City of Basketball Love

By Mitchell Northam (@primetimeMitch)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)

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Back in the fall of 2017, when Maddy Siegrist was entering her senior year of high school at Our Lady of Lourdes in Poughkeepsie, New York, Villanova was the most notable offer she had to play college basketball. And a lot of folks – including Siegrist herself – weren’t totally sure if she could play in the Big East. Siegrist called Villanova her “risk school” and then-head coach Harry Perretta told her, straight up, “You’re probably not going to play a lot.”

Fast forward five years later. It’s October 2022 and Siegrist has just been named Big East Preseason Player of the Year and an honorable mention Associated Press All-American. This all came after a season in which Siegrist was named Big East Player of the Year, Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Year and a third team All-American by the USBWA and the AP. She scored 684 points – the most ever by any Villanova junior – as she led the Wildcats to their first NCAA Tournament since 2018.

“It’s definitely been surreal,” Siegrist said of her road from an unheralded recruit to the Big East’s top player. “If I look back on my journey to get here, it’s like, ‘Wow.’”

And now, she and the Wildcats are ready for an encore.

“I feel like, obviously, you want to do what you did last year, but every season is different,” Siegrist told City of Basketball Love recently. “I think we have the potential to be strong in the Big East again, and hopefully the NCAA Tournament.”

Last season was about restoring the standard Perretta had set at Villanova in his 42 seasons on the job. This campaign is about maintaining that success.

“When I took over for Harry, it was definitely a storied program, and we wanted to establish high expectations,” Wildcats head coach Denise Dillon said. “We put together an incredibly challenging non-conference schedule this year. So, now we’re telling players, the vision is on the national scale, not just in Big East basketball.”

Indeed, in the first two months of this campaign, Villanova will face five teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season in Princeton, Belmont, Baylor, Iowa State, and Big East foe Creighton.

“We have a lot of young kids and they need to be ready early. We're throwing them into the fire right away. We just have to see where we stand and establish ourselves from the beginning,” Dillon said. “It helps, obviously, to have a star like Maddy Siegrist to lead us.”

Bumpy beginning to national stage

Siegrist’s junior year got off to a bit of a rocky start last season. She missed nearly a month of playing time with a hand injury and the Wildcats were 3-5 when she returned to the court against James Madison.

“That was kind of tough,” Siegrist said. “And then we really just took it one game at a time and then started getting momentum.”

That might be underselling it a bit. Beginning with that Dec. 9 win against James Madison, Villanova lost just twice through the rest of the regular season – a stretch that included a win at No. 8 UConn. That snapped the Huskies’ 169-game win streak in Big East play and gave the Wildcats their first victory in Storrs since 1993, well before Siegrist and her teammates were born.

Siegrist had 17 points and 12 boards in that historic triumph at UConn. On the season, she averaged 25.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 49.3% from the floor, 34.6% from behind the arc and 82.1% from the charity stripe. Her scoring average was second-best in the nation, trailing only Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, but Siegrist led the country in field goals made per contest with 9.5.

The advanced statistics – according to HerHoopStats – liked Siegrist’s game too. She was eighth in the nation in PER (38.9) and ninth in win shares (10.8).

Siegrist did a little bit of everything for the Wildcats last season and did all of it pretty well. She showed she could score from deep and defend the rim at a high level. In the HerHoopStats era (since 2009) she’s the only player to average at least 25 points, nine rebounds, one block and two 3-pointers made per game.

There’s also a lot Siegrist does that doesn’t show up on a stat sheet.

“I think, as a leader for us, she's taken that responsibility and that role and really embraces it and has done so much for the team by convincing them that they're capable of anything individually and collectively,” Dillon said. “Maddy is a competitor. And she’s become extremely vocal.”

Villanova fell to UConn in the Big East title game last season, but the Wildcats’ resume was still strong enough to earn a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They upset No. 6 BYU in the first round behind Siegrist’s 25 points and then fell to Michigan.

Under Perretta, Villanova went to an AIAW Final Four in 1982, and then took 11 trips to the WNIT and 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament. They endured just eight losing seasons in his 42 years on the sidelines.

Last season was the first dance in March Madness for Dillon’s Wildcats, and she and Siegrist are aiming to keep that momentum rolling.

“There’s such a strong tradition of basketball here. They’ve had so much success,” Siegrsit said. “You want to play with pride and you want to play with those players that played before. Whatever the best your team can achieve, just strive for it.”

Offseason work elevated by 3-on-3 experience

In the offseason, Siegrist worked on expanding her shooting repertoire, specifically shooting off the dribble and improving her fadeaway.

But where she really made strides in adding more tools to her toolbox was when she got an invitation to play with Team USA’s U-23 3-on-3 team. Siegrist impressed so much in the training camps that she traveled with the teams to FIBA tournaments in the Dominican Republic and Romania. Joining her on the team was UNC’s Alyssa Utsby, Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld and Aaliyah Moore of Texas.

“It was really cool. It was kind of a rigorous tryout process, but you get to play with the best kids in the country, which is such a great opportunity,” Siegrist said. “It was such a professional thing. You’re kind of like a pro athlete.”

Siegrist had never played 3-on-3 in an organized setting before and it sharpened different parts of her game. One big difference for her was the defense; you can’t hide anyone in 3-on-3, so each player has to be able to hold their own against the person they’re guarding.

“I was using my speed and a lot of fadeaways,” Siegrist said. “The game is so much quicker, and there’s no help defense, which is kind of cool.”

Dillon went down to the Dominican Republic to watch Siegrist play and she was impressed by how vocal she had become on defense, talking throughout each game.

“That was something that was not natural and has now just become a habit for her,” Dillon said.

Siegrist, a WNBA prospect?

Because of the NCAA’s ruling that made it so the 2020-21 season didn’t count toward an athlete’s eligibility clock, Siegrist has one year of college playing time left beyond this season. But she’s also old enough for the WNBA Draft. And a player with her combination of skills could make her attractive to pro teams.

“Yea, I mean, that’s the dream,” Siegrist said of the possibility of hearing her name called on draft night. “But for now, I’ll just continue to raise the bar the best that I can do while I’m still in college. I try to always enjoy the moment.”

Siegrist hasn’t decided yet on if she’ll play an extra year of college ball. She’s in grad school now, working on her master’s in education.

“Obviously, I think about it. All I can really say is, hopefully I’ll know at the end of the year,” Siegrist said. “My faith is very strong, so I hope it will point me in the right direction and I’ll know what to do. I love Villanova and my time here has been great. I’m excited for this season, no matter what happens.”

If this is Siegrist’s final year of college basketball, it’ll begin where she started – in her hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York. The Wildcats open the season at Marist, where Siegrist’s father played. It’s safe to say that there’s going to be a sizable contingent of Maddy Siegrist fans in the crowd that night.

“I'm really looking forward to it,” Siegrist said. “It’ll be special, no matter what.”