Villanova Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Wildcats

Saddiq Bey may have moved on but Villanova Basketball is once again a national title contender, and are in search of their third title since 2016.

If it is possible for a team that is hunting its third national championship in the last five years to be floating under the radar, Villanova Basketball may be doing just that, relatively speaking. With teams like Gonzaga and Baylor getting a ton of play this summer, the biggest story to come out of Philadelphia was that Jay Wright was not a candidate for the 76ers’ head coaching position.

Wright says he is Villanova is where he wants to be, and that is a good thing because Wright has built the Wildcat program into a perennial national title contender to be mentioned with the Dukes and Kentuckys of the world, and most certainly with Gonzaga, Baylor and anyone else in the national title conversation.

The Wildcats return literally every one of consequence from that 24-7 team except leading scorer Saddiq Bey who is off to the NBA after two seasons at Villanova and is seen as a likely lottery pick. The only other player on the roster not returning is guard Tim Saunders who appeared in just two games in his final season.

They have won five Big East Tournament titles since 2015, were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2017, and cut down the nets in both 2016 and 2018. Last season they finished ranked 10th in the country at 24-7 and were the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament with another title in their sights before the season came to end.

Villanova should be able to pick up where they left off last season with an eye toward another deep run in March.