City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Villanova held its annual Blue & White Scrimmage on Saturday, taking the court for about an hour and a half in the Jake Nevin Center thanks to the ongoing construction on the Pavilion that will have the Wildcats playing most of their games at Wells Fargo Center this season.

Here are some thoughts from the practice/scrimmage, which consisted of a few warm-up drills and some situational basketball followed by a trio of mini-games of 7-to-10 minutes each.

1. Donte DiVincenzo is in for a big year.

Okay, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who paid attention to the Wildcats last season. DiVincenzo, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Salesianum (Del.), averaged 8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 1.7 spg as a valuable reserve for Villanova last year, his redshirt freshman season, but it was during the NCAA Tournament that he really showed his value. During the team’s two games in Buffalo, DiVincenzo scored 36 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, hit 6-of-8 from 3-point range and established himself as a player to watch in 2017-18.

Over the course of Saturday’s event, DiVincenzo did just about everything. He got things underway with a steal on a baseline inbounds play for a coast-to-coast layup, knocked down his first 3-pointer of the day a minute later on a smooth catch-and-release from the right wing, and then shortly after that took Jalen Brunson 1-on-1 to the hoop in transition for a finger-roll finish over the point guard.

With Josh Hart and his 1,921 points as well as Kris Jenkins and his 1,383 points having moved on from their Villanova careers, the Wildcats need someone to step up and become their go-to scorer. Junior point guard Jalen Brunson might be the team’s captain and on-court leader, and he’s certainly capable of getting his own shot in big moments, but something about the way the scrimmage went on Saturday it looks like it won’t be long before DiVincenzo is the guy everybody looks to first when the team needs a clutch shot.

“It’s exciting, to see Donte continue to grow and continue to want to improve,” Wright said. “He finished strong last year and he did not relax in the offseason, he just went to work and wanted to get better, and you can see there’s an improvement in everything he does -- his ball-handling, his passing, his shooting, and also his confidence level.”

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2. This is a bigger Villanova squad than usual.

The Wildcats are pretty far removed from the days when Randy Foye, Allan Ray, Kyle Lowry and now-director of basketball ops. Mike Nardi all shared the floor together. Despite the graduation of Darryl Reynolds, Villanova has four players on its current roster who are listed at 6-8 or taller and eight at 6-5 or taller.

“The year we had a lot of injuries at the guard spot, we played big because we were big,” Wright said, referring to the 2011-12 season in which Mouphtaou Yarou, JayVaughn Pinkston, Maurice Sutton and Markus Kennedy all averaged more than 14 minutes per game. “We weren’t that effective, though. I think this team has a good chance to have good overall team size and be effective.”

Although redshirt freshman Omari Spellman, a 6-10, 240-pound center and former five-star recruit, didn’t play Saturday, he should be Villanova’s top interior presence, giving the Wildcats a reliable low-post scorer who can also step outside and knock down shots.

Freshman Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, a 6-8 Neumann-Goretti product, looked like he might be able to contribute right away after his performance on Saturday. He was active defensively, often covering smaller players out on the perimeter, and attacked the offensive and defensive glass.

Sophomores Tim Delaney (6-8) and Dylan Painter (6-10) both have size, and a little experience. Delaney played in 26 minutes in seven games. Painter averaged less than six minutes in 22 games last season with most of his time coming when Reynolds was injured.

The size does not stop with the bigs. Forward Eric Paschall can play inside and outside at 6-7. Redshirt junior swingman Mikal Bridges is 6-7, and freshman Jermaine Samuels is 6-6 with a wingspan easily a few inches more.. Even redshirt sophomore guard Donte DiVincenzo is 6-5.

“I wouldn’t say [we’ll be] less reliant [on 3s], it’s just nice when you can have an inside game,” Wright said. “I think we have a chance to have a better inside game than we’ve had in a while.”

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3. No Booth...no problem?

Phil Booth was one of two scratches from the scrimmage, as the redshirt junior guard and redshirt freshman Omari Spellman both dressed and participated in some warm-up activities but didn’t participate in any full-court, 5-on-5 action. Wright said Spellman had suffered a bone bruise in his knee while Booth had “annoying tendonitis” in his left knee.

Though Wright said that both are expected back in practice next week, and both players were in uniform and participated in some light drills before the scrimmage began, one of the two injuries does have a little extra cause for concern.

Booth went from struggling sophomore to Villanova legend with his 20-point outing in the 2016 National Championship game, an effort outshone only by the first-ever national championship buzzer-beater courtesy Kris Jenkins. But inflammation in that left knee wouldn’t go away, and it bothered him enough to the point where he took a redshirt for the 2016-17 season after starting the first three games but clearly not at 100 percent.

Wright acknowledged that Booth’s knee issues are something that might not go away, and

If Booth is unable to go, freshman guard Collin Gillespie might see an increased role in his rookie season. The Archbishop Wood product certainly held his own on Saturday on both ends of the floor, coming up with several steals and rebounds while also hitting a number of 3-pointers in rhythm and dishing to teammates.

Neumann-Goretti big man Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Rivers School (Mass.) wing Jermaine Samuels each had their moments as well in their first public appearance in Villanova uniforms.

“I think all three of our freshmen are important because of that, because you never know when Phil might be struggling with that,” Wright said. “The versatility of the other guys [on the roster] make it such that it doesn’t have to be Collin -- it’d be nice if it’s Collin, but it doesn’t have to be, other guys can step in and we can move guys into Phil’s spot.”