Villanova (8-8) vs. 1st Ranked Syracuse (17-0)

Filed under Game Preview on January 10th, 2012

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Wildcats basketball heats up on Wednesday as the Wildcats play the Orange in a Big East contest. It takes place at 7:00 EST and you can catch it on ESPN2.

Villanova is currently in 12th place in the conference and Syracuse is in 1st. Syracuse is a Top 25 team, ranked #1 in the AP, and is a tough match for Villanova with their 0-2 record against ranked teams. Overall, the Wildcats have a record of 8-8 including 1-3 in the Big East. Meanwhile, the Orange have a record of 17-0 and are 4-0 in the conference.

Unfortunately, Syracuse has the advantage in this game. According to the RPI, the Orange are the better team, ranked #1 and sitting above the Wildcats at #109.

Analyzing the differences between the teams, Syracuse comes out statistically ahead in one area, scoring, where the Orange outperform the Wildcats, 80 pts/game to 72 pts/game. Last season, the Wildcats went 1-1 against the Orange. Over the last four seasons, Villanova is 5-3 against Syracuse.

• Villanova has a much higher 4 year graduation rate than Syracuse according to Kiplinger (82.1% vs 69.8%).
• The Villanova rebounding leader (Mouphtaou Yarou) has more rebounds than the Syracuse rebounding leader (Fabricio Melo).
• Villanova is bigger. The average weight of the top 8 players on Villanova is 222 lbs compared to 212 lbs for Syracuse.
• Villanova has a much better NCSA Power Ranking than Syracuse (#26 vs #45).

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