NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early top-25 power rankings for 2021-22 season

There are some major questions that need to be asked about the Wildcat key players, mainly Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Collin Gillespie. There’s a good chance that Robinson-Earl, the Big East Player of the Year, will be off to the NBA Draft so I can’t count on his return.

Gillespie is the bigger story. He’s the heart and soul of the Wildcats and suffered a season-ending injury before the conference tournament, making it two years in a row that he didn’t participate in the NCAA Tournament. The senior has an extra year available and isn’t projected to get drafted, so there’s a real chance that Gillespie could return.

That would solve Villanova’s issues at the point guard position and allow rising junior guard Justin Moore to stay at his natural shooting guard role. Rising senior guard Caleb Daniels will be back, along with former five-star guard prospect Bryan Antoine, who we’ll hopefully get to see healthy finally. Top-100 shooting guard recruit Jordan Longino will be joining, along with freshman point guard Angelo Brizzi.

Assuming that Robinson-Earl, Jermaine Samuels, Jr., and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree all move on, the frontcourt will look different and young. Top-100 center Nnanna Njoku will be in the fold, along with Trey Patterson, a former top-60 power forward prospect that joined the program midway this season to take advantage of the extra year.

Head coach Jay Wright is good enough to keep this team ranked next season, even without Gillespie on board. But the floor for the Wildcats will be lower and this would be a great opportunity for the rest of the Big East to overtake them in the standings. This also is a chance for the freshmen on the roster to come out of nowhere and keep the team at the top too.