Villanova Wildcats - B
Villanova was at the peak of college basketball pre-COVID, then after their Final 4 appearance in 2022, they haven't been the same program since. Ever since the hiring of Kyle Neptune they have 0 NCAA tournament appearances, 0 Big East titles, and a combined record of 56-48. The only positive is that Neptune has raised his win total and lowered his loss total every season so far.
This offseason Villanova was set to lose a solid amount of key players, as they would go on to lose almost all of their scoring from this past season to either the draft or transfer portal. Neptune was able to replenish some of those losses, bringing in 3 high school commits and 7 transfer commits.
The 3 high school commits include 6-2 guard from Washington, DC, Acadian Lewis, who was previously commited to Kentucky before flipping his commitment to Villanova, a 6-3 guard from Lanham, Maryland, Chris Jeffrey, and a 7-1 center from Glen Head, New York, Nico Onyekwere. Lewis and Jeffrey are both coming in as top 75 recruits according to 247 sports, and Nico is currently unranked.
In the transfer portal while Neptune lost a lot he also was able to get a good number of commits. Neptune is bringing in 2 Power 5 transfers and 5 Mid Major transfers. Those players are Malachi Palmer from Maryland, Braden Pierce, who is also from Maryland, Duke Brennan from Grand Canyon, Malcolm Flaggs, who is also coming from Grand Canyon, Zion Stanford from Temple, Bryce Lindsay from James Madison, and Devin Askew from Long Beach St.
In conclusion a pretty solid offseason, nothing really to write home about but nothing too bad either. Expecting Villanova to finish in a similar place this year as they did last year.