Radnor, PA: We are less than 12 days away from the start of a new college basketball season on the main line with the Villanova Wildcats.
To get the feel of a new season going, the Wildcats held their annual kickoff, called “HoopsMania”, on Saturday night from Finneran Pavilion.
The night got started with the intros of the Women’s team, led by head coach Denise Dillion. They honored the 22-23 team that made the Sweet 16 and one of the players from that team returned: Maddy Siegrist.
The roof came off at Finneran Pavilion as Maddy Siegrist (@20sMaddy) returns at Hoopsmania#Villanova #HoopsMania23 pic.twitter.com/3QMEW6ZQCr
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) October 21, 2023
Maddy & Coach Dillion would unveil the banner for them making the Sweet 16
Before they introduced the men’s team, they would announce that, during the season, they would honor the 2009 men’s team that made the Final Four & some of the players from that team were in attendance like Dwayne Anderson, Corey Fisher, and Corey Stokes.
The men’s team would go next, led by head coach Kyle Neptune. It was also announced that Sixers’ player Paul Reed was in attendance.
#Villanova Men's Coach Kyle Neptune gets crowd going and #Sixers Paul Reed in attendance at Hoopsmania #NovaNation #BrotherlyLove #HoopsMania23 pic.twitter.com/Sayj2xtasq
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) October 21, 2023
One of the highlights was the Blue-White Scrimmage and the tradition keeps going: as the first basket is scored, the streamers would come out.
. @YooJustoo ➡️ @TjBamba_ #HoopsMania23 pic.twitter.com/10gnNsVu6p
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) October 22, 2023
The night would end with a concert featuring Rick Ross.
Rick Ross Rocking the Main Line to close out #HoopsMania23 pic.twitter.com/AVF8ig8y7t
— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) October 22, 2023
The women’s team begins their season with an exhibition game on November 1 against Jefferson University. The first regular season game is November 10 at Portland, and first home game of the regular season is November 19 vs Temple.
The men’s team gets going on November 6 at Home against American.
