NCAA Basketball: 25 biggest offseason winners heading into 2021-22 season

Some may be confused as to why Villanova would crack the list when they had one of the quietest offseasons in the country. They’re one of three teams among the power six conferences (Purdue and Standford the others) to not gain a player in the transfer portal this offseason.

The reason why the Wildcats are No. 20 is that they were able to bring back all three seniors for another year. That includes Co-Big East Player of the Year Collin Gillespie, who was injured at the end of last season and missed out on the team’s Sweet 16 run. Had he been healthy, who knows if Villanova could’ve been able to upset Baylor in the third game.

Villanova’s star guard is back, along with forwards Jermaine Samuels Jr. and Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree. Samuels was a double-digit contributor and Cosby-Roundtree was also hurt but when healthy is a good interior defender.

Although they won’t have Co-Big East Player of the Year and star forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl anymore, everyone else is back. Besides the super-seniors, the Wildcats have Justin Moore, Caleb Daniels, and Brandon Slater, as well as a top-20 incoming recruiting class.

This is a team that didn’t have to deal with the transfer portal this offseason and considering the craziness we saw in the past few months, that was a good thing for this powerhouse program.