Last season, the Villanova Wildcats shocked many early in the season and got off to a fast 11-0 start including wins over then the second best team in the country in Kansas and the twenty-third in Iowa. Their season-long winning streak would be snapped by Syracuse. They would only go onto lose four games the rest of the season, two of those losses would come against Creighton, an upset from Seton Hall in the Big East tournament, and also lost to eventual national champions UConn in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
Jay Wright’s squad will hope to make a deep title run this season led by their strong backcourt that consists of Darrun Hilliard, Josh Hart, and Ryan Arcidiacono. All of three of them are returning starters to go along with forward JayVaughn Pinkston. Both Pinkston and Hilliard last season averaged over 14 points per game. They return to the team as the program’s leading scorers as now graduated guard James Bell led the team with 14.4 points per game, most of his shots coming from beyond the perimeter.
With the departure of Bell, some believe the Wildcats offense may be not as effective from three-point range, however in Hilliard, the ‘Cats have their best three point shooter returning as Hilliard sank 70 of his 169 attempts last season for a three-point percentage of .414% , the highest percentage on the team with 50 or more shots from three-point range.
One of the Wildcats’ most effective player this season could very well be that of junior point guard Ryan Arcidiacono, who last season earned honorable mention for the all-Big East team and earned second-team Big 5 honors. The 6’3 195lb Philadelphia showed vast improvement last season despite a drop in offensive numbers. Last season, Arcidiacono saw his number of turnovers get cut in half going from 96 in the 2012-13 season to 48 last season. He also saw a increase in his three point percentage, having it jump from .327 to .345 (59-171). The junior also spent a more considerable amount of time around the rim, as his amount of rebounds went up to 82 from 72 in the 2012-13 season. If the junior can pick the ability he had in his freshman season to draw fouls, the Wildcats offense will be a juggernaut in the Big East this season.
Hilliard however is the most complete player for the Wildcats as the 6’6 senior, shot .486% last season including .41% from the beyond the perimeter and .718% from the free throw line. The senior also gets his fair amount of dishes over the course of a game, as the Bethlehem native averaged 2.6 per game last season for a total of 90 over the season, which is almost as good as Arcidiacono’s average of 3.5 per game and 118 over the course of the season. When the season comes to a close, Hilliard may be the Big East Player of the Year
JayVaugh Pinkston is another player that will be chasing the Big East Player of the Year crown. A former McDonald’s All-American, Pinkston shows defensive potential while also being able to put up a solid amount of points every game. Playing mostly at center in the past, Pinkston has the offensive ability of a guard, standing in at 6’7. Pinkston will be seen often this sesaon getting in the paint offensively and looking to draw fouls,
The player most likely to take over the departure of James Bell will be junior Josh Hart. The 6’5 sophomore saw time in all 34 games last season averaging 7.8 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game. Hart showed a strong ability to get to the rim as a freshman, and showed offensive consistency through a tough stretch of the season last year, when he averaged 12.5 points per game from December 15th to January 18th. Hart also had a great performance against Seton Hall in the Big East tournament sinking shot after shot for 18 points while grabbing eight rebounds.
The Wildcats also have a new face who will make his debut this season, in ESPN top-100 recruit Phil Booth, a freshman from Baltimore. Booth, projects as a two guard in college due to his mid and long range shooting but has the ball handling skills to be able to take over at point when needed. Last season, Pinkston took 203 foul shots and was able to make 151 of them for a percentage of .744.
Other names that fans should may get used to hearing is junior Dylan Ennis and freshman Mikal Bridges. Ennis,a 6’2 guard transferred from Rice prior to last season, and was able to show some potential offensively but fell off towards the end of the season. Bridges, is another ESPN top-100 recruit from Malvern, Pennsylvania. Bridges is described as an athletic shooting guard who has tremendous upside. A player who doesn’t shy away from contact and has the ability to sink easy threes when given.
Daniel Ochefu, will be the Wildcats best rebounder this season arguably as the 6’11 junior brought down an average of 6.1 rebounds per game including four games where he brought down 10 or more. Offensively, Ochefu has potential as he put up double-digits in points, including two games where he went five-for-five and six-for-six. If the junior wants to see more playing time this season, he will have to cut down on his turnovers, as he averaged about two turnovers per game last season.
Roster:
#0 – Henry Lowe (Guard)
#2 – Kris jenkins (Forward)
#3 – Josh Hart (Guard)
#4 – Darrun Hilliard II (Guard)
#5 – Phil Booth (Guard)
#14 – Darryl Reynolds (Forward)
#15 – Ryan Arcidiacono (Guard)
#20 – Patrick Farrell (Forward)
#22 – JayVaughn Pinkston (Forward)
#23 – Daniel Ochefu (Forward)
#25 – Mikal Bridges (Guard – Forward)
#31 – Dylan Ennis (Guard)
#52 – Kevin Rafferty (Forward)
Schedule:
*conference games in bold
*Big 5 games italicized
The Wildcats open up their season with three fairly easier matchups with games against Lehigh, Maryland-Eastern Shore, and Bucknell in the span of six days. The most notable game of these threes will be when the Wildcats open up their season against Lehigh at Allentown’s new PPL Center (story here).
Following their first three games, their schedule gets immediately tougher as they travel to VCU, before returning back to Philly to play Delaware, (at) La Salle, and Saint Joseph’s. The ‘Cats will then have a home-and-home series with the Fightin Illini of Illinois before taking on Temple, Syracuse, and N.J.I.T at home.
Following their game against Temple, Nova will begin the bulk of their Big East schedule as the Wildcats open their conference play against Butler on December 31st before traveling to Seton Hall and Saint Johns the following week. DePaul and Xavier visit the Wildcats on the 10th and 14th before the Wildcats have a Big 5 match-up against Penn on the 17th.
Following their game with Penn, the Wildcats begin their heat of the conference play with games against Georgetown and Creighton in the span of six days on January 19th and 25th. The Wildcats take on DePaul to end January before taking on Marquette and Georgetown at home in the span of four days.
Games against Providence, Butler and Seton Hall fill the middle part of Feburary before the ‘Cats travel to Marquette and Xavier with a home against Providence in between the two. The WildCats will take on Creighton in their second-to-last game of the season on March 3rd before finishing their season at home against St.Johns.
The WildCats have a tougher schedule than last season especially in December when the ‘Cats take on Illinois (2x), Temple, and Syracuse before getting into conference play. Last season, they showed no trouble besides against Creighton who were the ‘Cats only blemishes in a 16-2 conference record in regular season play.
Regular Season record prediction: 28-3 (17-1) (Losses to Illinois, Syracuse, Creighton)
- Nov. 14th – vs Lehigh (Allentown,PA)
- Nov. 17th – vs Maryland-Eastern Shore
- Nov. 20th – vs Bucknell
- Nov. 24th – @ VCU
- Nov. 30th – vs Delaware
- Dec. 3rd – @ La Salle
- Dec. 6th – vs St. Joes
- Dec. 8th – @ Illinois
- Dec. 9th – vs Illinois
- Dec. 14th – vs Temple
- Dec. 20th – vs Syracuse
- Dec. 23rd – vs N.J.I.T
- Dec. 31st – vs Butler
- Jan. 3rd – @ Seton Hall
- Jan. 6th – @ Saint Johns
- Jan. 10th – vs DePaul
- Jan. 14th – vs Xavier
- Jan. 17th – @ Penn
- Jan. 19th – @ Georgetown
- Jan. 25th – vs Creighton
- Jan. 31st – @ DePaul
- Feb. 4th – vs Marquette
- Feb. 7th – vs Georgetown
- Feb. 11th – @ Providence
- Feb. 14th – @ Butler
- Feb. 16th – vs Seton Hall
- Feb. 21st – @ Marquette
- Feb. 24th – vs Providence
- Feb. 28th – @ Xavier
- Mar. 3rd – @ Creighton
- Mar. 7th – vs St. Johns.
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