It’s accurate to say that the last decade has been by far the most successful in program history at Villanova. It’s also likely accurate to say that the next decade could be far different. The Wildcats won national titles in 2016 and 2018 and returned to the Final Four this past season, but things will look very different when the season begins next month for the Villanova Basketball faithful.
Longtime head coach Jay Wright announced his retirement, with longtime former aide Kyle Neptune swiped from Fordham to take over the Wildcats program. The Wildcats lose several of the elite playmakers from last season’s Final Four squad and face a flurry of unknowns moving forward. Even fresh off a Final Four and a decade of dominating the Big East, we’re not really sure what to expect of Villanova in the near future.
We’re certainly expecting success to continue; this program has brought talent in for decades and can continue to thrive even after Wright’s retirement. Still, Neptune has just a single season of head coaching experience and he’s one of the new head coaches this season who will have plenty of eyes on him. Expectations will and should be high for Neptune and these Wildcats, even with all the changes in this program.
Specifically, the Wildcats bid farewell to Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels, two of the most important playmakers from last year’s squad. When you add in a couple of devastating injuries, this Wildcats team will be somewhat limited at the start of this upcoming season. We’ll talk more about those injuries further, but it’s important to know that this is not going to be the same powerful type of Villanova lineup that we’re used to seeing, especially in the backcourt.
We’ll be looking closely at the roster and expectations and try to answer some of those lingering questions about this team. Villanova is sprinting into a new era in its basketball history, but is that reason to expect them to no longer be this dominant force in the Big East? The winning ways are not a thing of the past at Villanova and let’s start looking into the players who are going to make that continue.