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  • Indiana’s football run has made Kyle Schwarber ‘super fan out’ and helps him appreciate passion of Phillies fans

    Indiana’s football run has made Kyle Schwarber ‘super fan out’ and helps him appreciate passion of Phillies fans

    Kyle Schwarber will be in the stands Friday night, allowing his feelings to be controlled by the college football players in front of him the same way he often dictates people’s nights with one swing during the summer. He’ll be a fan, riding the emotional roller coaster with Indiana’s football team in Atlanta as the Hoosiers try to reach the national championship game with a victory over Oregon.

    “You’re living and dying with it and you’re like, ‘Man, this is what Phillies fans do for 162 games? That’s impressive,’” said Schwarber, the Phillies slugger who hit 56 home runs last season. “It brings back the super fan in you. It brings back that aspect. You’re in it and now you get to go super fan out on someone else.”

    Schwarber, 32, grew up near Cincinnati as an Ohio State fanatic but traded the Buckeyes for the Hoosiers after playing baseball for three seasons at Indiana. The school’s baseball team transformed during that time from an afterthought to a national power. The football team — which until November had the worst winning percentage in college football history — is now doing the same. And it’s allowing Schwarber to know what it feels like to be a fan in South Philly.

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    “We have people who show up and care,” Schwarber said. “How many times have we gone to a weekend series and it wasn’t sold out for any of those games? A Monday night or Tuesday night or a Wednesday afternoon, we have 40,000-plus. That’s awesome. Now you get to see that for these kids in college. This is so awesome and it’s such an awesome experience for me to be able to fan out.”

    Schwarber will be IU’s honorary captain for Friday’s Peach Bowl against Oregon. He narrated the team’s hype video before its Big Ten championship win over Ohio State and sat next to Lee Corso in 2024 when College GameDay came to Indiana. It might be harder to find a bigger IU football fan than the Phillies slugger, who was elected to the school’s Hall of Fame last year.

    A linebacker in high school, Schwarber had football tickets as a freshman, but the Hoosiers won just one game. The football program did little while Schwarber was there — “There wasn’t much winning going on,” he said — and it was hard to imagine the sport ever catching on at a basketball school.

    “It was like the tailgate fields were filled and then everyone vanished when it was game time,” Schwarber said.

    Now he’s wearing Indiana gear on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — “You have to wear it the day before game day, on game day, the day after they win,” Schwarber said — and texting his old buddies about the football team. Schwarber said people call him a bandwagon fan. Nope, he said. This is his school. Schwarber drove to Notre Dame last winter to tailgate at IU’s playoff game with his old baseball teammates and is flying to Friday’s Peach Bowl.

    Here are the Philly-area connections to know in the College Football Playoff semifinals

    “It’s so much fun now,” Schwarber said. “Now that they’re good, it takes away that Ohio State in you. You were there. You went to school there. It just revamps you — that’s my team, that’s my school. It brings back the super fan in you.”

    The turnaround started in November 2023 with the arrival of head coach Curt Cignetti, who was the quarterbacks coach at Temple under Jerry Berndt from 1989-92 and coached Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2011-16. The Hoosiers reached the College Football Playoff last season, and became the nation’s No. 1 team in December a week before their quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, won the Heisman Trophy. The doormats rapidly became a powerhouse.

    “I need a documentary,” Schwarber said. “I need to meet Cig and see how in the heck does this guy come in from having one of the worst winning percentages in college football history to taking it in two years to a College Football Playoff team and then being No. 1 in the country the next year and being a win away from the national championship. It’s surreal.

    Kyle Schwarber played three seasons at Indiana on his way to being a first-round pick by the Cubs in 2014.

    “It’s so awesome to watch. It gives you goose bumps when you can sit back and realize that, ‘Man, Indiana is getting some really cool recognition.’ I wish I could go back all the time. It’s such a beautiful campus. It feels like the perfect college town with nothing around it. Just cornfields around it and it’s beautiful. To have a place like that get recognition because our football team is doing amazing things.”

    Schwarber started hitting earlier this month as he prepares for the first year of his newly signed five-year, $150 million contract. He could have gone elsewhere in free agency but said he often thought about the atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park on a Tuesday in May or a Friday in October. He knows now how it feels to sit in the stands.

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    “I’m not the outrageous, screaming, yelling guy,” Schwarber said. “That was the younger me watching the Bengals, screaming at the TV. Now being professional and understanding, you just understand a little more and not screaming, ‘How the hell did that dude not catch the ball?’ No, the guy is trying to catch the ball. He just didn’t. But I’ll be the first one to let you know that Indiana scored or Indiana stopped them on a fourth down or didn’t jump on a fake punt on fourth down. I’ll be the first one to let you know.

    “I’m going to be screaming and yelling and losing my mind Friday and then come home the next day and my wife will be like, ‘What the hell happened?’ That’s what this is about. It’s the escape and it brings you back to being the fan.”

  • Here are the Philly-area connections to know in the College Football Playoff semifinals

    Here are the Philly-area connections to know in the College Football Playoff semifinals

    Two defensive players from the Philadelphia area will be in the spotlight for Miami when it takes on Mississippi in a College Football Playoff semifinal on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

    The Hurricanes will face the Rebels in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. In the other semifinal, Indiana will face Oregon in Atlanta’s Peach Bowl on Friday (7:30 p.m., ESPN). The winners will advance to the national championship on Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

    There are several local connections on the rosters and coaching staffs in both games. Here’s a look at some of the Philadelphia-area ties in the national semifinals:

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    Miami

    The Hurricanes’ defense features two players with local connections, with David Blay on the defensive line and Mohamed Toure at linebacker.

    Toure, who hails from Pleasantville in Atlantic County, leads the Hurricanes defense with 69 tackles in 14 games. Toure was a three-star recruit out of Pleasantville High School, where he starred as a running back and linebacker.

    After graduating from Pleasantville in 2019, Toure spent six years at Rutgers. He missed the 2022 season after a preseason ACL tear but returned in 2023 to lead the Scarlet Knights in sacks and tackles for loss. Toure was on the preseason watch list for the 2024 Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker, but suffered another ACL tear in training camp and missed Rutgers’ 2024 campaign.

    Toure transferred to Miami as a graduate student this offseason and has emerged as a crucial part of a defense that is limiting opponents to 13.1 points per game, ranking fourth in the FBS. He recorded eight tackles in a 10-3 win over Texas A&M in the first round of the College Football Playoff and seven more in Miami’s 24-14 upset of Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal.

    Mohamed Toure recorded eight tackles in a 10-3 win over Texas A&M in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

    Blay also is in his first season with the Hurricanes. The fifth-year senior is from Levittown. Blay was a standout defensive tackle at Harry S. Truman High School but went nearly unnoticed in recruiting. He spent the first two seasons of his college career at West Chester before transferring to Louisiana Tech in 2023, where he was named to the All-Conference USA first team in 2024.

    Blay transferred to Miami for his fifth season of college football. In 11 games, Blay has recorded 27 tackles, including 2½ for loss.

    Indiana

    Coach Curt Cignetti’s roster features Jah Jah Boyd, who was a three-star recruit out of Roman Catholic in 2024. Boyd has appeared in five games at defensive back for the Hoosiers this year. He was the MVP of the Catholic League in 2023 after setting Roman’s single-season reception record as a senior, catching 38 passes for 769 yards and 11 touchdowns.

    Cignetti also has ties to the city. The back-to-back AP Coach of the Year was the quarterbacks coach at Temple from 1989 to 1992 under coach Jerry Berndt. Cignetti also was a head coach at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

    Indiana coach Curt Cignetti was the quarterbacks coach at Temple from 1989 to 1992.

    Ola Adams, who coaches safeties and defensive backs for Indiana, spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Villanova. Adams served as the Wildcats’ running backs coach in 2015 and 2016 under Andy Talley, then was promoted to special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach when Mark Ferrante succeeded Talley in 2017.

    Adams was promoted to Villanova’s defensive coordinator in 2019, a role he held for three seasons before joining the Denver Broncos as an assistant defensive backs coach in 2022. Adams made a stop as a defensive analyst at Penn State in 2023 before joining Cignetti’s staff in Bloomington, Ind.

    Oregon

    Jovon McRae II is the only Oregon player with a Philadelphia-area connection. The freshman wide receiver is from Camden, although he played his high school football at Mojave High School in North Las Vegas, Nev.

    McRae, who also played basketball and ran track at Mojave, has yet to appear in a game for Dan Lanning’s Ducks.

    Temple schedules nonconference football matchup with Toledo for next season and 2032

    Ole Miss

    Eagles fans may remember Joe Judge from an unsuccessful two-season stint as the head coach of the New York Giants in 2020 and 2021. More recently, he has been on the sidelines for Ole Miss. He joined Lane Kiffin’s staff as a senior analyst in 2024 and was promoted to quarterbacks coach ahead of the 2025 season.

    Judge grew up in Doylestown and graduated from Lansdale Catholic in 2000. He played quarterback for Mississippi State from 2000 to 2004 and joined the Bulldogs’ staff as a graduate assistant in 2005. Judge spent time on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and with Bill Belichick’s Patriots before becoming the head coach of the Giants.

    Joe Judge was head coach of the New York Giants for two seasons.

    Despite Kiffin’s departure for LSU ahead of the College Football Playoff, Judge will remain on staff at Ole Miss. He’s expected to return as an assistant during Pete Golding’s first full season as head coach.

    Penn State fans tuning in for the Fiesta Bowl will recognize Harrison Wallace III, who spent four seasons at State College. The receiver joined Ole Miss as a redshirt senior after the Nittany Lions’ run to the College Football Playoff semifinal last season. Wallace led Penn State’s wideouts in receptions and yardage in 2024, although he trailed former tight end Tyler Warren in both categories. Wallace has emerged as quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ top target this season, leading Ole Miss with 57 receptions for 894 yards.

  • Here’s how Brynn McCurry became Villanova’s ‘bionic’ force on its women’s basketball program

    Here’s how Brynn McCurry became Villanova’s ‘bionic’ force on its women’s basketball program

    It’s hard to miss Brynn McCurry when she takes the floor at the Finneran Pavilion. The Villanova forward has two large, bulky braces on the right side of her body. One brace supports her knee, where she tore her anterior cruciate ligament before last season. The other is on her elbow, protecting a torn ulnar collateral ligament, an injury typically associated with baseball.

    After McCurry missed all of last season with the ACL injury, she suffered the torn UCL just before this season started. But she knew she was not going to sit out another full year.

    So McCurry strapped on the braces and embraced a look she calls “bionic.” Despite the injuries, McCurry, who’s averaging 11.8 points in 11 games this season, has blossomed into an integral part of the Wildcats’ roster, helping them to a 12-3 record as their second-leading scorer and leading rebounder.

    Despite mobility being limited due to braces on her elbow and knee, Villanova’s Brynn McCurry (left) has emerged as the leading rebounder and second-leading scorer for the Wildcats.

    “It’s a great feeling just to be out there in itself, but also being on a team that’s been so successful,” McCurry said. “… And just being able to be back playing with people that I’ve never gotten to play with. So it’s a great feeling to be out there, and an even better feeling to be winning.”

    Injury issues first popped up for McCurry during her senior season at Sparta (N.J.) High School in 2022-23, when she suffered a torn left ACL in mid-December, ending her high school career.

    McCurry enrolled at Villanova but spent most of her freshman year playing sparingly off the bench. However, her role increased near the end of the season. She played double-digit minutes in seven of the Wildcats’ final nine games, which helped her confidence grow.

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    That confidence continued to rise when the team traveled to Italy for exhibition games in the summer of 2024. McCurry looked like the best player on a team full of newcomers to coach Denise Dillon, and her sophomore leap seemed inevitable.

    “A lot of our team had left in [the] transfer portal or graduated, so that was a great experience,” McCurry said. “[But] the momentum kind of just stopped once I tore my ACL.”

    Brynn McCurry battles St. Joseph’s forward Faith Stinson during the clash in the Big 5 women’s basketball championship in December.

    Just as the team began ramping up its preseason in September 2024, McCurry suffered a torn right ACL.

    The injury set up another nine-month recovery period as she was finding her role on the court. However, with the help of her support system, McCurry attacked her rehab to return to the court as soon as possible.

    “Once you have surgery, it’s done; you’ve got to start rehabbing again,” McCurry said. “So just having a good support system around me, my family came down and was with me for the first week after surgery because you can’t do a lot by yourself. But after that, Villanova, my teammates, and the coaches took great care of me.”

    Villanova forward Tafara Gapare leaves the program

    That setback meant McCurry had to spend another season watching from the sidelines. She remained positive in her year off, motivated to get back to the court and compete.

    She was healthy for Villanova’s preseason this fall, albeit supported by a large knee brace. Then, more bad news struck following a seemingly normal practice.

    Brynn McCurry’s brace protects what she discovered was a torn ligament in her right elbow. She’ll look to undergo Tommy John surgery in the offseason.

    McCurry was playing defense and had her right arm caught in a screen, leaving a tingly feeling in her arm, almost as if she hit her funny bone. Initially, she wasn’t too concerned, but she discovered the next day she could not turn doorknobs with her right hand. Scans revealed a torn UCL. She’ll need to undergo Tommy John surgery, but she has put that off.

    “I’m just trying to push through this season without having to get that done, and wearing that big brace is how I can do it,” McCurry said. “So I look a little bit bionic out there on my right side, but whatever keeps me out there, as long as the doctors say I can just wear the brace, that’s what I’ll do.”

    The elbow brace has affected McCurry’s shooting ability, but she has still developed into one of the Wildcats’ crucial players this season — braces and all.

    Forged in Baltimore, Bryce Lindsay has overcome his share of adversity. Now he’s Villanova’s leading scorer.

    She came off the bench in the first four games and didn’t score more than seven points. McCurry entered the starting lineup against James Madison on Nov. 16 and scored a then-career-high 18 points with seven assists.

    McCurry has been on a tear since that breakout performance. She scored in double figures in the next five games, including three straight games with 20 or more points. McCurry put up 21 points in an 81-59 upset of then-No. 25 West Virginia on Dec. 1. She scored another 21 points six days later to beat St. Joseph’s, 76-70, in the Big 5 Classic championship on Dec. 7.

    “She picked up right where she had left off [in freshman year],” Dillon said. “She’s a consistent worker, and she understands the game so well. She knows what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and I’m super proud of her for continuing. Her resilience is amazing, and she’s getting results that are working in favor of this team’s success.”

    McCurry’s first start coincided with the beginning of a 10-game winning streak, Villanova’s longest since the 2017-18 season. McCurry’s impact does not just come from scoring. She takes pride in being an all-around player, averaging 5.6 rebounds, and is second on the Wildcats with 58 assists.

    Villanova’s winning streak ended against Marquette on Sunday, but it is in the NCAA Tournament conversation with two months to play. McCurry has been critical to the Wildcats’ success, despite playing with two big braces and a torn UCL. She is aiming to remain confident to end the season and to help her team continue to pick up wins.

    “Being out, I got to see what some great players are,” McCurry said. “There are so many people out there, and Maddy Siegrist is a big one that everyone from Villanova knows, but just modeling myself after other great players.

    “Confidence is a huge thing. So just continuing to be confident in myself and my teammates. I think we can be really successful.”

    Follow the Inquirer’s complete coverage of Villanova athletics right here!
  • Penn State adds Ikaika Malloe and Tyson Veidt to coaching staff

    Penn State adds Ikaika Malloe and Tyson Veidt to coaching staff

    Penn State announced two more coaching additions to its defensive staff on Tuesday after hiring D’Anton Lynn to be the defensive coordinator last week.

    Ikaika Malloe, who was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at UCLA the last two seasons, will join the program as the defensive line coach, replacing Deion Barnes, who departed for South Carolina.

    The Nittany Lions also added Cincinnati defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt, who will coach linebackers on Matt Campbell’s staff. Dan Connor, who served as the linebackers coach in 2025, was retained and will be the assistant linebackers coach.

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    The hires nearly fill out Campbell’s on-field staff, with the running backs coach spot still vacant after Stan Drayton departed for South Carolina along with Barnes.

    Malloe, 51, will reunite with Lynn after the pair coached together at UCLA in 2023. Before spending four years at UCLA, Malloe had stops at Washington (two stints), Western Illinois, UTEP, Yale, Portland State, and Utah State. He has served as a defensive line coach for the majority of his coaching career and played at Washington as a safety and linebacker.

    Malloe has coached first-rounders like Vita Vea and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka at Washington and Laiatu Latu at UCLA.

    Penn State coach Matt Campbell, above, worked with new defensive coordinator Tyson Veidt when both were at Toledo and Iowa State.

    Veidt will reunite with Campbell after spending the last two seasons at Cincinnati. Before that, Veidt worked under Campbell at Toledo and Iowa State. He spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons at Toledo as the linebackers coach and followed Campbell to Iowa State for eight seasons as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach.

    According to CBS Sports, Penn State is working to hire Northwestern defensive line coach Christian Smith to work alongside Malloe on the defensive line, though his hiring has yet to be announced.

  • Villanova forward Tafara Gapare leaves the program

    Villanova forward Tafara Gapare leaves the program

    Villanova men’s basketball forward Tafara Gapare is no longer with the program, according to an announcement from the school.

    Gapare, a senior, missed Villanova’s first three Big East games for what the team called a “personal” reason. Gapare “elected to depart” from the program, the school said in its announcement.

    Gapare, who was with Villanova coach Kevin Willard last year at Maryland, played in nine of the Wildcats’ 14 games this season. He averaged 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds in 16.3 minutes.

    With Villanova knocking on the top 25 door, is it NCAA Tournament or bust in Year 1 of the Kevin Willard era?

    Villanova’s rotation has gotten shorter with Gapare’s absence, as well as the knee injury freshman backup guard Chris Jeffrey suffered that required surgery.

    The Wildcats played just eight players in their 85-67 victory over Butler on Saturday.

    Willard touted his team’s depth before the season started. Not even midway through the season, that has gone from a strength to a mild concern.

    The Wildcats (12-2, 3-0 Big East) return to action Wednesday night at the Finneran Pavilion vs. Creighton (9-6, 3-1).

  • Penn falls short vs. longtime rival Princeton, drops Ivy League opener on the road

    Penn falls short vs. longtime rival Princeton, drops Ivy League opener on the road

    New coach, new players, same result.

    Penn took a familiar drive to Jadwin Gymnasium on Monday night, looking to open Ivy League play with a win against longtime rival Princeton. After taking a 14-point lead in the first half, the Quakers couldn’t keep pace with the hot-shooting Tigers in the second and fell, 78-76, after missing the final shot in Fran McCaffery’s first Ancient Eight game as head coach.

    Princeton (5-11, 1-0 Ivy) has won 14 straight over Penn, which McCaffery and the players know well.

    “You can’t worry about what happened six years ago,” McCaffery said. “What happened when Pete Carril was coaching, we all know what it was like. We played a game tonight. We lost to a good team, a really good coach, and, whether we won or lost, we are going to break the film down and try and get better.”

    Next up, Penn (7-7, 0-1) will host Brown on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+).

    Last-second chance

    Penn made a late comeback and trailed by two after a 13-0 run, which included nine points from the free-throw line.

    The final play, intended for Ethan Roberts, went awry, and point guard AJ Levine attempted to make a buzzer-beating three, which clanged off the rim.

    “They did a good job switching it,” McCaffery said. “I thought [Roberts] should have kept going. He passed it. That’s hard because now you put your teammate in a position where there’s two seconds to go in the game and he’s at 26 feet.”

    Roberts, the team’s leading scorer, missed the previous four games because of an injury he suffered against Villanova in the Big 5 Classic championship on Dec. 5.

    The senior forward scored 19 points on 5-for-12 shooting in his return, but McCaffery believes Roberts has yet to return to full speed.

    “He takes the pressure off TJ [Power] and Michael [Zanoni],” McCaffery said. “He just has to get back in rhythm. He missed five weeks. He’s trying to remember the plays; he’s trying to remember where he goes.”

    Second-half collapse

    Roberts and shooting guard Zanoni (13 points) led the charge in the first half, combining for 20 points to help secure a 32-24 lead. To open the second, the Tigers made 16 straight baskets in the first 11-plus minutes.

    Penn suddenly found itself down, 63-51, with 8 minutes, 48 seconds to go. The Tigers made 21 of 27 shots (77.8%) from the field, including 5-for-7 from deep, in the second half.

    McCaffery was asked whether he had seen a shooting performance like that before. “No,” he said. “Nothing else to say, no. It’s a good question.

    “What do you do? Think about it. You can change personnel. You can change defenses. We did that, and really the only thing to work was press, and we waited too long.”

    However, Penn did not miss from the free-throw line in the game, going 19-for-19.

    Seeking redemption

    Princeton had struggled to start the season, and coach Mitch Henderson attributed the Tigers’ strong performance against Penn to the return of Dalen Davis, who suffered a leg injury in November.

    The junior shooting guard scored 19 points off the bench in 21 minutes. Sophomore guard Jack Stanton led the Tigers with 23 points.

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    “It’s not just the scoring,” Henderson said of Davis’ play. “That’s awesome, I did not know we made 16 in a row. That’s amazing, but it’s his defense — his ability to go with balls shows his competitiveness.”

    Penn will face Princeton again on Feb. 7.

  • With Villanova knocking on the top 25 door, is it NCAA Tournament or bust in Year 1 of the Kevin Willard era?

    With Villanova knocking on the top 25 door, is it NCAA Tournament or bust in Year 1 of the Kevin Willard era?

    After victories over DePaul and Butler last week moved Villanova to 12-2 this season with a perfect 3-0 start to Big East play, it was fair to wonder whether the Wildcats would see their name in the Associated Press top 25 rankings Monday for the first time since November 2023.

    If only they ranked 26 teams.

    Villanova was just outside the rankings released Monday afternoon. The Wildcats fell just five ballot points shy of 25th-ranked Central Florida for the final spot.

    Relatively meaningless rankings release aside, Villanova is playing really good basketball right now. The Wildcats have won five consecutive games. They were a slight road underdog at Butler on Saturday and won by 18. They flipped the script in the second half one game earlier and beat DePaul on New Year’s Eve. They controlled the second half and won comfortably at Seton Hall before the holiday break. And they rallied in overtime to beat Wisconsin in a neutral-site game in Milwaukee on Dec. 19 that was effectively a road game.

    “We’re battle-tested,” first-year Villanova coach Kevin Willard said after the road win at Seton Hall, his old stomping grounds. His team spent its next two outings proving his words wise.

    Villanova’s Acaden Lewis chasing a loose ball against DePaul. He is averaging 12 points a game.

    Villanova entered Monday rated 17th in the NCAA’s NET rankings and 21st in the KenPom metrics. Further, ESPN bracket guru Joe Lunardi had the Wildcats slotted in as a No. 6 seed in his latest Bracketology out Tuesday morning. Villanova is comfortably a tournament team through 14 games.

    A season with limited expectations, in Willard’s first year after taking over for Kyle Neptune, has gone about as well as one could reasonably hope. The Wildcats have two losses to teams ranked in the top 10 in the country. They are 2-2 in Quad 1 games and 10-0 in the rest.

    With 17 games to go — all of them Big East contests — has what some would have considered a rebuilding year turned into NCAA Tournament or bust?

    Defying the expectations

    It’s worth starting with the idea that preseason expectations in this new college hoops landscape are a bit unserious. The amount of player turnover that happens on a year-to-year basis make projecting records a bit like throwing darts after being over-served at the local dive.

    KenPom metrics had Villanova rated 50th before the season started. Lunardi had the Wildcats on the bubble in his preseason Bracketology. Villanova rising 29 spots at KenPom has the Wildcats among the biggest climbers from preseason expectations to current performance.

    But while the outsiders were unsure about Villanova, Willard himself was assertive about where he thought the 2025-26 season could go.

    “We got to win,” Willard told The Inquirer in June. “From my perspective, laying the groundwork for the future and what we’re doing is extremely important. That’s more important than winning.

    “But we got to win. I expect to win. We spent a good number on this roster. I think we have a really good roster.”

    Coach Kevin Willard has Villanova off to a 12-2 start, including 3-0 in Big East play.

    Missing the tournament while rebuilding for the future was “not my plan,” Willard said.

    “There’s difficulties [in] taking over and really starting over and doing all that, but this is where my ego comes in a little bit,” he said. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job in years past of doing that and I think we’ve done a really good job of putting together a good roster that I expect us to win games, yeah.

    “I don’t look at Year 1 anymore like you have a two-year grace period. I think that’s [BS] nowadays. I didn’t take this job and say, ‘I now get two years where I don’t have to work.’ We’ve got to produce.”

    So far, so good.

    How they’re doing it

    The roster Willard put together has been better than many expected. The Wildcats start a freshman, a redshirt freshman, a redshirt sophomore, a junior, and a senior. That’s a pretty young roster in the modern college basketball world. KenPom metrics have Villanova ninth among the 11 Big East teams in experience. The Wildcats rank 256th in KenPom’s minutes continuity metric.

    Point guard Acaden Lewis has excelled in his freshman season and is up to 12 points, 4.9 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game against just 1.6 turnovers. Redshirt sophomore Bryce Lindsay, a James Madison transfer, leads Villanova with 16.9 points per game and is shooting 44.7% from three-point range. Senior big man Duke Brennan, a Grand Canyon transfer, is at 12 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. He’s the fifth-best rebounder in the country.

    Bryce Lindsay leads Villanova with 16.9 points per game.

    Junior Tyler Perkins (10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds), the lone returner to the roster with game experience, has played well at both ends. And redshirt freshman forward Matt Hodge rounds out a starting five that all average double figures with 10.8 points and 4.4 rebounds.

    Willard talked before the season about a deep roster and how he wanted to play as many as 10 guys. But injuries and slower development have led to a shortening of the bench. Villanova played just eight players Saturday vs. Butler.

    Forged in Baltimore, Bryce Lindsay has overcome his share of adversity. Now he’s Villanova’s leading scorer.

    Willard has also adjusted his own coaching preferences. Villanova shoots a three-pointer on 46.4% of its shot attempts, which ranks 48th in the country, far more than any other team Willard has coached (this is his 19th season as a head coach). The next closest was 41.7% by his 2012-13 Seton Hall team. Last year’s Maryland team, by comparison, took a three-pointer on 35.3% of its shots. (The Terrapins had a star big man, Derik Queen.)

    A shorter-than-expected bench has also forced Willard to play a little slower than he usually likes. The Wildcats are 352nd out of 365 Division I teams in KenPom’s adjusted tempo metric. Maryland, meanwhile, was 66th last season.

    Willard has also been working wonders in the second half of games. Villanova outscored Butler, 43-34, in the second half on Saturday. The Wildcats have been outscored in a second half just once this season, their overtime victory over Wisconsin.

    Tournament talk

    So, back to the question at hand: NCAA Tournament or bust? The analytics site Torvik had Villanova’s NCAA Tournament chances at 96.9% on Monday. Missing the dance at this point would be a disappointment and would require a major collapse.

    While Villanova’s marquee wins are over Seton Hall (41 NET), Butler (46), and Wisconsin (63), getting through the nonconference slate without a hiccup against a lesser opponent was a big deal.

    Villanova’s bench reacts after a three-point play against DePaul on Dec. 31.

    A 3-0 start in Big East play, including two wins on the road, makes it pretty hard to imagine Villanova slipping up to a degree that would bump the Wildcats out of the tournament field — even if there are still four games to go against No. 4 UConn and a St. John’s team that is underperforming but will still provide a big challenge.

    Up next is a home game Wednesday vs. Creighton. The Bluejays were 44th at KenPom and 52nd in the NET rankings on Monday. It’s a Quad 2 game, and after that is a Quad 3 game on the road at Marquette.

    Slip-ups in one or both would change the math a little bit. But right now, all roads seem to lead from the Main Line to meaningful basketball in March.

    Editor’s note: Jeff Neiburg is an AP top 25 men’s basketball voter. He had Villanova ranked 21st on his ballot this week.

  • Temple schedules nonconference football matchup with Toledo for next season and 2032

    Temple schedules nonconference football matchup with Toledo for next season and 2032

    Temple announced Monday that it will play Toledo in a nonconference football game on Sept. 19.

    The road game will complete the Owls’ nonconference slate and 12-game schedule in coach K.C. Keeler’s second season. The Owls also will host the Rockets on Sept. 18, 2032.

    The two teams have not squared off since the Rockets defeated the Owls, 32-17, in the Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 22, 2015. Toledo limited quarterback PJ Walker to 236 passing yards and an interception. Current Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt scored two touchdowns for Toledo.

    Reports: Iowa State QB Rocco Becht joining coach Matt Campbell at Penn State

    Temple was supposed to play Coastal Carolina in a road game, but the Chanticleers announced adjustments to their schedule on Aug. 29.

    The Toledo matchup will be the Owls’ only nonconference road game next season, taking place at the Glass Bowl in Toledo, Ohio. Temple will host Rhode Island on Sept. 5, Penn State on Sept. 12, and Connecticut, led by former Toledo coach Jason Candle, on Oct. 10.

    Temple head coach K.C. Keeler led the Owls to a 5-7 record in his first season.

    Toledo hired former Mercer coach Mike Jacobs in December after Candle took the UConn job. Temple will play six teams that will be under new leadership in 2026.

    Temple will be playing nine schools in 2026 that appeared in bowl games, including every road game. Keeler won three road games in 2025, becoming the first Owls coach to do so since 2021.

  • Villanova’s winning streak may have ended, but there’s plenty for Denise Dillon to be happy about

    Villanova’s winning streak may have ended, but there’s plenty for Denise Dillon to be happy about

    Villanova was starting to look unbeatable. The Wildcats had turned a shaky beginning of the 2025-26 season into a 10-game winning streak that stretched into Big East play.

    They’d won five straight conference games, including a crucial New Year’s Day matchup vs. Creighton. However, Marquette ended Villanova’s hot streak, exposing its flaws in an 85-69 win on Sunday in Milwaukee.

    Villanova (12-3, 5-1 Big East) entered the matchup at No. 28 in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Despite Sunday’s disappointment, coach Denise Dillon’s Wildcats have piled up wins and seem poised to contend with the top women’s teams in the Big East.

    Defense falters vs. Marquette

    Villanova entered the game with the second-best defense in the Big East. Opponents were averaging just 58.8 points and shooting 37.2% from the field against the Wildcats.

    However, the Golden Eagles (10-5, 4-2) were unfazed. Villanova gave up the most points it had this season, and, although it tied the score twice, Marquette led for the majority of the game and shot 51.75% from the field.

    Villanova releases its 2026 football schedule for first season in Patriot League

    Marquette’s Halle Vice was unstoppable. The junior guard scored 14 points in the first quarter alone and made each of her first nine shots from the field en route to a 32-point outing. Guard Jaidynn Mason and forward Skylar Forbes also scored 20 points each.

    Villanova especially struggled to defend Marquette’s three-point shooting. The Golden Eagles knocked down 61.1% of their shots from long range, going 11-for-18. The Wildcats’ full-court press didn’t slow them down, and they led by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter.

    A year later than planned, Villanova wins its latest women’s Big 5 title

    Bascoe stays consistent

    Sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe has been Villanova’s dependable backcourt leader. She held up the offense against Marquette with 20 points and four assists. Bascoe is averaging a team-best 17.3 points, which also is good for third in the Big East.

    While Bascoe remains a crucial presence for the Wildcats, the team’s depth on offense has helped it thrive this season. Bascoe, also the team’s assists leader, has plenty of reliable options around her.

    Those options were tested on Dec. 29 at DePaul, as Bascoe went down with a leg injury in the first quarter and missed the rest of the game. Junior forward Brynn McCurry filled the gap, scoring 18 points as four Wildcats finished in double figures in an 81-48 win.

    Bascoe was back on the court in the Wildcats’ 74-64 win over Creighton. Freshman forward Kennedy Henry led the scoring with a career-high 19 points in that win, while Bascoe added 15.

    Brynn McCurry is among Villanova players who stepped up when leading scorer Jasmine Bascoe was sidelined vs. DePaul.

    Big East competition

    Villanova sits in second place in the conference standings behind No. 1 UConn (15-0, 6-0). The Wildcats have defied expectations early in conference play, after being picked to finish fourth in the Big East preseason poll.

    With the loss to Marquette behind them, the Wildcats will look to bounce back on their home court. Villanova next hosts Xavier (9-6, 2-4) on Thursday (11:30 a.m., ESPN+).

  • Reports: Iowa State QB Rocco Becht joining coach Matt Campbell at Penn State

    Reports: Iowa State QB Rocco Becht joining coach Matt Campbell at Penn State

    The transfer portal officially opened on Friday, and Penn State already has its next quarterback.

    According to several reports, former Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht is joining coach Matt Campbell at Penn State. Becht entered the transfer portal a few weeks after Campbell departed Ames, Iowa, for the Penn State job on Dec. 5.

    The link between Becht and Penn State was obvious, considering Campbell and his staff’s familiarity with the quarterback. In 2025, Becht passed for 2,584 yards and 16 touchdowns in his third year starting under Campbell at Iowa State. Becht, a native of Wesley Chapel, Fla., was a three-star recruit in high school, according to 247Sports.

    As the transfer portal opens, Penn State has a clear need at quarterback. Here are options to consider.

    Across three years starting for the Cyclones, Becht totaled 9,274 yards and 64 touchdowns in 39 starts. In addition to reuniting with Campbell, Becht will be rejoining Jake Waters, his quarterbacks coach at Iowa State who holds the same position at Penn State, and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser.

    Becht joins several other former Iowa State players to follow Campbell to Penn State. The list includes tight end Benjamin Brahmer, offensive lineman Will Tompkins, safety Marcus Neal Jr., wide receiver Brett Eskildsen, backup quarterback Alex Manske, and running back Carson Hansen. Eskildsen was Iowa State’s leading receiver last year, while Hansen was the team’s leading rusher.

    The move became more likely after Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer entered the portal on Thursday. Grunkemeyer started the final seven games for the Nittany Lions after Drew Allar was lost to a season-ending injury. He had his best performance in the Pinstripe Bowl game win, throwing for 260 yards and two touchdowns. Grunkemeyer finished the season completing 69.1% of his passes, with eight touchdowns and 1,339 yards.

    Campbell and Becht led Iowa State to its most successful two-year stint in program history with 19 wins in 2024 and 2025. Last year was the first time the program eclipsed double-digit victories.

    Iowa State coach Matt Campbell celebrates with is team after a touchdown by quarterback Rocco Becht (3) against Arizona.

    Iowa State’s passing game with Becht at the helm ranked 50th nationally in 2023 (245 yards per game), 39th in 2024 (255.7), and 73rd in 2025 as the quarterback battled through a partial labrum tear in his non-throwing shoulder. According to ESPN, Becht underwent labrum surgery on Dec. 11.

    Becht joins Penn State’s quarterback corps alongside Jack Lambert and new addition Manske. Along with Grunkemeyer, Jaxon Smolik and Bekkem Kritza also entered the portal.

    Becht’s father, Anthony, played in the NFL for 12 years and is a Drexel Hill native and Monsignor Bonner High graduate. He played tight end and was a first-round pick by the Jets in 2000, and also played for the Buccaneers, Rams, Chiefs, and Cardinals. Anthony is now the head coach of the Orlando Storm of the United Football League.