Big East Basketball: 5 biggest takeaways from 2019 recruiting classes

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 14: James Farr #2 of the Xavier Musketeers and Daniel Ochefu #23 of the Villanova Wildcats jump for the opening tip during the championship game of the Big East basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 14, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images) /

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VILLANOVA, PA – NOVEMBER 06: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats walks off the court at halftime against the Morgan State Bears at Finneran Pavilion on November 6, 2018 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The Wildcats defeated the Bears 100-77. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

4. Jay Wright and Villanova getting the five-star treatment

For the past few years, the Wildcats have been gaining on the recruiting trail to enter the upper echelon of NCAA Basketball. He got his first five-star commit in Omari Spellman in the 2016 class and he was a key piece on the 2018 national title team. That and the championship Villanova won two years prior have elevated both Wright as a head coach and the Wildcats as one of the very best in NCAA Basketball.

The titles are paying dividends, landing back-to-back top-10 overall classes. Jahvon Quinerly was the highlight of last year’s group, even though Saddiq Bey (the lowest-rated prospect of the group) has made the most impact. But the current incoming group of Wildcats is the best in program history, ranked No. 4 overall and was by far the best in the Big East.

Five-star commits Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Bryan Antoine are both top-20 overall and are set to make a huge impact in the Big East (Antoine should be healthy by conference play after suffering an injury recently). But don’t discount four-star top-70 players Justin Moore and Eric Dixon, the other two commits in the 2019 recruiting class. That doesn’t even include the pickup of Caleb Daniels, a transfer who averaged over 16 ppg with Tulane as well.

These days, Villanova is now linked to multiple players ranked in the top-50 for the 2020 class. And based on past history, odds are good that the program will land a couple of them. The Wildcats are the clear-cut recruiting power in the Big East and the gap is huge. If that continues, it’s hard to see other programs regularly challenge them for the conference crown.

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