’Cats bank on big returns
SAN ANTONIO – The difference between a championship-caliber team and program can be seen in coach Jay Wright’s work at Villanova. He lost a considerable amount of talent from 2016’s national title team but led the Wildcats to a No. 1 seed in 2017 and in 2018 before this remarkable run in March Madness.
So even with projected lottery pick Mikal Bridges and national player of the year Jalen Brunson expected to leave for the NBA, it would be silly to expect the Wildcats to fade away.
Freshman big man Omari Spellman, who hit another gear in the NCAA tournament, also has shown potential as a top NBA draft pick. But the key returnees — Donte DiVincenzo, Eric Paschall and Phil Booth — can step into larger roles, ones they might be better suited for, to keep Villanova in the contending mix.
Paschall, the 6-9 forward who erupted for a 24-point game in the Final Four against Kansas (on 10-for-11 shooting), proved to be an example of a player who has both thrived and been held back in Villanova’s nation-leading offense in 2017-18 — showing next year’s group could be just as dangerous.
“He is one of our best shooters,” Wright said after the Kansas game. “He knows how to make plays. He’s really our best defensive player and our best rebounder, too. Everybody on the team knows how valuable he is.”
And DiVincenzo, who averages 13 points per game off the bench, will take on more of a lead guard role after excel- ling in the sixth man role this season. Brunson, who played more of a secondary role as a freshman and sophomore before turning into the country’s best player as a junior, is a good example of the type of step DiVincenzo can take as a junior with more responsibility.
Wright also welcomes a five-star point guard in Jahvon Quinerly, who decommitted from Arizona amid the FBI probe and now gives the Wildcats a perfect floor general replacement should Brunson depart as expected.
And as dynamic as Villanova’s offense was this season, the strides the Wildcats made defensively speak volumes to how Wright could keep the team atop the Big East and in the national mix in 2018-19.
“We struggled defensively throughout the year,” Booth, a rising senior, said Sunday. “I think we’ve become a very versatile defense.”