NCAA Basketball: 10 biggest takeaways from opening week of 2021-22 season

Too dependant on their backcourt

Everybody knew once Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats lost 2020-21 leading scorer and starting center Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to the NBA, that they were going to have trouble in the paint. This has become all too much of a reality for the Wildcats just two games into the season, as they are having difficulty scoring in and defending the paint.

The by-product of not having a post presence is the over-reliance on the backcourt. At times it can be difficult to actually identify which players will be pigeoned holed into particular positions since Coach Wright often has four players on the perimeter, sometimes even five in order to shoot a high number of three-pointers.

So, even though Jermaine Samuels is currently the second-leading scorer, the 6’7 senior in no way should be considered a power forward. That case is furthered when the ten three-pointers attempted in two games is third-most on the team. Many of which came off the penetration and kick out by the backcourt.

Over there two games – one of which was a high-profiled loss at UCLA – the Wildcats have attempted just 16 more two-point field goals than three-point field goals. Not only did Villanova struggle getting second-chance points versus UCLA when they were outscored seven to four in that category, but in their 40-point victory over St. Mary’s (MD) they managed just an 11-7 advantage in second-chance points.  The bulk of the Wildcats’ offense is coming off of guard drives and guard post-ups.