Big East Basketball: Way-too-early 2019-20 preseason Power Rankings
By Brian Foley
2. Villanova Wildcats
Last season: 26-10, 13-5 (six seed NCAA tournament, second round)
Key departures: G Phil Booth (18.6 ppg), F Eric Paschall (16.5 ppg), G Joe Cremo (4.0 ppg), G Jahvon Quinerly (3.3 ppg)
Key additions: none
Recruiting Class (1st): G Bryan Antoine, F Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, G Justin Moore, F Eric Dixon
2019-20 National Projection: 19th
Joker Says: “I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.“
After becoming the first high-major team this decade to launch over 1,000 threes and less than 1,000 twos in a season, it’s officially a new day on Villanova’s campus, as nearly every member of the Wildcats’ golden generation – led by Josh Hart, Kris Jenkins, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Phil Booth, and Eric Paschall – has officially moved onto greener pastures.
The cupboard for 2019-20 isn’t completely bare though, even if the remaining roster is much younger than Jay Wright’s recent iterations. Without any seniors, Villanova will need consistent production and leadership from juniors Collin Gillespie, Jermaine Samuels, and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree (Wright could always add a grad transfer to round out the rotation). Samuels turned into a real asset over the final 8 games, averaging 13.3 points on 6.1 three-point attempts per game, a far cry from the meager 2.8 points he averaged through his first 52 career contests.
VU’s true talent lies further down the seniority scale, highlighted by All-Freshman honoree Saddiq Bey. The Maryland native – Bey followed in Hart’s footsteps at Sidwell Friends High School – plugged along for the Wildcats in 2018-19, posting 8.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game on 46/37/64 percent shooting. Bey ranked second among all high-major freshmen listed at 6-foot-8 or taller in offensive rating last season.
Villanova also brings in the best recruiting class in the Big East for the second straight season, and has now collected three five-star commits and five four-star recruits over the past two recruiting cycles. Of course, besides Bey, the three other members of last season’s sterling class hardly played, most notably with five-star point guard Jahvon Quinerly, who tallied just one minute over the team’s final eight games before entering the NCAA transfer portal last week.
Even after the strange Quinerly situation, one thing is still abundantly clear – Wright will have no choice but to trust his young guys in 2019-20. Here’s betting this crop of recruits has a more successful freshmen campaign than the 2018-19 bunch.