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2016-17 Season Preview: Painter dives right in at Villanova

11/07/2016, 8:30am EST
By Michael Bullock

Dylan Painter, seen here with Team Final last summer, got thrown right into the fray at Villanova. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2016-17 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 11. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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Imagine signing on with a big-time college basketball program and, some six months later, your soon-to-be teammates bounce off after winning a national championship.

Undoubtedly, that’s one series of overwhelming emotions.

Then, when you finally arrive on campus, settle into your dorm room and start playing pick-up ball with the guys, the next thing you know you’re off to Europe for a quick tour of Spain for an educational experience that includes some on-court sessions.

Yet before climbing on the airplane for the lengthy journey abroad, you learn that your squad’s lone returning big man is hurt and won’t be going. On top of that, the other half of your recruiting class isn’t making the week-long trip either.

Now one can understand how August unfolded for Dylan Painter, a topsy-turvy time during which the all-state big man from Hershey High School picked up priceless on-the-job training alongside the Villanova teammates he was really just getting to know.

Not only off the court, but Painter also was trying to fit in on the floor with many of the same guys who in early April — as he watched intently on television — celebrated an NCAA championship when Kris Jenkins’ 3-pointer fell through the hoop with the buzzer sounding to squeeze past North Carolina 77-74 before a huge crowd in Houston.

Yet even though the 6-10, 240-pound Painter months earlier pocketed a first-team all-state nod from a group of Pennsylvania sports writers after averaging 22.5 points and 13.5 rebounds during his senior season at Hershey, this was a Villanova program coming off a thrilling national championship run and a 35-5 campaign.

Painter anticipated a transition phase. So did the Villanova staff.

How quick he’d respond was the question and that was a biggie.

Instead of playing for Mid-Penn Keystone Division supremacy, Painter was lining up alongside Villanova heroes such as Jenkins, Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson and Phil Booth — the same guys he watched on TV — his transition sped and his playing time enhanced by the absences of fellow big men Darryl Reynolds and Omari Spellman.

“Darryl was out with a chest injury and Omari was obviously out for that trip, so they gave me a big opportunity to go out there and just get used to the guys and get used to playing at that higher level,” Painter recalled late last month.

While Reynolds was hurt, Spellman would ultimately fall victim to an NCAA decree that would force him to take an academic redshirt since the national governing body said he didn’t complete his initial eligibility requirements rapidly enough.

Spellman, though, will be allowed to practice.

So, continuing to get that feel for his new teammates, Painter averaged 7 ppg and 4.3 rpg in Villanova’s victories over a trio of Spanish sides.

“It was great for him,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. “And the fact that Darryl Reynolds was hurt and couldn’t play really helped Dylan. Didn’t help Darryl, but it helped Dylan. Probably helped our team because we know what Darryl can do.”

Reynolds figured it would help Painter … and the rest of the Wildcats.

“When I first got the news that I wasn’t going, I was crushed by it,” said Reynolds, the 6-9, 240-pound senior from Lower Merion by way of Worcester (Mass.) Academy. “But at the same time, that was the first thing I thought of, especially with Omari not playing and me not going at all and not playing. Obviously, I just thought that Dylan’s gonna get that much better. There’s certain things you can only learn by being out there.

“I learned that last year. There’s certain things you can only learn by being out there and being in the mix. That’s what he tried to take advantage out there in Spain.”

Several months later, as Wright’s Wildcats continue to prepare for their season opener Friday night against Fran O’Hanlon’s Lafayette Leopards, Painter tucks away even more info following his daily duels with Reynolds and the 6-9, 260-pound Spellman.

The reason? Villanova flashed primarily an eight-man rotation in its exhibition victory (94-49) over Indiana (Pa.) and Painter’s hoping to make his case for additional PT after logging just five minutes in the Wildcats’ lopsided win.

There is, however, a plan in place for the former Trojan star as he continues his determined quest for playing time in a Villanova program ranked fourth in one national poll and third in another. The ‘Cats also are the Big East’s preseason favorites.

“Rebounding. Playing hard. Running the court,” Painter said. “I don’t need to be a scorer for this team, so they said my points will come naturally off natural basketball plays. I’ve got to work on defending and defending ball screens is definitely a big thing.

“Setting screens. All that kind of stuff.”

Reynolds offers plenty of daily reinforcement, physical and verbal.

“Dylan’s getting better by the day, man. He’s so cerebral in his approach to the game. He’s picked up a lot of things we do quick. He’s a tough kid. He’s a very tough kid,” Reynolds said. “He’s just one of those people who seems to grasp things.

“He’s not satisfied, which you love to see in any young guy — which you love to see in anybody, for that matter — but especially the young guys who aren’t satisfied and are willing to put in extra work. He wants to put in extra work.”

And Villanova’s bigs do get after it.

“He’s like taken me and Omari under his wing,” Painter said. “As younger big guys, he’s kind of showing us the ropes. At the same time, when we get out here in practice I’ve got to compete with him every day. He’s the guy I have to go against every day. Off the court, it’s like great, and on the court it’s competitive.

“From Day 1, I showed him that I’m not gonna mess around on the court and I think I earned his respect. So he knows that when we’re going at it on the court, it’s go time.”

“It wasn’t just the first practice, it’s a day-in and day-out thing,” Reynolds replied. “I guess the refreshing part — or should I say the humbling part — is he gives it right back. It’s not one-sided at all. In many ways, it’s like a little brother thing but it’s not a one-sided fight at all. He scraps and that’s always appreciated.”

Obviously, Wright has been watching those one-on-one encounters in the paint.

“He’s a bull. He’s a big, strong kid. He’s a football player, so he doesn’t back down,” Wright said of Painter. “Darryl’s being kind. Darryl’s a veteran.

“He gets the best of him a lot, but Dylan has his days.”

And while an illness during camp hindered Painter’s progress, he’s definitely in Villanova’s immediate plans — even if his role remains in flux.

“He had a severe case of strep throat the last week-and-a-half that’s really set him back, so right now it seems he’s not gonna look great — but he was doing a good job,” Wright indicated at the team's media day in October. “He’s going to be a good player here.

“We have to be patient with him, but what we’re really concentrating on is teaching him how to play hard like a college basketball player. When you come out of high school and you’re a big guy, you can get a lot of things done with just your size. You’ve got to be involved in every play when you’re in college. He’s doing a good job with that.”

Painter still may be finding his way somewhat, but he’s been absorbing everything — instruction, advice, constructive criticism — wherever it’s coming from.

“Just learning how to play hard,” Painter said. “Coach always stresses attitude.

“And from Josh, Kris and Darryl, I’m learning how to showcase a great attitude in practice and games and all that stuff.”

Having been there, Reynolds has a pretty good idea how Painter can fit in.

“I’m not on the coaching staff, so I don’t know what they’re expecting of him from the jump,” Reynolds said of his youthful teammate. “I know they expect him to be tough. I know they expect him to rebound and add the stuff that he can, which is play hard and doing everything that he can do out there.

“I guess they’re expecting from him what they expect from everybody else, just to go out there and play hard and play Villanova basketball,” Reynolds continued. “Most of all, play for the guys with Villanova across their chests.”

Some of the same guys he watched on TV.


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