Big East Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

Projected Starters:

Guards- Collin Gillespie- SR and Justin Moore-SO

Forwards- Jermaine Samuels-SR, Cole Swider-JR, and Jeremiah Robinson Earl-SO

Bench- Caleb Daniels-JR*, Dhamir Cosby Roundtree-SR, Bryan Antoine-SO, Brandon Slater-JR, Eric Dixon-FR, Chris Arcidiacono-SO

Villanova’s recent run of success has been nothing short of extraordinary. Six out of the past seven college basketball seasons, Jay Wright’s Wildcats have finished in the top 10 in the final AP poll and in two of those seasons won a national championship.

We can talk about how consistently at a high-level Nova has been in so many ways. How’s this? Since the new Big East started in 2013, Villanova has either won the regular-season championships, the conference tournament championship, or both. That’s seven consecutive years of winning a league title of some kind.

Jay Wright is not letting up, and it shows. The Wildcats return either the first- or second-best player in the Big East at four of the five starting positions and have as good of a bench as you’re going to find in college basketball.

It starts with the most unheralded player on the team in starting point guard Collin Gillespie (15.1 Pts, 3.7 Reb, 4.5 Ast). Gillespie arrived in Philadelphia to be a serviceable back up to Jalen Brunson and to many was more than likely a career role player. He will graduate next spring as one of the most prolific passers, defenders and winners in school history.

Gillespie leads a backcourt comprised of two former 2019 Blue-Chip recruits Justin Moore (No. 52) and Bryan Antoine (No. 16). Both will play big minutes and both have a chance to be all-conference players, but Moore’s (11.3 Pts, 3.1 Reb, 1.9 Ast) production in 30 minutes per game as a freshman have him slated as the obvious front runner to start next to Gillespie in the backcourt.

Wright also has a secret weapon coming off the bench in former Tulane point guard Caleb Daniels. The New Orleans native jettisoned his home city when Mike Dunleavy was let go to play for a contender and found the right fit on Broad Street. He scored 17 points a night as a sophomore at Tulane.

This is not something you can say too often, but every player in the Villanova backcourt will have a chance to be on one of the All-Big East teams.

Guess what? The same can be said for the Nova frontcourt, headlined by the probably front runner for Conference Player of the Year Jeremiah Robinson Earl (10.5 Pts, 9.4 Reb, 1.9 Ast). Robinson Earl nearly averaged a double-double in 2019-20 and he did it quietly. While he played 32 minutes a game his high level of productivity came at only and 18.8 usage percentage, only 5th on the team. He will have a lot more plays called for him with the departure of Sadiq Bey and should be a force in the Big East.

The other key cog to the frontcourt rotation is Jermaine Samuels (10.7 Pts, 5.5 Reb, 2.0 Ast).  Samuels may be the most under-appreciated player in the Big East, and he’s improved by leaps and bounds each and every season. His field goal percentage has gone from 25% as a freshman to 46% as a junior and he’s transformed as an interior defender, leading the Wildcats in block percentage at just 6’7.

Stretch-4, Cole Swider, the 38th rated recruit out of the 2018 freshman class (6.1 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 0.6 Ast) adds shooting to Villanova’s forward rotation and Dhamir Cosby Roundtree (1.5 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 0.3 Ast), another top-100 recruit will likely come off the bench in his senior season but in an expanded role much greater than the 8 minutes per game he played last season. Brandon Slater and decorated redshirt from Eric Dixon will also come off the bench in supporting roles. Did I mention those are a couple of guys with 4-star recruit pedigrees as well?

We’ve seen a couple of years in a row where teams like Xavier, Creighton, and Seton Hall have really pushed Villanova’s reign of Big East supremacy. There is no debate, however, as we head into 2020-21. I don’t care if it’s played in a bubble or the season is extended into the summer. The Big East goes through Jay Wright and Villanova.