Villanova Basketball: Sudden Max Shulga departure a crushing blow for Wildcats

With the recent news that Max Shulga will not be playing for Villanova Basketball next season, where do the Wildcats go from here?

After going 51-49 in the first two seasons (and missing the postseason both years), Villanova Basketball HC Kyle Neptune may be approaching hot seat status entering year 3. And the offseason was off to a rough start, losing four starters to either eligibility or the transfer portal.

There have been some good news for the Wildcats, landing a trio of guards from the portal. Tyler Perkins is a 6'4 guard from Penn, coming off averaging 13.7 ppg as a freshman. Jhamir Brickus (13.9 ppg and 4.8 apg) is a veteran ball-handler from La Salle who can run point as Mark Armstrong's replacement, while Max Shulga (14.0 ppg and 3.6 apg) is a career 40% 3-point shooter from his days at Utah State and VCU. The team was hopeful that this trio was good enough to compete in the Big East but now, they'll be without one of them.

It's the rare scenario where a "mid-major" program actually benefitted compared to a high-major team, especially one as notable as Villanova. And it puts them and HC Neptune in a tough spot. There aren't many guards remaining in the portal that's good enough to play at the Big East level, including ball-handlers.

They reportedly are targeting Miami transfer Wooga Poplar, a scoring guard who can shoot as well as Shulga, though he isn't as much of a ball-handler. So that puts a lot of pressure on Brickus to be ready to run the offense at a high level as the lead guard. Plus, the team lacks depth on the perimeter so needs to add at least a couple of players.

This doesn't even include the most important news for Villanova, as star forward and leading scorer/rebounder Eric Dixon is still in the NBA Draft process and could stay. If that happens, the Wildcats won't have any proven frontcourt production to rely upon next season.

In an already tough situation roster-wise, things could get even tougher for Villanova Basketball in the coming days, with the Shulga departure making things even more dicey.