wasn't alone in his frustration. The Wildcats hit just 2 of 12 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes last night, allowing North Carolina to build a lead that quickly and easily reached 17 points.