‘Nova picked as favorite in Big East preseason coaches poll

The only certain thing about the 2020-21 college basketball season is its uncer taint y. Even though schedules are starting to trickle out, there is no way of knowing if there will be a season and if so, how long it will last in the age of the coronavirus pandemic.

Villanova’s Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels know this all too well.

Everything was going smoothly until late last month when the team had to shut down all basketball activities for several weeks after a few people in the program tested positive for COVID-19.

“It was difficult for us at first when we found out because we had just gotten back into the swing of things, just got back to school so we were excited to get going,” Gillespie said during the Big East’s virtual media day on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, we got shut down for a few weeks. Guys got home. It was a couple of weeks of rest, trying to stay in shape the best we can, being outside running, lifting if you had weights.”

The Wildcats are back now, working out and following all the safety protocols in an effort to have a season, but even that is not a guarantee.

“It was definitely a little bit of a shock and shows how serious this situation is,” Samuels added.

Gillespie put it best when he said “It’s bigger than basketball.”

“Everyone has to deal with it and it’s tough to deal with, being away for two weeks, being away from the game, being away from your teammates and coaches,” Gillespie went on to say. “I’m sure at some point everyone is going to have to go through it and it’s who can maintain that mental toughness and be locked into your teammates just to get through the year and get through as many games as you can. I think that’s going to be huge for our guys. Like Jermaine said, being disciplined at all times, being focused on our season and wanting to play these games. If that means being in a bubble, and not seeing people, we want to play.”

There has been some talk of playing some conference games in a bubble later in the season, including the Big East tournament, but that’s just the league looking at all options to get as many games in as possible in these uncertain times.

And while the fate of the season is still up in the air, one thing is not: Villanova’s status as the team to beat in the Big East. For the sixth time in the last seven years the Wildcats were picked as the preseason favorite in a vote of the league’s coaches. Villanova received nine of the 11 first-team votes. The other two first-place votes went to Creighton.

That’s not a surprise. Villanova has four of its five starters and 11 of its 12 scholarship players back from a team that went 24-7 overall and 13-5 in the Big East to share the conference title with Creighton and Seton Hall before the virus shutdown the season.

Heading that list of returnees are Gillespie and sophomore Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who were selected to the preseason AllBig East first team. Gillespie was a unanimous selection and Robinson-Earl was the Freshman of the Year in the conference last season. Robinson-Earl tested the NBA waters before deciding to return to college. He did so with a purpose.

“I’m really into winning,” Robinson-Earl said. “I want to win a Big East title and I wanted to win a national title and I thought that was something really important to me. I just wanted to become the best player I could be and I felt like that was the best option.”

The odds are good that the Wildcats can make another run at the Big East title. Samuels and sophomore guard Justin Moore, a second-team preseason All-Big East selection, are two more key returnees. Also back are senior Dhamir CosbyRound tree, juniors Cole Swider and Brandon Slater and sophomores Bryan Antoine and Chris Arcidiacono. Junior Caleb Daniels and redshirt freshman Eric Dixon are expected to provide depth for a team that is considered one of the favorites to win the national title.

First, though, the Wildcats have to navigate their way through a season that will be constantly threatened by a worldwide pandemic. They’re not alone.

“There’s going to be more challenges this season than any season in the history of college basketball,” head coach Jay Wright said.